Research Proposal On Hilton Athenee Bucharest Research Proposal

Introduction

Brief History
Athenee Palace Hilton Bucharest Hotel is one of Europe’s historic, luxurious hotels that opened its door in 1914. The hotel was initially known for being the den of species in the years preceding World War One and World War Two. The hotel was designed by a French architect, Théophile Bradeau, and later renovated by Duiliu Marcu in 1935-1937. The hotel is one of the documented buildings that were built using reinforced concrete. However, following the bombings of World War two, the hotel was highly damaged in 1944. Consequently, this led to the hotel being remodeled in 11945 and later being extended in 1965. During the Romanian Revolution, since most of the violence that occurred in the revolution occurred right in front of the hotel, the hotel was further damaged and repaired. However, in 1995-1997, the hotel was remodeled by Hilton International after $42 million renovation deal was reached between the Ana Hotels Group and Hilton International.

Product Range

The main products are guest accommodation services, restaurants and event hosting. However, these services are customized using various services and amenities depending on the service

Customer Segment

The hotel is a leader in enhancing the services it offers to its customers. The three products in accommodation are stylishly decorated such that they create light and airy atmosphere. The rooms are also fitted with modern amenities such as flat screen televisions, work desks, and internet connections. Moreover, guests can manage to keep up with their fitness regimes. The hotel is fitted with a fitness center and heated indoor swimming pool. Also, the hotel has a health club where the guests can enjoy a soothing massage or relaxation in whirlpool or steam room. In addition, the hotel has two restaurants, a summer terrace, and bar. As a result, the guest can engage in a high range of flavors. In addition, the hotel is highly family friendly since it has wide range activities that children can engage. Finally, the hotel has excellent services that target the corporates. The hotel offers event planning and management for corporates with a high sense of elegance.

Competitors

The hotel faces stiff competition from other equally sophisticated establishments. Some of the include
Epoque Hotel
Grand Hotel Continental
Radisson Blu Hotel Bucharest
InterContinental Bucharest
JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel
Marshal Garden Hotel
Premier Palace Hotel & Spa
Carol Parc Hotel
Capsa
Research Question
Using the consumer journey approach, to what extent do the services offered by Hilton Athenee Bucharest to customer satisfaction as measured by return customer or willingness to return?

Research Objective

Define the hotel consumer journey stages
Literature Review
Oliver defined satisfaction as “Satisfaction is the consumer’s fulfillment response. It is a judgment that a product or service feature or the product of service itself, provided (or is providing) a pleasurable level of consumption-related fulfillment, including levels of under- or over-fulfillment” (Cochran, 2003). The definition lays the groundwork for this research for several reasons. First, the definition refers to the consumer as opposed to the customer. Therefore, it differentiates the one who pays for the products from the one that uses the product. It further implies that the individuals that pays for the commodity and do not use are not expected to have the same type of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the person that uses the product. Consequently, one needs to understand that the study of consumer satisfaction is different from the study of customer satisfaction. Second, satisfaction is a mere feeling that is subject to change due to a constellation of circumstances. Also, satisfaction resides in the users’ mind. As such, it may be different from observable behaviors such as complaint, repurchase or product choice. Finally, satisfaction has thresholds. Therefore, it has both lower and upper levels. The interpretation here is that the satisfaction of a customer may reduce when they receive “too much of a good product”.
Bruce Springsteen once argued that it requires consistency of purpose, of thoughts and action over a long period to maintain a given level of satisfaction. Consistency is the management magic tool to keep their customers coming back especially in an industry where there is no limitation of choice such as the hospitality industry. As such, this makes it an effective strategy to sustain the firm competitive advantage.
Customer satisfaction requires high attention from the top management. The reason is creating a variety of channel and triggering more interaction with the company in its quest to meet the discreet needs of their customers. As such, enables the firm to have a cluster of interaction thus effectively making individual customer interaction less important compared to all the customer interaction. As a result, this creates what is called the consumer journey. Consumer journey refers to a series of activities that relates from identification of a product by the consumer until when the consumer consumes that product and gives feedback. According to a recent survey that sampled 27000 American consumers across fourteen industries, it was evident that consumer journey was 30% better in predicting consumer satisfaction compared to single consumer interaction (Szwarc, 2005).
Consumer journey is observed to have three fundamental aspects. First, consumer journey has to be consistent. Studies show that in most cases, companies have dwelt in establishing superior services and support mechanism that ensure consistency during each interaction. The approach has led to understanding satisfaction as an instantaneous phenomenon based on the individual interaction (Hill and Brierley, 2003). However, few have understood the consistency as a journey. As a result, process integration will lead to viewing consumer interaction as a journey as opposed to individual interactions.
Second, emotional consistency is required. Fundamentally, satisfaction has been observed to be a feeling that resides in the mind. Research has showed that positive customer experience emotion, as illustrated by consumer feeling of trust, were a key driver of customer satisfaction (Hill and Alexander, 2006). Therefore, it implies that the feeling of trust is based on the consumer perception of the product of the firm and it’s a critical aspect of having return customer. As a result, this creates a relationship between the firm and the customer that is based on trust.
Finally, Communication consistency drives consumer journey concept by ensuring the promises made are kept. However, meeting the promises will not have any meaningful contribution on the customers do not recognize that the promises have been met (Hill and Alexander, 2007). Therefore, the firm has to ensure that it continuously shapes its communication strategies such that communication and key messages are adequately highlighted indicating the delivery of the promises.

