Co-construction of hotel reception experiences in a developing country context

Abstract

Service businesses have moved to an era of delivering unique experiences to consumers, and the hotel industry is no exception. The hotel service experience requires co-construction whereby both staff and guests are active participants in the production and consumption of the experience. To date, there has been relatively limited research on the co-construction of hotel experiences, and in particular, reception experiences. At the same time, there is little empirical research related to the co-construction of hotel experiences in Ghana, a developing country in Africa. This paper critically explores hotel reception co-construction in 3, 4 and 5-star hotels in Ghana, from the perspective of guests and staff. This study adopts a mixed-method approach, incorporating quantitative methods (361 guest surveys) and qualitative techniques (38 staff and manager interviews) to assess stakeholders’ perceptions of the hotel reception experience. Findings highlight the importance of a range of human interactions on reception experiences, with communication being an important key. A cultural element to the reception experience and hotel servicescape also plays a significant role in creating reception experiences. To date, few studies of hotel experiences have researched concurrently suppliers and consumers (demand and supply side perspective), or utilised these three theories to understand reception experience. Thus, the findings of this research is expected to contribute to the academic understanding of hotel reception experiences, particularly in a developing country context, with implications for policy-making, staff training, service design, and marketing.