Employee surveys were distributed to randomly selected 10
employees who had been working for the hotel at least for 6
months. To facilitate accurate responses, anonymity was guaranteed
to all employees. Employees were instructed to fill out the
surveys, put them in envelopes, seal them to assure confidentiality
and, then, return them to the interviewer. In total, 2023 of the 2500
eligible employees returned usable surveys yielding a response
rate of 81%. Self-administered customer survey questionnaires were distributed to randomly selected 20 customers staying at
each participating hotel. The research team member approached
every eighth customer checking out from the hotel and asked them
whether they would like to complete a short survey regarding
their satisfaction with their stay. Customers were instructed to
complete the short survey, place the completed survey in the
provided envelope, seal it and return it to the research team
member. A total of 3346 usable customer surveys were returned,
yielding a response rate of 67%. Since all the hotel managers agreed
to participate in the study before data collection started, managers
of all 250 hotels completed the financial performance survey