A Qualitative Study on Strategic Customer Care Through Promotional Strategies Employed by Four Boracay Resorts

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to enumerate the promotional strategies employed by four (4) resorts in Boracay, namely: Patio Pacific Boracay, Little Corner of Italy - Da Mario Resort, Casa Pilar Beach Resort and Dante’s Hideaway Beach Resort in taking care of their customers strategically. This study also aims to specify how these resorts acquire, retain, and maintain good relationship with customers for a longer period of time. This study followed a descriptive qualitative research design utilizing an interview as a method in gathering the data. The interview was conducted with four (4) Front Desk Officers, one per resort, using a 10-item interview schedule. The interview questions were formulated accordingly, on how these resorts acquire new customers, retain returning guests, and maintain regular customers for a long-term period. The results of the interviews revealed that strategic customer care through promotional strategies is very essential in acquiring, retaining, and maintaining customers, as well as building long-lasting relationship. It showed that these resorts used almost the same promotional strategies such as giving discounts, free breakfast, free dinner, membership and privilege cards, and gifts. The result also showed that word-of-mouth and referrals from other people are the best ways for these resorts to acquire customers; entertaining the guests to make them feel at home, and rendering them good service as a way of retaining customers; and obtaining consistent communication and strengthening good relationship with customers as a way of maintaining them for a long-term period. Customers are dealt with various kinds of treatment - new, returning, and regular customers received discounts. New customers received the least discounts, the returning customers, bigger; and the regular ones, the biggest discounts. The regular customers enjoy more privileges and priority in the form of free dinner, gifts, privilege card while the returning customers are entitled with membership cards and gifts, and the new customers enjoy only free breakfast. Good relationships with customers are maintained through consistent communication updating them with the latest things in the resort and providing better service and warm, friendly relationship. Certain gimmicks or strategies are also carried out with enticing offers, and the assurance of finding themselves billeted in the resorts. Promotional strategies employed by the four resorts in Boracay are adjusted in the passing of time and even rates are made flexible for building a strong customer relationship. This study therefore concludes that these resorts take care of their customers through the use of promotional strategies employed with different types of clients such as new, returning, and regular customers. And for future studies, this recommends to conduct a comparative study of resorts located in other places or other types of service industries such as hotels.