MEASURING HOTEL SERVICE QUALITY: A CASE STUDY OF MIDSCALE BANGKOK HOTELS
Keywords:
Service Quality, SERVQUAL, Midscale Hotel, BangkokAbstract
Midscale hotels, generally known as three and four star hotels, provide a high return-on-investmentwhen compared to other hotel categories in Bangkok. Nonetheless, the midscale hotel segment in Bangkok is highly oversupplied due to its lack of product differentiation. To gain a competitive advantage, it is crucial for executives at midscale Bangkok hotels to understand the concept of service quality and be able to exceed customer’s expectation towards service quality.
Using the SERVQUAL concept, this research aims to measure the hotel service quality, using midscale hotels in Bangkok as a case study. Findings suggest that there are significant positive gaps in service quality delivered by midscale hotels in Bangkok, whereby those hotels have exceeded their customers’ expectations. Although ‘tangibles’ has the highest positive gap, it should be pointed out however that ‘assurance’ and ‘em athy’ are two of the least positive gaps.
References
Aaker, D., Kumar, V., & Day, G. (2004). Marketing Research (8th ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Alexandris, K., Dimitriadis, N., & Markata, D. (2002). Can perceptions of service quality predict behavioral intentions? An exploratory study in the hotel sector in Greece. Managing Service Quality, 12(4), 224-231.
Blešiš et al. (2011). Research of Expected and Perceived Service Quality in Hotel Management. Journal of Tourism, 11(11).
Boon-itt, S., & Rompho, N. (2012). Measuring Service Quality Dimensions: An Empirical Analysis of Thai Hotel Industry. International Journal of Business Administration, 3(5), 52-63.
Brassett, J., & Watson, M. (2010). The Political Economy of the Subprime Crisis: The Economics, Politics and Ethics of Response. New Political Economy, 15(1).
Clow, K., Kurtz, D., Ozment, J., & Ong, B. (1997). The antecedents of consumer expectations of services: an empirical study across four industries. Journal of Services Marketing, 11(4), 230 - 248.
Department of Tourism. (2016). Tourism statistics. Retrieved 20 October 2016, from http://www.tourism.go.th/farms/uploaded/00Statistic/2016/OR/OR%20July%202015P.pdf
Grant Thornton. (2016). Thailand Hotel Survey 2016. Retrieved 29 November 2016, from http://www.grantthornton.co.th/globalassets/1.-member-firms/thailand/publictions-pdf/grant-thornton-thailand-hotel-survey-2016.pdf
Hotel News Now. (2013). Hotel development takes off in Thailand. Retrieved 29 November 2016, from http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Articles/19618/Hotel-development-takes-off-in-Thailand
JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group. (2016a). Hotel Destinations Thailand. Retrieved 28 November 2016, from http://www.jll.co.th/thailand/en-gb/Research/Hotel-Destinations-Thailand-January-2016.pdf?d3eeeb6b-57aa-4f0f-9a54-6a4a92bfe893
JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group. (2016b). Why Thailand’s tourism industry is smiling again. Retrieved 29 November 2016, from http://www.jllrealviews.com/industries/why-thailands-tourism-industry-is-smiling-again/
Langdon, A. (2013). Thailand’s midscale hotels: a latent investment opportunity? Retrieved 29 November 2016, from http://www.ttgasia.com/article.php?article_id=21407
Laws, E. (2004). Improving Tourism and Hospitality Services. Wallingford: CABI Publishing.
Markovic et al. (2013). A study of expected and perceived service quality in Croatian and Slovenian hotel industry. European Journal of Tourism Research, 6(1).
Markovic, S., & Raspor, S. (2010). Measuring Perceived Service Quality Using servqual: A Case Study of the Croatian Hotel Industry. Management, 5.
Motlagh et. al. (2013). How Does Service Quality Lead to Loyalty in the Hotel Industry in Iran. Research Journal of Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology, 5(2), 374-379.
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V., & Berry, L. (1988). ServQual: A multiple-tem scale for measuring consumer perceptions of service quality. Journal of Retailing, 64(1).
Pathnadabutr, A. (2012). Hotel Oversupply in Bangkok shows no sign of Slowing down. Retrieved 10 October 2016, from http://www.thailand-business-news.com/real-estate/36122-hotel-oversupply-in-bangkok-shows-no-sign-of-slowing-down.html
Ramanathan, U., & Ramanathan, R. (2011). Guests’ perceptions on factors influencing customer loyalty. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 23(1), 7-25.
Rauch, D., Collins, M., Nale, R., & Barr, P. (2015). Measuring service quality in mid-scale hotels. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 27(1), 87-106.
Seyanont, A. (2007). A comparative study of the service quality of casual dining restaurants in Phuket: Perspective of Thai and international customers. (Doctor of Philosophy). USA: Oklahoma State University.
Skaliotis, V., & Sääf, H. (2006). Why the brand? The challenge for mid-scale hotels. (Master Degree), Goteborg University. Retrieved 9 September 2016, from https://gupea.ub.gu.se/bitstream/2077/2221/1/Skaliotis.pdf
Sriyam, A. (2010). Customer satisfaction towards service quality of front office staff at the hotel. (Master degree). Bangkok: Srinakharinwirot University. STR. (2013). 2013 STR global chain scales. Retrieved 4 August 2016, from http://www.strglobal.com/documents/STRGlobal_Chain_Scales.pdf
Tourism Authority of Thailand. (2016). Economics and Politics. Retrieved 20 October 2016, from https://www.tourismthailand.org/About-Thailand/Economy-Politic
Travel Center Asia. (2016). Hotel rating. Retrieved 29 November 2016, from http://www.travelcenterasia.com/Hotel-rating.php
Tselepidakis, Y. (2013). The Use of Twitter by Luxury and Midscale Hotels. University of New Hampshire. Retrieved 4 August 2016 from http://scholars.unh.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1104&context=honors
Vatjanasaregagul, L. (2007). The relationship of service quality, consumer decision factors and brand equity. (Doctoral Degree). USA: Nova Southeastern University.
Yamane, T. (1973). Statistics: An Introductory Analysis (3rd ed.). New York: Harper and Row Publication.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Content and information of the article published at Suthiparithat Journal are based on the sole opinions and responsibility of author(s) only. Neither the editorial board involve in......