Methodology

Model
A hybrid of three models shall be used to evaluate the satisfaction of customers. The Expectations Disconfirmation Model is the first model constituent model. The model is dominant in much consumer satisfaction survey. As a result, it is a tested model and has been proven to be reliable in making informed judgments. The model is based on pre-consumption expectations that are then compared to post-consumption experiences of a product in forming a satisfaction or dissatisfaction attitude towards the consumer product. Expectations are assumed to be originating from beliefs relating to the level of performance of the product in question. The second model is multiple process models. The model element that is essential is based on the understanding that satisfaction formation is multidimensional. In other words, consumers will use more than one standard to arrive at their conclusion relating to satisfaction. In order to test the element of emotion, the hybrid model will include Affective model logic that outlines those elements such emotion, liking and mood influence customer satisfaction (Szwarc, 2005).

Data Collection

The study shall use primary research as the main source of data. The preferable method is the use of questioner due to several advantages that include using the hotel staff to administer the questioners, similarity of questions and flexibility. However, secondary researches that substantially cover the hotel may be used as sources of data.

Sampling

The preferred method is random sampling. However, by default, this method will be effected since the guests that are in the hotel are random. There is no predetermined criterion the hotel uses to so admit its customers. However, to ensure quality of the study:

The Customers will only be allowed to fill out only one questioner

The customer must be the one that paid for the product
The customer must have stayed in the hotel for more than one night
The customer must have used at least three of the amenities the hotel offers
Data Analysis and Finding
Statistical analysis will be preferred. The analysis is preferred since it gives the study scientific credibility and eliminates any biases that may be presented by qualitative analysis considering the elegance and attractiveness of the hotel. The findings will be presented in the form of analysis output, tables and charts.

Discussion

The discussion is the part that links the finding to the existing theoretical explanation. As such, various theories and concepts in consumer satisfaction will be applied to effectively understand the level of satisfaction. It will also show how the findings address the research question. Furthermore, the discussion connects the research finding to objective of the study. Also, this section will demonstrate its agreement or divergence from other studies outcome.

Conclusion

Conclusion will dwell on outlining the major aspect of the paper. It will be the climax of the study since it will consolidate the research finding and summarizes the between links the research to its objective and the answer to the hypothesis question.

References

Cochran, C. (2003). Customer satisfaction: Tools, techniques, and formulas for success. Chico, Calif.: Paton Press.
Hill, N. and Brierley, J. 2003. How to measure customer satisfaction (2nd ed.). Burlington, VT, USA: Gower.
Hill, N. and Alexander, J. 2006. Handbook of customer satisfaction and loyalty measurement (3rd ed.). Aldershot, Hampshire, England: Gower
Hill, N. and Roche, G. 2007. Customer satisfaction: The customer experience through the customer's eyes. London: Cogent.
Szwarc, P. 2005. Researching customer satisfaction & loyalty how to find out what people really think. London: Kogan Page.