The Imperatives of Maintenance Culture in the Sustainability of Hotels in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria

Abstract

The paper assessed the roles of maintenance culture in the sustainability of hotels in Ado-Ekiti the research employed the use of survey research method; it involved the use of a well structured questionnaire to elicit information from respondents. Purposive sampling technique will be used to select three (3) star hotel as the sample for the study. The reason for making use of the purposive sampling was because the researcher feels its right to use 3-star hotels for the research. Three (3) star hotels are the ones that have at least some average facilities that can be maintained. In all the 3 star hotels in Ado Ekiti, a total sample of 20 hotels were selected for the study using convenient sampling technique which form 20% of the total population of the hotels in the study area, The patrons who responded to the questionnaire were selected with the use of convenient sampling technique. A total of 4 patrons were selected from each of the 20 hotels. However, the researcher was able to retrieve 79 out of 80 copies of questionnaire administered. The data collected were analysed using descriptive method of data analysis. It was revealed that proper and effective maintenance culture helps to shape the image and quality of services rendered by hotels which in turns attracts both old and new customers; maintenance culture is valuable for the sustainability of hotels and their brands as it helps in retaining the corporate image, retaining competitive advantage and satisfies current and intending customers of the hotel; poor knowledge of the need of rebranding of hotels, looking at most of the hotel owners from observation, one can deduce that many of them does not have a good knowledge of maintenance culture, hence, many hotels have a snail growth. It was recommended in the paper that the hotel owners should create a strategy to imbibe the use of maintenance culture into their business, and by so doing they will be able to gain and retain new and existing customers. The association of hotel business owners should dim it fit without sentiments to train and re-train their members on the new maintenance culture methods.