Quality management practices and performance of hotels in Nairobi
Abstract
The drive of this study was to investigate the Quality management practices adopted by hotels in
Nairobi and find out the impact of the adopted practices on hotel performance. A survey of the
39 hotels in Nairobi listed under the Kenya Association of hotel Keepers and Caterers was done.
The study relied on primary data collection where questionnaires were used. Data was analyzed
by use of descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation, frequencies and percentages and
correlation analysis used to find out the extent to which the adopted quality management
practices impacted on performance of the hotels. ISO standardization was found to influence
willingness of guests to recommend the hotel to others, guests’ willingness to return to the hotel,
credit collection period, hotel occupancy rate, hotel revenue per room and reservations efficiency
to a moderate extent, but more than any other quality management practice. Benchmarking was
found to influence the level of guests’ satisfaction moderately. Benchmarking was also found to
positively influence food and beverage costs efficiency, check in/checkout efficiency and
performance appraisal, more than the other quality management practices, although to a small
extent. It was concluded that quality management practices have been adopted moderately and
to a small extent, with benchmarking as the only practice adopted to a large extent and it was
recommended that the other practices should also be adopted to a larger extent since it is the
quality of product and hotel that give it competitive advantage and is a critical success factor.