Research Project on Business environment

But in past few years hotels that have chosen feedback approach as of taking customers review on their services that they are providing has helped them in reaching to an all new level where they have seeing an increase in their goodwill and brand name as well in front of the targeted customers. This approach could lead organisation to improve their market share.

Overview of the organization

In present context Ibis Hotel which is an international company owned by accor hotels,  which is actually listed in Paris Stock Exchange.  Hotel was found in the year of 1967 and the first Hotel was launched in front of targeted customers was in the year of 1974. In past few years organisation have faced a decline in their profit and revenue ratios. This has happened because organisation have already kept their focus on economic hotels which led this hotel behind.  Ibis Hotel was not following the current trends which was being considered as one of the most crucial stage that took this organisation to face  issues related  developing image front of the targeted customers.

Significance of research

This section of research report is very important for researcher as it helps them in understanding actual deficient area of company which can be improved in effectively. The main importance of this research is to enhance thinking ability of researcher about customers review, feedback and compliant which are beneficial for the company. It can be said that after completing this research, researcher will be easily able to analyze actual how they can use customer feedback for improving their existing products and services (Assimakopoulos and et. al., 2015). In addition to this, researcher can also use their learning experience on the same topic while sharing this with corporate person or other industry related persons who faces many problems because of irregular feedback.

Rationale of research

The main purpose of conducting this research is identifying role of customer review in improving operational activities of company. Customer review helps business organization in achieving their targeted goals and objective by improving their existing products and services according to the requirement of customers. It can be said after  conducting an effective research about customer review, role of feedback and complains organization can easily analyze core areas which are required to be modified for improving customer satisfaction. As a result, it will contribute in improving operational activities of company. In relation to Hotel Industry, it is the main purpose of this research to understand actual views and thoughts of customers related problems and improve it at the same time with help of research (Faed and et. al., 2016).

Research aim

Aim: “To analyse the effectiveness of identifying customer review, complaints and feedback for making improvement in everyday business operations.  A case study on Ibis Hotel Stratford”.

Research Objectives

• To analyse the concept of review procedure in hotel industry.
• To identify the main factors by which improvements can be made in business operations.
• To recognise the challenges faced by Hospitality industry by implementing changes according to customer review.
• To determine the effectiveness of customer review and feedbacks for business operations.

Research Questions:

• What is the concept of review procedure in hotel industry ?
• What are the main factors by which improvements can be made in business operations ?
• How to recognise the challenges faced by Hospitality industry by implementing changes according to customer review ?
• How to determine the effectiveness of customer review and feedbacks for business operations ?

Chapter 2: Literature Review

Concept of review procedure in hotel industry

According to Elnadi and Shehab, (2015) procedure plays a crucial role for every single hotel.  Its concept can be understood with the help of an instance where hotels needs to consider the past and present performance of the efficiency of the process. The review shall be conducted in the context of the strategic plan of the Hotel, identifying where the process fits within the hotel overall, how the process supports the mission and goals, and how effectively the process operates as a driver. Considerations will include national and international trends, recognised best practice and relevant benchmarking or competitive comparisons with the process in similar institutions and beyond the sector where appropriate. review will consider the effectiveness of the process as an operational tool across all relevant sections of the hotel. review will consider the outcomes of previous reviews, how recommendations have been implemented and improvement of performance indicators.

The review process shall consider whether there are adequate quality assurance mechanisms in place. The review shall consider whether the hotel is delivering sufficient resources to ensure that the process concerned is able to function effectively and successfully meet the expectations that the hotel Ibis hotel.

The review shall consider the consistency of the process with hotel policies and procedures.

The review will consider confidential submissions and reports submitted to the review through an open consultations process conducted specifically for this purpose coordinated by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Planning and Quality).

The Vice-Chancellor, after consultation with the Vice-Chancellor's Executive (VCE), may approve additional or amended terms of reference for any review at the time of the appointment of the review panel; or raise specific questions, agreed to by the relevant Head of Division, which the review panel would be asked to address.

Main factors by which improvements can be made in business operations

According to Stark, (2015), in present business well continuous improvement plays a crucial role for every single sector. Hotel industry is consist with Rapid changing nature where customer demands entrance gets changes on a regular basis. Therefore, it is required for hotel industry to focus on different factors that can lead them to make improvements as per the requirements.  In this contacts, there are different sort of factors that are present in business world which should be taken care by Ibis Hotel so that goals and objectives beattained right on time. Some of these factors are mentioned below:

Management Commitment:

A process improvement project requires leadership and support from the highest level Of hotel. While the CEO or executive team members may not participate on improvement implementation teams, they serve as cheerleaders and mentors to those working on various parts of the improvement process. They also control finances and staff availability. They can demonstrate their commitment by driving the process from the top, making the process a priority, encouraging teams and showing appreciation.

