1. INTRODUCTION:

The hotel industry is the fast-growing industry now in the Philippines as far as the population of tourist is concerned. Tourist rivals have grown tremendously in number, when Philippines has been discovered as a place where they can be relaxed and Filipinos has been quoted as “the most hospitable people” in the world.

Ilocos Sur’s capital is Vigan City. Vigan City, as one of the new seven wonder cities in the world, has been one of the prides of the Philippines because of its architectural structure and one of the oldest town in the Ilocos Sur.

On December 2, 199, Vigan City, the only World Heritage in the Philippines, was inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List of Sites and Monuments. It represents a unique mixture of Asian building design and structure with European colonial architecture and planning. It is an exceptionally complete and well-preserved example of a European trading town in East and Southeast Asia. Vigan is the only living colonial city developed as a primary tourist destination in the entire region I. Annual festivities and cultural events were being celebrated such as the Vigan City fiesta, Vigan Festival of the Arts, and World Heritage Cities Solidarity Day to strengthen cultural awareness and appreciation and promote local and foreign tourism.

The anticipated growth of international visitor arrivals and domestic travel movements is expected to bring about a corresponding increase in capacity requirements and demand for new products, facilities, and services, thus paving the way for local and foreign investment opportunities. A corollary, the improvement and upgrading of quality, skills, and competencies of the front liners are required.

As far as the rapid increase of the tourist whether local or foreign is concerned, the hotel industry most particularly hotels, inns, restaurants, and the like are addressing these challenges in the locality. The government helps these hotel industries to cope up and even supplement the needs of the hotel industry. In lieu of the increase of tourist arrivals paves also the way of an increase in the demand of hotels and its service providers. The field of hotel and restaurants and the tourism caters this level of need. They tend to satisfy them to the fullest as possible.

Sam Walton, founder of Walmart was famously quoted:

“The goal as a company is to have customer service that is not just the best, but LEGENDARY.”

Customer satisfaction is one of the goals of every organization and particularly focused on the quality aspect of the business enterprise and to establish good relationship with customers. Satisfaction play an important role in a business enterprise so as to realize the desired objective and goal and in order to aim for the maximum profit possible. The level of satisfaction may be different from one organization to another depending on the level or degree of product or service they offer.

The challenge of the hotel industry is to satisfy and establish customer relations to its clientele and to increase its market share. The research specifically sought to answer the personal and business-related profile of the respondents, the level of customer relations strategies of the hotel industry along teamwork, listening skills, problem solving skills, and effective communication and the significant relationship between the level of customer relations and the personal and business-related profile. The results of this research would serve for several purposes: first to the hotel industry which will serve as their basis in implementing programs by revisiting their customer relations practices for them to strategically know their business performance in satisfying customers. Second, for the academic institutions which will serve as an avenue in updating their curriculum and to cope up with the needs of the hotel industry and which will serve as a baseline information for them to conduct activities and to extend services along the field of customer relations to enable them to maintain as well as increase the level of their practices leading towards the attainment of their goals and objectives. Lastly, to the future entrepreneurs who would like to venture in this type of industry which will serve as their guide in venturing to such business.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW:

According to Kazi (2017) customer relations, or customer service, is the front line between an organization and its customers and this is done on how customers are initially greeted and treated can influence their decisions to do business with the company. Effective and efficient customer relations strategies of an organization include listening skills, oral and written communication, analytical and problem-solving skills and teamwork based on the organization's commitment to meet customer needs while making customers feel welcome and valued.

Torres (2005) in her study mentioned that one of the successes of a business to keep on running is the proper treatment of customers. The customers are the key players in the business cycle that contribute much in the success of a particular business. Without them, their goals and objectives could not be possibly attained. As, indicated, there are lots of areas considered in order to attract and maintain customers.

Suwannakhun (2002) as cited by Torres (2005) that the form of business organization of the fast food shops and restaurants have in Vigan City is sole proprietorship, have been operating for 10 to 14 years, the place and location of the fast food shops and restaurants are much satisfactory, and organized as sole proprietorship.

Arguilla (2003) study on the marketing practices of hotels/inns and resorts of Ilocos Sur found out that the type of ownership of hotels/inns and resorts are largely sole proprietorship, that the level of implementation of marketing practices along with product, pricing and promotion offering is high, customers are much satisfied on the aforementioned practices. The level of marketing practices is not significantly related to the aforementioned business-related factors.

