A Preliminary Analysis of Relationships Between Traveller Characteristics and Hotel Review Ratings

School of Hotel and Tourism Management2016-2017 > Academic research: refereed > Refereed conference paperbcw

Managing customer expectations: a study of two four-star hotels in Malaysia and Singapore

Successful management of customer expectations is an extremely important factor in achieving customer satisfaction. A hospitable culture and user-friendly technology are required to meet customers' expectations. While technology can have a major impact on customer satisfaction, the various cultural backgrounds of guests also have a significant influence. In the paper, the hotel guests’ cultural backgrounds were studied to understand this aspect's influence on their expectations and satisfaction. Three major cultural factors, namely brand identity (domestic vs. foreign), customers’ native language, and their country of residence, were observed and analyzed to determine guests' expectations. The research study used a qualitative design to analyze the data, collected from field observations at two hotels: a Singapore hotel and another in Malaysia. Reviews were also collected from hotel booking websites, in order to understand how the hotels satisfy guest expectations