RP Final assignment

Edexcel Level 5BTEC Higher Nationals Diploma in Business

(QCF)2013

ASSESSMENT ACTIVITY :

Unit Name: Research ProjectUnit Number: 8Credit Value 20AssignmentSubmission Date:

As per the schedule

Assessor: Karunasree

Mode of submission: LIVECAMPUS

TABLE OF CONTENTS:S.NO

CONTENT PAGE NUMBER

1 INTRODUCTION 2

2 LO.1.1 3

3 LO.1.2 5

4 LO.1.3 6

5 LO.1.4 7

6 LO.1.5 9

7 LO.2.1 10

8 LO.2.2 11

9 LO.2.3 12

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10 LO.3.1 13

11 LO.3.2 19

12LO.3.3 20

13 LO.4.1 21

14 CONCLUSION21

15 REFERENCE21

INTRODUCTION:

Hospitality industry is a very dynamic industry The hospitality industry has different categories or fields which includes lodging, restaurants, event planning, theme parks, transportation, cruise line, and additional fields within the tourism industry. The hospitality industry is a several billion dollar industry that mostly depends on customer satisfaction and disposable income. Hospitality industry such as restaurant, hotel, or even an amusement park consists of multiple groups such as facility maintenance, servers, housekeepers, porters, kitchen workers, bartenders, etc., management, marketing, and human resources. Their main aim is to attract customers by satisfying them i all the means possible they mostly count on the word of mouth of the customer, if a customer is satisfied then there may be a tendency that he may invite his friends or family to the restaurant which is beneficial to the industry.

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But as time passed by people have become keener in customer satisfaction and retaining of customers.

Hotel One Place is ideally situated in Hyderabad, a new centreof leisure and relaxation, business and travel meetings. They offer premier level of individualized services in one of the most comfortable environment that one can imagine. They are intended to offer highest level of relaxation and comfort; exceptional service levels are to be offered here

Sensation of affection and Style, Hotel One Place has specially selected and harmonized interior designs to give youa sensation of warmth and style. The interiors are decorated with plentiful textures and cheerful colours, with complete magnificence in every small detail. It has got the best restaurant our menu offers you a wide assortment of wonderful meals and luxurious delights. As an alternative we offer you to organize your individual menu with the Chef, to suit you taste buds specifically.Our bar and restaurant is qualified with our broad variety of conveniences and elegant interior decoration. With a banquet hall, equipped with latest amenities such as PA Systems and Multimedia Systems and enough space for accommodating 200 people at ease, we are also ready to host your social events.

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1.1

This project is basically “A survey of customer satisfaction in hotels” the study was done in Hotel One-place, this research is concentrating on the satisfaction of customers in restaurant of One-place hotel.

PROJECT TITLE:

“Customer Satisfaction in One-place Hotel (Restaurant)”

Reasons for selecting this topic:

Reasons for selecting the topic:

A reason for selecting customer satisfaction as researchproject is because Customer satisfaction means the extent towhich the customers are happy. In today’s dynamic worldcustomer satisfaction has become the most important criteriafor all the business industries, as customers are the endusers of the product or service provided by any industry.Customer satisfactions is extremely important in increasing

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profits as well as retaining them and also expect them tobring more customers

Reasons of selecting Hotel industry:

Customer satisfaction and service quality has been important for hospitality industry. It has been identified as the most effective way of build status or a position. Hospitality industry is a dynamic industry; it has been growing at a very rapid pace. For a hospitality industry customer satisfaction is everything. My reason for choosing this industry is to identify the level of satisfaction of customers, and how much they are the industry successful in achieve it.

Food habits and taste in every household has changed a lot inpast few years. Regarding this, many trading activities are growing up such as hotels, restaurants, and business organizations. Such organizations have their own reputation tobuild up and their own brand towards the market and the customers.

One place hotel is a three star hotel in the kukatpally regionin Hyderabad. The reason for selecting this particular hotel is that it’s a three star hotel, so they will be keen in service quality and customer satisfaction doing survey in sucha hotel may give better results, and helps me study a lot about customer satisfaction in its restaurant.

