This study investigates the role of customer satisfaction and maintenance culture in the sustainability of hospitality establishments in Umuahia North and South LGAs. The study was guided by six objectives and six research questions. The research adopted a survey research design. The data generated were analyzed using simple frequency percentage and mean. The study revealed that the following variables were shown to have positive impact on customer satisfaction, high quality service, etc and the negative impacts identified by the respondents were lack of staff training. Recommendations were made based on the findings of the study.
The hotel sector is a segment within the guest rooms for sleeping (Hayes and Ninennier, 2007). In its narrowest sense, this definition is correct. However today traveling public has a wide variety of lodging alternatives and the definition just cited is of limited use. Hotel is a “home away from home”. David (2010) broadly defined hotel as an establishment held out by the proprietor, providing accommodation, food and beverages, to any traveler presenting his/her self, who is willing and able to pay for the services rendered and is in a good state of mind to be received by the hotel. Customer satisfaction is a central phenomenon in marketing (Kucukosmanoghu, 2010). It is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectations (Farris and Neil, 2010). Customer satisfaction is defined as “the number of customers or percentage of total customers whose reported experience with a firm, its products, or its services (ratings) exceeds specified satisfaction goals” (Frennea et al., 2010). John (2003) sees customer satisfaction as a key performance indicator within the business which is part of a business score card.
Customer satisfaction is an ambiguous and abstract concept and the actual manifestation of the state of satisfaction will vary from person to person and product service to product/service. The state of satisfaction depends on a number of both psychological and physical variables which correlate with satisfaction behaviors such as return and recommendations (Gitman and McDanie, 2005).Maintenance is essential in today’s competitive hospitality industry. Hotel management should give due importance to maintenance of assets. Maintenance management deals with planning, organizing, directing, staffing, controlling, and evaluating functions of manage-ment applied to maintenance activities (Aroro and Goyal, 2008). Maintenance is a combination of actions carried out to retain an item/machine equipment/system/plant in Order to restore it to an acceptable working condition (Aroro and Goyal, 2008). The purpose of maintenance is to increase the system availability. The basic function of maintenance is to keep plant, machinery, equipment, system in a condition that will meet normal operating requirements (Aroro and Goyal, 2008).
According to Harold et al. (2008) maintenance is the day to day problem of keeping the physical plant in good generating condition”. They also added that it is necessary to ensure that availability of machine, building and service needed by other units of the organization for the performance of their organization for the performance of their function, at an optimum returns investment is generated. According to Aroro and Goyal (2008) different types of maintenance are :a) routine maintenance this includes sweeping washing floors, walls, cutting grass, sizing trees, shrubs ,cleaning readily accessible windows doors, ventilators, b) Schedules maintenance: It is initiated at the property based on a form work order which identifies a known problem. Scheduled maintenance covers inspection, adjustment repair, replacement pre-determined from past failure pattern c) Repair maintenance this involvesthe disassembling of the equipment, to locate the fault, to find out that part needed to replace it to reassemble, then to check the equipment to ensure that it has restored its function capacity, d) breakdown maintenance a failed component or system is repaired and put back to operating condition.
Sustainability is the development that meets the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of the future generation to meet their own needs (Fuller, 2009). The concept of sustainable development can be interpreted in many different ways, but at its core is an approach to development that links to balance different and often competing needs against an awareness of the environmental, social and economic limitations we face as a society (Fuller, 2009). Over the past decade hotel companies have implemented programmes to reduce the waste generated and the energy used in their daily operations. Many have been successful in saving both resources and money as well as attracting environ-mentally conscious guest; however the industry as a whole has yet to make sustainability an integral part of its strategic plans (Collins, 2008).
Customer satisfaction, with products, services, and performance of operational facilities and equipment is a cornerstone of hotels cooperate strategy, laying the foundation for long-term sustainable success, knowing customers’ needs and expectations and learning more about them by maintaining an ongoing dialogue with customers is a top priority for hotels. In this respect alongside excellent products and services, excellent equipment and facilities and expert achieve, personal contact with the customer are of critical importance to the satisfaction of the customers which arises to the sustainability of hotel industries.
