Hotel Abakash is a state-owned hotel in Dhaka, Bangladesh that has been operating since 1947. It has 35 rooms across 4 floors and provides American breakfast and continental or Chinese options for lunch and dinner. However, the hotel lacks modern amenities like a pool, gym, or transportation services. Customer research revealed gaps between expectations and perceptions of the hotel's facilities, food quality, safety, and other services. To improve, the hotel needs to upgrade its facilities, train staff, and implement better customer relationship and service recovery practices.

1. Report on
HOTEL ABAKASH

2. Report on
HOTEL ABAKASH
Course: Service Marketing (MKT 431)
Instructor: Dr. Mohammed Tareque Aziz,
Associate Professor & Head of Operations, BRAC Business
School.
Submitted by
1. 12204027 Mehedi Hasan Rana
2. 12304075 Faiyaz Bin Rahman
3. 13104099 Md. Jubair Ahmed Hridoy
4. 13104117 Ashrafur Rahman Shemanto
5. 13104130 Sazia Afrin
6. 13104139 Sajid Ishtiaque
7. 13104145 Mir Istiak Ahmed
8. 13104147 Mahfuzur Rahman
9. 13104194 Didar Hossain Dip
10 13304010 Rubaiyat Tabassum
11. 13304020 Shahdat Hossain Tanzil
12. 13304062 Fahmid Ahmed Chowdhury
13. 14104180 Layas Bin Amin
14. 14204119 Khandakar Ashikur Rahman
Date: August 1, 2016

3. Table of Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................1
Literature Review ........................................................................................3
The GAPS model of service quality...........................................................4
Consumer behavior in services...................................................................9
Customer expectations of services...........................................................13
Perception about Hotel Abakash: ............................................................16
Listening to Customers through Research...............................................21
Building Customer Relationship:..............................................................35
Service Recovery: ......................................................................................39
Service Development and Design ............................................................45
Integrated Marketing Communication:....................................................50
Way forward for Hotel Abakash..............................................................57
Conclusion:................................................................................................60

4. 1 | P a g e
Introduction
‘Hotel Abakash’ which is a state owned hotel inaugurated its journey in 1947 and
currently, run by Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation (Bangladesh Tourism
Corporation). It serves both the national and foreign tourists.
The main hotelbuilding is four-storied; consisting of 35 rooms (22 relax rooms and
13 standard rooms).On first floor, it has reception hall while third and fourth floor
accommodate training facilities for National and Tourism Board.
Despite being located in a major commercialzone of capital city Dhaka and run by
governmentto facilitate tourism in Bangladesh, Hotel Abakash can be regarded far
from being even a good quality hotel. Even many of the local visitors have shared
bad reviews about this hotel specially, with the quality of treatments they receive.
Although a hefty rent of Tk.2,200 (approx. $28)has to be paidfora day forstandard
rooms but there is no freezer available in the rooms. Deluxe rooms have most of
the modern facilities like internet, ISD telephone, air conditioner and freezer and
thereby, a rent of Tk. 3000 (approx. $40) is charged for each day. (Online Dhaka
Guide, 2016)
Unlike many other hotels run by government or Bangladesh Parjatan, ‘Hotel
Abakash’ has no transport facility of its own to provide to the both national and
foreign guests to visit various places nor has any facility to receive guests from
airport. So, one has to take the hustles of arranging his own transport which may
come as an awful surprise for the foreign visitors.
The hotel provides American breakfast and guests have the option to choose from
Continental and Chinese foods for lunch and dinner; guests can also enjoy local

5. 2 | P a g e
fruits as well. The restaurant has noseparate facilities forboarders andnon-boarders,
all gets the same quality service. Food cost is not included in the rent for room, one
has to pay it separately.
Foreign tourists seeking for a swimming pool, a gym or a health club, tennis court
or even a squash court will be highly disappointed as HotelAbakash only caters to
need of resting and of food. Therefore, it cannot be regarded as an ideal place to
receive the hospitality of Dhaka.

6. 3 | P a g e
Literature Review
This research paper is written with a view to find out the customer GAP and to
minimize the GAP by building customer relationship.
Initially, a survey was conducted based on customer expectation and perception to
find out what actually the customers think about Hotel Abakash. Customers
response helped us to carry the research paper into a new dimension of analysis.
Throughout the paper, we tried to explain and analyze what customer expectation
and perception is. Furthermore, emphasized has been given on GAP analysis and
finding out similar situations going through hotel industries.
After proper analysis of the survey result, SQI has been determined. Much effort
has been given on service development and design of Hotel Abakash. Moreover,
effective campaign has been designed for IMC and the way of implementation has
been shown.Above all, way forward part was specially designed for Hotel Abakash
so that they can really come out of their limitations and build a strong customer
relationship.

7. 4 | P a g e
The GAPS model of service quality
(coster,2009)The customergap is the differencebetweencustomer expectations and
customerperceptions.Customerexpectation is what the customerexpects according
to available resources and is influenced by cultural background, family lifestyle,
personality, demographics, advertising, experience with similar products and
information available online. Customer perception is totally subjective and is based
on the customer’s interactionwith theproductorservice. Perception is derived from
the customer’s satisfaction of the specific product or service and the quality of
service delivery.
(AbuKhalifeh, 2012) studied hotelservice quality with the help of SERVQUAL and
found when customers perceive a higherservice quality, they will ultimately turn into
a loyal guest of a specific service quality provided such as the F&B department, and
secondly,guests may have highersatisfactionlevel.Theapplicationofthismodelbyhotels
canbringsuccessforfoodandbeveragedepartmentstoachievehighservicequalitywhichhasa
direct effect on satisfaction levelof guests.
Thedegreeofexpectation&perceptiontowards service quality of Hotels was set from 1 to 5 .
5 denotesthehighestexpectation/perception,whereas,1is thelowest expectation/perception).
In addition following criteria is used for analysis part:-
The score among 1.00-1.79 mean lowest expectation/perception
The score among 1.80-2.59 mean low expectation/perception
The score among 2.60-3.39 mean average expectation/perception
The score among 3.40-4.19 mean high expectation/perception
The score among 4.20-5.00 mean highest expectation/perception

8. 5 | P a g e
Attributes Level of Expectation Level of Perception GAP
Mean Level Mean Level
Surrounding area of
the hotel 4.13 High 3.53 High -0.6
Room space 4.5 Highest 3.67 High -0.83
Interiors/decoration
of the rooms 4.4 Highest 3.16 Average -1.24
Hygiene factors,
washroom facilities 4.9 Highest 4.12 High -0.78
Room services 4.37 Highest 4.1 High -0.27
Comparison
between room fare
and room facilities 4.93 Highest 3.2 Average -1.73
Ambience of the
restaurant 4.33 Highest 2.83 Average -1.5
Quality of food 4.87 Highest 4.13 High -0.74
Delivery timing of
food 4.67 Highest 3.23 Average -1.44
Comparison
between food
quality and price
charged 4.76 Highest 2.67 Average -2.09
Safety and security 4.97 Highest 1.15 Lowest -3.82
Help from the hotels
online resources 4.63 Highest 1.47 Lowest -3.16
Hotels telephone
help desk 4.45 Highest 3.27 Average -1.18
Average 4.61 Highest 3.12 Average
Surrounding area of the hotel

9. 6 | P a g e
There is a gap between the expectation and perception of the surrounding area of
the hotel.However,the gap is negative(-.06)andis less compared to otherattributes.
A similar gap is also found in a research conductedin some tourism centered hotels
in the city of Natal in Brazil (Domingos Fernandes campos, Jan-Jun 2012). The
average of those hotels gap was (-.31).
Hygiene factors, washroom facilities
The differences between expectation and perception shows that there exist a
negative gap (-.78).That means customers are not satisfied with the hygiene factors.
Similarly, tourism centered hotels of Brazil are also going through a similar situation
(Domingos Fernandes campos,Jan-Jun 2012). A negative gap of (-.34) is observed.
However, if we look at the cleanliness of "Hotel of Udaipur" we can see the gap is
positive 0.27 which means they are successful in satisfying their customers
expectation (Dharmesh Motwani, May,2013).
Comparison between room fare and room facilities
The difference in the expectationand perception in respect of room fare and room
service is negative (-1.73). A very similar scenario is found in the luxury hotels of
Natal city, Brazil. They have a negative gap of (-1.93) in room fare and customers
expectation about the fare (Domingos Fernandes campos, Jan-Jun 2012).
Ambience of the restaurant
Kotler (1973) defined physical environment as the conscious design of space to
create certain effects in buyers to enhance purchase likelihood. Therefore, a negative
gap (-1.5) found in this criteria is not at all expected.
Delivery timing of food
The expectation and perception difference regarding proper delivery time of food
shows a negative gap value (-1.44). We can relate this with the criteria “Hotelgiving
service at promised time”. While relating we found that hospitality industry in the
Western tourism circuit of Kenya has figured out a negative gap of -0.78 (Antoneta
Njeri Kariru, January,2014).

10. 7 | P a g e
Safety and security
The differences between expectationand perception is highly negative (-3.82). This
scenario is similar to the scenario of Hotels in Cyprus found from a survey. Where
it shows the gap is negative (-1.44) (Christou Loizos, 1/1/2005).
Help from the hotels online resources
The gap found in this variable is also highly negative (-3.16). On the contrary,
tourism based hotels of Brazil are providing good service in this sector. They have a
positive gap of 0.48 (Domingos Fernandes campos, Jan-Jun 2012)
Hotels telephone help desk
If we consider the front desk or the telephone help desk service we will find a
negative gap of (-1.18). Whereas, tourism based hotels of Natal city has a gap of -
0.00 (Domingos Fernandes campos, Jan-Jun 2012). That means, Hotel Abakash
which is also a tourism based hotel, need to emphasize on service upgradation of
their front desk.
To improve the performance of hotels. (Kumar, 2011)suggested hotels to focus
more on tangibles e.g. they must introduce wi-fi facility which is a necessity today,
swimming pool,healthclub, more entertainmentfacilities etc. Hotels must have well
trained groomed and reliable staff. This will help the hotels to focus better on the
other dimensions.
To sum up, the overall service quality of Hotel Abakash is not at all satisfactory.
Negative gapis found in every variable. Continuing such service may result in serious
quality fall and customers may not feel attracted to stay here.
References

11. 8 | P a g e
Abu Khalifeh, S. (2012). Service Quality Management in Hotel Industry:
AConceptualFramework forFoodand Beverage Departments. International journalof
Business and Management, 135-141.
Antoneta Njeri Kariru, C. A. (January,2014). Customers’ perceptions and
expectations of service quality in hotels in western tourism circuit,kenya. Journal of
Research in Hospitality, Tourism and Culture Vol.2(1)pp.1-12,January,2014, 8.
Christou Loizos, I. I. (1/1/2005). A Customer's Expectation and Perception of
Hotel Service Quality in Cyprus. Hospitality review volume 23/Issue 2, 50.
coster, N. (2009, July 08). Brainrants. Retrieved from
https://www.brainmates.com.au:https://www.brainmates.com.au/brainrants/the-
customer-service-gap-model
Dharmesh Motwani, D. D. (May,2013). CUSTOMER EXPECTATION AND
PERCEPTION IN HOTELS: AN EMPIRICALSTUDY. Intercontinental Journal of
Marketing Research Review, 5-9.
Domingos Fernandes campos, T. G. (Jan-Jun 2012). PERCEPTIONS OF
QUALITYAND EXPECTATIONS OF HOTEL SERVICES. Journal of Operations
and Supply Chain Management 5 (1), 13.
Kumar, B. (2011).An assesment of service quality of Hotel Industry. Pacific Business
Review International, 13-30.