Aims and Objectives:

To study how often the customers visit the restaurant and their patients’ level in restaurant.

To know the quality of the restaurant from customers point of view.

To understand the different dimensions in customer satisfaction.

SCOPE:

Scope of the research project is stipulated to Hotel One place5

Geographical scope: the geographical scope is stipulated to (kukatpally), HYDERABAD, ANDHRAPRADESH

Local Area Address :

Adjacent To Kalamandir, Behind K.P.H.B.BUS Stop, Kukatpally, Kukatpally Main Road , Hydrabad,500072.

Research methodology:

1. Research design: The research design was casual.

2. Data collection: the data collection was done by secondary and primary data. Secondary data was collected from the web sites, and the management of the hotel helped in getting secondary data. Primary data was collected through questionnaire, questionnaire consists of close ended questions, Dichotomous question and Leading questions .The target population are the customers of restaurant in One-place hotel.

Limitations:

Customer satisfaction is different in different hotels the conclusions made in this survey are limited to One place hotelkukatpally. Due to time stipulation and other factors the customer satisfaction survey is limited to the restaurant of Hotel one-place.

Sample size:

The sample size is 30 according to convenience as population is very large and also due to time stipulation.

Literature review:

Campbell, Colin (December 12, 1982). "Singapore Journal; Back to Somerset Maugham and Life's Seamy Side". The New York Times(America ).

Creswell, J.W. (2008). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative

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research (3rd). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. 2008 (pages 8-9)

1.2

Customer satisfaction is one of the most important key to

success in any industry across the globe. It does not matter

if it’s a manufacturing industry or a service industry

customer satisfaction is the most important aspect. There was

a time when customers were less critical and not totally

satisfied when dealing with business but today customers are

more demanding and very critical when it comes to satisfaction

. Customer satisfaction is the most valuable asset and key

ingredient to obtain profits. The reason behind choosing

customer satisfaction is to study the preferences and level of

satisfaction of people.

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Hospitality industry has been growing at a fast pace since

many years. hospitality industry consists of hotels, tourism

the reason behind choosing a Hotel is because it comes under

hospitality industry and the only way they can prevail or make

their brand is through customer satisfaction .it is the

industry where customers are treated like gods and satisfying

them is their first priority. The study would be more accurate

and convincing if done in a hotel where there is more

preference towards customers satisfaction.

1.3

Professor M.V.N Chary, Ethames business school, India: Professor has explained the importance of using a questionnaire in a survey and tabulation of the data obtained.

Professor Karunasree, Ethames business school, India: faculty has made aware of research project methodology and its importance, and how to conduct a survey, Making of a questionnaire made aware of tabulation and prediction of thestatistical data acquired from survey.

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Customers in hotel: all the 30 customers of hotel one place have helped in understanding the satisfaction of customers and give appropriate results for the project “customers satisfaction in Hotel One-place (restaurant)”

Mrs Snigdha Sharma, HR Manager of one place hotel (kukatpally): got the information of the hotel and its working, made aware of the timings of the restaurant and other aspects of it, shared previous questionnaires of Hotel, and suggestions regarding survey and few rules and regulations of the hotel.

Mr Krishna rao, Assistant Manager of one place hotel (kukatpally): assistance in collecting primary data from thecustomers. And gave some knowledge of what kind of customersusually come to dine in the restaurant.

1.49

Research project specifications are:

To study how often the customers visit the restaurant and

their patients’ level in restaurant.

To know the quality of the restaurant from customers point

of view.

To understand the different dimensions in customer

satisfaction.

To study how often the customers visit the restaurant and their patients’ level in restaurant.

The first specification is giving us a picture of how often

the customers visit the restaurant and their patients’

level .the customer will come to their restaurant often only

if the customer is satisfied this will help the hotel to

improve their quality in order to retain their customers. Not

all customers are same, every customer has his own

satisfaction level and his own patients this will help to how

many customers are impatient and what can the restaurant do to

satisfy them and retain them.

To know the quality of the restaurant from customers point of view.

The second specification will give us the understanding of

customer’s view of the quality provided by the restaurant.

