Will Smith moved from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to take over as the general manager of the Bel Air Motel in California. Will had been the assistant general manager of a large chain hotel in the downtown area of Philadelphia. He encountered problems with some of the employees and felt it would be a good idea to move to a more relaxed atmosphere. Will had worked for the chain for ten years, starting in the management training program and working his way up to his position as the assistant general manager.

The Bel Air Motel is one of the oldest properties in the area, but it has been renovated periodically over the years. The motel is owned by a group of independent investors and has 116 rooms with basic amenities. There is no restaurant or pool, but there are some restaurants in the local area. The motel’s room rate is at the low end for the market, which consists mainly of upscale properties.

Upon starting his new position as general manager, Will realized that there were major differences between working for a large chain and working at a small, independent motel. The chain hotels had sophisticated computer systems for reservations, sales and catering, and revenue management.

In addition, customer information was gathered through surveys and comment cards. This provided managers with valuable information that could be used to make important decisions about rates and services. Unfortunately, the Bel Air Motel had a very simple reservations system and no additional information except for some historical figures on rate and occupancy. The average room rate was $125 and the occupancy rate was around 60 percent before Will took over.

Will understood the necessity of gathering more customer information and developed a comment card to be placed in every room. Customers were asked to complete the comment card and leave it in the room for housekeeping to collect. The purpose of the comment card was to determine how guests staying at the motel felt about the property and the services. Will wanted to make sure the guests were satisfied. At the end of the first year, he received a total of 169 completed comment cards. The first question he looked at was the one dealing with customer satisfaction:

Case Questions and Issues

a. Is the response rate large enough for the comment cards to be representative of all the guests? How could the response rate be improved?

b. Are customers satisfied?

c. What are the major areas of concern and how can they be improved?

d. What other information is necessary? How could you go about collecting that information?

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Which of the following best describes your experience at the Bel Air Motel? The motel exceeded my expectations. The motel met my expectations. 19.9% 55.9% 24.3% The motel failed to meet my expectations. The percentages indicate the guests' responses to the question. This year could serve as a benchmark for future years, but Will was concerned that the motel failed to meet the expectations for approximately one-fourth of the guests. Next, he looked at the guests' ratings of the motel's facilities and ser- vices on a 4-point scale (1 = poor, 2 = fair, 3 = good, and 4 = excellent). HOTEL SERVICES MEAN Reservations 3.59 Front desk/check-in 3.55 Front desk/checkout 3.69 Front desk/guest service 3.41 GUEST ROOM Comfort 3.20 Bedroom lighting 2.88 Cleanliness 3.41 Furnishings 3.07 Adequacy of supplies 3.11 Heating/air-conditioning 3.12 Overall quality 3.07 Price/room rate 3.01