12. 9 | P a g e
Consumer behavior in services
“Miracles happen when the intention is Love” said by an actress Daniela Nikolova.
Customers need to feel loved and it makes them loyal towards any business. So, for
building the loyalty, every business organization should be able to understand the
consumer behavior while they are buying, consuming or disposing any particular
service (Importance of consumer behavior to business managers marketing essay,
2016).
Consumerreact to the stimuligiven to them andthus they make decisionandbehave
according to that ("The Black Box ModelDefinition | MarketingDictionary | MBA
Skool-Study.Learn.Share.", 2016). To understand consumer behavior the first
challenge is to know how the consumers look and define the service. However, time
is the biggest factor while they are defining service quality.
There are three ways of defining service quality- search, experience and credence.
For Hotel Abakash consumers define the service quality as both search and
experience quality. Although only 20% of the consumers have defined this as search
qualities because they were selected this hotel to stay based on the price range.
According to the Resident Manager A.N.M. Zeaul Karim, 80% consumers come
here based on their past experience. After scrutinizing past records, it can be said
that consumers of Abakash mostly prefer this hotel because they think the service
they are getting is okay according to what they are paying. However, it is not that
they are very much happy with the service but they are also not fully pleased with it.

13. 10 | P a g e
Service Mechanism of Hotel Abakash
Hotel Abakash is a service provider organization, started its journey in 1984. It has
no branches. It provides lodging, meal and guest services.
Xsdsdsds
Table: Service mechanism
Consumer decision making process
Information search: Consumers tend to search information before any service
purchase. The consumers of Hotel Abakash can be divided into two:
1. Local
2. International/foreign
Most of the local customers come to know about this hotel from their friends &
family and colleagues. Among the local many consumers are government officials
and thus they preferthis hotel. Foreign guests, book this hotelthrough theirwebsite
and telephone. Some of them are regular customers of Abakash.
Evaluation of service alternatives: In this stepa consumertries to evaluate several
alternatives according to his need. Those who come to this hotel mostly come
Resident
Manager
Assistant
Executive
(Resident)
Assistant
Executive
(Restaurant)
Assistant
Executive
(Front
Office)
Assistant
Executive
(Bakery)
Executive
(Front
Office)
Executive
(Restaurant)
Executive
(Resident)
Executive
(Bakery)
Staffs
(Cooks)
Staffs
(Bakery)
Staffs
(Restaurant)
Staffs
(Room
service)
Staffs
(Others)

14. 11 | P a g e
because of Parjatan. This is situated in Mohakhali area which is known as a
commercial area. This is also reason why consumers prefer to stay here.
How they actually experience services: This is the most crucial step for any
business organization. We have found many errors here. Consumers have
complained about many problems what they have experienced while taking the
service. Water leakage from air condition, slow wifi connection, late room service,
and lack of workers is the most common problems we have found from our
research.
User friendly: From the visitor’s book of Hotel Abakash, we have seen that some
customers want lounge facilities where they will drink coffee and do some business
discussions.Moreover,we have seen that the website of Abakash is hard to find. It
has its website under Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation though we did not find any
complain from the customers.Additionally, the food menu for dinner and lunch is
not very friendly since most of them are based on prior order.
Fault Free:From the visitor’s book we have encountered that many of the consumers
are complaining about the service. Although sometimes it’s fault free but most of
the time consumers are used to encounter faults. For example, one visitor
complained that he ordered coffee in his room but unfortunately he got the coffee
cold. Moreover, an adequate number of guests complained about air condition
problem, slow wifi connection and mosquito problem.
Customer’s mood and emotion: Although hotel Abakash has some major problems for
delivering services; still they try to understand their guests’ emotion. There was a
recent case where a family couldn’t pay their room price on the due time so the
authority extended their time considering their financial problem.
Post experience behavior: All the activities and behavior which follow purchases
are called post purchase behavior. It includes whether the consumer will return,
become loyal, become word of mouth or not. In our survey we have asked (those
who have stayed in the hotel) whether they will recommend this hotelto others or
not. Only 40% of the respondents said that they are going to recommend.

15. 12 | P a g e
We have noticed a strangebehavioramongthe consumers. Many of themare visiting
this hotel for several times. However, they are not fully happy with the service
Abakash is providing. From the visitor’s book we have detected some of this type
customer.They are positively biased about Hotel Abakash. Often they give opinion
on service development and constructive idea.
It is true that Hotel Abakash has a good number of loyal customers. However, the
arrival of new consumers is not appreciable. 93.33% of the consumers come here
for business purpose.So for them a coffee lounge is more important. Since it is the
CommercialUnit of Bangladesh Parjatan and Bangladesh ParjatanCorporationis a
statutory board underthe Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism of Bangladesh.,it
has an appealto the localas well as foreign people. (Bangladesh ParjatanCorporation
Wikipedia, 2016)
References:
1. Importance Of Consumer Behavior. (n.d.). Retrieved July 30, 2016, from
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/marketing/importance-of-consumer-
behaviour-to-business-managers-marketing-essay.php
2. The Black Box ModelDefinition | Marketing Dictionary | MBA Skool-
Study.Learn.Share.(n.d.).Retrieved July 30, 2016, from
http://www.mbaskool.com/business-concepts/marketing-and-strategy-
terms/11419-the-black-box-model.html
3. Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation. (n.d.). Retrieved July 30, 2016, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangladesh_Parjatan_Corporation

16. 13 | P a g e
Customer expectations of services
“The first step in exceeding your customer’s expectations is to know those
expectations.” Roy Hollister Williams, So, in our survey we are tried to detect the
expectationof consumerof hotelAbakash. We are identified 13 attributes forhotel
Abakash and ask consumers give numbers (1 to 5, 1 =very bad, 5=very good) about
their expectation. Our average findings are given below-
Our Survey
Assessment of
Customer
Satisfaction in a
Five Star Hotel
Services - A Case
Study
(W. M. K. K. Karunaratne
and L. N. A. C.
Jayawardena1
Postgraduate Institute of
Agriculture
University of Peradeniya
Peradeniya, Sri Lanka)
Tangibility Attributes
Expectation
of
Customers
Expectation of
Customers
Attractiveness(external) 4.13 4.6
Internaldecorations 4.40 4.4
Staff appearance &
tidiness/hygiene factor 4.90 4.7
Reliability
Timely accommodation 4.67 4.9
Room delivered to customers 4.37 4.9
Room space 4.50
Room service 4.37
Responsiveness Helps from the hotelonline
service 4.63
Ambience of the restaurant 4.33
Assurance
Price of service 4.93 4.8
Compare between food
quality and price charged 4.76
Effort done by staff for
security 4.97 4.9
Empathy Staff availability 4.45 4.9
Over all mean 4.61

17. 14 | P a g e
Average scores of servicequantity expectationwith compareto otherresearch
and study found
The overall mean score of expectation level for the selected 13 attributes for our
study on hotel Abakash was 4.61 which clearly indicate that customer have rather
high expectation from its service as hotel Abakash is a part of Bangladesh Tourism
Corporation, customer expecting service as other four and five star situated in
Bangladesh. The same thing also find in a research in Thailand(Hotel Customer
Expectations of Service: A Provincial Analysis of Family Business in Chiangmai,
Thailand (Phusit Wonglorsaichon and RawidaWiriyakitjar(2013).p.8) shows that
customers expected a hotel to provide products and services equivalent to other
competitors. In our survey we detect that consumer is giving high expectation on
staff appearance and tidiness/hygiene, staff service and security factor of the hotel.
The same thing also find in a research (GehlenMarodin,T.(2012), Perceptions of
Quality and Expectations of Hotel Services,Volume 5,Number 1 ,( January -
June 2012).).p.92). that quality of staff service, safety installations, service in the
allotted time, problem solving and cleanliness, were considered to be amongst the
most importantattributes by the guests. In oursurvey we are asking about “were the
hotel staff polite and willing to help” hare we find out that 100 percent customer
expect that always hotel staff will ready for the help. The same also find out in a
study (customerexpectationand perception in hotels: an empiricalstudy (Dharmesh
motwani(assistant professor, pacific business school, Udaipur)(Dr. Devendra
shrimali(associate professor, pacific business school, Udaipur)(may,2013).p.7). they
are asking “Employees of the hotelnevertoo busy to respond to customers request”
and find out average score 4.7(out of 5). So, we can say that in hotel service every
consumer want that always hotel staff will be ready for help. In our research we
observe that 66.7 percent customer expect swimming pool in hotel Abakash and
most of the consumer(63.33%) want that they will taken care of at the reception
within 2-3 minutes. The overall mean score and other expectation we revealin our

18. 15 | P a g e
study on hotel Abakash,clearly indicate that customerhave ratherhigh expectation
from its service as hotel Abakash is a part of Bangladesh Tourism Corporation.
Reference-
1. Dharmesh M.Dr. Devendra. S. (May, 2013). CustomerExpectation and
Perception in Hotels: An Empirical Study. Intercontinentaljournal of
Marketing research review, Volume 1, Issue 3. Retrieved from
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2435842.
2. Karunaratne W.M. K. K. and Jayawardena L. N. A. C.(2010), Assessment
of CustomerSatisfaction in a Five Star HotelServices - A Case Study, Vol.
21(3),258 – 265. Retrieved from
http://www.pgia.ac.lk/files/Annual_congress/journel/v21-3/258.pdf .
3. GehlenMarodin,T.(2012), Perceptions of Quality and Expectations of
Hotel Services, Volume 5,Number1 ,( January - June 2012). Retrieved
from
http://bibliotecadigital.fgv.br/ojs/index.php/joscm/article/download/913
1/824
4. Wonglorsaichon and Wiriyakitjar, J. (2013), HotelCustomerExpectations
of Service: A ProvincialAnalysis of Family Business in Chiangmai,
Thailand,(Tourism Res Hospitality 2013). Retrieved from
http://www.scitechnol.com/hotel-customer-expectations-of-service-a-
provincial-analysis-of-family-business-in-chiangmai-thailand-n3q9.pdf.