On the study conducted by Molla (2015) entitled Analysis of the service quality strategies of the Four Star Hotels in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia cited that while tourists and visitors accommodation and service delivery is available as the major attraction, then significant improvements as well as new constructions are taking place in the capital. Ethiopia has much to offer to international tourists and travelers or international 2 conferences and meetings participants, including researchers of academic institutions and business people from different parts of the world. All clients, customers, visitors, and beneficiaries of hotel services request adequate and standard service deliveries that meet their satisfaction of interests at least equivalent to what they pay. They all should feel home. Therefore, the ultimate success of service management should be strengthened between the customers, clients, and service providers. As the saying goes on ‘for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction’ thus observations has indicated that since the cost of losing customers is rising service organizations such as hotels continuously seek new ways to acquire, retain and increase business. Service organizations need to put in place competitive marketing strategies to improve their competitiveness and thus retain customers. Once demand is created, a hotel needs to manage fulfillment of the demand as well as its capacity to deliver satisfactory services at large.

Zimmer (2019) mentioned that teamwork in the workplace offers the company and staff the ability to become more familiar with each other and learn how to work together. Teamwork is important and vital to the success of the company and to the development of each employee. Encouraging employees to work together could be a factor to realize the organizations objectives.

A team that works well together understands and considers the strengths and weaknesses of each team member. One of the benefits of strong teamwork in the workplace is that team leaders and members become capable at dividing the tasks and done by qualified people. Without strong teamwork, it is difficult for the managers and executives to determine which staff members can best accomplish the tasks.

An employee that is well-trained and equip can do the task effectively and efficiently. This allows the company to take on more work and generate more revenue without having to add more employee and this is for the reason they are trained and capable. This becomes helpful when efficient teams from different departments work together. Teams that know their capabilities can lead to a better accomplishment of their task and lead towards the success of the organization.

Members of the team can discuss issues and problems within an organization. When a team works well together, it allows staff members to feel more comfortable in offering suggestions. Team members become accustomed to processing brainstorming and the company benefits from the range of suggestions that come from effective teams.

Hearst Newspapers, LLC (2019) cited that there are challenges each day in any workplace, and a strong team environment and good workplace can act as a support mechanism for staff members. Team members can help each other improve their performance and work together toward improving their professional development. Team members also come to rely on each other and trust each other. This is very important wherein bonds should be maintained so as also to maintain productivity.

Listening Skills:

Authenticity Consulting, LLC, (2019) mentioned that listening is the ability to accurately receive and interpret messages in the communication process. Listening is key to all effective communication, without the ability to listen effectively messages are easily misunderstood.

If there is one communication skill should one aim is to master is listening. Listening is so vital to an organization most especially top managers provide listening skills training for their employees. This is not unexpected when you consider that good listening skills can lead to a better and improved customer satisfaction, greater productivity of employees with fewer mistakes, increased sharing of information that in turn can lead to more creative and innovative work. Many successful leaders and entrepreneurs credit their success to effective listening skills.

Usually, most frequent form of communication is spoken words and this is a non-verbal communication, spoken communication is highly dependent on the particular culture in which an employee is working. For instance, culture can affect how people speak about conflict, about the use humor, honest and direct with each other, the use silence and use certain wording. Consider the following general guidelines, which might be useful in a wide variety of cultures.

1. Know the main point that you want to convey.

People begin speaking with the hope that if they talk long enough, they are bound to say what they want to say. Before you speak, take the time to think about the main points that you want to convey.

2. Convey one point at a time.

That approach ensures that the listener is more likely to continue to understand you, rather than being overwhelmed with too many ideas delivered at too fast a rate. You might even find that you understand your own thoughts more completely.

3. Speak too slowly, rather than too quickly.

A good way to practice this guideline is to speak along with a news anchor when you are watching television. You will likely find that they speak much more slowly than you realize. They are professionals who have learned an effective rate of speaking.

4. Vary your voice.

Always avoid monotone. A monotone voice might convey to the listener that you are bored or controlled. It is likely to lull you and/or the listener into a stupor. Varying your voice takes practice, but it is well worth the effort.

5. State your conclusion before describing how you came to that conclusion.

Some speakers convey their recommendations or advice by conveying the necessary information to lead the listener to the same conclusions as the speaker’s. Instead, it is often more reliable to first state your point and then explain it.