The measurement of subjective aspects of customer service depends on the conformity of the customers’ perceived result (Vikas and Carly, 2010). This in turn depends upon the customer’s service providers’ ability and talent to present their expected service, through well maintained faculties and equipment (Vikas and Carly, 2010). Successful hotels add benefits to their offering not only satisfy the customers but also delight them. Delighting customer is a matter of exceeding their expectations (Jagsish et al., 2007).The hotel is made up of two customers’ internal and external customers. If the internal customers being the service providers are well satisfied and good working conditions is provided for them, they will in-turn provide quality service for the external customers (customer satisfaction) which will lead to customer loyalty and relationship therefore leading to increase in profitability and sustainability (Jagdish et al., 2007).
A model of consumer behavior is formulated by Engel et al. (1968). Today’s market place has become very competitive with thousands of hotels and restaurants. In addition, during recent years the hospitality industries have undergone globalization. The result is a fiercely competitive international market with commons fighting for their share of consumer (Foxall, 2006). To win this battle, they invest in research that will reveal what customers want to buy, which location they prefer, which amenities are important to them, how they buy and why they buy (Belch, 2007).
This is the central question: How do consumers respond to the various marketing stimuli that a hotel might use to satisfy its customers; the starting point is the model of buyer behavior shown in Figure 1 (Kotler et al., 2006).

The figure shows that marketing and other stimuli enter the consumer’s black box” and produce certain responses hotel managers must determine what is in the buyer’s black box, in order to satisfy customers (Kotler et al., 2006). On the left side of the figure, the marketing stimuli consist of four Ps: Product, Price, place and promotion. Other stimuli include major forces and events in the buyer’s environment: economic, technological, political and cultural. All these stimuli enter the buyer’s black box, where they are turned into a set of observable buyers’ responses shown on the right: product choice, brand choice, dealer choice, purchase timing, and purchase amount. Hotel managers must understand how the stimuli are changed into responses inside the consumer’s black box. The black box has two parts. First, a buyer’s decision process itself affects outcomes.
The Five GAP Model of Service Quality
The five gap model of service quality was found by parasuraman et al. (1985).
Consumer
Customer satisfaction starts from the consumer behavior model and buyer decision process which starts long before and continues long after the actual purchase. Before a guest chooses to patronize a hotel a lot of factors come into play in the minds of the prospective guests such as product, price, place and promotion and continue with their social, cultural, economic and psychological factors of the prospective guest. Their individual needs and expectations. Now when the prospective guest has recognized his/her need, he proceeds to search for information to satisfy this needs desirably this is where the physical environment of the hotel establishment comes in. How maintained the whole facilities and equipment are in various hotel of choices, the speed of service delivery, service providers relationship with guests, quality of service and the overall customer satisfaction. The next step is evaluation of alternative by the customers to arrive at a final brand choice if a hotel establishment is perfectly maintained and effective in customer satisfaction of course it will be the number one choice for a prospective guest in the purchase decision stage. In the final step which is the post purchase behavior, here the guest now equates the services provided to the initial expectation if the services of the hotel through high customer satisfaction oriented and effective maintenance culture habit surpass the guest expectations he/she becomes loyal customer to that hotel, this lead to the sustainability of the hospitality establishment. For the five gap model, Gap 1 error can be corrected in this study with the use of customer questionnaire from time to time to ascertain what the customers really desire from the hotel and meet this needs satisfaction through quality service and effective maintenance Figure 2.

Gap 2 and 3 error can be corrected in this work through staff training, making them to have a background knowledge of the culture of the hotel and what it stands for making them to understand how important it is to satisfy a guest beyond their expectations. Gap 4 and 5 error, which mostly occurs in hotels, could be corrected in this research just simply by the management saying what they can do in their sales promotion. If you say more and do less customers will be disappointed and will not visit the hotel again. Expectations should not surpass delivered services by the hotel it is better to promise little and remit more than promised. This model and processes if well build on and effectively used in this research will help in the sustainability of hotel establishments.
Citing research on customer loyalty conducted by the forum cooperation Schlesinger and Heskett (2006) noted that only 14% of customer stopped patronizing service business because they were dissatisfied by the quality of the product, while two third defected because of what they judged to be indifferent or unhelpful service. The roles of customer satisfaction and maintenance culture in the sustainability of hotels especially in Umuahia North and South cannot be over emphasized. Hotels are yet to gain its ground in Nigeria like it’s counterparts in the world (Goyal, 2006). One of the ways to make hotels in Umuahia meet up with the hospitality industry standard of the outside world is by embracing serious maintenance culture which will in returns satisfy the customers. This was what prompted this work.
Objectives of study
The main objectives of this research is to study how customer satisfaction and maintenance culture could aid in sustainability of hotels in Umuahia North and South Local Government areas.
Specifically the work;
1. Identified various variables for customer satisfaction in hotels in Umuahia north and south LGAs.
2. Ascertained the ones that are applied in the various hotels in Umuahia north and south LSAs.
3. Determined the maintenance culture utilized in the various hotels in Umuahia north and south LGAs.
4. Determined the role of customer satisfaction in sustainability of the hotels in Umuahia north and south LGAs.
5. Determined the role of maintenance culture in the sustainability of the hotels in Umuahia LGAs.
6. Seek ways of improving the customer satisfaction and maintenance in the hotels in Umuahia north and south for sustainability.
Research Questions
1. What are the various variables of customer satisfaction?
2. What variables of customer satisfaction are applied in hotels in Umuahia?
3. What maintenance culture is utilized in hotels in Umuahia?
4. What is the role of customer satisfaction in the sustainability of the hotels in Umuahia?
5. What is the role of maintenance culture in the sustainability of the hotels in Umuahia?
6. What are the ways of improving the customer satisfaction and maintenance in the hotels in Umuahia north and south?
Area of study
The study was carried out in Umuahia North and South local government area of Abia State.
Research design
The study adopts a survey research design.
Population of the study
The population for the study is basically the Umuahia North and South hotels and their guests. Based on the information collected from the tourism board Umuahia Abia State, 52 hotels are identified and registered with them. The total number of staff and guest in the study area are 3600 people (Abia state tourism board 2014).
Sample size
Sample size 0f 360 was derived using Taro Yamane formula.
Instrument for data collection
The study employed qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection. The instrument used for the study was a questionnaire and oral interviews which was guided by interview schedule.
Method of data collection
The researcher administered 300 questionnaires by hand to guests of the selected hotels in Umuahia North and South LGAs and 60 questionnaires to the management and staff of same hotels and collected the questionnaire on the spot. This gave a total of 360 retrieved questionnaires.
Data analysis technique
Simple descriptive analysis was used to analyze objectives one, two, three, four and six; objective five was analyzed using the five point likert scale
Research Question 1: What are the various variable of customer satisfaction?
Table 1 showed that 24.7% of the respondents stated that high service quality made them stay in a particular hotel in Umuahia, 33.3% of the respondents stated that exceeding customer expectations made them stay in some top hotels such as dramgrate in Umuahia, 18.1% of the respondents stated that effective customer touch point is the variable that made them stay in some smaller hotels in Umuahia , 23.9% of the respondents stated that high customer value made them choose to stay in certain hotels in the study area.
Research Question 2: What variables of customer satisfaction are applied in hotels in Umuahia?
Table 2 shows that 26.2% of the respondents stated that high quality service is one of the variables of customers satisfaction applied in Umuahia hotels, 40.6% of the respondents stated that meeting customer expectations is a variable of customer satisfaction applied in hotels in Umuahia, 12.3% of the respondents stated that speed to service delivery is a variable of customer satisfaction applied in Umuahia hotel, while 9.2% of the respondents said high customer value is a variable of customer satisfaction applied in Umuahia hotel and 11.7% agreed that effective customer touch point is a variable of customer satisfaction applied in hotels in Umuahia.
Research Question 3: What maintenance culture is seen in hotels in Umuahia?
