Service experience through the eyes of budget hotel guests: Do factors of importance influence performance dimensions?

Abstract

. (2015) 'Service experience through the eyes of budget hotel guests : do factors of importance inuence performance dimensions?', Journal of hospitality and tourism management., 23 . pp. 23-34. Further information on publisher's website: Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. AbstractThe aim of this study is to test the influence of dimensions of importance (expectations) in hotel services on performance (actual experience) within the context of budget hotels in China. A theoretical model and nine hypotheses are tested to indicate whether the dimensions of importance such as room service, room comfort and reservation process, have any impact on performance dimensions such as in-room dining, front office service, room amenities and hotel access and safety. A final model is proposed which reflects the relationship between the constructs. The study uses a survey and interview technique. Findings from the analysis of 355 respondents from budget hotels in the Hainan province of China suggest statistical significances in several areas of relationship between rating of importance by the budget hotel guests and performance dimensions. Overall, the results indicate a significant difference between expectations of the guests and actual experiences, thus highlighting managerial implications. The current study cannot claim to be wholly conclusive as it is limited to a small sample size from only one province of China and there could be subjectivity in responses. From a practitioner's perspective the study provides an opportunity to recognise features that are considered important by the guests staying in budget hotels in the Hainan Province, China and to identify the areas of disparity in service and product quality. Despite decades of research and abundance of published studies service quality still remains an important issue within the lodging industry. This study provides an opportunity for budget hotel management generally and China's budget hotel management specifically to understand which factors have a significant impact on hotel guests' importance ranking and performance dimensions to assess customer satisfaction. The study investigates service quality perceptions of budget hotel guests in China, an area where research is generally sparse within the context of Asia and almost non-existent within the context of China. From this perspective the study contributes to the service quality literature in the lodging industry specifically the budget hotels. Keywords:Service quality, Customer satisfaction, Budget Hotels, Ch...

Mining meaning from online ratings and reviews: Tourist satisfaction analysis using latent dirichlet allocation

“…In this way, dimensions may be used to help identify unique submarkets. For example, the economy or budget hotel sector has rapidly developed in the past decade in China (Mohsin, and Lengler, 2015;Ren et al, 2016). Budget hotels usually offer a limited hotel service and their rates are 25-30% cheaper than average market rates (Gilbert and Lockwood, 1990).…”

Synthesizing the effects of experiential quality, excitement, equity, experiential satisfaction on experiential loyalty for the golf industry: The case of Hainan Island

“…Chen & Chen, 2010;Kao et al, 2008;Mohsin & Lengler, 2015; indicate that experiential quality plays a key role in increasing experiential satisfaction. Quality and satisfaction are inarguably the two core concepts that are at the crux the marketing theory and practice (Spreng & Mackoy, 1996).…”

A Study Of Revisit Intention To Boutique Hotels In Melaka

“…Dortyol et al (2014) found that guests of hotels expect hotel staffs to have enough knowledge to solve customers' inquiries and pay individualized attention to them. Kim and Lee (2006) stated that sharing knowledge with each other can be a competitive advantage of a firm which they can enhance the ability to meet various customers' demands thus Mohsin and Lengler (2015) mentioned that educating employees through interactive discussion helps employees to gain more knowledge while Ballantyne (2003) suggests implementing firm's mandate to encourage employees to communicate with each other and share their opinions. Grougiou and Pettigrew (2011) mentioned that service providers should appreciate frontline employees that provide satisfactory service experience for elder customers.…”