Completing the Hotel's Technical Facilities

Regarding tourism products, Hue still focuses on its strengths, which are cultural heritage products. In cultural heritages, the industry will upgrade and breathe life into activities such as the Hue Ancient Capital Conservation Center. Previously, tourists came mainly for sightseeing, now the industry will increase services, making it easier for visitors to access the diversity of services in the relics. In addition, community tours will also be upgraded. Currently, with the help of the Asian Development Bank, the Thua Thien Hue tourism industry has exploited community tourism in the A Luoi region. This is a place to exploit eco-tourism, revolutionary history tourism, and at the same time exploit the cultural identity of ethnic minorities in the A Luoi region. In addition, attention is also paid to the local strengths of valuable historical and cultural relics, combined with traditional craft village tourism, which has been a new feature of Thua Thien Hue tourism in recent years. To exploit the potential and sustainably develop traditional craft tourism, there must be clear directions for restoration and development. The most important thing is to pay attention to solutions to exploit the tourist market, develop processing relationships for large enterprises in urban areas; actively implement measures to improve product design and quality; promote propaganda and education to raise awareness of local communities, etc.

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However, Phu Bai airport closed from March to November causing many difficulties for Hue tourism industry. To solve this problem, the industry has many solutions such as how to create the most favorable conditions for passengers who cannot go directly to Hue, but have to transfer to Da Nang by cooperating with the province's transportation industry. Besides, continue to strengthen promotion to increase the number of tourists who do not travel by air. In reality, Thua Thien - Hue is currently exploiting a large flow of tourists traveling by road. Especially, tourists traveling by road from Thailand through the border play an increasingly important role in the growth of tourists coming to Hue. At the same time, the industry also works with shipping lines to increase the number of tourists arriving by sea. In addition, early check-in and late check-out are also implemented for groups traveling by Da Nang airport at hotels in the area. All are aimed at achieving 2.5 million tourists coming to Hue in 2013.

3.2. Solution

Based on the evaluation of domestic guests' opinions on the quality of domestic services as well as the distribution, promotion and pricing policies of the Green Hotel and during my internship at the hotel, I would like to propose some solutions to enhance the exploitation of the domestic tourist market at the Green Hotel in the following years as follows:

3.2.1. Completing the hotel's technical facilities

In general, domestic guests highly appreciate the service facilities of the Green Hotel. However, there are still some issues that domestic guests are not satisfied with. Based on the evaluation of domestic guests' opinions, I would like to propose some solutions regarding service facilities as follows:

- From the beginning, the hotel was invested, built and designed quite well, but over time it has deteriorated, so the hotel's amenities and furniture are a bit old and not modern, for example: air conditioning system, telephone, television, lighting, decorative lights, sanitary equipment and other items have not met the increasing needs of tourists or are often in short supply. To continue to attract tourists, the hotel needs to gradually replace these equipment and ensure the provision of all necessary items such as toothbrushes, towels, shampoo, etc. to complete the product, improve the quality of the rooms with full amenities according to 4-star standards.

- Regularly change the decoration in the room to be more novel and unique so that each time guests return to the hotel, they will have a fresher feeling, especially suitable for women, guests from Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi guests. For example, female guests who like romance should decorate with fresh flower pots to increase the coziness of the room.

- Clothing and handicraft shops should be located near the reception desk to facilitate shopping for domestic customers in the area. Because there are still 10.5% of customers who do not really agree and 41.4% of customers are normal with the criteria that the location of clothing and handicraft shops is convenient for shopping.

- Although not included in the survey, domestic guests still complain that the room door latch is often broken and locked from the inside when guests lock the door from the outside. Therefore, the hotel needs to

Replace broken door latches to make it easier for guests to go out. In addition, domestic guests also suggested that the signs to public areas (restrooms, etc.) should be clearer and more prominent, placed almost everywhere so that guests can easily see them. Because the current signs to the restrooms are not prominent, guests often have to ask the receptionist (many guests feel hesitant to ask this question).

- Many customers still complain about the cleanliness of the hotel rooms, some items such as towels or bed sheets still look dirty and not new, this will cause an unfavorable view of tourists when staying at the hotel. Therefore, the steering committee needs to remind the housekeeping department to pay more attention to rooms with bed sheets that are too old or still dirty, they must be renewed or replaced quickly to avoid customers' bad view of the hotel.

- The hotel should have a plan to periodically check and repair (once every 1 to 3 months) the equipment used depending on each department. In addition, the organization should coordinate in the form of horizontal linkage between departments in the hotel. That is, the departments will directly notify the maintenance department, IT department or related departments if there are problems with the equipment during the service process to promptly repair and create conditions to serve customers best at all times.