6. People speak more frequently and completely when they are comfortable.

Therefore, get comfortable with the person to whom you are speaking. Skills in authentic expression can be useful in these situations. For example, if you are uncomfortable or confused, simply say so.

7. Ask the listener to repeat the main points of what you just said to them.

This guideline ensures that the listener is indeed hearing what you wanted to convey. Be tactful when asking the listener to repeat what you said. For example, say “I want to be sure that I made sense to you just now, so I would appreciate if you could tell me what you heard me say.”

8. Ask others to provide feedback about your spoken communication.

One of the most powerful ways to learn about yourself is to ask others for feedback. Therefore, ask others about how you might improve your speaking skills.

Problem Solving Skills:

Problem solving skills is one of the priority of the employers when hiring. Students need to develop the ability to apply problem-solving skills when faced with issues or problems that are new to them. The development and use of problem-solving skills also improve learning.

Rossman (1993) suggests that when one use problem-solving skills, "The role changes from a passive recipient of information to a participant in the creation of understanding. The problem should captivate students' attention, be meaningful, and allow a wide range of individual responses".

Having a good process for solving problems helps to keep efforts intensive and eliminate becoming stalled. Problems solving usually involved the following steps which include the identification, analyzing the problem and gathering information, generation of potential solutions, selection and testing the solution and analyzing/evaluation of the results.

There are some tools used in problem-solving and this include but not limited to (1) Brainstorming which is a technique used to encourage participation from each member of the team. Brainstorming helps to break people out of the typical mode of approaching things to produce new and creative ideas. It generates a climate of freedom and openness between and among the people in the organization, which encourages an increased quantity of ideas and information. (2) The Root Cause Analysis objective is to discover the fundamental cause/s of a problem. (3) Cause and Effect Diagrams is a diagram to represent the relationship between an effect (the problem) and its potential cause/s. The diagram helps to sort-out and relate the connections among the factors affecting a process. (4) Pareto Chart shows a frequency distribution where each bar on the chart show the relative contribution of causal problems to the larger problem. It help to identify where to focus to obtain the most positive impact. (5) Flowcharting is a map that shows all the steps in a process. It helps in understanding the process and making sure that all steps in the process are properly addressed. (6) Decision Matrix is useful when faced with making a difficult decision and choice. The options or alternatives are listed in the left-hand column and the selection criteria is listed across the top row. Each of the options are rated against the selection criteria to arrive at the best logical decision.

According to the Authenticity Consulting, LLC, (2019) people do solve problems and make decisions. Consequently, when they encounter a new problem or decision they must make, they react with a decision that seemed to work before. It is easy with this approach to get stuck solving the same problem again and again. Therefore, it is often useful to get used to an organized approach to problem solving and decision-making. Not all problems can be solved and decisions made by a rational approach. After practicing them few times, they will become second nature to enough that you can deepen and enrich them to suit your own needs and nature.

COMMUNICATION:

According to Skills You Need (2019) effective communication skills are fundamental to success in many aspects of life. Many jobs require strong communication skills and people with good communication skills usually enjoy better interpersonal relationships with friends and family. Effective communication is a key interpersonal skill and learning how we can improve our communication has many benefits. Communication is a two-way process, so improving communication involves both how we send and receive messages.

Communication in the workplace can be either your best friend or your worst enemy. It will improve your overall workplace culture. Another positive is that good solid organizational communication eliminates barriers and resolve problems. While at the same time building stronger workplace relationships for increased productivity. There are numerous potential problems that can be caused by poor communication skills. Increased amount of employee turnover, high amounts of call outs, poor customer service skills, diminished productivity and the lack of focus are some of the prevailing problems exists.

Some surveys and discussions have acknowledged that lack of information is a cause in other words keeping people in the loop. Some do not feel important in the eyes of their employers in their organization and others have stated not enough face to face interactions. Another good reason is the lack of email etiquette and this is typically when an email is written strongly when it does not have to be.

According to Employee-Motivation-Skills.com (2019) effective communication in the workplace organization plays an important role in developing long-lasting employee motivation and this could lead to an increase in productivity. One of the many positive benefits gained from well-established organizational communication is improved relationships. Improving these relationships between management and staff is very important. Things will go smoothly when everyone is on the same stand. The best process of communicating here is well thought out emails that follow the chain of command and face to face interactions.

3. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY:

The study made use of the descriptive-correlational method of research supplemented by interviews. This described the profile of the respondents and correlated them to the customer relations strategies of the hotel industry in Vigan City.

