Quality management practices and performance of hotels in Nairobi

Abstract

The drive of this study was to investigate the Quality management practices adopted by hotels in Nairobi and find out the impact of the adopted practices on hotel performance. A survey of the 39 hotels in Nairobi listed under the Kenya Association of hotel Keepers and Caterers was done. The study relied on primary data collection where questionnaires were used. Data was analyzed by use of descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation, frequencies and percentages and correlation analysis used to find out the extent to which the adopted quality management practices impacted on performance of the hotels. ISO standardization was found to influence willingness of guests to recommend the hotel to others, guests’ willingness to return to the hotel, credit collection period, hotel occupancy rate, hotel revenue per room and reservations efficiency to a moderate extent, but more than any other quality management practice. Benchmarking was found to influence the level of guests’ satisfaction moderately. Benchmarking was also found to positively influence food and beverage costs efficiency, check in/checkout efficiency and performance appraisal, more than the other quality management practices, although to a small extent. It was concluded that quality management practices have been adopted moderately and to a small extent, with benchmarking as the only practice adopted to a large extent and it was recommended that the other practices should also be adopted to a larger extent since it is the quality of product and hotel that give it competitive advantage and is a critical success factor.