Shilla Hotel tops in satisfaction survey
This photo shows Urban Island, the in-house swimming pool run by the Shilla Hotel Seoul since August 2013 after the hotel affiliate of Samsung Group finished a full-scale renovation of the hotel in the January-July period in 2013. / Courtesy of Shilla Hotel Seoul
By Choi Kyong-ae
The Shilla Hotel Seoul, an affiliate of the Samsung Group, came top in a major 2014 consumer satisfaction index following full-scale facility investment despite an extended economic slowdown.
In a National Customer Satisfaction Index (NCSI) survey of 305 business entities, including universities and public organizations, conducted by the state-backed Korea Productivity Center (KPC), the Shilla Hotel Seoul beat all other competitors.
“Infrastructure investments to remodel and renovate the hotel’s facilities and aggressive promotions helped drive up customer satisfaction towards Hotel Shilla,” KPC said in a statement.
From January to July in 2013, The Shilla stopped operations for a full-fledged renovation of rooms and other facilities.
Peter Remedios, the world’s renowned hotel designer, was in charge of the renovation project. He has participated in interior design work over the past 20 years for world-class hotels such as the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Tokyo, the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hong Kong and the Four Seasons Hotel in New York.
All the rooms were equipped with top-quality sleeping products and a guest lounge. Among others, the hotel’s swimming pool named “Urban Island” was fully renovated to attract customers who seek luxury and differentiated services. The hotel also introduced the “Door to Door” escort service for its customers for the first time in the industry, the statement noted.
Shilla Hotel Seoul reportedly spent a total of 83.5 billion won ($75 million) for the seven-month-long renovation project.
Five hotels, four hospitals and one university made up the top 10 companies in the NCSI rankings. The four other hotels were the Lotte Hotel, JW Mariatt Hotel Seoul, Chosun Hotel and Intercontinental Hotel. The four hospitals were Yonsei Severance Hospital, Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital, Samsung Medical Center and Asan Medical Center, according to the statement.
Korea Yakult’s saleswomen pose while participating in the dairies company’s annual “gimjang” event (making-kimchi for winter) to provide 100,000 portions of the staple side dish to 20,000 senior citizens who live alone and to underprivileged people. This photo was taken on Nov. 12 at Seoul City Hall. Korea Yakult came 33rd in the 2014 NCSI rankings with a score of 76. / Courtesy of Korea Yakult
The Shilla Hotel Seoul earned the highest score of 84 among the 305 respondents, followed by the Lotte Hotel and JW Mariatt Hotel Seoul with a score of 83, the Chosun Hotel with 82, and the Severance Hospital with 81, the NCSI survey results showed.
“As an increasing number of people make a reservation for a hotel in town to spend their holidays, hotel chains are competing further to upgrade their facilities and offer better services,” a KPC spokesman said.
Moreover, improved living standards and increased life expectancy now allow people who want to live a disease-free life after retirement to pay more attention to medical services, the spokesman said.
Meanwhile, other business sectors which made it into the top 10 rankings in the NCSI survey included, men’s apparel suppliers, TV manufacturers, international airlines, large-sized passenger vehicle producers, duty free shops, domestic airlines and kimchi refrigerator makers.
Among the business segments, companies that pick up garbage; men’s apparel outlets; soju, Korea’s traditional distilled liquor; and washing machine producers showed a big improvement in consumer satisfaction last year, said the statement.
“These days, men in their 30s and 40s have recently emerged as major customers for apparel companies as they are willing to spend on clothes and other fashion items. They want to be different from others and some believe an investment in their appearance could be of help in their workplaces,” the spokesman said.
Over the past year, the KPC surveyed 81,651 people in the country’s five major cities: Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Daejeon and Gwangju. Citizens there are consumers of products and services offered by the 305 companies from 71 kinds of industries.
To measure the satisfaction level for specific products or services, three criteria were put into consideration ― customer satisfaction, perceived quality and perceived value.
The center regards 70 points out of 100 as the minimum level necessary to secure proper consumer satisfaction while those with lower scores will have to improve down the road.
The average score for 2014 was a record high 73.4 since the NCSI began collecting data in 1998. This is slightly up from the previous year’s 73 because companies have continued efforts to meet rapidly-changing consumer demands amid an extended economic slowdown.
Thirty-two companies were gainers in the latest survey, while 16 were losers.
The men’s apparel business showed the biggest jump of 5.5 percent to 77 in 2014 compared to a year earlier, followed by garbage-collecting businesses with an increase of 4.4 percent to 71 and washing machine manufacturing companies with a 4.2 percent rise to 75.
In contrast, compact cars, movie theaters, large book stores and power-supply services marked a decrease of 2.7 percent each, followed by state-run universities with a 1.5 percent decline.
“A lack of new models since 2011 and high prices have put pressure on customers who seek fuel efficiency and reasonable prices for new cars. Top models in the compact car lineup often sell at prices nearly the same as midsize vehicles,” the statement said.
Given the NCSI survey indicated a recovery path since 2009 through 2014, companies made strenuous efforts to meet customer demand despite uncertainties and tougher competition. The NCSI improved to 73.4 in 2014 from 70.6 in 2009, it said.