19. 16 | P a g e
Perception about Hotel Abakash:
Customerperception refers to how customers view a certain product based on their
own conclusions. While working with hotel Abakash, we selected thirteen service
variables because we tried to find exact customer perception on those selected
variables. We arranged a survey for finding out the real result of the customer
perception on Hotel Abakash. Here is the result of our survey findings:
Average scores of service quality perception:
Variables Scores/Results
Surroundings area of hotel 3.53
Room space 3.67
Interiors/Decorations of the
room
3.16
Hygiene factors and washroom
facilities
4.12
Room services 4.10
Comparison between room
fare and room facilities
3.20
Ambience of the restaurant 2.83
Quality of food 4.13
Delivery timings of food 3.23
Comparison between food
quality and price charged
2.67
Safety and security 1.15
Help from the hotels’ online
resources
1.47
Hotels’ telephone help desk 3.27

20. 17 | P a g e
Room services:
Among different service quality perception, it is found that roomservices perception
of the hotelAbakask is 4.10 where the expectationwas 4.37 whichare little bit higher
than perception. According to (Loizos & Lycourgos, 2005) “In their article it was
found that customerperception of room service in Cyprus is 2.16’’ (P. 50) which is
worse than Abakash in spite of being a developed countries’ hotel.
Interior/Decorations of rooms:
Customers experienced that the decorations of rooms of Abakash is 3.16 where the
expectationwas comparatively high that is 4.40. In the article (Loizos & Lycourgos,
A Customer's Expectation and Perception of Hotel in Cyprus, 2005) found that
customer perception about decorations of rooms is only 2.08.
Hygiene factors and washroom facilities:
Hygiene factors and cleanness is one of the most important variables for a hotel.
Our survey shows that the perception of hygiene factors of Abakash is 4.12 the
second highest score. We found almost same hygiene factors and cleanness in
Indians hotels that is 4.70. (MOTWANI & SHRIMALI, 2013)
Surrounding area of hotel:
Customerperception about surroundingarea of hotelis 3.53 whereas expectationis
4.13 in hotel Abakash. But in most of the of three star Serbian hotel customers
perception on surroundings area of hotel is 3.43 which is slightly differ from
Abakash. (BLEŠIŠ, IVKOV-DŢIGURSKI, STANKOV, STAMENKOVIŠ, &
Bradiš, 2009)
Room fare and facilities:
In Odisha a state of India,room fare and facilities is 3.112 according to the customer
perception. (Debasish & Dey, 2025). In Abakash room facilities and fare customer
perception is little bit varying with Odishas’ hotel perception that is 3.20 which is
better than Odishas.

21. 18 | P a g e
Room Space:
In hotelAbakash,customers’perception on room space is 3.67 out of 5. Therefore
it is noticed by researches t that in Mauritius hotels customers have almost identical
perception on room spaces that is 3.39 and difference only 0.28 where Mauritius is
economically strong than Bangladesh. (Ramseook-Munhurrun, Naidoo, & Lukea-
Bhiwajee, 2010)
Ambience of the restaurant
Ambience of the Abakash hotelis not so high. After our research we found the
mean,which is 2.83 out of 5. It is found that a hotelof Jordan that ambience of
the restaurant is more than Abakash, which are 4.48 (Abukhalifah, A. N. and Som, P. N.
(2014))
Quality of food
Delivering quality food should be the main target of every hotelmanagement. The
quality of the food of the hotelis up to average that is 4.13. A hotel of a Jordan it
is found that the mean of the quality of the food is 4.66. (Abukhalifah, A. N. and Som,
P. N. (2014)) that is almost similar to hotel Abakash.
Delivery timings of food
Delivery timing of the food (from order to its arrival) is below the average that is
3.23. If customerwait for the food for too many times they will get frustrated and
will not come back to that hotelanymore. We found this statement from a
Malaysian hotelmanagement.(Poon, W. C & Lock-Teng Low, K. (2005))
Comparison between food quality and price charged
In the hotelAbakash the pricing of the food is so high compare to the food
quality. In our survey we found the mean of this variable is 2.67, which is below
the average.We also found anothermean of this variable that is 4.2 of a hotel in
Petra.(Abukhalifah, A. N. and Som, P. N. (2014))
Safety and security
The safety and security is too poorin this hotel. From the perception of the people
we found the mean of this variable is 1.15 that means a great weakness of a hotel
managementlike Abakash,which is under Parjoton. In Malaysia there are many

22. 19 | P a g e
hotelwhich are managedby the fully security system. (Poon, W. C & Lock-Teng Low,
K. (2005))
Help from the hotels’ online resources
From our research methodology we found the online system of hotelAbakash is
very poor. The mean of this variable is 1.47 that is below the average. In the era of
upgraded technology,every hotelmanagement should improve their IT
departmentforgetting the highest satisfaction of the customers. (Law, R. and Hsu, C.
H.C. (2005)
Hotels’ telephone help desk
As like every hotelmanagementthis hotelalso have the telephone help desk. From
this help desk people found help when they have faced any kind of problem. This
variable also contains a mean,which is 3.27 and this mean is up to average of the
scale. In a research paper it is found that in China almost every hotel have the help
desk for the customerof the hotel. They also try to increase the IT sector to use
that for the help desk (Law, R. and Hsu, C. H.C. (2005).
References:
BLEŠIŠ, I., IVKOV-DŢIGURSKI, A., STANKOV, U., STAMENKOVIŠ, I., & Bradiš, M.
(2009). RESEARCH OF EXPECTED AND PERCEIVED SERVICE QUALITY IN
HOTEL MANAGEMENT. Journal of tourism, 5-13.
Christou Loizos, H. L. (2006). A Customer's Expectation and Perception of Hotel. Hospitality
Review, 1-14.
Debasish, D. S., & Dey, M. S. (2025). Customer Perceptions of Service Quality Towards Luxury
Hotels in Odisha Using Servqual Model. International Journal of Research in Business Studies
and Management, 1-9.
Loizos, C., & Lycourgos, H. (2005). A Customer's Expectation and Perception of Hotel in
Cyprus. Hospitality Review, 43-54.

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MOTWANI, D., & SHRIMALI, D. D. (2013). CUSTOMER EXPECTATION AND
PERCEPTION IN HOTELS: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY. INTERCONTINENTAL
JOURNAL OF MARKETING RESEARCH REVIEW, 1-13.
Ramseook-Munhurrun, P., Naidoo, P., & Lukea-Bhiwajee, S. D. (2010). MEASURING
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BUSINESS RESEARCH, 47-58.
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QUALITY IN LUXURY HOTELS IN PETRA AND AQABA, JORDAN AN
EXPLORATORY STUDY
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Tourism Research February 1992 vol. 16 no. 1 51-73
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Poon, W. C & Lock-Teng Low, K. (2005),"Are travellers satisfied with Malaysian hotels?",
International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 17 Iss 3 pp. 217 – 227

24. 21 | P a g e
Listening to Customers through Research
The main research instrument which we have used for measuring quality in service
of Hotel Abakash is the SERVQUAL model, developed by Parasuraman, Berry and
Zeithaml (1985; 1988). In this model, a level of agreement or disagreement with a
given attribute is measured on a Likert scale. The level of service quality is
determined by the gap between perceived and expected service. The SERVQUAL
model is based on five service quality dimensions, such as- i) tangibles (physical
facilities, equipment and personnelappearance), ii) reliability (ability to perform the
promised service dependably and accurately), iii) responsiveness (willingness to help
customers and provide prompt service), iv) assurance (knowledge and courtesy of
employees and their ability to gain trust and confidence) and lastly, v) empathy
(providing individualized attention to the customers).
Methodology
We had developed two sets of questionnaires- one set for guests’ perception and
another set was for the expectation level of potential guests. Hotel guests’
perceptions and expectations were measured with these questionnaires.
The questionnaires were developed on the basis of a literature review and adopted
to suit the specific features of the hotel setting that we had chosen to conduct our
study (Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry 1988; Zeithaml et al. 1990; Snoj and
Ogorelc 1998; Pizam and Ellis 1999; Markovic 2003). The questionnaire measured
guests’ perceptions/ expectation of hotel attributes using a modified SERVQUAL
model. Service quality perceptions were measured on a five-point Likert-type scale
ranging from 1 ‘strongly disagree’ to 5 ‘strongly agree.’
The original attributes of the SERVQUAL modelwere slightly modified to suit our
target organization settings. For example, instead of asking whether the ‘xyz

25. 22 | P a g e
Company has modern looking equipment,’ the questions were modified to
interrogate about ‘Room interiors, Washroom facilities.’ The original item whether
the ‘Guests feel safe in their transactions with employees’ was replaced by the
attribute whether ‘Guests feel safe and secure in their stay at the hotel.’ Moreover,
in order to measure attributes specific to the hotel environment, the following
attributes were added: ‘surrounding area,’ ‘availability of clear information,’ ‘variety
of facilities’ (Snoj and Ogorelc 1998), ‘clean and tidiness of the hotel,’ ‘feeling safe
and secure,’ and ‘typical service quality for hotel category’ (Markovic, 2003).
Target Population
The target population of our study was the guests who are already staying at Hotel
Abakash or just checking out from the hotel in order to get the knowledge of how
the experienced thehotel’s hospitality; plus, people who are planning to stay at Hotel
Abakash in near future who supplied us with their level of expectation from the
hotel. Hotel’s residentialmanageragreed to participate in the study. We were given
permission to administerthe questionnaires to guests during their hotelstay, and to
collect them after completion. We were able to collect data from 30 current guests
about their perception of the hotel and 30 potentialguests about their expectation
and this data collection process took almost more than a month time.
Results
Table 1: Demographic profile of the respondents
Respondents of Perception Questionnaire Respondents of Expectation Questionnaire
Gender Percentage
 Male …………………..…… 100%
 Female …………………….. 0%
Gender Percentage
 Male ………………………… 83.33%
 Female ……………………… 16.67%

