The role of guest amenities in Wellington Hotels

Abstract

This report investigates the role of guest amenities in three, four and five-star rated Wellington (New Zealand) hotels. Specifically it seeks to understand the reasons for a hotel’s choice of the amenities and features they provide as part of their accommodation offering and to understand to what extent a hotel’s amenity selection provides the hotel with a competitive advantage or differentiation, assists with brand identity and provides a merchandising opportunity. This research also seeks to understand the effects that provision of guest amenities and facilities have on hotel front office and housekeeping staff. Based on the themes emerging from the literature review, self-completion questionnaires were developed and discussion questions prepared for focus groups. Primary data has been gathered from four samples; Hotel General Managers, Executive Housekeepers and Front Office Managers as they are the hotel personnel responsible for the selection, monitoring and controlling of the amenities; and Hotel Guests, as they are the end users of the amenities and features. Findings indicate that Wellington Hotels have not been subjected to the concept of ‘Amenity Creep’ to the same extent as hotels in the USA (as described by international authors). However, there are a number of overseas initiatives regarding the use of hotel amenities and features that could be adopted by Wellington hotels that might improve the accommodation products offered to Wellington hotel guests and improve the marketing of a hotel. The findings also indicate the need for more customer research to be undertaken by hotels to ascertain the amenities and features that could be provided to better meet their guests’ needs, to ascertain the amenities and features that provide value for guests, and also those that might provide a competitive advantage for a hotel.