Customer Satisfaction: Hotel Industry

Published Date: 23 Mar 2015 Last Modified: 19 May 2017

The Hotel Industry had a great pickup in early 1980's, at that time hotel businesses all over the globe tried their best to grew up to international level, different mergers and new continental hotels group came into existence in late 1980's. As research figures indicate tourism and hotel industries have turned into one of the most profitable sources of income throughout the world especially in last two decades.

In 1990's Electronic businesses had approach hotel industry very quickly where that became a milestone for the said industry that was beginning of this realistic approach to be followed up by hotel industry.

Capital expands from rich countries to least developed countries and than the life standard of the people improved on the global very quickly, more wellbeing requisites introduced to satisfy human needs in the shape of technology, more comfort necessities became familiarized and if we could try to portray the current picture of the world we could see hotel industry affected directly in this regard, hotel industry is responsible for the fulfillment of the human desire up to maximum level. It is an instinct of human nature to be creative all the time, measuring once level of satisfaction in hotel industry is quite difficult but there are obvious rules which can be followed to find the level of customer's satisfaction attainment in the hotel industry, Express by Holiday Inn "GSTS" system has great responsibility to judge all customers issues and tell true pictures of the services levels of the hotel.

Abstract

The study mainly reviews and discusses the topic of customer satisfaction and its application to the Hospitality industries. Defines the concept and analyzes its importance to services and its importance to serves in general and to hospitality / tourism services in particular. Following a discussion on the dimensions and attributes of satisfaction, lists the main methods of measuring satisfaction and concludes with a review of global and cross-cultural issues that affect satisfaction in hotel industry.

consequently this research aims to investigate the customer satisfaction level in Express by Holiday Inn hotel, London City (Firoka Group of companies UK Ltd), to apply a tool of "SERVQUAL" model in Express by holiday Inn hotel, London City. Study has also enlisted descriptive survey, feedbacks, trends, approaches & research collection questionnaire; the research questionnaire data contain 25 questions.

We discussed approaches toward integration and comprehensive model of satisfaction and loyalty,

The quality of the Relation

Customer Orientation

The competitive Advantage

We will focus on rational questions

Why should we measure customer satisfaction and who should be involved?

What will be the process involve?

Where Do I Start?

How Do I measure Satisfaction?

How can I get insight from the result?

How do I communicate and action the results and then what?

The analyzed obtained data revealed that guests perceptions of the offered services were below than expected average level of an index indicating, which gives us an idea that service level not at optimal level.

The overall services quality standards needs to be calculated in terms of satisfaction to encounter the differential gap of optimization.

List of Tables

List of Figures

Declaration

Chapter 1

1.0 Introduction:

Living in competitive world today wasn't being challenged ever before, Economic, Socio & Cultural environmental effects are deciding future of the world businesses today, this era is more complex due to it's immense finance requirements, More competitive tools have been evolved to satisfy human needs, Presently Service industry prevailing great deal of challenges where! Every customer has high demands on lowest prices, Life standards are increased with the passage of time so as expectations! and it is very important for one business to calculate it's expectation level towards it's customers and judge where it is standing in the markets, In the Hotel industry the trust of the customer is very much fragile, It is almost necessary for all hotel businesses to keep themselves well updated about customers needs and market demands,

To "count" prompt responses of the hotel customers there are many systems are being utilizing by the hotel industry, Express by holiday Inn is a franchise hotel of InterContinental hotel group, IHG Group has centralized reservation department which looking after all customers issues, They also responsible to prepare performance report of an individual affiliated franchise hotel world wide on monthly basis, the report "GSTS" encounter all areas which need to be focus in terms of customer's satisfaction, later we will discusses in details all main areas of that report.

Customer satisfaction is the leading decisive factor for determining the quality and standard which is actually delivered to the customer through the product, service or by the accompanying servicing. (Vavra, 1997); It's simply stated, "Customer satisfaction is essential for corporate survival"

Several studies have found that it costs about five times as much in time, money and resources to attract a new customer as it does to retain an existing customer (Neumann, 1995). This creates the challenge of maintaining high levels of service, awareness of customer expectations and improvement in services and product.