26. 23 | P a g e
Purpose of Stay
 Business ………………….... 93.33%
 Pleasure ……………………. 6.67%
Purpose of Stay
 Business ……………………. 100%
 Pleasure …………………….. 0%
Country of Residence
 Bangladesh ………………… 96.67%
 Others ……………………… 3.33%
Country of Residence
 Bangladesh …………………. 100%
 Others ………………………. 0%
Duration of Stay
 1-3 days ……………………. 90.00%
 4-7 days ……………………. 10.00%
 More ………………………... 0%
Duration of Stay
 1-3 days ……………………... 86.67%
 4-7 days ………………………13.37%
 More …………………………. 0%
Some demographic and travelling characteristics of our respondents have been
provided in Table 1.
Although,hotelAbakash also serves guests from outside Bangladesh, most (96.67%)
of ourrespondents were the residents of Bangladesh. In case of hotelAbakash, male
guests were of higherpercentage but we were able to take responses on expectation
from some potential(16.67%) female guests who were planning to stay at the hotel
with theirmale counterparts.93.33%guests who stayedat the hotelreported to have
had stayed or have been staying for business purposes. The majority of guests
(90.00%) who have stayed orstaying currently is for 1-3 days’ stay and only 10.00%
have been reported to stay between 4-7 days, also, among those whoare planning to
stay 86.67% is willing to stay for 1-3 days and 13.37% is for 4-7 days.
A customerevaluates quality by his or herperception of the way in which the service
is delivered (Solomon et al.,1985;Juwaheer& Ross, 2003). As a result, service quality
has been defined as the outcome of a comparison between expectations of a service
and what is perceived to be received (Czepiel et al., 1985; Choi and Chu, 2000; Al-
Rousan & Badaruddin, 2010; Al Khattab, 2011).

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Table 3: Average scores of Service Quality Perception
Attributes Mean
Score
Standard
Deviation
i. Surrounding area of the hotel
ii. Room space
iii. Interiors/ decorations of the rooms
iv. Hygiene factors, washroom facilities
v. Room services
vi. Comparison between room fare and room facilities
vii. Ambience of the restaurant
viii. Quality of food
ix. Delivery timings of food (from order to its arrival)
x. Comparison between food quality and price charged
xi. Safety and security
xii. Help from the hotel’s online resources
xiii. Hotel’s telephone help desk
3.53
3.67
3.16
4.12
4.10
3.20
2.83
4.13
3.23
2.67
1.15
1.47
3.27
0.4989
0.4714
0.3727
0.3730
0.3000
0.6532
0.3726
0.3399
0.4230
0.4715
0.3727
0.6183
0.4423
Overall mean for 13 attributes 3.12
On the perceptionpart,themeanscore givenby ourrespondents fluctuatedbetween
1.15 and 4.13. The perception item that scored the lowest was the ‘Safety and
Security’ (Olsen et al., 2005) which clearly points out that hotelAbakash is still not
meeting safety and security standards which would make their guests feel safe and
secured. Studies show that getting a good quality of service from the food and
beverage (F and B) department of a hotel is important formany guests (Armstrong
et al. 1997;Crick and Spencer,2011; Cronin and Taylor, 1992; Getty and Thompson
1994; Sulek and Hensley, 2010; Zeithaml and Bithner, 2003). Highest score was
given by the respondentsto the ‘Quality of Food’ as most of the guests felt that this
one service at which Hotel Abakash is being satisfying.

28. 25 | P a g e
Some of the other attributes which also scored high in perception were- ‘Room
Services’ which scored 4.10 and ‘Hygiene Factors and Washroom Facilities’ which
scored 4.12.
The overall mean score on the perception level for the selected 13 attributes forour
study on hotel Abakash was 3.26 which indicate not so good perception from the
guests about the hospitality provided to them and there are still a lot of things to be
done to improve this level.
Table 4: Average scores of Service Quality Expectation
Attributes Mean
Score
Standard
Deviation
i. Surrounding area of the hotel
ii. Room space
iii. Interiors/ decorations of the rooms
iv. Hygiene factors, washroom facilities
v. Room services
vi. Comparison between room fare and room facilities
vii. Ambience of the restaurant
viii. Quality of food
ix. Delivery timings of food (from order to its arrival)
x. Comparison between food quality and price charged
xi. Safety and security
xii. Help from the hotel’s online resources
xiii. Hotel’s telephone help desk
4.13
4.50
4.40
4.90
4.37
4.93
4.33
4.87
4.67
4.76
4.97
4.63
4.45
0.3400
0.5000
0.4899
0.3000
0.4819
0.2495
0.2222
0.3398
0.4714
0.4230
0.1795
0.4819
0.4958
Overall mean for 13 attributes 4.61
Now,on to the expectation part,we see that farmore emphasis has been given from
the potential guests on having strong ‘Safety and Security’ (Olsen et al., 2005)
2measurements (4.97) at the hotel premises; while from the survey, we found that
‘hotelsurroundings’(Snojand Ogorelc 1998) is comparatively less sought of a factor

29. 26 | P a g e
among the rest with ‘Surrounding Area of the Hotel’ item from our selected
attributes scoring 4.13.
The overall mean score on the expectation levelforthe selected 13 attributes forour
study on hotel Abakash was 4.61 which clearly indicate that customers have rather
high expectations from its services as hotelAbakashis a part of Bangladesh Tourism
Corporation and it should really try to match international standards.
Table 2: Some Other Findings from Our Study on Hotel Abakash
i) Were the hotel staffs polite and willing to help?
Perception
 Yes ………………………… 80.00%
 No …………………………. 20.00%
Expectation
 Yes ……………………………… 100%
 No ………………………………. 0%
ii) How long before you were taken care of at the reception?
Perception
 2-3 minutes ………………... 26.67%
 4-5 minutes ………………... 40.00%
 More ………………………. 33.33%
Expectation
 2-3 minutes …………………….. 63.33%
 4-5 minutes …………………….. 36.67%
 More …………………………… 0%
iii) How long before your luggage were shifted to your room?
Perception
 2-3 minutes ………………… 43.33%
 4-5 minutes ………………… 56.67%
 More ……………………….. 0%
Expectation
 2-3 minutes ……………………… 60.00%
 4-5 minutes ……………………… 40.00%
 More ……………………………... 0%
iv) Did you experience electricity cut?
Perception
 Yes ………………………… 36.67%
 No …………………………. 63.33%
Expectation
 Yes ……………………………… 25.00%
 No ………………………………. 75.00%
v) Did the hotel provide any transport facility?

30. 27 | P a g e
Perception
 Yes ………………………… 46.67%
 No …………………………. 53.33%
Expectation
 Yes …………………………….. 93.33%
 No ……………………………… 6.67%
vi) Which recreational facility the hotel should add?
Perception
 Swimming pool …………... 53.33%
 Fitness Center ……………. 13.33%
 Indoor play courts ………... 20.00%
 Outdoor play courts ……… 13.33%
Expectation
 Swimming pool ………………. 66.67%
 Fitness Center ………………… 16.67%
 Indoor play courts ……………. 10.00%
 Outdoor play courts ………….. 6.67%
vii) Do you think, social media interaction can help Hotel Abakash improve its service quality?
Perception
 Yes ……………………….. 53.33%
 No …………………………46.67%
Expectation
 Yes ………………………… 56.67%
 No …………………………. 43.33%
viii) Will you recommend Hotel Abakash to others?
Perception
 Yes ………………………... 40.00%
 No ………………………… 60.00%
Expectation
 Yes ………………………… 53.33%
 No …………………………. 46.67%
SQI of Consumer Perception
100% SQI
Tangibles
Surrounding area of the hotel 70.60% 56.01%
Room space 73.40%
Interiors of the rooms 63.20%
Interiors of the Restaurant 56.60%
Transport Facility 46.67%
Recreational Facilities 25.56%
Overall Mean Score 56.01%
Reliability
Hygiene Factors and Cleanliness 82.40% 61.90%
Safety and Security 23.00%
Quality of Food 82.60%

31. 28 | P a g e
Arrival time of ordered items 64.60%
Availability of Electricity 63.33%
Comparison between food quality and price 53.40%
Comparison between room facilities and fare 64.00%
Overall Mean Score 61.90%
Responsiveness
Help from online source 29.40% 51.05%
Telephone Desk 65.40%
Social Media Interaction 0.00%
Overall Mean Score 31.60%
Assurance
Politeness of the employees 80.00% 80.00%
Overall 80.00%
Empathy
Quickness in Receiving Guests 40.00% 59.56%
Room Service 82.00%
Luggage porter service 56.67%
Overall Mean Score 59.56%
Total 308.52% out
of 500%
Elements of Effective Marketing Research Program
Complaint Solicitation
Observing service delivery contracts, pricing and complaints handling are all
important for a business (Al Rousan, 2011; Parasuraman et al., 1985; Tat and
Raymound,1999).With ourinterview with the Resident Managerof Hotel Abakash
Mr. A.N.M.Zeaul Karim, we came to know that they have provided opportunityat
hotel premise for the customers to register their complaints against any service
failures and every month the hotel authority sits to discuss about these failures and
to bring improvement and employees are also informed of these latest
developments.

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Critical Success Studies
Carev (2008) defines service quality satisfaction based on overall considerationby a
guest of the advantages of a service taking into account perceptions of what is
promised and what is given (Parasuraman et al. 1988b). Individual customers
whether staying at HotelAbakash and even the B2B customers arranging seminars
or meetings at HotelAbakash are able to provide feedback on theirsatisfactionlevel
via email or through a chat with the manager in-charge.
Requirement Research
The respondents emphasized that Hotel Abakash must add recreational facilities
such as swimming pooland fitness centerand there was also an urge to strengthen
the security measures.Here,we would like to mention, during the time period of our
survey, Dhaka have had witnessed an unfortunate terror attack on a restaurant at
Gulshan and therefore urge of increasing the security was evident. Specially, in an
interview with a guest from India,he spoke of the security guards of Hotel Abakash
do not carry any weapon and there is no metal detector at the main entrance. So,
these are the things that most of the guests expressed to see added to the service of
Hotel Abakash.
Relationship and SERVQUAL Surveys
In the study by Sriyam (2010,pp.7-17), the use of SERVQUAL approach to measure
service quality in hoteland otherservice industries is accepted. While HotelAbakash
does provide the opportunity forguests to give theirfeedback on the services at the
hotel, disappointingly no SERVQUAL surveys had been conducted before by the
hotel authority to find out gaps between perceptions and expectations. The model
on which SERVQUAL is based, allows customers to evaluate quality of service
based on five distinct dimensions: tangibiles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance
and empathy.The provision of individualized attentionto customers and the use of
this modelare suggested by previous studies (e.g., Lin, 2006; and Nield et al., 2000).

