Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT...................................................................................................2
The Park Plaza Introduction................................................................................................5
Perception........................................................................................................................7
Sensation:........................................................................................................................7
The absolute threshold:....................................................................................................8
Dynamics of Perception:.................................................................................................9
Perceptional selection:.....................................................................................................9
Expectations:.................................................................................................................10
Motives:.........................................................................................................................10
Perceptional Organization:............................................................................................11
Figures and ground:.......................................................................................................11
Perceptional Interpretation:...........................................................................................11
Perceptional Distortion:.................................................................................................12
First Impression:............................................................................................................12
Perceived Prices:...........................................................................................................13
Problem statement:............................................................................................................14
Research question:.........................................................................................................14
Research objectives and variables:................................................................................15
Research methodology:.....................................................................................................16
Data and data collection:...............................................................................................16
Primary data:.................................................................................................................16
Secondary data:.............................................................................................................16
Measurement method:.......................................................................................................16
Sampling Plan....................................................................................................................17
Population......................................................................................................................17
Sampling Unit................................................................................................................17
Sample Size...................................................................................................................17
Sampling Method..........................................................................................................17
SPSS Analysis:..................................................................................................................17
Data analysis: ................................................................................................................17
Significance T- Test:.....................................................................................................18
One-Sample Test...........................................................................................................20
Decision:........................................................................................................................20
Conclusion:....................................................................................................................20
Factor analysis on customer perception:...........................................................................21
Component Matrix.........................................................................................................22
Mean comparison of purpose of visit and overall rating:..............................................22
Reliability Analysis:......................................................................................................23
Reliability Statistics.......................................................................................................23
Competitor Analysis: ....................................................................................................24
Findings.........................................................................................................................24
References:....................................................................................................................26

1
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Praise is to Allah Almighty, the one testing us all at all times and
making decisions about what we don’t know and can’t know. Writing
this report appeared to be a great experience to us. It added a lot to
our knowledge while we were working on this project. If we say that
this project is one of our memorable experiences in student life, then it
would not be wrong.
We owe deep appreciation to Mr. Asad Awan for stimulating our
creative abilities by assigning this report to us. Also, we like to thank
Mr. Hassan Ali Malik GSO of Park Plaza who really helped us in
gathering data and guide like professionals. We are immensely
grateful to all our fellow students who guided us in making this report,
without whose considerate attention and interest, it would be difficult
for us to complete this project on time. Whatever we have learnt from
them and this project report has put permanent impression on our
mind. It is our career. Conviction that this learning experience will
always be a source of help in our practical life and professional

2
 Executive summary

This project had been assigned by Mr. Asad Awan lecturer of

‘’Consumer Behavior’’ before midterm. The topic was to analyze the
“Consumer perception’’ about park plaza hotel”.

Although, there is a growing volume of research on consumers

especially hotels and restaurants but there are many variables which
are still confusing or may be changing according to the customer
perceptions. That’s why in this project we considered hotel services
such as accommodation, food and beverages, health club and SPA. We
collected information with the help of questionnaire and did interview
with a management employee there. We also did observation by
sitting in the hotel.

Then we did analysis on the collected data through SPSS and made
decisions about customer perception regarding park plaza services.
We also described through quartiles that our most of the data lies in
the first quartile. With the help of T Test we made a decision that
overall perception of customers about park plaza is good by rejecting
Ho.

We also did factor analysis which extracted two components like guest
services and health club. Then, we did reliability analysis to check
questionnaire performance and we got 64.2 numbers which
determined that our questionnaire is more than above normal
reliability.

At the end we made comparison of all the variables with customer

perception theory concepts and find out that there is link among
selected variables of park plaza and theories concepts like link
between Park plaza building and absolute threshold.

3
4
The Park Plaza Introduction

Carlson Hotels has signed a Park Plaza hotel in Lahore, the second
most populated city in Pakistan. Owned by the Rehman Group, the
Park Plaza Lahore MM Alam Road will join a growing number of hotels
in the Park Plaza portfolio across the Asia Pacific region. The 172-room
hotel is scheduled to open in September 2007.

Lahore is one of largest city's in South Asia, and because of its rich
history and allure, has become the most popular tourist spot in
Pakistan. The Park Plaza Lahore is centrally located on MM Alam Road,
Gulberg III, surrounded by a range of shopping malls, retail stores,
markets and the city’s top restaurants. The hotel site is just minutes
from the Liberty Market and the Hafeez Center, Lahore’s famous
technology bazaar, also known as the biggest computer market in
Pakistan. The old historical city of Lahore is located just 10km away
from the hotel.

The Park Plaza Lahore is designed by architect, M/s Raza & Associates
and will feature 172 guestrooms and suites. There will be an all-day
dining outlet, two specialty restaurants, a health club and spa, a
swimming pool and a 24-hour business centre with two meeting
rooms. The hotel will also have function rooms to meet banquets and
conference needs.

The Park Plaza Story:

Trendsetting design, with warm engaging service and outstanding

customer value, define the hospitality of Park Plaza Hotels & Resorts as
the brand continues to expand into highly visible locations around the
world. Park Plaza hotels are welcoming guests in 35 locations including
such key destinations as Bangkok, Beijing, London, Berlin, Amsterdam,
5
Dublin, Budapest and Sao Paulo.

Park Plaza Hotels & Resorts capture the energy and style of each
individual location whether it is the elegant refinement of Asia or the
vibrant sophistication of London. In Europe, the Middle East and Africa,
Park Plaza is introducing the latest concepts of chic hospitality design.
In Pakistan,
Places the brand is defined by its showcase property the luxurious
of Interest
Park Royalby
 Plaza FortRadisson
- Lahore in Lahore.
Park Shalimar
 Plaza Garden
Hotels offer complete hospitality services including deluxe
 Minar-e-Pakistan
guest room accommodations, vibrant restaurant and full-service
 Badshahi
meeting Mosque Golden
and conference Mosque
facilities.
 Fortress Stadium
 Pace
 Qadafi Stadium
 Liberty Market

 Defence Y Block Market

6
Consumer perception relation with Park Plaza

Perception

Our perception is an approximation of reality. Our brain attempts to

make sense out of the stimuli to which we are exposed.
If we relate consumer perception and consumer behavior then we will
see indirect relation between them because our perception regarding
any good and services which may be good or bad leads our behavior
towards them. Generally speaking, good or positive perception leads
towards good or positive behavior and negative perception leads
towards negative behavior regarding specific goods and services. The
importance of consumer perception can be justified with a classic
example that a two different people presented with a glass poured half
with water. Then this all depends upon the perception of two people,
who are exposed with the same stimuli under the same apparent
conditions, but one person finds half empty glass and one finds half
filled glass of water.
Well, if we talk about the perception of people regarding Park Plaza
who experience either room services or restaurants, health club and
SPA was really positive and customers feels really good after getting
their services. We interviewed many customers and we find couple of
reasons regarding positive perception of the customers. 1st, the name
its self give rise helps customers to think positive regarding Park Plaza
which is a part of World Wide chain of hotels “Carlson Group” known
for his world class service. 2nd, and most important the place (MM alam
road) where it is located and the 13 floor building itself helps
customers to perceive positive about Park Plaza.

Sensation:

Sensation is the immediate and direct response of the sensory organs

to stimuli. A stimulus is any unit of input to any of the senses. Here we

7
classified sensation into two situation 1st for those who never visit but
heard the name and 2nd for those who first time enters Park Plaza.
First, who first time hear the name of Park Plaza. We interviewed
almost 20-25 people comprises on men and women regarding Park
Plaza that what they think and feels for the very first time. Well, the
response was quite interesting majority of people thought this a hotel,
but may be local some guessed right that international hotel. Also,
there were a group of people who thought this is a ‘Park’ or ‘Garden’ in
town.
Second, we observed and interviewed more than 50 people by sitting
in the main lobby. Almost every person who entered responded with a
smile because what they see is amazing and exceptional décor, what
they feel is pleasant atmosphere and what they hear is a light music.
So, everything leads their guest to feel good from the very first time.