Every customer has his own quality standards for few people

the quality provided may be good for few people it may be bad

this study will help the restaurant to know the opinion of the

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customer towards the quality provided by the hotel, and taking

measures to improve quality.

To understand the different dimensions in customer

satisfaction.

Service quality impacts on overall customer satisfaction. The

five dimensions (tangibility, reliability, responsiveness,

assurance and empathy) play a vital role in finding the

customer satisfaction in any organisation. By measuring these

dimensions the restaurants can concentrate on the service

provided. The staff capability and responsiveness is clearly

examined in these dimensions.

1.5

Research project “customer satisfaction in Hotel One-place

(restaurant)” was chosen after studying a lot about the topic

and data was collected. Lots of information about this topic

was studied through the secondary data. In secondary data

information was also given by the management of the one-place

hotel, case studies where referred and primary research was

done. Then there where different ways of getting primary data

it can be done through interviews or questionnaire method etc.

Questionnaire method was more appropriate and can get more

accurate answers. Hotel management helped and let review many

questionnaires available at the hotel from where few questions

were taken to prepare final questionnaire it was first tested

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it was prepared with close ended, Dichotomous and Leading

questions. The final questionnaire was given to the customers

of the restaurant as it was a survey of that particular

restaurant. Responses were taken from 30 customers randomly as

the research design was casual. Data was gathered and all the

data which was collected was tabulated in excel sheet, made

charts and predicted the data of each question. Conclusions

were drawn from the data acquired .appropriate suggestions

were made to improve the quality of customer satisfaction in

the restaurant, this whole process took around 70 days .then

final report was made filed and submitted .

Dimensions variables

Tangibility Facilities , tidiness of employees ,hotelappearance

Reliability Giving seat without delay, cleanliness , orderdone by staff

Responsiveness

Response for requests , giving information

Assurance Staff experience and professionalise,friendly, knowledgeable

Empathy Attention paid by staff ,flexibility of staff2.1

The objective is To study how often the customers visit the restaurant and their patients’ level in restaurant. The data was collected through the questionnaire. In order to know how often people visit the restaurant and how long they have to wait to get seated and have their meal. The questions asked inquestionnaire was “How often do you dine in here”, “approximately how much time you had to wait to before you where seated” and “the waiting time was”. Through these questions we can understand how often they dine, and people like to dine in often only if he or she is satisfied so it

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also determines the satisfaction of the customer. How long they waited and were the customers patient and ok with the time taken to get seated and have their meal.

The second objective “To know the quality of the restaurant from customers point of view.” Even this objective was studiedthrough questionnaire. Questions asked in questionnaire “The restaurant” where different questions were asked regarding thecleanliness , the appearance, availability of good menu which will determine the satisfaction of the customer towards the restaurant and another question asked was “will you recommend this restaurant to others” this question clearly denotes that a customer will only recommend something to others like his friends, family only and if only he is satisfied with the restaurant even if he likes few thing but still says no to recommending that implies the customer was not satisfied with the quality provided by the restaurant.

The third objective states that “To understand the different dimensions in customer satisfaction” the different dimensions in service quality which effect the customer satisfaction are evaluated in this objective. All the objectives where studied through questionnaire only questions asked for each dimensionsare as follows

For tangibility –“employs are tidy in appearance”, “restaurantappearance”, “availability of sauces, utensils and napkins” through these questions we can understand the tangibility which is one of the dimensions of service in customer satisfaction.

For reliability – “restaurant cleanliness”, “approximate time you had to wait before you where seated”, “food order was correct and complete”. These questions determine the reliability dimension.

For responsiveness - “was the server attentive and available” this shows the responsiveness of the staff towards customers which is another dimension.

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For assurance – “was the server knowledgeable and able to answer your questions”, “was the server friendly”, these questions somewhat determine the assurance of the service provides for customer satisfaction.

For empathy –“was the server flexible”, “was the server attentive and available” the question also implies the empathyand responsiveness towards customers.