33. 30 | P a g e
Moreover, the hotel governing body also appeared very negligent about the
competition in hotel industry and how other hotels of the same category of Hotel
Abakash is luring away guests from them by providing better services at the same
price and in some cases, even in lesser price. For example- Hotel Zakaria
InternationalLtd.is providing carrentalservice, saloon, secured car parking spaces,
ATM booth service and even foreign money exchange facilities for international
guests.
Trailer Calls or Post Transaction Surveys
We found from oursurvey that HotelAbakash does not have the tendency tocollect
feedback from the guests through a quick check list when they check out.
Service Expectation Meetings and Reviews
Guest satisfaction is the evaluation of a guest whether or not the quality of service
meets his expectation. Performance that falls below expectations makes guests
dissatisfied (Kottlerand Keller, 2006). Although HotelAbakash is mostly concerned
with service expectation meetings and reviews with single large B2B customers, they
are yet to make a good mark or to bring radical change in service expectation
meetings and reviews for B2C customers. This has created a ‘one sided tilted’ kind
of situation where corporate clients are getting most of the priority but lots of
complaints still exist in handling individual local/ international guests.
Process Checkpoint Evaluation
There weren’t any thorough rechecking option found of the entire service chain in
the service process of HotelAbakash. They dotake noteof the individualcomplaints
and discuss how to improve that at the end of the month generalbody meeting but
a top-down process check of the services provided is missing.

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Market Orientation Ethnography
Ethnographyis not just a form of data collection; it aims to clarify the ways culture
simultaneously constructs and is formulated by people’s behaviors and experiences.
Ethnography aims to explicate patterns of action that are cultural and/or social
rather than cognitive (see,e.g., the focus on the sociocultural importance of market
animation in Sherry 1990a). Ethnography not only establishes the context and
subjective significance of experience for particular groups of persons, but also seeks
to convey the comparative and interpreted cultural significance of this experience
(Denzin, 1989).
We had the opportunity to talk with an Indian guest who has been to many hotels
both in India and Bangladesh.He was positive about what he wasgettingfrom Hotel
Abakash and could compare the level of services of the hotels of the same category
like that of Hotel Abakash.According to him, the price range of hotels of the same
category of Hotel Abakash in India is much higher but they also provide various
services. But he also complained about lack of security and the lack of facilities such
as fitness center,swimming pool, plus, he also put forward of the idea of creating a
small coffee shop at the lobby where guests who are staying at the hotel can meet
with outsiders rather than taking them to room or to the restaurant.
Mystery Shopping
The mystery shopping is a technique applying the anonymous observation of a
service delivery procedure from a customer perspective (Wilson, 1998a; Wilson,
1998b). We conducted our mystery shopping on the restaurant of Hotel Abakash
and could get a first-hand experience of their service. Some of the key findings are
as follows:
 We went there during lunch hours in the guise of students and the first thing
we came across was their security which was almost non-existent.

35. 32 | P a g e
 Upon entering the restaurant (called ‘Maloncho’) we found it in a
hodgepodge condition.They were arranging delivery crates in the middle of
the place and there were roughly 4-5 guests beside us taking meal.
 Seeing us as students, the waiter did not approach in a professionalmanner
and rather than being calm while taking our orders, he showed hurriedness
as if he wanted to dispatch us in shortest possible time.
 He also misinformed us about delivery time of food. Firstly, most of the
items on the menucard were unavailable as we came to know those itemsare
only prepared on pre-order basis. Then, the waiter told us if we order any
Chinese or continentalfood item it will take 1 hour 30 minutes to deliver but
Bangladeshi items such as plain rice, fish could be delivered within 30
minutes.Despite this shockingtiming todeliverfood we ordered Chowmein,
Fried Rice,Chili Chicken and Chicken with Mushroom; only to find out that
the timing told the waiter was false and perhaps a trick to send us away
quickly. The food items were delivered in just 25 minutes.
 We found the quality of food was quite good.
 The dishes used to serve the food items were also properly cleaned.
 The ambience of the hotelwas not up to the mark and even in our research
this attribute could not score more than 2.83 in a scale of 5.
 The price charged for the food was much higher than the price charged in
other nearby restaurants.
Customer Panels
From our study on Hotel Abakash we found that they do not arrange any focus
group discussion with theirclients, especially those who have visited HotelAbakash
on several occasions in the past, to talk openly how the hotel can improve and
survive in the very competitive hotelindustry. Although the resident manager Mr.
Zeaul Karim did mention that they provide discounts to their regular customers,
plus, to internationaldelegations up to 25%, no steps which is as cordial as focus

36. 33 | P a g e
group discussion had been arranged to take note on key insights on theirperception
about the hotel’s service.
Lost Customer Research
Kurtz and Clow (1998) claim that despite the efforts of service organizations to
attract customers, and to manage supply, demand and productivity in order to
provide high quality service, their customers do not always remain loyal. Service
organizations must go beyond simply satisfying customers: they should focus on
building relationships which will lead to customerretention (Kurtz andClow, 1998).
But in the case of Hotel Abakash- despite successfulemergence of several hotels in
the near vicinity and the declining customer consideration of hotel Abakash, the
hotelauthority is not being proactive to find out thereasonsbehindthose customers
who left them and those who will be leaving soon. In the modern days of hotel
business, just a little complains’ box near the registry table is not enough to solicit
proper customer responses.
Future Expectations Research
As for future expectation, many potential customers suggested more involvement
by Hotel Abakash in creating an interactive website where they will also be able to
interact with helpline operators overSkype or on video calls for booking and other
necessary information. Also an active participation on social networks, such as-
Facebook, is expected which will help to gather more reviews from customers to
improve services and to reach out to the potential customers through the easiest
possible medium.

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References
Amissah, E. F. (2014). Customers’ Perception of Service Quality in Hotels. Oguaa Journal of Social Sciences 7,
100-125.
Markovic, S. & Raspr S. (2010). Measuring Perceived Service Quality Using Servqual: A Case Study of the
Croatian Hotel Industry. Management (Volume 5), 195-209.
Boon-itt, S. & Rompho N. (2012). Measuring Service Quality Dimensions: An Empirical Analysis of
Thai Hotel Industry. International Journal of Business Administration (Vol.3).
Siddique, M. N.-E.-A., Mst. Momena Akhter, & Abdullah Al Masum. (2013). Service Quality of Five Star
Hotels in Bangladesh: An Empirical Assessment. Asian Business Review (Volume 2, Issue 4).
Arnould, E. J., & Wallendorf, M. (1994). Market-Oriented Ethnography: Interpretation Building and
Marketing Strategy Formulation. Journal of Marketing Research (Vol. XXXI), 484-504.
Olsen, M. D., Ralph D. Badinelli, Daniel J. Connolly, Suzanne K. Murrmann, & Claire D. Schmelzer.
(2005). Investigating the Process of Valuing Investments in Intangibles: A Case Study in Safety and Security in
the Multinational Hotel Industry. Blacksburg, Virginia: Nuttapon Punpugdee.
Petzer, D. J., T. F. J. Steyn, & P. G. Mostert. (2009). Customer retention practices of small, medium and
large hotels In South Africa: An exploratory study. African Journal of Marketing Management Vol.
1(1).

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Building Customer Relationship:
Relationshipisallaboutcommunicatingwiththe consumers by givingproper andadequateservice.
Customers are the main part of an organization. So the organization should be aware of their
service for every customer. Hotel Abakash authority is under government maintenance. Relation
between the customers and the services of Hotel Abakash is not always good enough for
everybody. As it is run by government so the employees are not bothered to give a service what
their competitor is giving. They just do their job somehow when they think this should be done.
As a result the customers sometimes lose their patience. It harms the relationship between them
and Hotel Abakash. Employees knows that their incentives comes from government and however
government will pay it anyway. So they do not think about customer relations.
The goals of relationship marketing are not covered by Hotel Abakash. They are not successful by
giving service to their customers. Their relationship level is low. They do not get to fulfill
customer’s expectations as we came to know from doing survey. In Hotel Abakash people gets
basic services which any hotel offers. Their services are not anything which u can admire. But the
services should be done properly in time in order to build good customer relationships. Hotel
Abakash is not fully concerned about this. So they are not in a position to building any relation.
Hotel Abakash personally dose not maintain any customer policy. They do the basic things like
when any individual or group comes here for the accommodation they put their names in the
database but later on this database does not do anything. It’s just a record to keep nothing else.
They have few things which they maintain with their customers and these things are pretty basic
and average. Hotel Abakash has some affiliation with some corporate and for some purpose
employeesof thosecorporates if they come andstayfor few daysthen they get25 percent discount
but there is a condition which is that employee needs to bring a letter from the office that the
company is giving him the privilege to stay there and have the discount offer. Matter of fact is if
someone comes for a personal use and however he couldn’t manage the letter then being despite
an employee of that corporate he or she can not enjoy the offer. This 25 percent discount is valid
only for accommodation not for any other services of the hotel. Beside this they do not give any
others this facility of discount but they have a “privilege card” which they sell in many fairs and in
head office. It’s not an all times process thing. It’s a limited offer you can get. Occasionallythey
make these privilege cards and sell it. If someone has to buy this card then they have to pay 300
BDT for it and can enjoy the offer for a whole year. This card will give the privilege to have 25%

