Customer Satisfaction And Loyalty In The Application Of The All-Inclusive Holiday Concept At The Kenyan Coast

Abstract

All-inclusive holidays can be defined as those where all travel, accommodation

and a substantial amount of food and drink, together with activities such as

entertainment, trips or sports coaching are included in a pre-paid price while

booking. The all-inclusive holiday concept was first introduced in the in 1840s,

and later re-emerged in the 1930s. The concept exploded in the Caribbean in the

1950s and was introduced in Africa in the 1980s. An explosion of the concept was

later realised along coastal strips in the late 1990s. At its inception, the allinclusive

concept was a fundamentally different holiday where a guest had to

carry no form of currency, paper, coin or plastic to a hotel, resort or while on a

cruise. With time it was realised that the application of the all-inclusive concept

had been modified and varied from the original. Due to its modification, the

validity and efficacy of the concept has been questioned particularly with regard

to service procedures, professionalism of the personnel employed, value for

money, quality of food, drink and accommodation offered; quality of tourists it

attracts, and the spill-over effects to the host country. The general objective of this

research was to analyse the all-inclusive holiday concept as applied in Kenya. To

achieve this, the study used four specific objectives to profile the application of

all-inclusive practices, assess service delivery versus customer expectations,

identify important attributes to customer delight and assess the relationship

between customer delight and customer loyalty. The study reviewed literature on

the all-inclusive holiday concept across different countries; customer satisfaction,

delight and loyalty. The study used a conceptual model, theoretical model and

operational model to link theory to practice. The theoretical models used were the

SERVQUAL Model, Expectancy Disconfirmation Model and Kano’s Satisfaction

Model. The study used a cross-sectional survey design to collect information from

the vacational hotels at the Kenyan coast. Purposeful and stratified systematic

sampling techniques were used. A sample size 0f 209 respondents was obtained.

The research instruments were questionnaires, interviews and observations. The

data analysis involved use of descriptive statistics where frequencies, content

analysis, the servqual research instrument and factor analysis were used to

identify the correlations among variables. Hypotheses were tested using t-test, chi

square and non-parametric correlations. The findings of the study show customer

satisfaction level averaging between satisfactory to fairly satisfactory. Further,

there was a discrepancy between customer expectations and customer perceptions.

A linear relationship between customer delight and customer relationship was

established. For the concept to remain viable in Kenya, the current mode of its

application and marketing needed to be revised. The study proposes a new

approach to marketing and applying the all-inclusive concept. Such an approach

would involve the intervention of the Ministry of Tourism and the local

hospitality practitioners. The study suggested further studies to compare and

benchmark the application of the holiday concept with other parts of the world including the Caribbean Islands where the concept is well-grounded.