What Effect Does the Hampton Inn 100% Unconditional Satisfaction Guarantee have on Customer Loyalty?

Trust has been identified as a key factor in sustaining customer loyalty in service sector industries. The Hampton Inn hotel chain attempts to promote trust and loyalty among its customers by offering a 100% unconditional satisfaction guarantee. The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which a specific value-enhancing feature—the 100% unconditional guarantee—is likely to influence customer loyalty. In this study, loyalty was defined in two ways: (a) the likelihood of returning to another Hampton Inn property and (b) the likelihood of returning to the particular Hampton Inn at which this study was conducted. In the study, data were gathered by means of a researcher-developed survey instrument and multiple regression models were used to analyze the data. Regression analysis revealed a significant relationship between the likelihood of returning to another Hampton Inn and the importance of the guarantee for both returnees and those who were staying at the particular Hampton Inn in the study for the first time. Some of the other demographic and hotel-related independent variables that were used to construct the regression model also were significant. A significant relationship between the guarantee and customer loyalty was also found for first timers when the measure of the second indicator of loyalty (the likelihood of returning to the particular Hampton Inn at which the study was conducted) functioned as the dependent variable. No significant relationship was found for returnees, however, when this second dependent variable was used. Most demographic and hotel-related independent variables also were not significant for either the returnee or the first time group, but one independent variable—perception of the quality of the stay—was significant for returnees and first timers.

Name thesis:degree_name

EdD Doctor of Education

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation: Open Access

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Education

Year dc:date.available

2004

Author dc:creator

• Carlstead, Jeffrey Alan, EdD

• customer loyalty
• Hampton Inn Hotels
• marketing
• Regression analysis
• service sector
• unconditional satisfaction guarantee
• Leadership Studies

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digital.sandiego.edu/dissertations/727

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digital.sandiego.edu:dissertations-1732