GASPRO International Journal of Eminent Scholars

ABSTRACT
The specific aim of this paper was to assess hotel décor as determinant of
customer’s satisfaction and patronage in hotel industry in Lagos State. Ex-post facto
design was adopted for this study. The study was conducted at Beni Gold Hotel and
Apartment and Integrity Hotel & Suites in Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria. The
population of the study comprised of management staffs from the two
aforementioned hotels, respectively. A simple random sampling technique was used
to select 40 respondents from each of the hotels, and this gave a sample size of 80
respondents, which was used for the study. The main instrument for the study was a
questionnaire tagged "Role of Ambience on Customers’ Patronage in Hotel Industry
Questionnaire" (RACPHIQ). A letter of introduction was given to the heads of the
organisations for understanding and assistance. The questionnaire, which was
developed by the researcher for data collection, was administered to the
respondents and retrieved six days later from each respondent in the two selected
hotels in Victoria Island, Lagos. The researcher subjected the data generated for this
study to appropriate statistical techniques, such as simple regression analysis, for
testing the hypotheses. The test for significance was done at a 0.05 alpha level and
at 68 degree of freedom. Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that
décor contributes to the attractiveness of the physical environment. While customers
remain inside a hotel, they are likely to evaluate, consciously or subconsciously, the
pleasant appearance of the interior designs as well as the quality of the materials
used in construction, artwork, and decoration. One of the recommendations made
was that hotels’ managers should not dismiss the importance of decor in their
continual attempts to provide the best quality service based on their own
understanding of service quality. Hence, decor cannot be ignored in the realm of
achieving effective customer patronage in hotels.
KEYWORDS: Ambience, Décor & Customer patronage.