Hotel Managers' Perception Toward Relationship Marketing: a Case Study of Antalya

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to 1) asses hotel managers' perception towards relationship marketing (RM) in Turkey's lodging industry; 2) asses if there is a GAP between hotel managers' perception towards importance and performance of RM applications in Turkey's lodging industry; 3) identify the relationship between hotel managers' perception towards RM and hotel properties' characteristics and hotel managers' demographics; 4) identify the impact of hotel managers' perception towards RM performance on likelihood of using RM; likelihood of recommendation of RM; and, likelihood of continuing use of RM; 5) explore if there is an impact of likelihood of continuing use of RM and familiarity with customer relationship management (CRM) on likelihood of implementing CRM in the future; 6) asses the relationship between the importance and performance of RM and hotels' property characteristics; and 7) asses the relationship between the importance and performance of RM and hotel managers' demographics. A descriptive cross-sectional research design was used for this study and a structured-undisguised questionnaire survey conducted. The target population of this study was 4 and 5 star hotel and resort hotel managers in Antalya and its surrounding regions in Turkey. Importance-performance analysis (IPA), multiple regression and ANOVA were employed for the data analysis. The findings supported that there was an I-P gap in hotel managers' perception towards the importance and performance of relationship marketing. The research also showed that most hotel managers were not aware of CRM. Younger managers and the managers with a higher level of education were more aware of the newer technologies, such as RM and CRM. Managers of relatively smaller and mostly independent establishments were less aware of RM and CRM. The managers who thought highly about the importance of RM were also the ones that performed better at practicing it. To be successful in this competitive marketplace, the lodging industry should perform what they think is important to build and maintain better relationships with their customers. The programs need to be designed to make the lodging industry more aware and better knowledgeable about RM and CRM.