Chapter 1
Introduction

1.0 Introduction
In today's highly competitive marketplace,attaining customer loyalty is essential for survival in all industries.China is the fast development country in the world. The China hospitality industry is also developing in a fast pace. Many hoteliers believed that it was very important to satisfy guests when they are in the hotel. Meanwhile, to find new customers is another real goal as well. Due to the strong competition, service providers shift their marketing strategies from creating customer acquisition to creating customer retention or customer loyalty. According to Jacoby and Chestnut (1978: 215), “increasing customer loyalty would most probably result in repeat sales and referrals, revenues, market share, growth and decrease in costs”.
This research tries to make an exploration in customer loyalty and the China hotel industry.The study is seeking to identify the importance of customer loyalty,the extent to which customer loyalty is related to satisfaction,the extent to which relationship marketing has been development in the two particular hotels in China and the effectiveness of guest loyalty programmes.Those two hotels being regarded are Zhengtian landmark hotel in the Xinjiang area, which is tourism destination in northwest of China and another one is Kunming Hotel in Kunming City, where is the centre of economy in Yunnan province.
The researcher chose this project for many reasons. First, while the interest of customer loyalty has been increasing, there has been increasing, there has been, however little research on the topic in relation to the Chinese hotel industry. It means there are only limited customer loyalty researches on China hotels. In this sense, this research tries to make an exploration in customer loyalty and the China hotel industry.
Second, the particular hotels were chosen as information availability reason. Because, the researcher has friends working in those two hotels, so they can make the author able to collect information form the hotels. Otherwise, in the midseason, most of hotels are very busy, they can’t allow the researcher to do deep research in their hotel. Fortunately, the researcher finished her interview with a hotel manager by her friend’s help.The reason of choosing these two hotels is because the researcher wants the sample coverage as wide as possible.The reason will be discussed in the methodology chapter.

1.1 Aim and Objectives

1.1.1 Aim
The aim of this research is to explore if and to what extent are customer loyal to the particular hotel chains in China.

1.1.2 Objectives:
1. To determine the importance of building customer loyalty and how does loyal customer benefit the hotel;
2. To determine the measurement of customer loyalty;
3. To determine the usage of customer loyalty programme;

1.2 Structure of the Dissertation

1.2.1 Chapter 1
Chapter one introduces the reasons that the researcher chose this particular topic. Furthermore, it indicates the aim and objectives that have been proposed for the specific study. Finally the structure of the dissertation is presented.

1.2.2 Chapter 2
Chapter two is the review of the relevant literature. It examines the concept of customer loyalty as well as its importance in the hotel industry. In addition, Frazer-Robinson’s (1997) model of achieving customer loyalty is analysed and different ways of measuring rete

ntion. Finally, the relation between customer loyalty and customer satisfaction is examined. Meanwhile, the customer loyalty programme is introduced, their importance in the hotel sector and their effect on consumer loyalty are also be presented.

1.2.3 Chapter 3
Chapter three examines the method that the researcher used in order to be able to carry out this research. Qualitative research was thought to be the most appropriate method as the researcher wanted to explore opinions from managers. In addition, the design of the questionnaire is being described as for getting opinions from customers.

1.2.4 Chapter 4
Chapter four presents analysis and findings. In the first part, results of the interview with hotel manager are evaluated, and results of the survey are being discussed and related with similar studies presented in the literature.

1.2.5 Chapter 5
Conclusion and recommendations are the main aim of this chapter. Key points from the analysis being discussed and managerial solutions are being proposed for improving customer loyalty in the Chinese hotels. It finally enumerates some limitations of the study and proposes some further areas of the research.