The absolute threshold:

In case of Park Plaza we find two points at which a person can detect a
difference between “something” and “nothing”. First, the big 13 floor
building at the corner of MM Alam road, linking cantt ,Abid market ,
people from Kalma Chowk. So, the only building situated at this point
is Park Plaza. Second, the banners of hi-tea they are offering on their
soft launch.
Apart of perception of only those customers who are in form of
guests who visits and experience Park plaza services. We find another
form of customers in Park Plaza who visits and deals with Park Plaza
services daily on regular basis. We are talking about ‘Employees’ who
work in Park Plaza from the last 3 months because Park Plaza deals
and respect their employees like their first customers. Well, we think
we can’t ignore employee’s perception after observing and
interviewing majority of employees from house keeper to manager.
Well, every employee is very happy from the management, the
incentives, the dealing and the atmosphere.
8
 We observed and came to knew that there is one kitchen in the
basement for employees where house keeper to manager sits
together. This creates a sense of equality among each employee,
served with same menu which is new every day. Also, the over cooked
food in hi-tea served to employees. Also, weekly and monthly bonuses
for most of the employees.

Dynamics of Perception:

Individuals are very selective as to which stimuli they “recognize”;

they subconsciously organize the stimuli they do recognize according
to widely held psychological principles and they interpret such stimuli
subjectively in accordance with their personal needs, expectations,
and experiences. The following section examines some aspects of
perception: the selection, organization and interpretation of stimuli.

Perceptional selection:

Consumer subconsciously exercises a great deal of selectivity as to

which aspects of the environment they perceive. Well, this also
happened with the Park Plaza guests who were part of survey,
interviews and observation. While interviewing people we put a
question that “what do you think about Park Plaza? Is it 4 or 5-star
hotel?” Majority of the sample replied “5-Star” and a small part of
sample replied “4-star” which is correct because we confirmed from
the management that Park Plaza is 4-Star deluxe Hotel. Also, people
think Park Plaza is a part of 5-Star hotel chain “Carlson Hotels, Regent,
Redisson, and Country INNS & Suits”. But, after scratching some more
truth from management we come to know that Park Plaza is not part of
5-star hotel chain but they only own Park Plaza name in Pakistan.
As we discussed in above paragraph that how and what image
Park Plaza creates in people mind and people subconsciously think
that Park Plaza is a 5-star hotel. Because Park Plaza showed in their
9
web-site and mentioned to be a part of 5-star hotel that’s why people
subconsciously think to be a part of 5-star hotel chain.

Expectations:

People usually see what they expect to see, and what they expect to
see is usually based on familiarity, previous experience, or
preconditioned set. Well, Park Plaza guests are delighted because they
are getting more value for money either they are visiting for hi-tea in
“Endless Summer” or visiting for luxury experience to stay in deluxe
rooms. What we get from observation and interviews that people
expecting to experience world class services from entrance to exit and
they are truly getting it. Let us clear one thing that Park Plaza has a
soft launch through hi-tea and they started their operations and
services since February 2010 and they schedule their hard launch on
15th June, 2010 and management wants to satisfy customer needs by
bringing luxury experience in accommodation (twin-sharing rooms,
executive rooms etc). Also, in food and beverages (uptown pool bar,
outdoor Jacuzzi etc) for Park Plaza guests.

Motives:

People tend to perceive the things they need or want; the stronger the
need, the greater the tendency to ignore unrelated stimuli in the
environment. Marketing managers recognize the efficiency of targeting
their products to the perceived needs of consumers. That exactly Park
Plaza management and engineers did and designed hotel in such a
way to target customers according to their needs and wants. For
example: Guests only for hi-tea and nothing to do with rooms and
other restaurants can directly approach to “Endless Summer” on the

10
right side of the entrance. Also, for executives who visits for the
meeting can approach to one of the two meeting halls but for those
who want food and meeting together can approach “executive
dinning” in “The Spot”.