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2.2 Below the questionnaire made for primary data of the research is given:

Customer satisfaction in hotel-One placeRestaurant

Mr/Mrs/Miss

Name: Tick the correct option

1. Age group: 5.your server: yes no

1.Below 15 years 1.Was the server friendly

2.15 years-25years 2.was the server flexible

3.26 years-35years 3.Was the server attentive and available

4.36years-45years 4.Was your server knowledgeable and

5.Above 45years able to answer your questions 6. Food order was correct and complete

2. How often do you dine here? 7. Overall where you satisfied with the1. Daily service

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2. Weekly 3. Monthly 6. Quality of food: excellent good average 4. Once or twice a year 1. Taste and quality 5. This is the first time 2.Food temperature 3. Presentation of food

3. Approximate time you had to wait 4. Value for moneyBefore you where seated? 7. The restaurant excellentgood average1.O-5 minutes

1. Menu variety 2.6-10 minutes

2.availability of sauces,3.11-20 minutes

utensils, napkins etc4.21-30 minutes

3.Employees are tide in 5.31-40 minutes

appearances 6.41-1 hour

4. Restaurant cleanliness 7.Above 1 hour

5. Restaurant appearance 8. Would you recommend this restaurant to4. The waiting time was: others:1. about what you expected YES2. Little longer than expected NO 3. Much longer than expected

The above questionnaire consists of eight questions out of which all of them are close ended questions, out of which two

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are dichotomous and two are rating scale questions. This questionnaire was prepared by viewing a sample questionnaire from One-place hotel. Few questions have been taken from sample questionnaire. The questions were selected keeping in mind the aims and objectives of the research project.

2.3

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3.1

1.

From the above analysis about 46% of the people who visit the restaurant are under the age of 15-25, 34.3% are between 26-35 . 9.3% are between 36-45 , 3.1% are in the age group of 45 and above.

2.

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Around 43.75 % of the people are having their dinner in the restaurant for the first time. Around 25% of the customers come weekly.15.62 % of the people are coming to the restaurantonce in a month.9.37% of the customers come once or twice a year.

3.

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Around 63.33% of the customer are going to recommend to others. 36.66% are not going to recommend.

4.

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Around 40% of the customers had to wait for 0 – 5 minutes. 26.6% of them had to weight for 11 – 20 minutes before dining in. About 20% wait for 6 – 10 minutes. 13.3% of the people hadto weight for 21 – 30 minutes.

5.

Through above statistical calculation it shows that

About 46.66% of the customers say that the server is friendly and the remaining 53.33% of the customers say that he is not friendly

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About 53.3% of the customers say that the server is flexible and remaining 46.6% say that the server is not flexible

66.66% of the customers say that the server was attentive to them, but remaining 33.33% say that they are not satisfied with the attention given by the server

36.66% of the customers think that he is knowledgeable, but the remaining 66.33% say that he is not knowledgeable.

93.33% customers are satisfied that the order was correctly brought to them. Remaining 6.6% where not satisfied with the order brought by the server.

56.66% of the customers are satisfied with the performance of the server. But remaining 33.33% are not satisfied with the server .

6.

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About 16.6% customers say the taste is excellent, 60% are

satisfied and they say taste is good, the remaining 23.33%

think that the food taste is average

56.6% of the customers think that the the temperature of the

food is excellent that means its served hot and fresh. 40 %

say that the temperature was good. 3.3% are not satisfied with

the temperature and freshness of food

23.33% say that the food presentation was excellent, 60 % say

that its good , 16.66% are not satisfied with the

presentation of food

23.33% say that the value of money is excellent. 43.33 % think

that they got good value for money they paid . 31% think that

the value of money is average.

7.

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13% say that the menue variety is excellent.63% say that the

menu variety is good.and 23% say that menu variety is very

poor

3% say tht the availability is excellent, 93% say that its

good.3% say that its bad or average

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3% say that employee appearance is not good its average,73%

say that its excellent and remaining 23 % say that its ok

good.

Cleanliness in the restorent isexcellent as 83.3% say that.

Remaining say tht its moderately or and average

Appearance is given 86% excellent 3% good and 10 % average

3.2

The objectives of the research study are.

To study how often the customers visit the restaurant and

their patients’ level in restaurant.

To know the quality of the restaurant from customers point

of view.

To understand the different dimensions in customer

satisfaction.