3.1 Participants:

Eleven (11) hotel managers and one hundred fifty-eight (158) employees in Vigan City comprised the population of the study of the selected standard hotels was considered as respondents.

3.2 Instrument:

The researcher constructed the instrument that was used the study and validated by three (3) experts along the field of business. The instrument consisted of the following: Part I elicited information on the personal related profile of the respondents in term of age, sex, civil status, educational attainment, line of specialization, and number of training programs attended. Part II gathered information on the business-related profile of the hotel industry in Vigan City in term of type of ownership, location of the business, source of capitalization, years of operation, and number of employees. Part II of the instrument consisted of strategies particularly on the level of customer relations of the hotel industry in Vigan City in terms of teamwork, listening skills, communication skills, and effective communication.

On the Level of Customer Relations Strategies of the Hotel Industry in Vigan City

Statistical Range	Item Descriptive Rating	Overall Descriptive Rating
4.21 – 5.00	Always (A)	Very High (VH)
3.41 – 4.20	Often (O)	High (H)
2.61 – 3.40	Sometimes (S)	Fair (F)
1.81 – 2.60	Rarely (R)	Low (L)
1.0 – 1.80	Never (N)	Very Low (VL)

The researcher asked a copy of the registered hotel industries in Vigan City through the licensing office and administered himself by going to the different hotel industries in Vigan City to float and retrieved the questionnaires. The data gathered were treated statistically using the following tools: (1) Frequency and percentage to determine the personal and business profile of the hotel industry in Vigan City. (2) Mean to determine the level of customer relations practices of the hotel industry in Vigan City. (3) Pearson Product Moment of Correlation to determine if there is a significant relationship between the customer relations strategies of the hotel industry and personal and business-related profiles.

Ethical considerations were also being observed. Their respondents were hotel managers and employees, and they are, asking verbally with their consent to participate in the conduct of the study. A written request addressed to the managers/owners of the different selected standard hotels in Vigan City asking for their voluntary participation and gather the necessary data needed in the conduct of the study. The data gathered were treated with the utmost confidentiality, and code was used to also protect the responses of the respondents and identity. The data was kept and stored in secured cabinet and it will be destroyed after the final copy of the study will be printed.

4. RESULTS:

The following are the salient findings of the study along the personal and business profile of the respondents, the level of customer relations strategies and the significant relationship between the profile and the level of customer relations strategies.

Personal Profile of the Hotel Industry in Vigan City:

Table 1: Personal Related Profile of the Hotel Industry in Vigan City

Personal Related Profile	Managers		Employees		As a whole
Personal Related Profile	f	%	f	%	f	%
Age
18 – 20	-	-	14	8.86	14	8.28
21 – 30	2	18.18	101	63.92	103	60.95
31 – 40	4	36.37	29	18.36	33	19.53
41 – 50	3	27.27	10	6.33	13	7.69
50 – above	2	18.18	4	2.53	6	3.55
Total	11	100.00	158	100.00	169	100.00
Sex
Male	-	-	72	45.57	72	42.60
Female	11	100.00	86	54.43	97	57.40
Total	11	100.00	158	100.00	169	100.00
Civil Status
Single	2	18.18	85	53.80	87	51.48
Married	8	72.73	70	44.30	78	46.15
Widow/er	1	9.09	2	1.27	3	1.78
Separated	-	-	1	0.63	1	0.59
Total	11	100.00	158	100.00	169	100.00
Educational Attainment
Master’s Degree	-	-	2	1.27	2	1.18
Bachelor’s Degree	10	90.91	116	73.41	126	74.56
Vocational Course	1	9.09	29	18.35	30	17.75
High School Graduate	-	-	9	5.70	9	5.33
Elementary Graduate	-	-	2	1.27	2	1.18
Total	11	100.00	158	100.00	169	100.00
Training Programs Attended (MR)
Local	29	-	306	-	335	-
Regional	17	-	63	-	80	-
National	13	-	73	-	86	-
International	1	-	3	-	4	-

Majority of the respondents (103 or 60.95%) belong to the age bracket of 21 to 30 while there are only six (3.55%) who belong to the age bracket of 50 – above. Majority of the respondents (97 or 57.40%) are females while there are only 72 (42.60%) who are males. Majority of the respondents (87 or 51.48%) are single and there is only one (0.59%) who is separated. Majority of the respondents (126 or 74.56%) have attained bachelor’s degree while there are only two (1.18%) who have attained master’s degree. Majority of the respondents have attended training programs at the local level with a total number training programs of 335 while there are only four training programs on the international level.