Time and Resources:

This is being considered as one of the most crucial aspect or  factor that could lead a company to go through different aspects where they might develop alterations as per the requirements for business operations.  Here it is been found that both time and resources are enough for a business plan of a company then it could lead organisation to gain ample number of competitive advantages.

Challenges faced by Hospitality industry by implementing changes according to customer review

As given by Pearson, (2016) hotel industry has been considered as one of rapidly changing sector that gets changes because of hi friends and demands of the customer.  Since most of organisations tries to focus on providing services with that experience they forget about offering them with quality food.  Therefore, looking at just one place and not focusing on others have created ample number of various for this industry and hotels that are dealing in this sector commit is impacting upon their profit margin.  Some of challenges are given below:

Finance:  

making alterations in business operations as per requirements of customers required heavy funding which may lead organisation to create losses as well for it.  An organisation with minimal resources of funding cannot make alterations as per the requirements of consumers and focuses on providing what consumers and focuses on providing what they are offering to customers.

Employee turnover rates:

this is being considered as another aspect which can be this is being considered as another aspect which can be taken as a challenge because every modifications made by organisation leads employees to become an aware about the updates which has been made by company because of customers.  This may bring fear among staff members regarding their job and could raise stress among employees regarding their job and task which they are going to do in your future.

Effectiveness of customer review and feedbacks for business operations

As given by Singh and Acharya, (2014) customer in previous years used to do not make any sort of influence on business operations of a company.  Nowadays whole scenario has got changed and organisations started taking review feedback and other sort of suggestions from customers for betterment of their experience and so on.  Effectiveness can be seen through various examples like Ibis Hotel focusing on just accommodation but then after getting review from customers it started focusing on quality of food and other things which included training of staff members as well so that they may easily get to know about what exactly a customer is looking for.  through this an organisation can easily developer relationships with consumers and sustain at competitive market place for a longer period of time.  It has become vital for hotels to make alterations as per the requirements of customers otherwise, a company or a hotel cannot sustain for a longer time frame. It has also been analyse that slide changes an existing strategy or operations of Hotel required,  therefore it is also required for Business hotels to make alterations in existing policies of investors.  This could lead them tourist themselves to an all new level where hotel is going to give heavy rivalry.

Chapter 3: Research Methodology

3.1 Types of research

Types of Methodology: The research methodology has developed various tools and techniques by which the researcher can easily gather information in order to achieve the desired objectives in effectual and planned manner. The qualitative and quantitative research methods  are aimed at gathering useful data which are useful for the researcher in the desired research (Faed, Hussain and Chang, 2014). The qualitative data is beneficial in order to develop reports in descriptive manner while on the other side quantitative data is based on statistical analysis of the facts that are collected by the researcher. The present research is focused on qualitative research types as they are beneficial for the researcher in order to know about the reviews and feedback of customers by which changes can be made in business operations.

3.2 Research design

This is the most important strategy which is used in order to integrate different components of the study in logic manner. The researcher should address all the problems in order develop effective research design. This is also described as the blueprint by which the collected data can be easily gathered and analyzed in order to make effective decisions. In order to develop effective research design and conduct investigation there are various research methods available which are beneficial for the researcher. There are mainly three types of research design used by the researcher such as descriptive, experimental and exploratory research design (Srinivasan and et. al., 2016). In the research the investigator have used descriptive research design so that effective results can be developed by which customer feedback and review can be analyzed and n accordingly changes can be made in business operations.

3.3 Research Philosophy

This is the main factor which is useful in order to generating and development of the main source of data which results in generating effective results for the study. The research philosophy are beneficial for the research as it helps in measurement of data in more effective and planned ways. The investigator mainly uses two types of research philosophy tools such as positivism and interpretativism as they are useful for data gathering. The Interpretativism approaches are useful in order to identify the most appropriate method which is useful for the research in order to carry out their investigation in planned ways. While on the side the descriptive approaches are used in order to collect information related to a specific research study (Boyle, 2015). In relation with the current research study the investigator have used descriptive philosophies as they are useful in order to execute changes in business activities according to feedback of customers

3.4 Approaches of data collection

In order to collect valid and effective data the research methodology section provides two major sources by which data can be easily collected by the researcher. The two methods are mainly known as primary and secondary research methods by which investigator can collect data according to their requirements. The main concept of the sources are evaluated below as:

Primary Data:

This is the most important method which helps in collecting data for the first time with the  help of survey, questionnaire etc. The data collected are accurate as they are collected for the first time. This is the most time consuming and costly method as the data is reliable and helpful for the researcher in order to carry out further investigation which are useful for the study. The researcher uses various sources for gathering primary data such as online and offline surveys, interview, observations etc.

and the source of collecting primary data  is used according to  nature and characteristic of data source (Drew, McCallum and Roggenhofer, 2016). This is also described as the best source of collecting data as they are less changes of mistake as the data is gathered for the first time.

