The Requirements of Disabled Customers: A Study of British Customers in Egyptian Hotels

Abstract

The disabled customer market has become an increasingly important market in the hotel industry; however, the literature revealed a gap between what hotels provide and what needed by people with disability (PwD), which this study aims to bridge such a gap. The study employed a questionnaire comprising questions on 57 hotel attributes. The hotel attributes were divided into three groups: hotel employees, guest room, and public areas. A total of 200 questionnaires were distributed to a convenience sample of British PwD customers. Among the questionnaires returned, 126 were useable, representing a response rate of 63%. The analysis of variance test was employed to determine the presence of significant differences between four types of disabilities (i.e., hearing, sight, physical, and intellectual) in relation to the importance and performance of the 57 hotel attributes. Additionally, importance-performance analysis (IPA) was conducted using SPSS. The results showed some statistically- significant differences for two hotel attributes. Specifically, people with physical disabilities attached more importance to two hotel attributes, i.e., “Automated door openings should be provided”, and “All corridors should be suitable for wheelchair users.