Hayes states that; "Knowledge of customer expectations and requirements is essential for two reasons - it provides understanding of how the customer defines quality of services and products, and facilitates the development of a customer satisfaction questionnaire (Hayes, 1997, p7). Furthermore, customer satisfaction is recognized as of great importance to all commercial firms because of its influence on repeat purchases and word of mouth recommendations (Berkman and Gilson, 1986). The researcher interest is to carryout a study of customer satisfaction at Express by Holiday Inn, London.

1.1 Aims

Objectives of the Study

The main objective is to conduct the customer satisfaction and its measurement in the hotel industry with special reference to Express by Holiday Inn Hotel, London.

Subsidiary Objectives

Analyses of costs demonstrating that customer retention is substantially less expensive than customer acquisition.

Customer behaviorists in the area of lodging, restaurant, food services and tourism.

Customer satisfaction is a psychological concept.

Customer purchase goods and service with pre purchase expectations about anticipated performance.

Assessment of satisfaction is made during the service delivery process.

Satisfaction is not a universal phenomenon and everyone is not getting the same satisfaction out of the same hospitality experience.

Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance, Empathy and Tangibles.

Research Problem

Customer satisfaction research is not an end into itself. The purpose, of course, in measuring customer satisfaction is to see where a company stands in this regard in the eyes of its customers, thereby enabling service and product improvements which will lead to higher satisfaction level. Satisfaction is not a universal phenomenon and not everyone gets the same satisfaction out of the same hospitality experience. The reason is that customers have different needs, objectives and past experiences that influence their expectation. The results of a customer satisfaction survey need to be evaluated to determine what needs to be improved. Goals should be as specific as possible. Hotels are often challenged on how to best increase guest satisfaction, and how to optimize both price and occupancy. Employee satisfaction, guestroom cleanliness, amenities, appearance, food and services all contribute to customer satisfaction, and increase customer satisfaction is a proven driver of guest retention and higher occupancy rates. Understanding customer experience through research is widely recognized as a key factor in improving long-term business performance. Express by Holiday Inn Hotel had a requirement to obtain daily feedback at an individual level by rooms/reception questionnaire in general for its GSTS (Guest satisfaction tracking system). It has to introduce web based questionnaire survey to create an opportunity to built feedback interface for general public to get provided a cost-effective and practical methodology so hotel future guest see the reviews in term of past feedbacks.

"In the customer arena, we believe that regular, quantitative measurement of customer satisfaction provides a much better lead indicator of future organizational health than profitability of market share change" (Tom Peters, Management guru)

Significance of Study

Customer Satisfaction measurement (CSM) consists of on two major roles

Providing Information

Enabling Communication with Customers

The initial or primary reason for taking the time to measure customer satisfaction is based on to collect the information. It means that what customers say that need to be done differently or on the other hand to assess how well an organization is currently meeting its customer needs or requirements. But the secondary is not less important function of CSM in hospitality industry that by surveying customers. An organization is emphasis its interest in communicating with its customers. In hotel industry, it's always finding out customer's needs, pleasures, displeasures and overall well being. Though it is impossible to measure the satisfaction of every single customer needs. The customer satisfaction may different from organization to organization or hotel to hotel. Here we would like to quote Neumann (1995) five objectives suggestions as follows:

To get close to the customer

Measure continuous improvement

To achieve customer driven improvement

To measure competitive strengths and weaknesses

To link Customer Satisfaction Measurement (CSM) data to internal systems hypothesis

Customer Satisfaction is a psychological concept.

Customer purchase goods and services with pre purchase expectations.

Assessment of satisfaction is made during the service delivery process.

Satisfaction is not Universal phenomenon.

Recognition of the employees who contribute to the Customers satisfaction

Customer based improvement goals

Plans for improving operational variables

Incorporation of customer satisfaction skills into employees training program

Measurement and plan for improvement of employee satisfaction

Importance of my Study

To satisfy each and every customer or to meet his / her expectation every time is not an easy task especially in hotel industry. This work is to investigate and examine the psychology of the customer, their expectations and behaviour.