39. 36 | P a g e
discount no matter how many times you visit to stay. This offer is only valid for one entire year.
Suppose Hotel Abakash’s lowest room rent is 4000BDT per night, so if anyone has this privilege
card and comes visit the place they can have a discount of 1000BDT which sets his room rent to
3000BDT. Every time he will check in and get this 25 percent discount just against of spending
300BDT for that privilege card. Now the privilege card is also a matter of luck because you cannot
get it all the time if you want. They sell it in fairs and all and rest of the cards they give it to their
known persons and all close ones. If someone calls to head office and ask for a privilege card then
the possibilities of getting of the card is really low.
When we interviewed their manager and came to know that Hotel Abakash previously has 25-30
percent foreign customers but now the percentage has decreased to 10 percent. The foreign
customers do not get any extra facilities from the hotel. But the manager said if any group or
individual goes to accommodation manager and ask for discount then he can provide it up to 20
percent only for accommodation. Once it happened with a Chinese group of people. They stayed
there for about a week and they managed to talk with the accommodation manager and asked if
they can get a discount as they are traveller here then it will make a difference to them and without
further delay the accommodation manage gave 20 percent discount to the group. These discount
policies are not very strong type of ways to create customer relationship building. These things are
based on sometime luck and fortune. Beside these they do not have any strong bond with the
customers like if any person visits frequently then he will automatically get a membership card and
will get some benefits from it. This thing make a bond with the customer and feel them special
because they regularly visiting the place and the place itself value the customer.
Also the behavior of most of the employees are not friendly enough. For example, during doing
the survey some of our group members went to Hotel Abakash to experience their food &
environment. The moment we entered in the restaurant it felt like we are in a dark hazy cave. So,
anyone who will visit first time here he or she will have a negative impression at the first step.
After that we waited 25-28 minute to get a waiter for our table and the most amazing part is that
the waiter was demotivating us to order anything except Bangla Foods. But, eventually we were
able to have our desired food after 30 min of ordering.
By doing our survey and analyzing Hotel Abakash’s past and current condition of building
customer loyalty program we found that they are not customer focused rather than they are just
focusing on delivering food for the Govt. organization and its personnel. So, we can recommend

40. 37 | P a g e
some measuresfor building customer relationshipeffectivelywhichisalreadybeingfollowed some
of their competitor’s. They are given bellow-
 Hotel Abakash can go for some promotional activity along with Bangladesh Tourism
Corporation to get more vibe. There foreign customers are reducing day by day. They can
introduce TVC’s since this is a Govt. driven so they have got enough budget for doing
that. Only thing they need is the implementation. For example, most of us has probably
seen the advertise of Beautiful Bangladesh by Bangladesh tourism corporation during the
ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. If Hotel Abakash can introduce that kind of campaign it
would be enough to get customer attraction.
 Another recommendation for improving their service is to introduce or extend food
offerings for the customers. Currently they are focusing on mainly Bangla food mostly.
Though they have some Chinese food offerings but since they face many foreign
customers they can bring other foreign countries to attract more foreign people as well as
local. The price of the food in some cases needs to be changed. Some of their foods are
overpriced. If the food prices can be revised than more people will love to visit there.
 Onlineordering servicecan be another opportunity for HotelAbakash. People now a days
use to check online before visiting any place. Like what are their offerings? How is the
price? What menu they offers? How is the environment of that place? Etc. in short
consumer’s wants an overview of the whole place before experiencing it directly. So, they
can introduce this online facility to boost up their sells.
 Introducing call center is another aspect. Sometime customers are confused about taking
their service or they want their clarification after experiencing the service. Currently Hotel
Abakash do not have any customer care service. So, what is happening is that people who
needs this service they are either remaining unsatisfied or moves to another competitors
of HotelAbakash. Thisis a big loss indeed.so, HotelAbakashshould introducethis service
as soon as possible to enhance existing customer satisfaction that will lead to customer
loyalty in the long run. Primarily this service may not get that much vibe since people
would not know about thisservicebut as soon as customer awarenesswillbe builtit would
be great initiative.
 Phone apps are now a days getting famous among the types of customers that Hotel
Abakash are focusing on. If they can bring an apps of their service and all that could be a

41. 38 | P a g e
revolutionary initiative. That phone app will show all the latest updates for the customers
as well as offers. Also latest offerings will be displayed there. Visitors will rate based on
what they like or dislike and from that ratings Hotel Abakash’s expected customer can a
get a clear view from customers who has already experienced (that would make
information more authentic to the customers).
 Social media involvement is needed badly for Hotel Abakash. They have to get as close as
possibleto the customer through the socialmediaslikeFacebook pages, groups, instagram,
twitter etc. now a days most of the hotels & restaurants have their own social pages to get
customer expectations and experiences. This is also an easy way to get customer feelings
and preference rather than doing a one to one survey.
 Also Hotel Abakash need to change the current interior and exterior. Since the beginning
of their journey it has been the same. From the first step customer can get a hazy feeling
while getting the service of Hotel Abakash. It has the same old interior with no latest
customization. Also the environment needs to be changed. Hotel Abakash authority can
customize the interior, change the furniture, color combinations etc. to make the place
more attractive.
 Introducing tour guide for the visitors can be another service recommendation. Foreign
tourists will appreciate that service. It will add more safety and authentic service for those
peoples. As the manager said that their foreign customers are decreasing day by day this
might be a wayto resolve theproblem. Also the transport facilityfor the visitorsis another
issue that needs to be solved. Visitors should not face the hassle to get their preferable
transport from secondary source while staying a renowned hotel.
 Besidealltheserecommendations HotelAbakashshould increasetheir food quality, assure
hygiene factors, employee behaviors and waiters behaviors development, if possible than
manage parking facility for the visitors etc. if all these are implemented than very soon
Hotel Abakash will get the place in the in consumers mind to be preferable. From what
support and budget they have from the govt. these measures is implementable.

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Service Recovery:
Service recovery happens when service provider fails to deliver the service. Service
failure leads to dissatisfactionamong thecustomer. In simple words, a service failure
is service performance that fails to meet a customer’s expectations. When a service
failure happened, customer expects to get compensation for the inconvenience.
Compensation can be in any form such as refunds, discounts or apologies. This is
called service recovery. In otherwords, according to Fitzsimmons, service recovery
is converting a previously dissatisfied customerinto a loyalcustomer. Listing to your
customer’s need and wants is extremely important for service recovery. Now I am
going to describe Service Failure and the Service Recovery in perspective of Hotel
Abakash.
Service Failure and Service Recovery in Hotel Abakash:
1. Exceeding the time limit to bring the
food to the customer.
N/A. Hotel Abakash prepares the food on
order basis. They bring fresh ingredients from
the bazar and cook form the scratch. Because
of this reason they sometimes exceed the time
limitation but they do not give any service
recovery option.
2. Limited food items in the menu. N/A. HotelAbakash provideadequate item list
in menufrom theirperspective and they are not
willing to increase the menulist at this moment.
3. Food quality doesn’t meet with the
customer’s expectation.
N/A. Hotel Abakash sometimes failed to
deliver the customer’s expectation but they do
not give any compensation forthis. This is how
their policy works.
4. Low items in the complimentary
breakfast menu.
N/A. Tourists who are staying in the Hotel
Abakash face this problem a lot. In

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complimentary breakfast menuthe list of items
are very low and most of the customers want
more items than that but Hotel Abakash
management do not allow to have more items
in the menu because of their limitation.
5. Closing the restaurant earlier than
usual.
Hotel Abakash’s restaurant closes at 10pm for
the outsider customers but customer who are
staying in the hotel can order for food.
6. Hard drinks are not served in the hotel
room
N/A. As a Muslim country Hotel Abakash do
not allow to server hard drinks directly hotel
but customers can bring hard drinks from the
bar to their room.
7. No pick up facility from the airport
for the customers
N/A. Hotel Abakash do not provide any pick
up facility from the airport for the customers.
8. No car parking facility for the
customers
N/A. Hotel Abakash’s building do not have
any car parking space. That’s why they are
9. Security force do not carry guns. N/A. Hotel Abakash do not have any
permission to carry fire arms at this moment
10.A/Cs in the rooms are old and makes
noise.
N/A. Hotel Abakash is using old model A/C
and it makes a lot of sound while it is in use.
They planning to change some of them at
moment but not all.
11.Rooms are not well furnish and most
of them contains old furniture.
N/A. As we can see that Hotel Abakash is bit
old model and their all of equipment are old
fashioned. Since customer want a modern
environment, they can’t change it.
12.Too much mosquito in the room. In this situation Hotel Abakash management
gives some basic alternatives. They spray anti

44. 41 | P a g e
mosquito spray and give some “Good night
liquid insect killer” to their customers.
13.Room cost is high for middle class
people.
N/A. Hotel Abakash has already revised the
prices and this is their final price. They are not
giving any discounts at this moment.
14.Room service is poor. Hotel Abakash’s room service is poor
according to some customer. In this situation
Hotel Abakash’s management are hiring some
well-trained members to make their room
service better
15.Enrich the information for the
travelers in the information desk.
Hotel Abakash has made a booklet guide for
the customers so that they can get a lot of
information at a glance.
16.Adequate medical service for the
tourist
Hotel Abakash has a doctorstand by form 9 to
5 and a first aid facility to treat the customers
whenever they are in need.
17.Hot and Cold water service in the
room
If somehow there is no Hot or Cold water in
the room then they try to fix it or give boiled or
cold water manually to their customers.
18.Standby generator failures N/A. If this service failed they do not have any
backup power supply.
19.Internet connection failures N/A. Hotel Abakash uses third party internet
service and sometime they get slow or lost
connection. In this case they donotprovideany
solution
20.Failed to serve the Laundry Service N/A. Hotel Abakash do not give any recovery
option if this service fails.

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Successful companies are always great in successful service recovery in terms of
strong operationalmanagement and fast reaction to customers concern. According
to the research around 96% chance of a customerhave faith on the business whom
a fast recovery they have taken from.
Idiosyncratic choices of responding to customer criticism exist, ordinarily they are
one of the accompanying three mostly a mixture thereof:
1. Remedy:The 'Fix'In a perfect world, a business willexcellent effectively listen
to the customer's necessities before the beginning of the administrationcome
upon. On the other hand, if administration is not recovered progressively,
customers frequently end the involvement with an unfulfilled criterion.
Organizations attempt to recoverin such cases by first satisfying the essential
requirements of the client.
2. Apology:When the service experience doesn’t deliveron even the most basic
expectations of the customer, then an apology is most likely expected by the
customer. It is important to business that this apology does consider the
customer’s business more important than it just showed through the last
service incident and that the treatment was not intended.
3. Compensation: Sometimes, the service incident leads to a damageorloss that
the customer may expect the business recover. It is nothing but a financial
condition that if service was performed without any issues.

46. 43 | P a g e
Service Recovery earlier than Time: Most of the business sees overwhelmingly
reassuring results when they move the recovery point much prior, to minutes while
a client is as yet encountering
the item or administration. In
some case is snatching matters
that people experience while
they are still nearby in the
accommodation. Pay desires
are totally relieved on the
grounds that normal results
can be created with simply little delay. Surprisingly betterresults are seen when the
business disable the more basic client by struggling to set up theirexperience altering
theirexperience according to theirpreferences. In these cases, customers are ‘tuned’
positively and are generally easier to please throughout the experience live cycle.
Suggestions and Recommendation:
1. Hotel Abakash should increase the items in theirfood menubecause most of
the people now like to eat various kinds of foods.
2. Hotel Abakash should provide pick up service because in Dhaka city finding
CNG or a CAB is very difficult.
3. Hotel Abakash should change all of their A/Cs because old window type
A/Cs make a lot of noise than split type A/Cs.
4. Present situation in Dhaka city is not very good and specially for the
restaurant.HotelAbakash should tight theirsecurity and should give firearms
to their security guards for customer’s better safety.
5. As most of the customers of Hotel Abakash are businessman and they need
internet most of the time. So if their internet service failed then they should
give some recovery option to their customers.

