What are hotels doing right that airlines are doing wrong?
How to explain the paradox: a new study shows positive levels of customer satisfaction at an all-time high at a time when the lodging industry has reduced the number of employees?
In addition, other tourism industry components have experienced declines.
“Because the decline in the first quarter of 2007 was so widely reported, we believe it is important to emphasize the record high level of satisfaction for lodging, and how favorably lodging is performing compared with other tourism-related industries,” said Bjorn Hanson, Ph.D., a principal with PricewaterhouseCoopers, which did the study
Customer satisfaction levels in 2006 were the highest since 1995, even with a 10.2% decline in the number of employees per occupied room in the US lodging industry.
While customer satisfaction in hotels has increased at a compounded annual rate of 0.2% since 1995, customer satisfaction in other tourism-related industries measured by ASCI, such as airlines, has declined.
What’s behind the numbers?
“A number of factors including new services, design and technology (including express check-in and check-out kiosks, in-room entertainment systems and wireless internet access in both full-service and limited service hotels), enhanced loyalty programs and increased levels of amenities for full-service and limited-service hotels have contributed significantly to increased customer satisfaction,” the survey says.
A high occupancy level has also contributed to employee productivity gains.
“Additional factors include changes in organizational systems, processes and philosophies such as increased employee empowerment, establishment of employee recognition and reward programs, high-frequency dedicated departmental training programs and outsourcing of non-core activities,” the ASCI study says.
“The lodging industry has used technology and training to enhance guests’ experiences with extremely favorable results,” adds Mr Hanson.
Report by David Wilkening
David
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