Thesis Project - Hotel Management

Introducing a third-party hotel application that will improve the Asian guest experience, in order to achieve higher guest satisfaction
Grade: 8

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InterContinental Hong Kong
“Introducing a third-party hotel application that will
improve the Asian guest experience, in order to achieve
higher guest satisfaction”
/Advisory Report/

Quick Retake
Thesis Report C
Advised by: Fiona He (438160)
Company: InterContinental Hong Kong Client: Joyce Mang
Saxion University of Applied Sciences
First examiner: Marion Holtkamp
International Hotel Management
Second examiner: Tatiana Alekseeva
Year 5, Quarter 2
Research teacher: Rienk van Marle
16th of November 2020
Hong Kong
Declaration of own work statement (form + signature)

Preface

As a student of International Hotel Management at Saxion University of Applied Sciences, the past
four years I have gained a lot of insights into the hospitality industry. This thesis project is the final
assignment of this study. The report is written for my client, InterContinental Hong Kong, and presents
the advice of implementing a third-party hotel application that will improve the guest experiences. During my management internship at InterContinental Hong Kong, I was in contact with the Director of
Guest Relations and received the possibility to write my thesis for the hotel. I would like to thank the
Director of Guest Relations, Joyce Mang for supporting me. Her knowledge and experience in the
hospitality industry are admirable and she was always open to help me. It will not be a surprise if I say that having to conduct my research during the COVID-19 was really
challenging me. After facing several challenges during the thesis proposal phase, such as the hotel
closing down for renovation, the COVID-19 pandemic, and having to find a place to live in Hong Kong.
However, my first examiner, Marion Holtkamp has been constantly supporting and helping me out. I
would like to offer sincere thanks for all her help. This project has become very special for me, not only that it was the final assignment for my study,
but also that this project is for InterContinental Hong Kong. I have done my first and management
internship both at InterContinental Hong Kong, therefore, this hotel has a special place in my heart. I
am happy that I was able to help them with implementing a hotel app through this project and to help
them prepare for the re-opening again. Moreover, this project has been corrected based on the feedback provided by the examiners. The
improvements have been applied to several chapters in order to ensure coherence. Below a list of all
the added and adjusted parts can be found:
• Chapter 2
o 2.4.2 Methods of data collection
• Chapter 3
o 3.1 Research conducted
o 3.3 Interviews results
• Chapter 5
o 5.1 Advice alternatives
o 5.2 Evaluation criteria
o 5.5 Financial implications
o 5.5.1 Benefits
• Afterword

Lastly, I would like to express my gratitude to my examiners, my client, and all five respondents, who
took their time and effort for helping to conduct this thesis.
Fiona He Hong Kong, 16th of November 2020 Executive summary

The hospitality industry is constantly developing and currently one of the fastest-growing industries in
the world. In 2019, there is a growth of 4% of international tourist arrivals noticed. Hospitality
performance is significantly important in the hospitality industry, this is not only due to the continuous
growth of the industry but also due to the new markets and technologies. Hospitality businesses must
focus on the guest experience. Moreover, smart technology has received attention in the hospitality
industry. Technology has become more and more important for businesses as it can engage guests in
a more personal way. With the COVID-19 outbreak, the hospitality industry has become even more challenging and
competitive, it is important to anticipate and manage the guests’ expectations. Moreover, especially
with the recent COVID-19 outbreak, the need for technology has increased to reduce physical
contact. Therefore, the problem can be translated into the following management questions: “How
can InterContinental Hong Kong implement a third-party hotel application that will improve the
Asian guest experience, in order to achieve higher guest satisfaction?”.

The research objective is to gain insight into hotel application features and design, in order to
formulate recommendations and give advice to InterContinental Hong Kong on how to implement a
third-party application that will meet the guest preferences and improve their experience. The thesis project starts with a literature review of two core concepts “guest experience” and “hotel
application”. After defining different perspectives of academic authors, the research methodology was
described. The research begins with the desk research, by comparing three hotel applications to find
out what the competitors offer. With the desk research, the most common and important features of
successful application were found and these were used to make the interviews guide together with
the operationalization that was gathered through literature review. After this, the field research is carried out, starting with the interviews of InterContinental’s guests.
The results of the interviews were analyzed with axial and open coding. Later on, the findings were
discussed and the research questions were answered. The results that were found are the foundation
of what the hotel application should include. After that, two advice options are presented, the
INTELITY and VirtualConcierge third-party supplier platform. After weighing both options based on
the criteria, it was found that the INTELITY platform is most suitable for InterContinental Hong Kong.
Additionally, this advice has priority in the COVID-19 pandemic situation, due to the need for
technology. The advisory chapter answers the management questions. The final advice made use of the software
development lifecycle and the PCDA-cycle, which describes the implementation of the application.
Finally, the advice considered the time that is needed, people who need to be involved, and financial
aspects, which are presented in the project planning. The presented advice will assist InterContinental
to successfully implement the application and to understand their guests’ preferences and
expectations, which will provide the possibility of increasing guest satisfaction.
Table of Contents