To study how often the customers visit the restaurant and

their patients’ level in restaurant.

Around 43.75 % of the people are having their dinner in the restaurant for the first time. Around 25% of the customers come weekly.15.62 % of the people are coming to the restaurantonce in a month.9.37% of the customers come once or twice a year. This implies that the people are coming to restourent for the first time is more than the regular customers due to the lack of skills and tactics used by the restaurant to retain their customers.

It is only able to retain around 35% only

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To know the quality of the restaurant from customers point of

view.

About 16.6% customers say the taste is excellent, 60% are

satisfied and they say taste is good, the remaining 23.33%

think that the food taste is average

56.6% of the customers think that the the temperature of the

food is excellent that means its served hot and fresh. 40 %

say that the temperature was good. 3.3% are not satisfied with

the temperature and freshness of food

23.33% say that the food presentation was excellent, 60 % say

that its good , 16.66% are not satisfied with the

presentation of food

23.33% say that the value of money is excellent. 43.33 % think

that they got good value for money they paid . 31% think that

the value of money is average.

The above statistics clearly states that the restaurant is

concentrating to increase their quality but still around 23%

of the customers are not satisfied with the taste of the

food.

The food is served hot and fresh as per the statistics. But

the presentation of food is to be improved .

To understand the different dimensions in customer

satisfaction

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For tangibility –“employs are tidy in appearance”, “restaurantappearance”, “availability of sauces, utensils and napkins” through these questions we can understand the tangibility which is one of the dimensions of service in customer satisfaction.

For reliability – “restaurant cleanliness”, “approximate time you had to wait before you where seated”, “food order was correct and complete”. These questions determine the reliability dimension.

For responsiveness - “was the server attentive and available” this shows the responsiveness of the staff towards customers which is another dimension.

For assurance – “was the server knowledgeable and able to answer your questions”, “was the server friendly”, these questions somewhat determine the assurance of the service provides for customer satisfaction.

For empathy –“was the server flexible”, “was the server attentive and available” the question also implies the empathyand responsiveness towards customers.

All these aspects have been measured an dfound out that all

the dimentions where not doing well in the restourent.

3.3

As per the results and statistics there are few things that

the where found in the research

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Proper training is to be given to the server in order to

be more kind and polite to the customers

The food quality was good but as per the new people who

are dining in the restaurant are not satisfied with the

taste and the appearance of the food

The attentiveness and knowledge is missing it has to be

developed

Manu variety is not satisfactory for 23% of the

customers it is something it has to look for

The biggest dissatisfaction is that the customer is

thinking that the value for money is not good so it is an

aspect where all the parameters of quality should be

considered.

Reliability and assurance is missing in the restaurant

appropriate measures should be taken

4.1

The research project has been submitted online through live

campus, provided by Ethames business school.

Conclusion :

During the research project . it was very knowledgeable and

learnt more about customer satisfaction . its an experience

which will be beneficial in my professional life. I got

experienced of the field work and interaction with the

customers has given me more knowledge

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References:

Campbell, Colin (December 12, 1982). "Singapore Journal; Back to Somerset Maugham and Life's Seamy Side". The New York Times(America)[accessed on 31/8/13]

Creswell, J.W. (2008). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (3rd). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. 2008 ISBN (pages 8-9)[accessed on 31/8/13]

Math is fun. (2010) how to do a survey. Retrieved

from:http://www.mathsisfun.com/data/survey-conducting.html[accessedon 30/8/13]

Creative research system. (2013) survey design. Retrieved

from:http://www.surveysystem.com/sdesign.htm[accessed on 30/8/13]

CRLS Research guide. (2004) basic steps in research process.

Retrieved from: http://www.crlsresearchguide.org/[accessed on

31/8/13]

IMRB international. (2009)customer satisfaction research. Retrieved

from:http://www.imrbint.com/index.php?

option=com_content&view=article&Itemid=7&id=21:customer-

satisfaction-research[accessed on 31/8/13]

Abadh Jibi Ghimire. (2012)service quality and customer satisfaction

in restaurant business. Retrieved

from:http://publications.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/46914/Ghi

mire_Abadh.pdf[accessed on 31/8/13]

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