How does a hotel’s physical environment impact on guest experience? The case of a luxury five star hotel’s services from an employees perspective in Edinburgh

Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate whether the physical environment of a hotel is the most important factor for guest satisfaction, whilst also exploring these factors from the perspective of an employee who works within a luxury five star hotel. To achieve the aim of this research, a literature review will be presented along with the results of five semi-structured interviews. The research was conducted using a qualitative approach. The sample for the interviews were with employees who worked across various departments within a five star, luxury hotel in Edinburgh. The participants were all above the age of 28 and included a mixture of both men and women. After analysing the findings of the interviews, it was clear that there were themes that could be identified which included: customer service, social media feedback and technology along with the theme of the physical environment. All of the themes identified have a strong correlation to guest satisfaction. The research and data collection process was limited by the current Covid 19 pandemic therefore a smaller sample size was chosen. However, the smaller sample still allowed the research to find arguments that could help determine which factors had the most impact on guest satisfaction. The analysis of the findings concluded a strong argument for customer service being an important element regarding guest satisfaction, along with the physical environment. Conclusions were then made after the analysis of the results and following this, recommendations for the future were suggested. By conducting a qualitative study which received responses from employees who work within the industry, the study provides the industry with in-depth answers for potential changes that could benefit hospitality employees. If there were to be future qualitative research studies regarding this topic, a larger sample size could allow researchers to gain further information regarding the current situations and problems employees face in the industry. Also, this could show the industry managers whether multiple hotels all have similar results providing the study gained responses from various businesses.