Perceptional Organization:

People do not experience the numerous stimuli they select from the
environment as separate and discrete sensations; rather, they tend to
organize them into groups and perceive them as unified wholes.

Figures and ground:

People have a tendency to organize their perceptions into figure-and-

ground relationship. This figure-ground pattern is perceived can be
influenced by prior pleasant or painful associations with one or the
other element in isolation.
In Park Plaza we observed that they do use figure-ground pattern in
their hotel. They use stimulus of soft music in entrance, front desk,
lobbies, ground wash room and in main escalator, it appears to be
well-defined.

Perceptional Interpretation:

The previous discussion has emphasized that perception is a personal

phenomenon. People exercise selectivity as to which stimuli they
perceive, and they organize these stimuli is also uniquely individual,

11
because it is based on what individuals expect to see in light of their
past experience, motives and interests at the time of perception.
The survey result of Park Plaza guest shows for them majority of
stimuli are highly ambiguous, they interpret them in such a way that
they serve o fulfill personal
needs, wishes, interests, and so
on.

Perceptional Distortion:

Physical appearance:
People tend to attribute quality
with the physical appearance of
goods and services. In case of
Park Plaza the décor, cleanliness, ambience etc are key physical
factors through which guests interacts. This includes from building to
every physical thing in rooms, lobby, reception, halls, lightning etc.
That’s the reason by knowing how much they are important for
consumer perception Park Plaza management keenly focus for their
guests. For example: Park Plaza rooms are fully furnished with
imported furniture, LCD, DVD player, mini bar, 3-inch sound and heat
proof glass, coffee maker, bathroom sanitary and fixtures etc. for
good room experience. \\\

First Impression:

First impressions tend to be lasting; yet, in forming such impression

the perceiver does not yet know which stimuli are relevant, important,
or predictive of later behavior.
If we talk about Park Plaza first impression on those who visit
Park Plaza for food or for accommodation then both have some
similarities and difference as well. For example: First, the tall 13 floor
building gives a good impression about the hotel. Secondly, when you
enter with your car and stop in front of main entrance than two people

12
approach to you. One is to park your car, second to take your luggage
(if available). Third, when you enter then GSO approach to help you
greet you. If you are for food then you may move to restaurant but if
you looking for a room then you will see front desk manager (FDM) for
check-in. The reason of telling and describing the whole process is to
get familiar to the actual first impression of Park Plaza and their caring
management. Also, along with management the décor, atmosphere
which includes soft music, fragrance of fresh flower in the main lobby,
cool temperature etc. all these things adds a very good and lasting
impression in consumer or guests mind.

Perceived Prices:

Consumers do perceive prices as high, low and average and this has a
strong influence on both purchase intention and purchase satisfaction.
During interview and questionnaire we came to know that
customers do pay attention to the prices. For example: For food (hi-
tea) majority of the people said that the price of HI-tea is very nominal
i.e; Rs. 250+tax as compared to other restaurants like Ziafat i.e;
Rs.290+tax.
While for rooms many said that prices are high or average
i.e; Rs. 7500+tax for single bed, Rs. 8500+tax double bed etc.

13
Problem statement:
What is customer perception about park plaza hotel?

Research question:

• What is the purpose of visit in Park Plaza?