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References:
 Wirtz/Mattila,NUS,Schoolof Hotel Penn State, 2002, ‘Consumerresponses
to compensation, speed of recovery and apology after a service failure’
 Kwon/Jang,Schoolof HotelPenn State, Tourism & Hospitality Management
Purdue University: ‘Effectiveness of compensation of Service Recovery:
Roles of perceived equity and relationship level’, 2010
 Kau/Loh, NUS ‘The effects of service recovery on consumer satisfaction: a
comparison between complainants and non-complainants’ 2006
http://www.iseg.utl.pt/aula/cad1228/effects_service_recovery.pdf
 Xin, L., & Rong,W. (2007). Survey Research on Relationship among Service
Failures, Service Recovery and Customer Satisfaction. 2007 International
Conference on Management Science and Engineering.
doi:10.1109/icmse.2007.4421996
 Choi, T.Y., Chu, R., 2001. Determinants of hotel guests’ satisfaction and
repeat patronage in the Hong Kong hotel industry. InternationalJournal of
Hospitality Management, 20, 277-297.
 Mattila, A., 1999.Consumers’ value judgments. Cornell Hoteland Restaurant
Administration Quarterly, 40(1), 40-46.

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Service Development and Design
Consistent service quality development is always necessary and it is highly applicable
for hotel industries because customer satisfaction is one of the most important
strategic weapons of best practice in hotelorganizations (Hokey Min, 2002). To gain
the customersatisfaction the hotel must know its competitive position in changing
marketplace and realizing the opportunity of continuous service development. First
I want to clarify the word improvementand development here. Improvement is to
make somethingbetterto increase the value or productivity while development is to
change with a specific direction, progress (wikidiff). As our GAP analysis showed
that Abakash is lacking in their existing services and needs to add some services so
we are doing service development of Abakash by service improvement and with
some
Systematic change and designing some services to compete and do better than its
competitors. For doing that we need to apply two steps:
1. Identify and prioritize customer service attributes that influence the
customers perception of service quality
2. Develop a strategic action plan for continuous service improvement (Camp,
1989; Balm, 1992; Min and Min, 1996).
Development
Living: We get the feedback from ourcustomers that the roomis ok but sometimes
they find insects. Another problem is they think that room service is not up to the
mark as the serviceman delay to deliverthe service. Moreover, the A/C systemseems

49. 46 | P a g e
18 century cooler and takes too much time to cool the room. To keep that in mind
we are planning to do pesticide our whole area in a regular basis and supervise our
floor attendant that they can respond faster and deliver the necessity as early as
possible. Furthermore, we talked to our contact person at ABAKASH Mr. A.N.M
Zeaul Karim (Resident Managerof Abakash)andhe said theyare planning to change
the whole air condition system of residential rooms from old windows to new split
A/C.
Security: As we know the current security situation of Bangladesh is not good and
everyone is worried about the instability and restlessness of it (Blood, Shock, Horror.
(2016, July 03). The Daily Star, p.1.). So security is one of the biggest concerns of
everyone.As right now our security personneluses only metaldetectors forsecurity
but do not carry guns to tackle the unwanted situation so we are going to apply for
firearms to ensure the safety of our customers as well as to assure and give our
customers a sense of reliability and safety. We are planning to install CCTV cameras
in our whole premises to cover and monitor the area.
Food: Abakashalready offers variety in theirfoodsection like Bangla, Thai, Chinese,
Continentaletc.but we have seen in our GAP analysis that food quality is good and
they arranges catering for PM office, Ganabhaban, Bangabhaban etc. but they take
too much time to deliver the service at Malancha restaurant and for room delivery
both run by Abakash.. As we know ‘a happy customer is one whose problem was
solved quickly and satisfactorily’ (5 Ways to Deliver Excellent Customer Service at
your restaurant. (2015). Retrieved July 26, 2016 from
http://restaurantengine.com/deliver-excellent-customer-service/). So we have to
offer faster delivery and do not make our customer wait.
Conference and Banquet: Abakash offers a moderate conference hall and a large
banquet and convention facility. According to Mr. A.N.M Zeaul Karim it is one of
the profitable sectors of Abakash. Though we found a lot of scopes for
improvement on those areas.We know hospitality firms such as hotels are the ideal
example of market where implementation of a service innovation become highly

50. 47 | P a g e
beneficial for us (Reid and Sandler, 1992). It also helps us to differentiate us from
our competitors. Hospitality industry is rapidly changing due to accelerations in
information technology (Olsen & Connolly, 2000). Managers will need to make
proactive changes which focus evenmore intensely on customerpreferences, quality
and technological interfaces in order to stay competitive in such a dynamic
environment (Karmakar,2004). That’s why we are aiming to add tele-conferencing
and video-conferencing facility with our current offering. We already provide Wi-Fi
services all overthe hotelarea but these addition willenhance ourservice area more.
Another addition we want to make is to add official facility for our customers that
they can browse, print and e-mail from our own supported cyber center.
Design
In this time where customers have many options available they actually do not
exhibit,as in past decades a truly brand loyal behavior. Instead they are choosing to
patronize hotels that offer the best value proposition under existing budgetary
constraints. In order to add value to the guests’ experience, hotel managers and
marketers must meet the challenge of determining which services are preferred by
hotel guests (Olsen and Connolly, 2000). That’s why we have chosen to launch a
gym, swimming pool and beauty care (saloon & spa) option for our customers.
Though many people find it unnecessary but understanding prominent customers
and the influential factors for customers’ loyalty is necessary. Numerous examples
illustrate that it is important that the hotel industry develop customer loyalty.
Researchers have shown that a 5 percent increase in customerloyalty can produce a
profit increase of 25 percent to 85 percent (Reichheld and Sasser, 1990). To ensure
and receive the loyalty from both existing and prospective customers we are
designing some services according to our GAP analysis and interview from the
customers of Abakash.

51. 48 | P a g e
Gym & fitness center: Gym and fitness center becomes a must addition for mid-
range hotels as we can see this facility to our competitors’ facility and service profile
(HotelZakaria Intl. Ltd and De CrystalCrown etc.). With the same price range they
are offering this facility so se are planning to open a gym and fitness centerfor our
customers.
Swimming Pool: From our perception survey of customers we have seen more
than half of the portion named it first when we asked which recreational facility
Abakash should add. We see this facility to some similar price range hotels as well
(FARS hotel & resorts and Contemporary heights hotel and apartments).
Beauty care (saloon & spa): One of the most common amenities that our
competitors (HotelZakaria Intl. ltd and Hotel71 etc.) provide is beauty care facility.
To feel refreshed and invigorated it is an essential element because most of the
customers may come here for leisure or for business so it will offer them the chance
to be relaxed and revitalized.
Above design part is the front end planning and for evaluation, execution and
sanction of the plan consent of the chairman of Parjatan Corporation is necessary.
Reference
1. Hokey Min Hyesung Min Kyooyup Chung, (2002),"Dynamic
benchmarkingof hotelservice quality", Journal of Services
Marketing,Vol. 16 Iss 4 pp. 302 – 321
2. (Camp,1989;Balm, 1992; Min and Min, 1996)
3. Liana Victorino Rohit Verma Gerhard Plaschka Chekitan Dev,
(2005),"Service innovation and customerchoices in the hospitality
industry",Managing Service Quality: An InternationalJournal, Vol. 15 Iss 6
pp. 555 – 576

52. 49 | P a g e
4. Retrieved July 26, 2016 from http://www.hotelzakariabd.com/ and
http://www.crystalcrownhotelbd.com/hotel-services.htm
5. Retrieved July 26, 2016 from http://www.farshotelbd.com/fitness-fars.php
and http://www.contemporaryheights.com/)
6. Retrieved July 26, 2016 from http://www.hotel71.com.bd/

53. 50 | P a g e
Integrated Marketing Communication:
Integrated marketing communications (IMC) is a methodology utilized by associations to brand
and facilitate their correspondence endeavors. The American Association of Advertising Agencies
characterizes IMC as "A comprehensive plan that evaluates the strategic roles of a variety of
communication disciplines and combines these disciplines to provide clarity, consistency and
maximum communicationimpact." The essential thought behind an IMC methodology is to make
a consistent ordeal for purchasers crosswise over various parts of the promoting blend. The brand
image and popularity are being strengthened by Integrated Marketing Communication.
 Identifying Target Audience:
The first step of designing an IMC is identifying the target audience. In order to design the right
messageand selecttheright channelsfor IMC campaigndepends on characterizingtheappropriate
target audience. That is, the type of message likely to be disposed by the audience (for example,
customers’ priorities concerning qualityor price), aswellas the awarenessof the audience’scurrent
image of the company and its product or service. (Rowley, 1998)
Based on the survey on the clients and the experience of Mr. A.N.M Zeaul Karim, Resident
Manager of Abakash, the majority of the clients of Hotel Abakash are staying in the hotel for
business purpose. For that reason, our target audience for the IMC campaign is the businessmen
and the corporate clients.
 Message Design:
The message we are promoting to our potential clients and customers is -
“Explore Your Relaxation- Experience Our Renovations!”
We have designed this message to convey the information to the customers about our renovations
of services. We are renovating all our existing services and facilities such as luxuries bedrooms,
high qualityfood, digitalconference hall, securitiesetc. We are also introducing some new facilities
such as Swimming Pool, Beauty care & Spa to ensure the luxury and comfort of our customers.
In our Integrated Marketing Communication Campaigns, we will deliver this message to our
potential clients through all the media channels. As most of the clients of our service are
Businessmen and corporate people, our main target audience for our IMC message will be them.
 Media Selection:
Success of a IMC mostly depends on selecting the most appropriate media or communication
channel to deliver the message. As our main target audience is the businessmen and corporate
people, our media channelsincludesonlythe mediasthatour targetaudiencehaveaccesson. There