Secondary Data: 

This is another source of collecting data by which the researcher can gather data with the help of the data which is already published in books, journals, newspaper etc. The secondary source of data which is used in research can be published or unpublished data according the need of researcher. The data can be easily gathered and collected from different sites such as online portals, newspaper articles where the author have given their views related to the subject study. The viewpoints of different authors are beneficial in order to know about the scope where the research can be carried out in order to achieve success in the study.

Chapter 4: Data Analysis

QUESTIONNAIRE	Â
1.) Are you aware with the concept of customers review?		Frequency
· Yes		25
· No		5
2.) Does customer review helps in making improvement in business operations?		Frequency
· Yes		17
· No		13
3.) What are the major tools of measuring customer?		Frequency
· Online survey		9
· Social media		7
· Live chat		8
· Mobile app		6
4.) What are the major challenges faced by hospitality industry?		Frequency
· Political security		11
· Booking and revenue challenges		12
· Irregular working hours		7
5.) Does customer feedback helps in expanding business activities?		Frequency
· Agree		18
· Disagree		12
Â		Â
6.) What are the major benefits of customer feedback?		Frequency
· Improvement in products & services		8
· Improves customer retention		11
· Business Decision		6
· Measuring customer satisfaction		5
7.) Does customer review helps in retaining Loyal Customers who will buy no products and services?		Frequency
· Yes		20
· No		10
8.) What are the major services offered by IBIS Hotel Stratford?		Frequency
· Room services		19
· Restaurant services		11
9.) What rating will you provide to the services offered by IBIS Hotel?		Frequency
· 5		5
· 4		10
· 3		7
· 2		5
· 1		3
10.) Provide recommendation by which firms can enhance their sales and profitability ratio?		    Â

Theme 1: Concept of customers review

1. Are you aware with the concept of customers review?	Frequency
· Yes	25
· No	5

 

Interpretation: From the above mentioned graph, it has been observed that concept of customer review is very helpful for organisation in understanding actual position of the product in front of customer. As per analysis 25 respondents among 30 have stated that yes they are aware with the concept of customer review whereas,  among them have denied to the same thought as they personally feels that customers are not giving true review about product or service to the company after using it.

 Theme 2: Customer review helps in making improvement in business operations

2. Does customer review helps in making improvement in business operations?	Frequency
· Yes	17
· No	13

Interpretation: As per the above specified graph, it has been analysed that customer review helps organisation in improving their business operation activities. It can said that among 30 respondents 17 people believes that yes customer review improves operational activities of business as the staff is now aware about their deficient areas which helps them in improving the same area. On the other hand, remaining 13 of them said that they do not agree to the same thought.

Theme 3: Major tools of measuring customer

3.) What are the major tools of measuring customer?	Frequency
· Online survey	9
· Social media	7
· Live chat	8
· Mobile app	6

 

Interpretation: According to the above described graph, it has been observed that their are various tools which are especially designed in order to measure customer. As per evaluation, it has been identified that 9 respondent thinks that major tool for measurement is Online survey, 7 among them stated that social media is the best among them. Apart from this, 8 people personally thinks that through Live chat they can easily identify their customer and the remaining  6 respondents have stated with the help of Mobile application customers can be measured along with their interest that is reflected in their reviews.

Theme 4: Major challenges faced by hospitality industry

4.) What are the major challenges faced by hospitality industry?	Frequency
· Political security	11
· Booking and revenue challenges	12
· Irregular working hours	7

Interpretation: From the above mentioned graph, it has been observed that there are numerous of challenges which are faced by business organisation which belongs to hospitality industry. As per evaluation, it has been analysed that approximately their 11 people have clearly stated that major problem that is faced by this industry is political security, whereas as according  to 12 respondents biggest problem is hotel booking and revenue challenges and the remaining 7 of people thinks that irregular working hours are the major problem that leads to decline of hospitality industry.

