Challenges hindering the implementation of preventive maintenance in hotels in Kenya

Abstract

In Kenya, the hospitality industry is regulated by the central government and all hotels are categorized into five classifications (1-Star to 5-Star). The classification and ranking of the hotels reflect the operational standards and also the level of asset management and maintenance systems in the industry as a whole. The purpose of this study was to examine the challenges affecting the implementation of preventive maintenance in the hotel establishments. The target population was five town hotels in the range of 3-Star to 5-Star in Nairobi, Kisumu, Nakuru and Eldoret towns. Purposive sampling was used to select the study area, while stratified and simple random sampling was used to select the respondents. The study sample was 100 respondents consisting of middle management, supervisors and personnel in the production and service delivery sections. Miles and Snow Generic Business-Level Strategies model was used to guide the study. Questionnaire was the main data collection instrument and data was analyzed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS), Spearman rank correlation and ?2 test analysis. The study concluded that challenges do exist in the hotels in the implementation of preventive maintenance programmes in an unplanned and unstructured manner coupled with inconsistent staff training. The paper proposes that for a sustainable and continuous production and service delivery in Kenyan hotels, there is need for adoption of preventive maintenance and asset management programmes.