3.2.2. Diversify hotel products and services

- The restaurant's menu is not rich, diverse, and unique, so the hotel needs to pay attention to royal dishes, European and Asian menus... to give visitors a new feeling in their taste. It is worth mentioning that the quality of the dishes and drinks has not really satisfied the guests, so it has not attracted many customers. The hotel needs to grasp the eating preferences of each customer, pay attention to the taste and presentation of the dishes to bring satisfaction to them.

- When arriving in a new region, most domestic guests want to enjoy the local specialties. Therefore, the hotel should set up a stall specializing in Hue cuisine with prices suitable for domestic guests such as hen rice, beef noodle soup, beo - nam - loc... to create diversity for food products. This will attract and appeal to domestic guests from other provinces/cities nationwide.

- In fact, most guests staying at the hotel only have breakfast buffet at the restaurant, very few guests have lunch or dinner at the hotel. Therefore, the hotel needs to adjust prices appropriately, apply preferential prices for visitors when coming to the hotel or regularly organize programs and parties to attract guests to the hotel restaurants.

- The breakfast menu needs to change daily, the taste of the dishes must be suitable for each customer from different regions, such as the breakfast of Northern people is usually cakes, vermicelli, pho..., Southern people use coffee, cakes. Northern people do not eat spicy food much but the rich spicy flavor is the preference of Central people...

- Create more new and unique products and services than competitors, creating a special feature of the hotel such as organizing folk games with prizes accompanied by buffet parties in the garden area, organizing singing competitions for each other in the area near the riverbank, organizing buffet parties about Hue dishes...

- Provide many new services such as giving gifts on holidays, wedding anniversaries, birthdays, giving Christmas gifts to children on Christmas...

- Hotels should diversify the types of services at the restaurant, show visitors the restaurant's ability to meet their needs and redesign the menu, thereby creating good reviews of the hotel.

- There needs to be a renovation of the space for restaurants serving traditional dishes to give visitors a sense of excitement and blend into the space.

- The hotel needs to invest in a bar, where drinks are served to guests. Despite its beautiful location, the hotel has not yet created a real bar space and lacks a variety of drinks.

- Add new types of services such as: book cafe... with suitable space to serve many different types of customers.

- The hotel needs to create many types of entertainment inside and outside the hotel to extend the guests' stay, for example: opening cooking classes for Hue dishes, organizing parties on holidays, at the end of each week on the banks of the Perfume River or it can also be a birthday party for guests born in the same month. This can not only increase revenue for the restaurant but also bring a beautiful image of the hotel to visitors or organize tours to explore new tourist attractions in Hue that visitors have never known... to extend the guests' stay.

- Build a gym, dance classes, etc. Especially, the hotel needs to quickly add medical services. These are additional services that many tourists requested during the survey.

3.2.3. Promote distribution and promotion activities

According to the survey results of domestic guests, the majority of guests are businessmen, employees aged 30 to 50 years old, and they are quite satisfied with the distribution and promotion activities of the hotel. However, there are still many guests who do not really agree with the distribution and promotion activities of the hotel. Especially guests over 50 years old, guests with other occupations. Based on the survey of domestic guests' opinions, I would like to propose the following solutions:

- Strengthen the promotion of the hotel's image on mass media such as the internet, newspapers, and radio. Because according to statistics, the number of guests who know the hotel through these channels is still very low (Internet accounts for 10.5% and newspapers and travel guides account for 3.1%). In the era of increasingly developing Internet, hotels should pay more attention to investing in this channel because most guests are students, businessmen, and employees who like to find information on the internet, which is both convenient and less time-consuming.

- Develop a strategy to promote and disseminate information about the MICE potential of the Green Hotel, such as advertising, inviting professional journalists to the hotel, etc., to attract more and more of this target customer market.

- Expanding cooperative relationships with hotels in other provinces and cities across the country to introduce customers to each other on the basis of mutual benefit.

- Tourists come to the hotel through various sources, but mainly travel agencies, so information about the hotel's services that they provide to customers such as brochures, advertising publications with images of the hotel such as the reception hall, bedrooms, restaurants, meeting rooms, conference rooms help customers visualize the products and services they expect. Therefore, hotels need to pay attention to the design of advertising publications not only in terms of content but also in form, and must always update new information about the hotel to bring the first impression to customers.

- Strengthen customer care, regularly arrange specialized staff in reception, restaurant departments... Through that, introduce customers to use the services at the hotel. At the same time, grasp feedback to promptly adjust services to ensure better quality.

- Collect customer feedback via email to know what is missing and what customers are not satisfied with so that timely remedies can be taken.

- The hotel should have a suggestion box located in the guest room so that domestic guests can easily express their dissatisfaction with the hotel. This is especially suitable for retired guests, housewives, etc. who are not proficient in using the internet to give feedback via email. From there, they will know what domestic guests are not satisfied with and have a direction for improvement.