Theme 5: Customer feedback helps in expanding business activities

5.) Does customer feedback helps in expanding business activities?	Frequency
· Agree	18
· Disagree	12

Interpretation: As per the above specified graph, it has been observed that feedback of customers personally helps in expanding business activities of company as they helps to know about weak areas of company. It has been analysed that approximately 18 respondents believes that they yes feedback of customers helps in expanding business activities whereas remaining 12 among 30 thinks that customers are not giving true response which impacts negatively over efforts of company in improving its services as organisation might convert into wrong direction while improving its product and services.

Theme 6: Major benefits of customer feedback

6.) What are the major benefits of customer feedback?	Frequency
· Improvement in products & services	8
· Improves customer retention	11
· Business Decision	6
· Measuring customer satisfaction	5

Interpretation:From the above mentioned report, it can be said that businesses often gains huge variety of benefits with the help of customers satisfaction like Improvement in products & services, Business Decision, Improves customer retention, Measuring customer satisfaction etc. It has been analysed that approximately 8 people have said that major benefit of customers of satisfaction is improvement of products and services, 11 of them have stated that its benefits is improvement in customer retention, 6 thinks that its helps in taking business decision and the remaining 5  among 30 have said that it enhances satisfaction level of customers

Theme 7: Customer review helps in retaining Loyal Customers who will buy no products and services

7.) Does customer review helps in retaining Loyal Customers who will buy no products and services?	Frequency
· Yes	20
· No	10

Interpretation: As per the above specified graph, it can be said that customer review helps in retaining Loyal Customers who will buy no products and services. According to the evaluation 20 people have stated that yes customer review helps in retaining loyal customers. On the other hand remaining 10 of them have denied to the similar thought.

Theme 8: Major services offered by IBIS Hotel Stratford

8.) What are the major services offered by IBIS Hotel Stratford?	Frequency
· Room services	19
· Restaurant services	11

 

Interpretation: From the above mentioned graph, it has been observed that approximately 19 respondents among 30 have stated that IB1S Hotel mainly offers room services to its customers and  other visitors whereas 11 of them thinks that it only offers to restaurant and bar services to customers.

Theme 9: Ratings provided to the services of IBIS Hotel

9.) What rating will you provide to the services offered by IBIS Hotel?	Frequency
· 5	5
· 4	10
· 3	7
· 2	5
· 1	3

Interpretation: According to the above mentioned graph, it can be said that rating helps company in understanding its effectiveness among customers. As per evaluation, it has been observed that 5 people have given total 5 rating to the Hotel services, 10 among them have specified 4 rating to IBIS hotel. On the other hand, 7 customers have rated it as 3, 5 among them given rating 2 and the remaining 3 customers who were highly dissatisfied have rated it as 1. It can be said that these are totally based on expectation and satisfaction level of customers which they have experienced while using these services.

Chapter 5: Conclusion And  Recommendations

Recommendation

As per the above research, it has been analysed by investigator that the chosen organisation ibis hotel have to take feedback from their customers in order to achieve their specific goals and objectives. This will helps an organisation in improving areas which are  not good according to customers review, which leads in satisfying needs and requirement of their potential customers. In this context, it is essential for ibis hotel to implement effective factors which helps in increasing their overall growth and development in a business environment. These factors includes time and resources and effective management, which helps chosen organisation in gaining a competitive advantages in a dynamic business environment. Through this research, it has been evaluated that hospitality industries are operating in a continuously changing environment, so it is necessary for ibis hotel to adopt these sudden changes quickly in order to retain their productivity for a longer period (Parsana and Desai, 2016). This will also helps an organisation in making their workforce effective and efficient, by providing an appropriate training to its staff members about sudden environmental changes occurs in a business market.    

It has also been analysed that financial stability is also very important for improving overall growth of an organisation. In this context, it is necessary for ibis hotel to implement various changes in their working environment in accordance with their customer's reviews. It require more funds to manage these business activities but it also helps in providing products and services to their customers in accordance with their needs and requirement. Through these changes, it will helps ibis in achieving satisfaction form their customers and also in improving their customer reach in a competitive business environment.

It is essential for the chosen organisation ibis hotel to make certain changes in their existing business investment strategies in accordance with their customers review, which leads in making an effective organisation. In this research, there are some factor which should be taken into consideration while making changes in investment strategy of ibis hotel. According to the present research scenario, it will helps ibis hotel in providing quality products and services to their potential customer's and also to gain fresh customers in a business market (Upadhaya,  Munir and Blount, 2014).

