Gaps in guests' and managers' perceptions of the marketing strategies of four and five star hotels in Kenya

Abstract

This study assessed guests’ and managers’ perceptions of the extent to which the marketing strategies of four and five star hotels in Kenya addressed the factors which influence the guests’ purchase decisions. The research question answered was “what are guests’ and managers’ perceptions of the marketing strategies of the hotels?”. Adopting a survey and as the second phase of a three phase mixed methods sequential exploratory design, questionnaires were self-administered to a convenient sample of one hundred and two managers and one hundred and ninety eight guests. Four gaps in guests’ and managers’ perceptions of the marketing strategies of the hotels were explored. The first gap analysis compared guests’ expectations and perceptions. The second gap analysis compared managers’ expectations and perceptions. The third gap analysis compared managers’ and guests’ perceptions. Meanwhile, the last gap analysis compared managers’ and guests’ expectations. The data was therefore analysed using Mann Whitney and Wilcoxon signed rank tests. The results showed that there were some gaps in managers’ and guests’ expectations and perceptions of the marketing strategies of the hotels thus indicating that the respondents had positive and negative perceptions of the marketing strategies.