1.1 Developments within the Hospitality Industry................................................................................7
1.2 The client – InterContinental Hong Kong ......................................................................................7
1.3 The management problem ............................................................................................................7
1.4 The ambitions of the management ................................................................................................8
1.5 The management question ............................................................................................................9
1.6 Objective of the advice ..................................................................................................................9
1.7 Objective of research and research questions ............................................................................10
1.8 Reading guide .............................................................................................................................10

2.1 Search process ............................................................................................................................11
2.1.2 Analysis of the chosen sources ...........................................................................................12
2.2 Search results ..............................................................................................................................12
2.2.3 Relations of guest experience and hotel application ...........................................................14
2.3 Operationalization ........................................................................................................................15
2.4 Methodology – Research methods..............................................................................................16
2.4.4 Methods of data analysis .....................................................................................................18

3.1 Research conducted....................................................................................................................19
3.2 Hotel apps comparison results ....................................................................................................19
3.3 Interviews results .........................................................................................................................21
3.4 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................27

4.1 Validity .........................................................................................................................................30
4.1.3 Construct validity ..................................................................................................................31
4.2 Reliability .....................................................................................................................................31

5.1 Advice alternatives ......................................................................................................................33
5.1.2 Advice alternative 2: VirtualConcierge platform ...................................................................35
5.2 Evaluation criteria ........................................................................................................................35
5.3 Results of the comparison ...........................................................................................................37
5.4 Implementation of advice.............................................................................................................38
5.4.1 Planning of the project .........................................................................................................39
5.5 Financial implications ..................................................................................................................41
5.5.1 Benefits ................................................................................................................................43
5.6 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................44

Personal development .......................................................................................................................45
Value for the hospitality industry .......................................................................................................46

Core concept 1: Guest Experience ...................................................................................................50
Core concept 2: Hotel Application .....................................................................................................50

Appendix XIV – Transcripts ...................................................................................................................73
Chapter 1 - General Introduction
In the following chapter, the reason behind this research project is presented, together with the
management problem, that the client’s organization is currently facing. Additionally, the objectives of
the advice and research are presented. 1.1 Developments within the Hospitality Industry
The hospitality industry is constantly developing and currently one of the fastest-growing industries in
the world (World Tourism Organization, 2019). According to UNWTO (2020), in 2019, there is a
growth of 4% of international tourist arrivals noticed. Hospitality performance is significantly important
in the hospitality industry, this is not only due to the continuous growth of the industry but also due to
the new markets and technologies. However, at the beginning of 2020, there were some changes to the hospitality industry. Nowadays,
the world is experiencing an infectious disease called coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Elflein (2020)
points out that coronaviruses are “transmitted from animals to people, with this particular strain of
coronavirus thought to have originated from a seafood market in the city of Wuhan in China in late
December of 2019” (p.1). Currently, the number continues to grow, many places and business have
been affected negatively. Hospitality industries carry out the biggest consequences. According to
Bartik et al. (2020), community lockdowns, social distancing, travel, and mobility restrictions resulted
in the temporary closure of many hospitality businesses and significantly decrease the demand for
businesses that were allowed to operate. 1.2 The client – InterContinental Hong Kong
The client of this thesis project is the five-star hotel InterContinental Hong Kong. InterContinental is
one of the InterContinental Hotels Group properties also known as IHG. IHG has 17 brands and its
franchises, leases, manages, and owns more than 5500 hotels in almost 100 countries. InterContinental Hong Kong is a Forbes five-star hotel and this year is its 7th consecutive year. Forbes
Travel Guide is a star ranking service and online travel guide for hotels, restaurants, and spas.
InterContinental Hong Kong is located in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong. The hotel opened its door in
October 1980 as Regent, it was managed by Four Season. In June 2001, it was changed to
InterContinental Hong Kong as a flagship and owned by IHG. Further in the years, in July 2015, they
changed the ownership to Supreme Key Ltd, a consortium of investors advised and managed by Gaw
Capital Partners (InterContinental, 2020). The hotel’s ambition is “to be the No. 1 Hotel Company for our Guests, Owners & Colleagues”. At the
same time, their vision is to become one of the Greatest Company in the world. The strategic mission
of InterContinental Hong Kong is to create Great Hotels Guests Love by providing True Hospitality to
everyone. InterContinental believes that with the winning’s way of “Do the right thing, Show we care,
Aim higher, Celebrate differences, and Work better together” will deliver great values. Additionally, if
InterContinental can satisfy their people, guest experience as well as doing great in responsible
business and have a good financial return, they will be one of the greatest companies in the world
(IHG, 2020). 1.3 The management problem
Currently, InterContinental Hong Kong is facing a problem, or it could be said that all hotels in Hong
Kong are facing the same problem. Due to the political unrest in the last half-year of 2019 and the
COVID-19 at the beginning of 2020, many businesses have been affected and InterContinental Hong
Kong is one of them. According to the Annual Report and Form 20-F 2019 (Greater China, 2020), the
RevPAR of Greater China including Hong Kong has declined by 27.1%. This is due to the low
average daily rate and low occupancy compared to 2018, this is the highest occupancy declines for