Customer Relationship Management: A Tool for Customer Loyalty (A Case Study of Some Selected Hotels in Hawassa)

Andualem Walelign

doi:10.47747/ijbmer.v1i1.42

Abstract

The main aim of this study was to investigate customer relationship management and customers’ loyalty in Hawassa city selected hotels by applying CRM dimensions of bonding, communication, conflict handling, empathy, responsiveness and trust. Convenience sampling technique was used to collect data from customers of the selected hotels. In line with the objective, descriptive research methods were used to examine the customers’ perceptions of CRM practices and future behavioral intentions. Inferential statistics were used to see the relationship between dependent and independent variables as well as to investigate cause and effect relationships. The key finding showed that there was a positive and significant effect of CRM dimensions of communication, conflict handling, empathy and trust on customer loyalty and selected hotel guests loyalty status shows that they were slightly intended to be loyal customer to the selected hotels. Bonding and responsiveness did not significantly affect guests’ loyalty.

Highlights

Acquiring new customers can cost five to eight times more than satisfying and retaining current customers
Descriptive statistics of the respondent scores were computed with the aim of providing an overall view of the respondents’ perception concerning each items of customer relationship management and customer loyalty listed in the Likert scale
The results indicate that the need of cultivating Customer Relationship Management (CRM) aspects related with bonding dimensions since strong bonds between the seller and the buyer limits potential conflicts between the two parties, develop and enhance customer loyalty which in-turn impacts directly in feelings of affection and a sense of belonging to the service provider (Ghani et al, 2016)

Summary

Introduction

Acquiring new customers can cost five to eight times more than satisfying and retaining current customers. Rather than focusing on transactional relationships companies recently recognized that the quality of relationships between buyers and sellers is much more important. This strategic direction refers to the concept of customer relationship management (Shvydenko, 2011). Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has a growing popularity and is becoming one of the hottest academic and practical topics in the business field. It is a new marketing campaign weapon which helps the business entity to stay competitive through serving internal and external customers efficiently (Shaon et al, 2015). CRM considered as an important marketing tools in establishing, developing, maintaining and optimizing of long-term mutually valuable relationship with customers in the service sectors including hotels (Angamuth, 2015)

Objectives

Methods

Conclusion