• How they hear about Park Plaza?
• How and through which channel they make booking in Park
Plaza?
• What is perception of Park Plaza regarding efficiency in guest
services?
• What is perception of Park Plaza regarding room service?
• What is perception of Park Plaza regarding food?
• What is perception of Park Plaza regarding health club facilities?
• What is perception of Park Plaza regarding SPA?
14
Research objectives and variables:

1. To know about efficiency in guest services

Variables:

o Check in process
o Check out process
o Bell desk
o Guest relations
o Business center
o Telephone operator
o Housekeeping
o Laundry
2. To know about food and beverages part

Variables:

o The spot
o Endless summer
o Uptown pool bar
o Zen gori
o Room service

3. To know about customers perception about SPA facilities.

Variables:
o Cleanliness
o Quality of service
o Staff friendless
4. To know about customers perception about health club facilities
Variables:
15
 o Facilities and equipment
o Quality of services
o Staff friendliness
5. To know about customer perception about accommodation
Variables:
o Room cleanliness
o Bathroom cleanliness
o In room facilities
o Bedroom furnishing
o Tv channels
o Lightening

Research methodology:
Data and data collection:

Primary data:
To collect primary data we did following method;
o Questionnaire
o interviews
o observation

Secondary data:
We collected secondary data from;
o Website of parkplaza

Measurement method:
The two methods which we will be using for the analysis of our data to
get the output are:
• Manually
• SPSS

16
Sampling Plan
A sampling plan is a detailed outline of which measurements will be
taken at what times, on which material, in what manner, and by whom.
The criteria of our sampling plan will be as follows:

Population
People who likes and visit Park plaza hotel.

Sampling Unit
Individuals who have used the services (accommodation, health
club, restaurants) of park plaza.

Sample Size
Our total sampling size is 68.
Questionnaire= 16
Interview= 9
Observation=43

Sampling Method
We used convenience sampling method.

SPSS Analysis:
Data analysis:

OVERALL PERCEPTION LEVEL OF CUSTOMER ABOUT PARK

PLAZA
Statistics
OVER ALL PERCEPTION
PARK PLAZA
N Valid 16
Missin 0
g
Mean 18.81
Percentil 25 13.25
es 50 19.00
75 24.75

17
We have calculated Quartiles in order to define the overall perception
of customers about park plaza. As, quartile ranges are

1. 1st Quartile = 13.25-19.00

2. 2nd Quartile = 19-24.75
3. 3rd Quartile = above 24.75
We have computed the mean in order to find overall perception of
customers about park plaza and the mean in 18.81 which falls in the
1st quartile range i.e. 13.25-19.00 this shows that our mean lies in the
1st Quartile, but we are not sure that the overall perception of
customers. We are not sure about the decision only based on mean so
we have done hypothesis testing below in order to be sure about the
significance of the whole data.

Significance T- Test:

One-Sample Test
Test Value = 0
95% Confidence
Interval of the
Sig. (2- Mean Difference
t df tailed) Difference Lower Upper
OVER ALL 11.796 15 .000 18.813 15.41 22.21
PERCEPTION
PARK PLAZA

H0; µ=0 (customers perception about park plaza is not good)

H1; µ≠0 (customers perception about park plaza is good)

We did hypothesis on overall perception of customers about park

plaza, One sample T-test is performed in order to reject or do not
reject the null hypothesis. Here we will reject Ho because our p

18
value(0.000) is less than alpha (0.05) which shows that customers like
the offerings of park plaza and feel satisfied while going there.

19
Significance T-test of gender towards overall perception about
park plaza:

One-Sample Test
Test Value = 0
95% Confidence
Mean
GENDER Sig. (2- Interval of the
t df Differenc
tailed) Difference
e
Lower Upper
OVERALL
18.28
MALE PERCEPTION 8 .000 1.134 .99 1.28
7
GUE.SER
OVERALL
FEMA
PERCEPTION 7.140 3 .006 1.271 .70 1.84
LE
GUE.SER

H0; µ=0 (customers perception about guest services not good)

H1; µ≠0 (customers perception about guest services is good)

Decision:

We will reject Ho in both male and female cases as P value is low than
significance level which is 0.05.

Conclusion:
So, we will say that both male and female likes the guest services of
park plaza.

20
Factor analysis on customer perception:

Communalities
Extractio
Initial n
OVERALL 1.000 .961
PERCEPTION
GUE.SER
OVERALL 1.000 .729
PERCEPTION ACCD
OVERALL 1.000 .743
PER.FOOD&BEV
OVERALL 1.000 .759
PER.HEALTH.CLUB
OVERALL PER. SPA 1.000 .658
Extraction Method: Principal
Component Analysis.

