Assessment of Innovative Capacity in Hotels:The Case of Three-Star Hotels in Elmina, Ghana

The Ghana Tourism Authority rated Elmina Beach Resort and Coconut Grove Hotels as Three-Star hotels. The focus of this study was to determine whether these hotels merited the rating as regards the innovative capabilities of its managers. Four innovation types: product, process, marketing and organization were measured. Questionnaire was employed to elicit this information. The census approach was employed involving all the seventeen departmental heads in both hotels. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics, specifically, the mean of the innovation types were on scale of 1-5. The hoteliers demonstrated low or high innovation capacity if the scale was 1-2.9 and 3-5 respectively. Results show that the managers of these hotels are highly innovative with process and organisation as the highest and least practiced innovation types respectively. It is therefore suggestive that these hoteliers strive to sell current hotel experience to clients. It is recommended that the hoteliers must continually seek to offer personalized, friendly and sociable services, which will make their guests enjoy patronizing their facilities.