Tools of data Collection

The data collection would include the use of questionnaire, scheduled interviews, guest feedback, and management feedback, guest services track system (GSTS), guest survey, and personal experience along with personal observation. In the questionnaire design, I will use the respondent completes' short closed - ended questions and long open - ended questions. In the interview design, I would like to use personal forms, sharing their experience and work directly with the respondent. In the guest feedback, I would like to get the guest feedback while they are checking out from the hotel, compare their past and current experience. In the management feedback, I would like to get the information from management regarding the standard and complaint level of the guest activities in the hotel.

1.2 Objectives

1.3 Rationale

1.4 Background of the Organisation

1.5 Structure of the Dissertation

1.5.1 Introduction

1.5.2 Literature Review

1.5.3 Methodology

1.5.4 Analysis & Results

1.5.5 Discussions

1.5.6 Conclusion & Recommendations

Chapter 2

2.0 Literature Review

2.1Customer Satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is an important topic for both researchers and managers, because a high

level of customer satisfaction leads to an increase in repeat patronage among current

customers and aids customer recruitment by enhancing an organizations marker reputation.

Being able to successfully judge customers' satisfaction levels and to apply that knowledge are

critical starting points to establishing and maintaining long term customer retention and long

term competitiveness (Yuksel & Yuksel, 2002). Customer satisfaction brings many benefits.

Satisfaction increases customer retention and customer retention is dependent on the

substance of the relationship between parties which is also affected by the service delivered.

Satisfaction is an "overall customer attitude towards a service provider", or an emotional

reaction to the difference between what customers anticipate and what they receive (Zineldin,

2000), regarding the fulfillment of some need, goal or desire. For most products or services,

aspects of performance can be objectively assessed. Although these attributes can be

objectively measured, customers' assessments may not objectively reflect measured

performance. Some clients may be taken to several homes that "fit" their criteria but are

unsuitable to the clients' personal taste which leads to the client's assessment of the service as

being unpleasant because they did not see listings that they liked.

Kano, Bentler and Li-tze (1984) developed a model to categorize the attributes of a product or

service based on how well they are able to satisfy customer needs. Considering Kano's model,

one sees how it may not be enough to merely satisfy customers by meeting only their basic and

performance needs. In a highly competitive marketplace, organizations need to adopt strategies

and to create product attributes targeted specifically at exciting customers and over-satisfying

them (Tan & Pawitra, 2001). In real estate to excite or over satisfy customers, an agent would

need to have a thorough and vast knowledge of all listings in the local area.

In essence, it is the experience and attitudes of the individuals in closest contact with customers

that are most likely to affect whether or not customers are satisfied and willing to return to the

company. It is also the people in direct contact with customers who determine who the retained

and satisfied customers are, and their experience determines how they treat the customers

(Hansemark & Albinsson, 2004) thus impacting on the service quality delivered.

2-4-1-Customer satisfaction and measuring system:

To realize customer satisfaction, everyone within the organization should consider continuous

improvement as something normal.

As part of this strategy it is important to define the product or service and the customer's needs,

making an inventory of customer's data and complaints, and selecting processes which cause

most of these complaints. The central questions in this case are: which products or services do

we provide? Who are our customers? What do they want, what are their requirements? Is it

measurable? Which critical processes need improvement? By answering these questions

continuously, the customer will be better understood, and the product or service will be better in

and to create product attributes targeted specifically at exciting customers and over-satisfying

them (Tan & Pawitra, 2001). In real estate to excite or over satisfy customers, an agent would

need to have a thorough and vast knowledge of all listings in the local area.

In essence, it is the experience and attitudes of the individuals in closest contact with customers

that are most likely to affect whether or not customers are satisfied and willing to return to the

company. It is also the people in direct contact with customers who determine who the retaine

and satisfied customers are, and their experience determines how they treat the customers

(Hansemark & Albinsson, 2004) thus impacting on the service quality delivered.

To realize customer satisfaction, everyone within the organization should consider continuous

improvement as something normal.

As part of this strategy it is important to define the product or service and the customer's needs,

making an inventory of customer's data and complaints, and selecting processes which cause

most of these complaints. The central questions in this case are: which products or services do

we provide? Who are our customers? What do they want, what are their requirements? Is it

measurable? Which critical processes need improvement? By answering these questions

continuously, the customer will be better understood, and the product or service will be better in

tune with the market demand.

Which Products/ Services do we provide?

First of all, define the most important product or services as concretely as possible. This

Definition must indicate what you are really doing as a supplier. The more specific the definition,

the better the customer's need can be met.

Who are our customers?

It is important to understand the entire chain of customers. This means that you should know all

of your customers. The needs of each customer must be examined separately. Not only the

external, but also the internal customers should be considered. In fact, if the company does not

satisfy the needs of the internal customers, how will it be able to comply with the needs of the

external customer? All employees determine the degree of customer satisfaction. Employees

from within different departments must be considered customers of each other. By bringing

individual employees together as customers and suppliers, the traditional barriers between

departments will be broken. Each employee delivers something to a colleague, whereby one

unction as the internal supplier and the other as the internal customer.

What do they want, what are their requirements?

As a supplier, you should try to figure out what the customer needs and wants. Communication

is hereby very important. Talk to your customers and ask them what they think of your product

or service. Try to figure out how they use it and what they really want. Listen especially to what

they have to say and indicate which customer-supplier relationship needs improvements. The

central questions hereby are:

-Which needs and expectations do your customers have?

-Which needs and expectations do you know?

-To what extent do you comply with the needs and expectations of your customers?

-If you do not satisfy their needs, what is the reason according to your customers?

Making an inventory of customer's data, customers' complaints and benchmarking are important

opportunities to improve the customer orientation of the organization.

Information about the opinion of the customer regarding a product or service is of essential

importance, and can be obtained in several ways, such as customer surveys, phone interviews,

and customer panel discussions. Customer surveys are a powerful tool to get information about

what the customer thinks and expects. In general, questionnaires are used with different

questions, which may vary from organization to organization.

Is it measurable?

To comply with the needs of the customer, it is necessary to translate these into product specifications. Quality function deployment is a practical technique to do this. Usually, it is necessary to negotiate with the customer, which results in feasible and agreed on customer's requirements, which are measurable and understood by all parties. All statements of the

customer about qualitative aspects must be translated into quantitative specifications for the

supplier. Define clearly and explicitly what they are talking about.

Customer Satisfaction Measuring System:

A customer satisfaction measuring system is shown in Table (2-1), to illustrate the activities

needed to improve your customer satisfaction. Mark a possibility in this checklist with a cross at

each question, and discuss the results of these measurements, and check why this customer

Many of these recommendations also apply to your relationships with external suppliers. Treat

your suppliers as though they are an integral part of your organization. Listen to their ideas on

how you can work closely and productively together, create joint improvement teams with them,

invite suggestions from them, assist them in improving their own processes, build mutual trust

and respect, reward them if they achieve improvements, let them participate in the celebration

of success, involve them in the development of new products and processes, and become a

better customer yourself. Expanding your culture of continuous improvement to all your

suppliers will ensure that the quality of your inputs is sufficient to meet your own improvement

objectives. If possible, minimize the number of suppliers; go with the few best and improvement

oriented suppliers with a demonstrated continuous improvement culture and effective leadership

by top-management, based on a long term partnership contract.

- Table (2-1) - Customer satisfaction measurement:

I - customers

1. Do you know who your customers are and how many customers you have?

2. Do you listen effectively to all your customers?

3. Do you regularly make up an inventory of all the needs and expectations of your customers?

4. Did you segment your customers based on their needs?

5. Do you routinely conduct surveys among your customers about your products and services?

6. Are all your employees informed about the results of these surveys?

7. Are more than 75 percent of your customers satisfied?

8. Do you anticipate customer needs?

9. Do you treat each customer as unique?

10. Are complaints replied to whit in two days and solved within one week?

11. Do you stimulate customers to register their complaints?

12. Do you use e-business tools to communicate with customers?

13. Do you have a customer's helpdesk or a call center?

14. Do you know which percentage of the customers who terminated their relationship with your

organization did this out of dissatisfaction?

