Gazetted hotels in Singapore: a banking study

Abstract

Gazetted hotels are hotels which have been inspected and approved by the Singapore Tourist Promotion Boar (STPB). The STPB says that the number of Gazetted hotels is expected to grow by about 55% between 1994 and 2002. This projection should not have gone unnoticed by Singapore's local full licence banks which are always keen to identify new customers. If local banks want to seek out the custom of existing or new Gazetted hotels, they should be keen to establish a ranking of their bank selection criteria. Not only that, there is a need to establish levels of satisfaction in the context of such criteria, for this may be an indicator of the likely retention or defection. By establishing the various banks with which the sample has a relationship and the products they use, market distribution and product gaps can be identified. This study addresses these issues and the result shows that pricing and locational convenience are key bank selection criteria and that banks very well satisfy these key criteria. Accounts based products are the primary bank services which are used, while finance is obtained from a range of sources, including overdrafts, loans, leasing and hire purchase. The four largest Singapore banks are found to dominate the Gazetted hotel market, as either sole bank, main bank or subsidiary bank. Just under 60% of the respondents use more than one bank and the primary reason they give for so doing is to obtain the best borrowing rates.