Business Related Profile the Hotel Industry in Vigan City

Table 2: Business Related Profile of the Hotel Industry in Vigan City

Business Related Profile	Managers/Owners
Business Related Profile	f	%
Type of Ownership
Sole Proprietorship	3	27.27
Partnership	2	18.18
Corporation	5	45.46
Cooperative	1	9.09
Total	11	100.00
Location of Business
Within the commercial zone	10	90.90
Outside the commercial zone	1	9.10
Total	11	100.00
Source of Capitalization
Personal Savings/Earnings	3	27.27
Both Personal Savings/Earnings and Loans	8	72.73
Total	11	100.00
Years of Operation
1-5	1	9.09
6-10	3	27.27
11-15	2	18.18
21 and above	5	45.46
Total	11	100.00
Number of Employees
6-10	3	27.27
11-15	3	27.27
15 and above	5	45.46
Total	11	100.00

A substantial percentage of the respondents (5 or 45.46%) operate as a corporation, while there is only one (9.09%) who operates as a cooperative. Most of the hotels (10 or 90.90%) are within the commercial zone, while there is only one (9.09%) outside the commercial zone. The Majority of the hotels in Vigan City (8 or 72.73%) have a source of capitalization that came from both personal savings/earnings and loans, in comparison there is only three (27.27%) that came from personal earnings/savings. A mark percentage of the hotels (5 or 45.46%) have been operating for 21 years and above while there is only one (9.09%) who have been operating for 1-5 years. A substantial percentage (5 or 45.46%) of the hotels has 15 and above a number of employees while there are only three who have 6 – 10 employees.

The level of the customer relations strategies of the hotel industry in Vigan City

Table 3: Item Mean Ratings Showing the Level of the Customer Relations Strategies of the Hotel Industry in Vigan City

Indicators	Managers		Employees		As a whole
Indicators	Mean	DR	Mean	DR	Mean	DR
Teamwork	4.45	VH	4.47	VH	4.46	VH
Listening Skills	4.53	VH	4.46	VH	4.50	VH
Problem Solving Skills	4.24	VH	4.25	VH	4.24	VH
Effective Communication	4.56	VH	4.51	VH	4.53	VH
Overall	4.45	VH	4.42	VH	4.43	VH

The level of customer relations strategies of the hotel in Vigan City was assessed at a “Very High” level as backed up by its mean rating of 4.43. When taken singly, it can be noted that the lowest mean rating of 4.24 describe as “Very High” is on problem solving skills and the highest mean rating of 4.53 describe as “Very High” is effective communication.

Singly, teamwork, as a whole, the level of customer relations strategies of the hotel industry in Vigan City is at a “Very High” status as shown by its mean rating of 4.46. Listening Skills, when taken as a whole, the level of customer relations strategies of the hotel industry in Vigan City along with listening skills is at a “Very High” status, as depicted by its mean rating of 4.50. Problem Solving Skills, as a whole, the level of customer relations strategies of the hotel industry in Vigan City along problem-solving skills is at a “Very High” status as revealed by its mean of 4.24 and Effective Communication, when taken as a whole, it can be renowned that the level of the customer relations strategies of the hotel industry in Vigan City along effective communication is at a “Very High” status as revealed by its mean rating of 4.51.

Personal Related Profile	Teamwork	Listening Skills	Problem Solving Skills	Effective Communication	Overall
Age	-.204	-.658*	.169	.400	.382
Sex	.a	.a	.a	.a	.a
Civil Status	.017	-.242	.491	.138	.316
Educational attainment	-.226	.024	.759*	.451	.365
Number of Training Programs Attended
International	.004	.042	-.037	-.071	.083
National	.007	.031	-.012	-.173	.063
Regional	.156	.146	-.087	.075	.108
Local	.089	.039	-.034	-.112	.073
Business Related Profile
Type of Ownership	-.116	-.091	.142	-.162	.099
Location of the Business	.098	-.550	.267	-.096	.438
Source of Capitalization	-.214	-.193	.008	-.274	-.222
Years of Operation	.107	.130	-.164	.177	.130
Number of Employees	-.094	-.079	-.091	.134	.108