THE MARKETING PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS OF FIVE STAR HOTEL IN ENUGU METROPOLIS (A CASE STUDY OF NIKE LAKE RESORT HOTEL ENUGU)

ABSTRACT

This study focuses on the marketing problems and prospects of five star hotel in Enugu Metropolis “ case study of Nike Lake Resort Hotel”.

The main purpose was to find out among other things the followings:

-                      To examine if the promotional strategies used by the hotel lead to increase in customer awareness.

-                      To determine if the quality of services rendered by the hotel will lead to a bright future for the company.

-                      The population of the study comprises the customers and the management and relevant staff of Nike Lake Resort Hotel. The researcher used Topman’s formular to determine the sample size of the customers and census was also used for the staff of Nike Lake Resort Hotel.

-                      A structured questionnaire was developed and administered by he researcher to 288 respondents comprising the customers and management and relevant staff of the organisation.

-                      Chi-square was used to test the four hypothesis formulated, based on the study carried out, the following findings were made.

-                      That customers are not satisfied with the charges for services of the hotel.

-                      That the services of Nike Lake Hotel are readily available to their customers.

-                      That customers not withstanding the charges are satisfied with the services rendered.

-                      Based on the findings, the researcher made the following recommendations.

-                      That Nike Lake Resort Hotel should make their charges affordable to their customers in order to make more returns for the hotel.

-                      And also they should appreciate the need for the use of effective promotional strategies.

-                      The government on their part should provide a scheme to help Hotel to obtain funds if necessary in order to encourage tourism.

-                      The researcher strongly believes that these recommendations will help to achieve the desired goals if properly applied and co-ordinated by the parties concerned.

TABLE OF CONTENT

CHAPTER ONE

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY                        

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM                                             

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY                  

FORMULATION OF HYPOTHESIS                                 

SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY                                             

SCOPE OF THE STUDY                             

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY               

DEFINITION OF TERMS                           

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW                                         

MARKETING OF SERVICE AN OVERVIEW    

CUSTOMERS BEHAVIOUR AND MOTIVATION IN THE HOTEL MARKETING                                      

EFFECTS OF COMPETITION ON THE MARKETING OF HOTEL OPERATIONS/SERVICES                               

THE MARKETING PROBLEMS OF NIKE LAKE RESORT HOTEL21

BUSINESS FACILITIES LEISURE FACILITIES CARE

HIRE AND BOATING SERVICES IN THE HOTEL OPERATIONS

CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY                             

SOURCE OF DATA COLLECTION                                  

POPULATION OF STUDY                                                 

DETERMINATION OF SAMPLE SIZE                            

SAMPLING TECHNIQUES                                                           

RESEARCH INSTRUMENT                                                           

DISTRIBUTION OF QUESTIONNAIRES                        

METHOD OF DATA ANALYSIS                          

CHAPTER FOUR

PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND

INTERPRETATION OF DATA                                          

PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND

INTERPRETATION OF DATA                                                      

TESTING OF HYPOTHESIS                                              

CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION                                                              

SUMMARY OF FINDING                                      

RECOMMENDATIONS                                                      

 CONCLUSION                                                                   

BIBLIOGRAPHY/APPENDIX                                           

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

In the 17^th century when farming was regarded as the main occupation in Nigeria, farmers go to the farm in the morning, at evening they will gather in the village square eat, drink, rest and plan how the next days farming would be.

This gave rise to people building small houses or huts outside their main houses to contain visitors who may be travelling and needing a place to rest.

As time went on we started having caravans, people will build it or install it for travelers to lodge before proceeding on their journey.

As development started coming in with the coming of the “whites”, mini hotels started coming up and travelers started making use of them, only for sleeping accommodation.

Since this is the case, five start hotels were built for travelers to tell comfortable and to be sure that none of their food will be skipped in terms of breakfast, lunch or diner.

Nike Lake Resort Hotel was built in Enugu State. Hotel business is a potential foreign exchange earner if well harnessed in respect of these the Enugu-State government in their quest to reap the fruit of the hotel business summoned for the establishment of five star hotels, first of its kind east of the Niger, on the 6^th day of February 1988, Nike Lake Resort Hotel was formally commissioned as five star hotel by the then Chief of general staff and minister of defense Ltd General Sani Abacha.

Nike Lake Resort Hotel Limited belong to the hotel sector in the state economy which witnessed an uproar of problems since its establishment as a result of the poor condition of the economy, neglect by the government, insufficient power supply and employment discrimination.

These problems mentioned are not only facing Nike Lake Resort Hotel alone but does parade as a syndrome to the other entire five star hotel. They encounter the greatest form of instability both in structure and in output. This goes along to explain the unsteady setting and management of hotel industry.

The effects of many hotels and cut-throat competition in the hotel industry have equally called for various strategies to be used by the hotel involved, such as heavy promotional effort in form of advertisement and publicity etc.

Dwindling and deteriorating economy in Enugu has drastically reduced per capital income of an average Nigerian, leading to their concentration on basic necessities of life, such as food, shelter and clothing. If one looks closer at some of these hotel industries, one may discover that some of the strategies are wholesome and helpful to marketing bodies of these hotels, while some are inefficient and run counter to the appeals and objectives of the industry. An example of an inefficient strategy as regards promotion is where a half-nude girl is shown on the television screen attending to customers  in the hotel. The objective may be to attract the attention of the target market, though very discouraging especially in the Christian faith.

A fire star hotel is vital in every society because it helps for rapid development in technology and social fields.

Nike Lake Resort Hotel happens to be the best leader in the hotel industries in Enugu, although the company enjoys leadership position, its life is not altogether easy. Some hotels keep challenging its strength while other hotels try to take advantage of its weakness.

Since the conception Nike Lake Resort Hotel, it ensures to attain the motives of its establishment and also emulate the activities of other five star hotels because marketing is a delicate part of the business that has to be planned very well and implemented so as to achieve organisational goal and to make sure that customers are satisfied with the product or service rendered by the business organisation. In other words, hotel business deals with customer satisfaction before its organisational goal can be achieved. Hotel business will have to be marketing oriented and customers’ satisfaction should be the topmost priority of the hotel.

In view of the importance of hotel in the provision of the economy and the needs to better the service in the hotel, the researcher takes a critical look at the problems and prospects of five star hotel in Enugu metropolis with special interest on Nike Lake Resort Hotel Enugu.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

Some barriers prompt this research:

i.                    Nike Lake Resort Hotel was met with serious competition after its conception as regards to the other five star hotels that entered the market.

ii.                  Nike Lake Resort Hotel  encountered poor condition of economy, neglect by the government, insufficient power supply, employment discrimination and instability in output.

iii.                More so, Nigeria is currently experiencing economic depression, high inflation and complete devaluation of its currency.

These bad situation have adversely affected the target market, thus hotels are seen as luxuries. Nike Lake Resort Hotel inspite of the economic instability should strive to meet the demand of the customer, though while they are on this situation will as well encounter several problems. This study attempts to make recommendations, statement of problems and corrections of the problems and corrections of the problem confronted during the research.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The objectives of the study are to evaluate the past and present marketing problems and prospects in the hotel services.

Nike Lake Resort Hotel and from the analysis determine the following.

i.                    To find out the problems facing the five star hotels in Enugu metropolis.

ii.                  To observe if the type of services used by the hotel to their customer are readily available to their customers.

iii.                To determine whether the charges for services rendered by Nike Lake lead to increase returns.

iv.                To determine if the services adopted by Nike Lake Resort Hotel are available to their customer.

v.                  To examine if the quality of services provided by Nike Lake will lead to a bright future for the hotel.

vi.                And also to find out if the promotional strategies used by Nike Lake leads to increase to customer awareness.

FORMULATION OF HYPOTHESIS

1.                  The promotional strategies used by Nike Lake Resort Hotel in Enugu do not lead to increase in customer’s awareness. The promotional strategies used by Nike Lake Resort Hotel Enugu lead to increase in customer’s awareness.

2.                  The quality of services provided by Nike Lake Resort Hotel Enugu will not lead to a bright future for the company.

3.                  The charges for services rendered by Nike Lake Resort Hotel does not lead to increased returns. The charges for service rendered by Nike Lake Resort Hotel lead to increased returns.

4.                  The services of Nike Lake Resort Hotel are not readily available to their customers. The services of Nike Lake Resort Hotel are readily available to their customers.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study is significant because it helps in identifying the major areas of strength and weaknesses in the marketing operations of five star hotels in Enugu Metropolis.

This research work will be of great importance to the reader who wants to be acquanted with the services rendered by the hotel especially in Enugu Metropolis.

It will also be a source of reference material to a researcher who is carrying out research work related to this topic.

Moreso, the researcher and other scholars will be highly enlightened by the new discoveries contained in this study. This project will assist future researcher who may indicate interest in areas related to this subject matter.

The management of Nike Lake Resort Hotel and other five star hotels will benefit from the implications of this study as major marketing problems facing them as well as marketing prospects awaiting them will be fully x-rayed and then highlighted with recommendations made.

Five star hotels control a major shares of the hotel industry and as such have major impact on the aggregate economy.

This study as such will interest our national economic planners and organisations concerned with business of hospitality and tourism.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This simply means the areas where the researcher is expected to cover. The scope of this study is very wide if it has to be carried out in all the five star hotels in Nigeria due to time and other circumstance beyond the researcher. The researcher work is limited only at Enugu Metropolis. And the research is concentrated more on Nike Lake Resort Hotel.

DEFINITION OF TERMS

This means that some terms which feature in this work required some explanations.

1.                  Lake Limousine: These are the hiring services, which the hotel conducts for their customers (Hotel and management approach, 1986:106).

2.                  Banquet Halls: These are halls which the hotel rent to their target market for activities such as wedding ceremonies, seminars and other related parties (Hotel and management approach 1986:256).

3.                  Caravans: These are small houses or huts built and installed for travelers to lodge before proceeding on their journey (Guide to Hotel workbook 1980:201).

4.                  Syndrome: An act of habitual persistence towards something in existence (Macmillan Dictionary, 1979).

5.                  Prospect: This means a person or institution who will benefit from your product or service and can afford to buy or pay for it (Adirika, Ebue and Nnolim, 123).

6.                  Five star Hotel: A mark of quality that tells how good the place is.