15. Are complaints systematically registered and analyzed in your organization?

16. Did you establish complaints handling procedures and are these routinely used in your

organization?

17. Do you measure the degree of customer loyalty?

18. Do you make recommendations to customers about the products or services that best suit

their needs?

19. Do you know what the costs are when you lose a customer?

20. Do you know what the costs are to gain a new customer?

21. Do you know how much sales you lose due to unsatisfied customers?

22. Do you regularly visit your customers?

23. Do you regularly organize meetings with customers groups to learn about their needs,

wants, ideas, and complaints?

II. Leadership

24. As a manager, do you know how many complaints are received yearly?

25. is there commitment at top-management for customer orientation?

26. Did you integrate customer satisfaction into the norms and values of the organization?

27. Are these norms and values clearly communicated to all your customers?

28. Does management recognize visible trends and do they anticipate these in a timely manner?

29. Is management convinced of the importance of satisfied customers and do they act accordingly?

30. Does management try to express the importance of satisfied customers to the organization at every occasion?

31. Does management set a good example with regard to customer friendly behavior?

32. Is management open to suggestions and ideas of customers?

33. Does management personally reward those employees who deliver a valuable contribution to increased customers satisfaction?

34. Are relationships with customers reasonably supported and stimulated by management?

35. Is management at all times available to the customer?

36. Does customer satisfaction also belong to the evaluation criteria of management?

37. Are the customers' wishes continuously taken into consideration when taking decisions?

38. Does top management also personally handle complaints of customers?

39. Do all members of management in the company have personal contact with external

customers at least once a week?

III- Policy

40. Is customer satisfaction part of your organization's vision?

41. Did you formulate concrete goals regarding the degree of customer satisfaction?

42. Have you developed e-business strategies for the next two years to increase customer

satisfaction?

43. Is the customer satisfaction policy continuously communicated to all employees?

44. Do you have a partnership relation with all your customers based on mutual respect and

trust?

45. Do you involve your customers in the development of promotional activities?

46. Do you guarantee your customers a minimal service level and/or complete satisfaction?

47. is there continuous benchmarking with regard to customer satisfaction?

48. Do you involve your customers with the execution of improvement processes in your

company?

49. Are more than 50 percent of your employees involved with the improvement of customer

orientation?

50. Do you have guidelines with regard to optimally satisfying the customer?

51. Are all employees following these guidelines?

52. Do you have an up-to-date databank in which all characteristics of your customers are

registered?

IV- Products / services and process

53. Are products delivered within the period expected by the customer?

54. Have you fully integrated the telephone, fax, internet, and any other technology that the

customer wants to use to do business?

55. is the phone in you organization answered within three rings in more that 90 percent of the

cases?

56. Is every function and each process in your organization arranged to optimally comply with

the expectations of your customers?

57. Do these expectations form the basis of internal performance indicators?

58. Are these indicators continuously measured and analyzed?

59. Do you use measured customer satisfaction as an indicator for process improvement?

60. Did you appoint process owners for controlling processes?

61. Do you involve your customers in the development of new products and processes?

62. Do you measure the satisfaction of your internal customers?

63. Do supporting departments within your organization guarantee quality of the work they deliver?

V. Human resource management

64. Does customer orientation belong to the profile of the desired employee?

65. Do you have an introduction program in which new employees are also educated

concerning the importance of satisfied customers?

66. Are your employees who continuously perform in a customer-oriented manner rewarded?

67. Is training mandatory for each employee in your organization?

68. Are customer orientation and continuous work towards improvement criteria for

promotion?

69. Do you regularly organize excursions for your employees and your important customers?

70. Do your marketing employees receive a training of at least two weeks each year in customer

orientation?

71. Are your marketing employees free in taking decisions to satisfy customers?

72. Are your marketing employees free to spend what is necessary to correct a mistake made

with a customer?