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are main tools we are using for our IMC campaign are- Advertising, Direct Marketing and Public
Relations.
Advertising:
In today’s competitive world, the importance of advertising is increasing for any service industry
especially for hotel and tourism sector. It is “any form of non-personal presentation and
promotion of ideas, goods and servicesusuallypaidfor by an identifiedsponsor” (Dominic, 2013).
According to our contract person Mr. A.N.M Zeaul Karim (Resident Manager of Abakash), Hotel
Abakash did not have any advertising campaigns previously. As Hotel Abakash is controlled by
Bangladesh Tourism Corporation, a government institution; the authority did not prefer investing
money on promotional activity. In order to survive in today’s competitive market, Hotel Abakash
must adapt its own promotional activities like advertisement. Thatis why in the new IMC plan for
Hotel Abakash we are prioritizing different forms of advertisements. The main focus of our IMC
advertising plan will be Print media which includes Ads on Newspaper and Magazine, Billboards,
Placards, Brochures etc. The reason behind it is businessmen usually do not have enough time to
watch TV. They prefer newspaper and magazine. Billboards, Placards and Brochures are also
highly noticeable in the roads and business or corporate areas. Through our advertising we will
make our clients aware about the renovations and modifications we are doing to our services.
Some of our advertising designs are:
Illustration: Newspaper Ad Design

55. 52 | P a g e
Illustration: Billboard Ad Design
Direct Marketing:
Direct marketing is an effective way for marketing communication. Direct Marketing consists of
directly communicating with the targeted customer to get an immediate response. The ultimate
purpose of directmarketing isto build and managedirect relationwithcustomer by collectingtheir
personal information in a database. There are few advantages of direct marketing. Like, Marketers
get direct feedback from customer and it’s cost effective. We can also focus on specific group
relates with our target customer. One of the traditional ways of direct marketing is Direct-mail
marketing. ABAKASH is doing Direct-mail marketing through their customer database. Hotel
ABAKASH is maintaining and building these databases with the information they have got from
recipient form of customer.
E mail is one of the most common way of communicating to the customers. When Internet was
innovated everyone loved email. I would add some several reason for using email suggested by
Peter Roesler who is the president of web marketing pros. 1. Easy way to reach to the customers
2. Effective way to keep customer informed. 3. easy to customize and integrate into other
marketing tactics.
As E-mail is reasonable manner for marketing we will use this as tool of our IMC. According to
Mr. Karim, resident manager of Hotel Abakash, E-main is one of the important method to stay
connected with the customers”. We will send our customers e-mail on a monthly basis. We will
collect database of our loyal customer and our potential customers according to their priority and
we willsendpromotional activitiesthroughe mailmonthly, annuallyandoccasionallyandtellthem
about our offers and innovations. Monthly and occasional mail will be delivered to our loyal
customers and annual and occasional mail will be delivered to our potential customers. We will set

56. 53 | P a g e
a critical alarm system to our database and this will make our database much more convenient.
(Hill, 2013)
Illustration: Sample Email Ad
Public Relation:
Public relation is one of the important tools in IMC. Hotel ABAKASH is using public relation
tool to build a long time relation with the customer. We talked with our contact point who is Mr.
A.N.M Zeaul Karim (Resident Manager of Abakash) regarding public relation and he said they are
trying to maintain this public relation through giving discount to potential customer and arranging
different seminars. Public relation involves endorsement of facilities and services by the
demonstration of hotels as an effective member within the local community. Hotels make strong
customer bases and public relations by involving themselves in functions and events at respective
domestic levels (UKessays, 2015). Public relation also helps to spread positive word of mouth
towards customers. Hotel ABAKASH is doing public relation to get the attention of their target
customer. Hotel ABAKASH is also arranging seminar of different corporation. They are

57. 54 | P a g e
sometimes sponsoring different governmental seminar and also arranged Fair in different festival.
Hotel ABAKASH is also offering their valuable customer 20% discount on total cost to maintain
the relationwiththecustomer. They havea membership cardfor customer which is charged300Tk
in every year and the facility it’s providing is 25% discount at any time. Since we are renovating
our hotels, we got more opportunities to make our public relation stronger. We have now
swimming pool, Gym, big conference hall and beauty care facility which emphasize on attracting
customer. We also intend to give more sponsorship opportunity than ever before in big corporate
events. These sponsorships help to make relationship with different companies and sector.
IMC Plan of 2017:
Month Point A Point B Point C
January Direct Marketing Newspaper Public Relation
February Billboards Newspaper Public Relation
March Billboards Newspaper Public Relation
April Newspaper ____ Public Relation
May Direct Marketing _____ Public Relation
June Newspaper _____ Public Relation
July Billboards _____ Public Relation
August Billboards _____ Public Relation
September Direct Marketing Newspaper Public Relation
October Billboards Newspaper Public Relation
November Billboards Newspaper Public Relation
December Direct Marketing Newspaper Public Relation
Illustration: IMC plan for Hotel Abakash
 Total IMC Budget Plan:
ITEMS TK
Newspaper 15,00,000
Billboard 20,00,000
Direct Marketing 2,00,000
Public Relation 10,00,000

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Sponsorship 5,00,000
Total Budget 52,00,000
Illustration: Total Budget Allocation
Illustration: Total Budget Allocation as Percentage
Bibliography:
Rowley, J. (1998). Promotion and Marketing Communications in the Information
Marketplace. Journal, Library Review, Vol. 47, No 8, pp 383-387
Dominick, J. (2013). The Dynamics of Mass Communication, New York: McGraw-Hill.
Hill, L. (2012). HP IMC: Email Alerting.
Roberts, C. (n.d.). Small Business. Retrieved from Chron:
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/marketing/marketing-strategies-used-in-the-hotel-industry-
marketing-essay.php
Roesler, P. (n.d.). Top 5 Reasons Why Email Marketing Still Works. Retrieved from
http://www.inc.com/peter-roesler/top-5-reasons-why-email-marketing-is-still-works.html
UKessays. (2015, march 13). Retrieved from
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/marketing/marketing-strategies-used-in-the-hotel-industry-
marketing-essay.php
Hill, L. (2012). HP IMC: Email Alerting.
Newspaper
32%
Billboard
42%
Direct Marketing
4%
Public Relation
21%
Sponsorship
1%
IMC BUDGET ALLOCATION

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Agencies, m. A. (n. http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/integrated-marketing-
communications-IMC.htmld.). Retrieved from The Business Dictionary:
http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/integrated-marketing-communications-
IMC.html
UKessays. (2015, march 13). Retrieved from
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/marketing/marketing-strategies-used-in-the-hotel-industry-
marketing-essay.php

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Way forward for Hotel Abakash
1. At first Hotel Abakash will have to implement CCTV cameras all over the hotel
premises as “Hotel Zakaria” has implemented in their premises and according to
Publicans’ Morning Advertiser, (2013), CCTV system puts both the owners and
customers mind at rest.
2. To ensure the security the guards should carry Arms at the entrance of the Hotel
gate and as the guards of hotel “Ruposhi Bangla” does.
3. They should improve the lock system of their rooms as Chad Callaghan, principal
of premises Liability Experts and AH&LA security consultant said in article “12
ways to increase hotelsecurity”,(2013), that locks that can track who goes in and out
of rooms can serve as a deterrent to theft.
4. Hotel Abakash should have their own website like “Hotel Regency Garden”,
Dhaka has.
5. Hotel Abakash should increase their online presence because an organized and
diligent approach to the managementof social media and online reputation is a sure
way to improve a hotel’s guest satisfaction scores said by Ed Watkins in the article,
“8 ways to improve guest satisfaction” (2014). They should form a system where the
feedback especially the negative reviews get immediate attention and set clear
policies and guidelines for management of online guest feedback (Ed Watkins,
2014).
6. Hotel Abakash can apply the Ubers idea where the authority puts the demands of
the customers in their group page and the employees choose the services they want
to cater to increase the efficiency of their hotel services (MEST, C.E. 2016).
7. HotelAbakash should have a fire exit as there is in the PalmerHouse Hotel, USA
(Transue, R.E. (2009).
8. Hotel Abakash should provide rent a car services like “Hotel Zakaria Int.”
provides to its customers.

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9. Hotel Abakash should reduce its food delivery timing and make it as quick as
possible in both the restaurant Malancha and room services in order to make the
customers happy because, “a happy customer is one whose problem was solved
quickly and satisfactorily” (5 Ways to Deliver Excellent Customer Service at your
restaurant.(2015).
10. They must make their hotel as clean as they can make it because to 86 percent
of the customers cleanliness is the key factor while selecting the hotel (Clean room
preferred 4-to-1 over Internet, 2015).
11. Hotel Abakash should provide 24 hours WIFI to the hotel as Clarkes Hotel,
Shimla provides it.
12. Hotel Abakash should have a swimming pool and fitness centers as a way of
recreation as there is in the Seyfert SarovarPortico in Dehradun, India. (HVS Global
hospitality report, 2016).
13. Hotel Abakash can implement a live chat system like Hotel 71 has implemented
in their hotel.
14. Hotel Abakash should take extra security measures for the single women
travelers as Lemon Tree hotelof Delhi has taken (Delhi hotels prioritize security for
women guests, 2013).
15. Abakash should have a lounge in their hotel as there is in the Clarkes Hotel,
Shimla.
References:
1. Retrieved July 27, 2016 fromhttp://www.hotel71.com.bd/
2. Retrieved July 27, 2016 from http://www.hotelzakariabd.com/
3. MEST, C.E. (2016).Hotels invest in new technology to gain behind the
scenes benefits.Hotel Management (21582122, 231(9),12-13.
4. Clean Room Preferred 4-to-1 over Internet. (2015). TravelAgent, 346(11),
5.

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5. Sarovar Hotels opens the Seyfert Sarovar Portico in Dehradun, India.
(2016).HVS Global Hospitality Report, 1-2.
6. Transue,R.E (2009).Life safety systems at the Palmer House. Consulting-
Specifying Engineer,45(1), 24-28.
7. Delhi hotels prioritize security for women guests. (2013). Indo-Asiannews
service.
8. CCTV systems puts licensees’ mind at rest. (2013). Publicans Morning
Advertiser,(115),8.
9. Donaldson,D.(2013).12 Ways to increase hotel security.
10. Watkins,E. D. (2014).8 Ways to improve guest satisfaction.
11. 5 Ways to Deliver Excellent CustomerService at your restaurant. (2015).
Retrieved July 26, 2016from http://restaurantengine.com/deliver-excellent-
customer-service/
12. Retrieved July 30, 2016 from http://www.ruposhibanglahotel.com/
13. Retrieved July 30, 2016 from http://hotelregencygarden.songzog.com/
14. Retrieved July 30, 2016 from http://www.clarkesshimla.com/

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Conclusion: