Entrepreneurial leadership and strategic marketing as a tool for customer satisfaction: practices from Gondar city Tourist Recommended Hotels, Ethiopia

Hotel industry has become one of the most profitable industries in the world and customer satisfaction has been identified as a key performance indicator in the industry. Therefore, the overall objective of this study was to examine the current status of customer satisfaction and major determinants contributing to customer satisfaction in the major tourist recommended hotels of Gondar City. SERVQUAL model was employed in the assessment of customer satisfaction and its determinants of the hotel. The data were collected using a questionnaire containing 7 questions based on 22 variables of the five dimensions of Tangibility, Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance and Empathy. Fifty both domestic and foreign customers of the hotel were randomly selected. The questionnaire also prepared for among hotel staffs that were on operational level and the interview with managerial level staff were conducted to enrich the findings. Data were analyzed using simple table, percentage, pie chart and bar chart. Customers seemed to have perceived the same service differently. Customers’ expectations had been influenced by their knowledge about general standards of hotel practices. Majority of the customers expressed their satisfaction with the overall service they received from the hotel regarding all dimension Tangibility, Responsiveness Reliability, Empathy and Assurance. It was note-worthy that a minority that is 13% of customers felt overall dissatisfied with the service of the hotel. Findings also revealed that the most significant determinants of the customers’ satisfaction were service quality, fairness of price and customers perceived value, while customers’ expectations and service features are less significant determinants of customers’ satisfaction.