73. Do you involve your employees in improvement projects about increasing customer

satisfaction?

74. Do you stimulate your employees to generate ideas about increasing customer

satisfactions?

75. Are the employees' interest and the interest of the customer related?

2-5. Service quality

The concept of service quality as a whole construct is large and varied. The theory has been

elaborated on by many researchers. Berry, Parasuraman and Zeithaml (1985) write service

quality as perceived by consumers stems from a comparison of what they feel service firms

should offer (i.e. from their expectations) with their perception of the performance of the firm

providing the services. Perceived service quality is therefore viewed as the degree and direction

of discrepancy between consumers' perceptions and expectations. For example in real estate,

this would be what the client is expecting from the agent in comparison to which is actually

delivered by that agent.

In real estate, that interaction occurs from the moment the client and agent s peak either verbally

or electronically. It is evident that research on goods quality is inadequate in the service field,

which has three inherent characteristics: intangibility, heterogeneity and inseparability between

production and consumption (Berry, Parasuraman and Zeithmal, 1985).

2-5-1. The Customer's Perspective of Service Quality

Service quality is usually expressed as a function of customers' expectations of the service to

be provided (based upon their previous experience, the organizations image, the price of the

service for example) compared with their perceptions of the actual service experience

(Gronroos, 1984; Berry et al, 1985; Johnston and Heineke, 1998). Perceptions are defined as

the consumer's judgment of the service organization's performance. However, Parasuraman et

al (1988) delve deeper and define the service performance gap as the discrepancy between the

specifications of service and the delivery (Chenet, Tynan & Money, 2000).

Imrie, Cadogan and McNaughton (2002) study shows that using service quality as a key point of

marker differentiation positively influences customer retention and market growth (Buzzell and

Gale, 1987; Jacobson and Aaker, 1987).

Kelley (1992) argues that customer orientation plays a more important role in service firms than

in any other firms because of the intangibility, heterogeneity and inseparability of service (Berry,

Parasuraman and Zeithaml, 1985). In an attempt to establish a competitive advantage,

marketing practioner's often seek to differentiate their service offering upon service quality, a

vital element to real estate due to the large amount of agents and competition. Berry et al.,

(1985) state that the benefits of differentiating on the basis of a service quality platform are

significant in respect to both defensive and offensive strategies which is particularly relevant to

real estate as there are limited elements of differentiation between companies. Commissions

are generally the same as is the access to listings particularly when most companies will in

together to get a deal through.

Kellogg (2000) states that customers have contact with the service delivery system in three

ways: directly, being physically present; indirectly, via a surrogate, such as paper or some

electronic media, or with no contact. However, Gronroos argues that employee performance

constitutes the service as far as customers are concerned (Hartline et al., 2003). Within the real

estate industry Kellogg's (2000) statement is more apt as this can often be the first contact.

In many cases, customer contact employees are the first and only representative of a service

firm. Therefore, customers often base their impressions of the firm largely on the service

received from customer contact employees (Hartline and Mckee, 2000). Johnston and Heineke

(1998) summaries that if a customer expects a poor performance then they may be satisfied

with a poor performance. This is one of the paradoxes of service quality as identified by

Gronroos (1989). This would also be affected by nationality and culture, where expectations can

differ greatly.

However, there is extensive literature in the field of social psychology on the effects that

passage of time has on attitudes and perceptions. Abercrombie (1967) pointed out that

perceptions are not stable over time by stating that : with the passage of time, experiences,

which at first were defined and separate from each other, tend to become associated and

confused, this particularly occurs in real estate if a client has been out with many agents from

different companies and seen a number of listings. It is not so much that we actually forget

things, but that we do not remember them correctly (O'Neill & Palmer, 2001).

The most common explanation of the difference between service quality and satisfaction is that

perceived service quality is a form of attitude, a long-run overall evaluation, whereas satisfaction

is a transaction-specific measure (Bitner, 1990; Bolton & Drew, 1991; Parasuraman, Zeithaml

and Berry, 1988). Parasuraman et al., (1988) further suggest that the difference lies in the way

disconfirmation is operationalized. They sate that in measuring perceived service quality the

level of comparison is what a consumer should expect, whereas in measures of satisfaction the

appropriate comparison is what a consumer would expect.