- Continuously update new information about the hotel and promotional policies for domestic guests of the hotel on distribution channels such as CTLH, electronic channels...etc...so that domestic guests can have a better understanding of information about the hotel.

- Hotels must regularly have preferential policies and special promotions for domestic guests to attract more customers, such as promotions for customers who book directly on the hotel's official email, discounts for conference groups traveling in large numbers, etc.

- In addition, the hotel should have leaflets and magazines about Hue culture placed in the lobby to increase guest satisfaction. Organize birthday parties for guests. On these occasions, it is not necessary to organize a big party, just a bouquet of flowers, a congratulatory message will make guests emotional, the cost of this activity is very small compared to other costs but it leaves a good impression in the hearts of guests, increasing satisfaction and this is the best advertising medium.

3.2.4. Develop a reasonable pricing policy

Unlike international guests who care about the brand when choosing a hotel, domestic guests care about the price first. Therefore, building a price that suits the needs and affordability of domestic guests is one of the measures that help hotels attract domestic guests today. Based on the survey of domestic guests' opinions, the rate of domestic guests disagreeing with the price of rooms and rooms

The reasonable and suitable additional service prices are 13.6% and 24.7% respectively, for expensive food service prices, 29% of customers agree and 19.1% of customers strongly agree with this statement. On that basis, I would like to propose some solutions on pricing as follows:

- For large groups of guests, the hotel should reduce room rates or provide free use of an additional service, or give a voucher for a cruise on the Perfume River or a free shuttle to the airport......

- Adjust the prices of additional services to be more suitable, have a promotion program when guests use additional services of the hotel such as guests using massage & sauna services will be given a drink voucher at the bar......

- Guarantee more competitive prices than other hotels.

- For customers who frequently return to the hotel on their next visits to Hue, the hotel should offer preferential prices and room discounts to increase their loyalty to the hotel.

- During the low season, there should be a special discount policy (10 - 20% discount) to stimulate more consumer psychology of tourists and attract more domestic tourists.

- Use odd numbers at the end of the price to appeal to domestic customers' psychology, for example, instead of the room price being 800,000 VND, it will be 799,000 VND...

- Adjust the price of food to suit the target customers, mainly business customers and employees. Should give away drink vouchers when they use the food service or have a special promotion program when eating 2 main dishes or more, they will get an extra dessert... This will stimulate customers to use the food service and feel happy when eating at the hotel because there are really attractive promotions.

3.2.5. Build good relationships with travel agencies

The majority of domestic guests in the survey were mainly provided by tour operators (accounting for 42.6%), so hotels need to have special preferential policies for tour operators when providing guests to the hotel. Based on the survey of opinions of some tour operators who accompanied large groups of guests, and representatives of tour operators who surveyed the hotel, I would like to propose the following solutions:

- Ensure preferential prices for CTLH to maintain domestic customer sources.

- When the sales team sells a quantity of products exceeding the prescribed level, the hotel should have additional bonuses for the sales team to ensure benefits and maintain the cooperative relationship between the two parties.

- There are promotions for employees, managers of travel agencies who survey hotels, tour operators who follow large groups of guests. Free rooms, meals. There are invitations for CTLH to visit and survey the hotel.

- For tour operators traveling with large groups of guests, following the tour guide, the hotel should have special incentives for them such as arranging a bedroom, free main meals at the hotel, inviting them to use an additional service of the hotel such as massage & sauna...etc. When the group checks out, the hotel should have a souvenir for the tour operator such as a pullover with the hotel logo printed on it...etc.

- Strengthen market activities, contact (directly or by phone) regularly with travel agencies to grasp the needs and tastes of customers. Raise the issue of sustainable business cooperation with traditional partners and establish relationships with new, potential partners. Especially large travel agencies such as Viettravel, Saigon tourist, Hanoi tourist, HoaBinh tourist, Ben Thanh...

- There are special preferential policies for travel agencies that regularly provide domestic guests to the hotel, creating a reliable business partnership.

3.2.6. Improve the quality of staff

Through the investigation, the majority of domestic guests agreed with the criteria of the hotel staff. However, there are still many guests who do not agree with the attitude and service of the staff. Based on that, I would like to propose the following solutions:

- For housekeeping staff, it is necessary to carefully instruct how to use the equipment in the room, especially paying attention to female guests because these are difficult guests, requiring meticulousness and thoughtfulness. At the same time, when guests have requests, they must respond to their requests quickly, promptly and be ready to help them with a warm attitude, and quickly handle problems that occur in the guest room. Only then will we leave a good image of the hotel in the minds of customers.

- For restaurant staff, NVPV needs to understand customer psychology and customs.

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