Table 3 shows that 8.3% of the hotels in Umuahia practices preventive maintenance culture, 26.9% of the hotels practices repair maintenance method, 3.3% of the respondents practices routine maintenances, 4.8% of the hotels in Umuahia practices renovative maintenance, 17.5% of the hotels practices breakdown maintenance method, 26.1% of the hotels in Umuahia practice emergency maintenance method, while 9.3% of the hotels practice scheduled maintenance method and 3.8% of the hotels in Umuahia practice corrective maintenance culture.
Research Question 4: What is the role of customer satisfaction in the sustainability of the hotels in Umuahia?
Table 4 shows that 22.8% of the respondent stated that maintenance activities are carried out on daily basis in Umuahia hotels, 17.5% stated that maintenance culture are carried out on weekly basis in Umuahia hotels, 34.2% stated that maintenance culture are carried out on monthly basis, while 25.5% stated that maintenance are carried out on yearly basis in Umuahia hotels.
Research Question 5: What is the role of customer satisfaction in the sustainability of the hotels in Umuahia?
Table 5 shows that the respondents agreed that customer satisfaction has increased profitability, customer loyalty, advertise the establishment, patronage of guests, revenue, long term business and make hotels better than competitors with the mean 4.7, 4.8, 4.8, 4.7, 4.2 and 4.0 respectively. While respondents disagreed that customer satisfaction will only position high in the market, will require more cost on the management and will lead to employment of additional labour cost had 1.8, 1.5 and 1.2 means respectively. This indicate that the respondents perceived the impacts of customer satisfaction as positive rather than negative considering the clustered mean of 3.7 (from the decision rule any mean response of 3.0 and above should be regarded as a positive impacts).
Research Question 6: What are the roles of maintenance culture in the sustainability of the hotels in Umuahia?
Table 6 showed that the respondents agreed that maintenance would increase durability of building, effective functioning of hotel facilities, reduces damages and replacement costs, increase efficiency and speed of delivery, increase safety and security, reduces risks, increase general quality of hotel, create better working condition, increase condition and appearance of hotel and causes hotel to be in long term business had 4.5, 4.8, 4.8, 4.6, 4.8, 4.3, 3.8, 4.5 and 3.8 means respectively. While respondent disagreed that maintenance has increased cost than profit and causes frequent breakdown of facilities had 1.7 and 1.2 means perceived the impacts of maintenance as positive rather than negative considering the clustered mean 3.9 (from the decision rule any mean response of 3.0 and above should be regarded as a positive impacts).
Research Question 6: What are the ways of improving the customer satisfaction and maintenance in the hotels in Umuahia?
Table 7 showed that 40.3% of the respondents stated that training staff could increase the service quality of hotels in Umuahia, 19.9% stated that providing highly effective customer touch point cloud increase the quality of service in Umuahia hotels, 19.6% of the respondent stated that making maintenance part of the company strategy clouded help increase the quality of hotels and 21.2% of the respondent stated that implementing strong maintenance strategies cloud increase the quality of hotels in Umuahia.

Major findings
Citing from the simple frequency analysis the main-tenance level of hotels in Umuahia north and south LGAs is low. This affects the level at which customers are satisfied in these hotels and the ability of these hotels to be sustained from the hypothesis testing reveals that there is a significant difference between the variable of customer satisfaction and maintenance culture to the sustainability of hospitality establishments in Umuahia north and south LGAS. This means this research work if applied can aid rising maintenance level, customer satisfaction level and sustainability of the hotel. The findings of the research showed that there would be sustainability in hotel establishments in the study area if the negative impacts of sustainability are strongly minimized.
The following recommendations were drawn from the findings of the research work.
1. Abia is a state rich in commercial activities and tourist attractions. Better hotels that will attract guest should be maintained as alternative source of revenue to boost the state’s economy.
2. Hotel management should create awareness programmes on the impacts of hotel sustainability. This will help the employees to understand and preserve the service culture of the hotel.
3. Policies and practices that ensure the sustainability of hotels such routine maintenance and exceeding customer expectations should be developed at the early stage of the hotel so as to avert the negative impacts of sustainability.
The most common approach to satisfy customers is by collecting customer’s feedback through customer survey and experience program; taking actions to increase customer satisfaction for the next visit, manage customer complaints and thus take initiatives to reduce number of customers’ complaints in relation to increase customers’ satisfaction.