2.5.2. The Manager's Role in Service Quality

The first conceptual model of service quality was developed by Gronroos to enhance

understanding of consumers' service quality perceptions and the factors that influence those

perceptions. According to the model, consumers' perceptions of service quality results from an

evaluation process, in which consumers' expectations are compared with their perceptions of

the service actually delivered (Mangold & Emin, 1990).

It is suggested that managers need to understand the types of service quality factors for their

own service(s) and understand their various relationships between perception and performance

in order to design, measure and control their service. Service levels need to be set and

strategies devised, that first recognize the relative impact of individual factors on overall

perceptions and secondly, link them to the organization's quality strategy (Johnston & Heineke,

1998).

Swan and Trawick (1979) divide the customer's expectations into two types - desired

expectation, that is to say the wanted performance level- and foretold expectation, the

performance level that is predicted to happen. Kellogg (2000) also divides customer's

expectations into two traits; furthermore, Kellogg (2000) goes on to define the implications:

permanence implies that the changes provided by the service are expected to last. Its

conceptual opposite is transience, that is, the results of the service, will fade with time.

Reversibility implies the ability to undo the effects of the service (Kellogg, 2000).

Most writers agree that customers' expectations are rarely concerned with single aspect of the

service package, but rather with many aspects. Gronroos (1984) , for example, investigates an

attitudinal construct, resulting from the discrepancy between consumers' expectations and their

perceptions of the quality of service actually delivered (Mangold & Emin, 1990).

Furthermore, when decision makers in service organist ions, such as banks and hospitals are

asked what constitutes quality in their services, the answers are less well-defined and tend to

vary more from individual to individual. Consequently, the measurement, monitoring and

improvement of quality is an elusive task in many service organizations. While the concept of

service quality is difficult to define, the fact is, that both consumers and service providers

evaluate service quality on a daily and revolving basis (Mangold & Emin, 1990).

2-5-3. Expectations and Perceptions of service Quality

Several conceptual models have been dev eloped to help define the service quality construct

and the factors that enter into consumers' perceptions of service quality (Mangold & Emin,

1991). Driver and Johnston (2001) ascertain that there is a general agreement that a service

comprises a complex bundle of explicit and implicit attributes. The relative importance of

different attributes is likely to differ from service to service and from person to person (Cronin

and Taylor, 1994, parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry, 1994) which is particularly relevant to the

real estate industry where no two clients hav e the same requirements or expectations.

In fact, Svensson (2003) agrees that service quality is a fundamental feature in services

marketing (Gronroos, 1989), industrial marketing, relationship marketing and consumer

marketing (Kotler, 1999). Berry et al., (1985) deem that quality is essential when service is what

is being sold.

Mangold and Emin (1991) focus on "front-stage" and "back-stage" perspectives, whereby both

the customer and the employees observe different perspectives of activities and problems that

accompany the service delivery process. This approach is particularly relevant to a service

environment because the "front-stage" and "back-stage" perspectives of the two groups may

result in a lack of agreement about the lev el of service that should be provided (Mangold &

Emin, 1991).

Some authors have s uggested that perceptions are m ore dominantly driven by experiences (i.e.

the service performance) rather that expectations. Alternatively, quality has been defined as the

consumer's overall impression of the relative inferiority or superiority of the organization and its

services (Zeithaml, Berry and Parasuraman, 1983; Taylor and Baker, 1994). Perceived service

quality is an attitude - a consumer judgment on the overall service.

Measuring perceptions of service quality has subsequently produced various models of

measurement. The SERVQUAL model of parasuraman et al (1988) proposed a five-

dimensional construct of perceived service quality - tangibles, reliability, responsiveness,

assurance, and empathy - with items reflecting both expectations and perceived performance.

2-5-4- Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction:

The main function a hospitality organization's members must perform is the delivery of quality

service to its customers. Service quality has been defined as how well a customer's needs are

met, and how well the service delivered meets the customer's expectations.

Gronoos (1984) indicated that the perceived quality of service is dependent on a comparison

between expected and perceived service, and is thus the outcome of a comparative evaluation

process. Parasuraman et al. (1985) defined "service quality" as the degree and direction of

discrepancy between a customer's perceptions and expectations, whereas "perceived service

quality" is the gap between a customer's expectations and perceptions as a measurement of

service quality. The smaller the gap, the better the quality of service and greater the customer

satisfaction. Barsky (1996) suggests that the customers may be excellent sources of information

for management on how the organization can provide quality service. Through surveys and

focus groups, customers can help management to determine which service areas are most in

need of improvement. Gunderson et al. (1996) defined customer satisfaction as, "a guest's post-

consumption judgment of a product or service that can, in turn, be measured by assessing

guest's evaluation of a performance on specific attributes. Providing services which customers

prefer is obviously a starting point for providing customer satisfaction. A relatively easy way to

determine what services customers prefer is simply to ask them. Greathous et al. (1996)

conducted research investigating the factors that travelers considered important in hotel

accommodations. In this study, travelers questioned at visitor information centers rated

cleanliness of room, value for price, friendliness of staff, and security of property as some of the

most important attributes of a hotel. A number of studies on customer satisfaction in the

hospitality industry have focused on identifying service attributes; that is, a customer's needs

and wants. From a marketing perspective, customer satisfaction is achieved when the

customer's needs and wants are fulfilled (Lam and Zhang, 1999). Lam and Zhang (1999)

conducted a study to assess customers' expectations and perceptions of service quality, and

identified a gap between the two. They also explored the impact of service quality factors on

overall customer satisfaction. Their findings revealed that "reliability" and "responsiveness and

assurance" are the most significant factors in predicting customer satisfaction. In addition, these

two factors had the largest differential scores, indicating that the customers' perceptions fell well

short of their expectations. The purpose of measuring customer satisfaction is to assess the

quality of the existing management practices and identify directions for improvement. The aim of

managing satisfaction is to obtain a higher rate of customer retention and improve a company's

market share and profits. Many researchers propose that customer satisfaction influences

customer loyalty, which in turn affects profitability.

2.6- Hotel Attributes:

2.2Customer Satisfaction Models

2.2.1 Macro Models

2.2.2 Micro Models

2.3 Benefits of Measuring Customer Satisfaction

2.4 The Customer Satisfaction and Service Quality

2.5 Service Quality

2.6 SERVQUAL

2.7 Service Quality in Hotel Industry

Chapter 3

3.0Methodology

3.1 Research Process

3.2 Type of Research

3.2.1 Exploratory Research

3.2.2 Descriptive Research

3.2.3 Causal Research

3.2.4 Research Type

3.3 Research Approaches

3.3.1 Deductive VS. Inductive

3.3.2 Qualitative VS. Quantitative

3.3.3 Hotel Research Approach

3.4 Research Strategy

3.5 The Sample Design Process

3.5.1 Target Population of the Hotel

3.5.2 Determine the Sampling Frame

3.5.3 Sampling Techniques

3.5.4 Sample Size of Researched Hotel

3.6 Data Collection & Analysis

3.6.1 Applicable Data Collection Tools

3.6.2 Classification & Method of Data Collection

3.7 Pilot Testing

3.8 Data Analysis

3.9 Critical Evaluating Measurements

3.9.1 Reliability & Validity

Chapter 4

4.0Analysis

4.1Estimation of the Demographic Questions

4.1.1 Guest's Distribution based on Gender

4.1.2 Guest's Distribution on purpose of Travel

4.1.3 Guest's Distribution on Hotel Reservation Bases

4.2 Estimation and Analysis

4.2.1 Tangibles

4.2.2 Reliability

4.2.3 Responsiveness

4.2.4 Assurance

4.2.5 Empathy

Chapter 5

5.0Discussions

5.1Finding & Research Survey Review

Chapter 6

6.0 Conclusion & Recommendations

6.1 Conclusion

6.2 Suggestions

6.2.1 Applied Suggestion