As per the above observations, it is also necessary for ibis hotel to manage their employees turnover because effective and efficient workforce makes an organisation productive.  It has been mentioned in this research that certain changes should be made by ibis hotel in accordance with their customer feedback, which simultaneously affects employees turnover rate. It is important for ibis hotel to manage their employees turnover rate with these changes, which helps an organisation in creating an positive work environment and also in increasing their overall growth.

So this research, helps ibis hotel in making certain changes in their business environment,  which leads in improving their overall growth and also helps in making changes according to their customers review. For instance, previously ibis hotel is mainly focusing on its accommodation facilities only, but after implementing changes they give importance on every areas like providing quality food products. This will helps an organisation in finding their strength and weaknesses in a business market.      

Chapter 6: Reflection

From my opinion, it has been analyzed by me that customer review, feedback and complain are considered as the helpful element for business organization. I have also observed that every organization is required to perform operational activities in their possible outcome in order to satisfy its customer at highest level. I have used primary and secondary methodology to complete this research within the given time frame. It can be said that secondary research methodology was helpful for me to find out best possible outcome that will contribute in satisfying my overall aim and objective. While conducting this research my concern was to analyses overall hospitality industry by interacting with customers, users, employees or any other related person of the hotel.

This interaction have created on brief overview of the same industry in front of me so that I can meet desired result or outcome. Apart from this, I have faced various problems by the respondents end as they were not giving true respond to my question which have  misguided me getting true result for main purpose of research that is  analyze the effectiveness of identifying customer review, complaints and feedback for making improvement in everyday business operations. Along with this, I have also observed that there were many people who have support me for the same research as they were personally feeling that customer review and feedback is a beneficial technique that is helpful for user itself as there are possible chances that they will receive good quality services in future.

Conclusion

From the above specified research report, it has been concluded that customer review, feedback and complaints plays essential role in the growth of company as it helps in understanding actual products and services of company which can be further modified effectively. It has been observed that organisation can easily improve its products and services by identifying their weak areas. These weak sectors can be modified according to the requirement of customers as well as users who feels something wrong while using same services. In relation to hospitality industry, it has been analysed that customer review plays an essential role in growth of every hotel and or any other organisation belongs to same industry.

This can be said that companies deals in this industry can take customer review as an opportunity which helps them in finding out expectation of customers from feedback sources along with there like and dislikes about present services. As a result, with the help of these reviews and reflection of customer experiences hospitality sector are beneficial for improving their reliability of services. This will ultimately contribute in the growth of the company. In addition to this, it can be said that main factors by which can be used for improving business operations are Management Commitment, Time and Resources etc. as both of these factors are considered as the most essential one which helps in increasing  profitability of the company as well.  It can be said that effective utilization of time and resources are helpful for company in increasing their profitability ratio. As a result, they can utilize available resources and modify their existing work according to it only.

Apart from this, researcher have used both the primary and secondary methods of data collection in order to conduct and an effective research for finding out appropriate research result. In primary methodology, questionnaire have been used by researcher whereas, for secondary data researcher have used books, Journals, magazines, newspaper, online articles. It has been analyzed that that primary methodology have contributed in gathering true information from respondents that were 30 in numbers. According to this method, by collecting information from respondents face to face, these people gives true info that is based on their own experience. Along with this, for collecting secondary data researcher have used online articles, books, journals as all of them includes thoughts of other researcher or people who have thought for same thing in their previous records. It has been observed that with the help of secondary data only researcher was able to complete whole research in their selected time frame.

References

• Oakland, J. S., 2014. Total quality management and operational excellence: text with cases. Routledge.
• Assimakopoulos and et. al., 2015. Online reviews as a feedback mechanism for hotel CRM systems. Anatolia. 26(1). pp.5-20.
• Faed and et. al., 2016. Intelligent customer complaint handling utilising principal component and data envelopment analysis (PDA). Applied Soft Computing. 47. pp.614-630.
• Elnadi, M. and Shehab, E., 2015. Main enablers and factors for successful implementation of lean in product-service systems. International Journal of Agile Systems and Management. 8(3-4). pp.332-354.
• Stark, J., 2015. Product lifecycle management. In Product Lifecycle Management (Volume 1) (pp. 1-29). Springer, Cham.
• Faed, A.,  Hussain, O. K. and Chang,  E., 2014. A methodology to map customer complaints and measure customer satisfaction and loyalty. Service Oriented Computing and Applications. 8(1). pp.33-53.
• Srinivasan and et. al., 2016. Six Sigma through DMAIC phases: a literature review. International Journal of Productivity and Quality Management. 17(2). pp.236-257.
• Boyle, T., 2015. Health and safety: risk management. Routledge.

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