We have done factor analysis of all the overall perception variables to

determine which is more preferable for customers. As, we did analysis
on overall guest services, food and beverages, health club, overall
perception about SPA to find out what factors are more preferable. So,
it is explained below with the help of the component matrix.

21
Component Matrix
Component
1 2
OVERALL .969 -.149
PERCEPTION
GUE.SER
OVERALL .801 .296
PERCEPTION ACCD
OVERALL .573 -.644
PER.FOOD&BEV
OVERALL -.049 .870
PER.HEALTH.CLUB
OVERALL PER. SPA .497 .641
Extraction Method: Principal
Component Analysis.
a. 2 components extracted.

As, two factors are extracted from all other factors that are guest
services efficiency and health club which shows that these two factors
are preferable in customers point of view.

Mean comparison of purpose of visit and overall rating:

OVERALL RATING
PURPOSE
OF VISIT
AT
PARKPLAZ Std.
A Mean N Deviation
business 1.20 10 .422
trip
family 2.00 1 .
holiday
Total 1.27 11 .467

22
Above mention report describes that customers who come in park
plaza for family holiday their perception is more significant as compare
to customers who come for business trip.

Reliability Analysis:

Case Processing Summary

N %
Cases Valid 8 50.0
Exclude 8 50.0
d
Total 16 100.0

We had a sample size of 16 and out of which 8 are valid and 8 are
excluded may be they do not like to give opinion but still there is good
result of reliability analysis.

Reliability Statistics

Cronbach' N of
s Alpha Items
.642 5

We have done reliability analysis to find out that how much our
analysis is reliable.
The value of Cronbach’s Alpha when comes approximately to 0.5 or
0.6 it is normal but is very good if it is 1 or near to 1. Here our
Cronbach’s value is 0.642 i.e. 64.2% which depicts that our analysis is
above than normal.

23
Competitor Analysis:
As in the market there are other hotels are operating like pearl
continental and awari. They are using latest software tools for MIS of
their management but park plaza is dealing with it. According to park
plaza management at Lahore they do not consider competitors as they
are new in the market as Pearl Continental and Awari, Royal palm have
captured a big market. So, park plaza need to do his services more
appealing towards customers by launching different marketing
campaigns as they offered a high tea.

Findings

The purpose of this investigative study was to measure perception of

Park plaza hotel. Five factors and each factor had different variables
we calculated the quartiles in order to set the scale to prioritize the
data. There are many findings which are listed below:

• Among five factors that are most significant are: guest services
efficiency and health club which are considered the most
preferable by the customers.
• Analyzing the reliability of our analysis the Cronbach’s Alpha
shows that our analysis is 64.2% appropriate in order to make
decisions.
• Park plaza management is also focusing on employees as they
believe that if employees are not satisfied than how customers
could be satisfied with our services.
• Through observing overall perception of customers we found
that customers are enjoyed while staying at park plaza.

Decisions:

24
o In order to be competitive in the market park plaza has to go
through with different marketing campaigns as they introduced a
high tea to attract customers, because our research describes
that customers still not aware with this brand.

o Our analysis report that customers are very much interested

towards health club and guest services but we directly observed
that their health club segment is not fully functional and also
require a space to manage it properly.

o We did interview two employees of park plaza and they told us

that they are using an old MIS system to manage its services
while other hotels and restaurants are using latest versions like
oracle. So, in order to increase efficiency in the services they
should use these latest tools within the MIS system.

o There is no proper space for motorbike parking. They should also

consider it if they want to target middle class families as they
are offering high tea with 250 plus tax charges.

25
References:

o www.parkplazalahore.com
o Hassan Ali malik (GSO)
o Mr.Khuram (FDM)
o http://www.parkplazalahore.com/fnb.php

26