GASPRO International Journal of Eminent Scholars

ABSTRACT

The study sought to investigate the joint influence of customer information management, hotel personnel characteristics and usage of technology on patronage of hotels in Akwa Ibom State. The study made use of survey design. The study area was Akwa Ibom State. The Population for this study consisted of all the people in Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria who have at one time or the other made a choice of hotel reservation. This is irrespective of the demographic variables or social status. The population of the hotels is made up of all registered three (3) star categories of hotels in the three senatorial districts. A pilot survey revealed that there are twenty-one registered three (3) star categories of hotels across the three senatorial districts. The sample size of 39 represents the number of respondents from each hotel. In all the senatorial district a total number of 819 respondents were contacted from the 21 hotels in the three senatorial districts. The sample procedure for selecting the respondents was the Convenience sample method. The main instrument used for the study is a research questionnaire titled “Customer Relationship Management in Hospitality Industry Questionnaire (CRMHIQ). The research instrument was subjected to validity test by the supervisor and other experts in the field of study. The Cronbach’s alpha (coefficient alpha) was used in testing the reliability of the instrument. This was done using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) to calculate the coefficient alpha. Alpha levels of 0 .80 to 0.89 were considered good. Based on the findings of the research work, it was concluded that few hotels in Akwa Ibom State practice customer relationship management while most hotels do not practice it. Patronage of hotels in Akwa Ibom state is significantly related to technology. One of the recommendations made was that The management of hotels should consider the need to have adequate knowledge of the customer data and manage them effectively as well as organising workshop for their workers on how to improve upon their attitude towards customers for continued patronage.

KEYWORDS: Customer information management, usage of technology, Patronage, hotel personnel characteristics