Exploring the relationship between Customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in hotel industry Case study of 4 and 5 star hotels of Shiraz

Increasing customer satisfaction and loyaltyis an important issue in hotel industry. The purpose of this research is to explore the relationship between customer satisfaction and loyalty in 4 and 5 star hotels of Shiraz. For this purpose, by reviewing literature of the research, the factors affecting satisfaction and loyalty are distinguished. In this study which is a descriptive- survey research, customers of 4 and 5 star hotels of Shiraz are studied and assessment tool is questionnaire. The questionnaires have been distributed and completed among 112 hotel customers in Shiraz using simple random sampling methodand it is discovered that there is a significant relationship between satisfaction and loyalty. But not all of the satisfaction variables have the same importance for customers. The most important factor in customer loyalty is quality (reliability, responsiveness, assurance, tangibles and empathy) and the less important one is price. Finally, based on the achievements, some suggestions are mentioned for increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty.