Purpose: Nainital is among the most prominent tourist destinations and its economy is largely dependent on tourism and allied services. The study intends to access the extent of tourist satisfaction with service quality, staff attributes and hotel dimensions specifically related to the hotel industry of Nainital.

Design/methodology/approach: The dimensions of service quality, staff attributes and hotel dimensions were identified through literature review but instead of following any set model like SERVQUAL, LQI model for service quality measurement, the researcher intended to take only those variable that are of specific importance for hotel industry of Nainital since not much work has been done in the area concerned. In this study a sample of 350 tourists staying in the hotels of Nainital were studied. Collected data were analysed using frequency, factor analysis, t-test and One-way ANOVA. Frequency was used to gather data regarding demographic profile of tourist, factor analysis was applied in order to cluster varied items related to service provided by hotel and its various dimensions, t-test was applied to find out if their exist significant differences in service quality and between two group mean and One way ANOVA was applied to find out significant differences between more than two groups of an independent variable.

Findings: The findings of the study revealed popularity of Nainital as a tourist destination and satisfaction of tourist with staff attributes but revealed just average satisfaction with the service quality. So the statistical findings supported a need of improvement in service quality and hotel dimension for a higher satisfaction among guest. Service quality is critical factor for the success of any business. Also there is also a dire need to focus on amenities within hotel premises and improvement in food service and hotel ancillary services.

Practical implications: The outcome of the study will direct the hotel industry of Nainital to focus and improve on important aspect like service quality, hotel amenities and adopt customer oriented philosophy which is vital for retaining customer and long term sustenance of the industry. The outcome of the study also highlighted the need of sound base for hotel categorization in Nainital so further studies can be done in a more synchronized manner.

 

Keywords: Hotel Industry, Service Quality, Staff Attributes, Hotel Services, Tourist Satisfaction.

 

              Hotel industry being a highly competitive service dependent sector is focusing more on the quality standards in order to foregather the basic requirements and expectations of the guest. Being a labor intensive industry it provides employment opportunities for skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled work force either directly and indirectly (Subbarao, 2008). Hospitality industry is highly personalized. For the successful execution of the hotel industry, customer satisfaction is obligatory. The complexity and globalization of today’s competitive business environment have made quality one of the most important sources of competitive advantage in the tourism industry (Mohammed, 2006). Service quality is considered as the very life of the hotel. Service quality is defined as “what the customer gets out and is willing to pay for” rather than “what the supplier puts in” (Ducker, 1991). Service quality has been frequently conceptualized as the difference between the expected and the actual service performance (Bloemer et al., 1999; Kara et al., 2005). Service quality is a multi-dimensional concept. Service quality involves technical quality, corporate image and functional quality (Grönroos, 1984). The 3 dimension of service quality are physical quality, corporate quality and interactive quality (Lehtinen & Lehtinen, 1982).

               The study undertaken will certainly through light upon various aspects of customer satisfaction with the services of hotels of Nainital and will highlight the areas that need improvement. The present study measures customer satisfaction with the quality of services they receive during their stay in hotels. The contribution of service sector to the economics is on rise and this sector employee’s maximum number of people. The importance of the study lies on the fact that consumer is the king and a satisfied consumer will not only create a repeated business but also spread good words of mouth about the hotel. For sustaining and development of service industry in long run and to gain competitive advantage in the fast changing scenario, hotels have to focus on their services as quality of services differentiate between successful and not so successful hotel. The study will direct hotel to adopt customer oriented philosophy by serving them well and retaining them for long term profit of organization. The findings of the paper can anticipate furnishing a strong guide for future studies.

               The hotel industry is the only industry sustaining in Nainital which is a regular source of employment for the local people. The tourist inflow in Nainital is on a continuous rise year by year. As per Nainital Nagar Palika data the currently operational hotel properties accounts to 152, which highlight the fact that Nainital is a popular destination and hotel industry contribute to the maximum employment there. Despite of all this hotel industry of the place is lacking well defined criteria in terms of hotel categorization. Maximum hotel properties are small sized with very few staff to serve the guest resulting in poor service delivery especially during night. Due to the small size of the properties and absence of proper star categorization, few staff, many hotels are equipped with minimal facility effecting overall guest satisfaction. Nainital being a hilly terrain and many hotels located at high altitude with no parking facility and public transport making reaching hotel a herculean task and therefore effecting tourist satisfaction. The hotels are also low on ancillary services like room heaters, gym facility, etc., which doesn’t cost much to the hotel much but affects overall tourist satisfaction. Some find it challenging to work with hotel industry as they consider it has two kinds of jobs: high skill and high paid jobs which are less in number other are low paid, low skill jobs which are large in number. Still it is the hotel industry which provides employment to the locals where no other industry exists but most of the employees engaged are low skill and low paid affecting the overall service quality.

 

LITERATURE REVIEW

 

Service Quality and Tourist Satisfaction

 

The key factors identified for competitive differentiation and consumer retention is service quality and consumer satisfaction. During mid-1980’s despite the growth of service sector, service quality had received minimum attention (Berry, 1980; Johns, 1996; Parasuraman, Zeithaml & Berry, 1985; Gilbert & Joshi, 1992; Lovelock, 1991; Nightingale, 1985). In the recent years tourism professionals noticed increasing customer demand for better quality product and services (Lam & Zhang, 1999). In long run service quality is a critical factor for the success of any business (Grönroos, 1990). Guest conceptualized satisfaction from service quality in terms of constructs like value attained for the price of lodging while managers defined it in respect to service provided (Carol et al., 2015). There exist an alignment between the forces outside the firm—some of which are beyond the firm’s control—and the systems, policies, and programs that are used to manage the firm’s day-to-day operations (Tracey et al., 2007). The strategic choices adopted by the hotel have an impact on customer satisfaction and loyalty, operational quality and profitability. To respond to the competitive forces in the environment bold actions are required on the part of executives and managers. Types of hotels have an influence on tourist, leading to varying dimensions of service quality (Tsang & Qu 2000). As per Bello (2017) there exists a positive and significant relationship between service quality and tourist satisfaction. Stefano et al. (2015) finds their exist a gap between perceived service and expected service and this gap can be best filled by supreme performance in services and by establishing a relationship with guest, strengthening the brand and communication with the market, etc.

 

Service Quality

 

Service quality is “the consumer’s overall impression of the relative inferiority/superiority of the organization and its services” (Bitner, Booms & Mohr 1994). It is considered as a standard used to assess the effectiveness of a particular leisure service agency, including the tourism service sector (Godbey, 1997). As per Edvardsson (2005) perception about service quality are formed during the process of Production, delivery and consumption of service. Service quality being an elusive concept, it is difficult to conceptualize it and measure it in different contexts. Service quality measures are required to develop in country specific/industry specific manner (Karatepe, Yavas & Babakus, 2005; Crick & Spencer, 2011). This is because the service quality measures developed for particular industry/country may not be suited in different setting, i.e., industry/country difference can affect the definition of service quality (Mattila, 1999; Hsieh & Tsai, 2009; Salazar, Xosta & Rita, 2010).

For service quality measurement in hospitality industry SERVQUAL has turned out to be very popular instrument for measurement of hotel business and customer satisfaction (Carrillat, Jaramillo & Mulki 2007). High level of service generates repeat business for the hotel. If a hotel does not provide its customer with the desired level of service and value they will visit another hotel, resulting in long term loss of business (Stevens, Knutson & Patton 1995). The survey by Tsang & Qu (2000) to find out the perception of tourist regarding service quality in the hotel industry of China. They used “five gaps service quality model” and found out that internal evaluation gap and delivery gap are the main cause of shortfall in service delivery in China’s hotel industry. By developing an understanding of how to provide the optimum levels of service, hotel will be able to notice increase in market share and brand loyalty (Oh & Parks, 1997). Min & Min (1997) stated that front office services have the attributes that are considered highly important, particularly in forming impressions of service quality regarding  following aspects; tangibility (how nicely the hotel employee are dressed); reliability (ability to solve problems encountered by customer); responsiveness (promptness of check-in/check-out process, convenience while making reservation, hotel/tour guide information); assurance (safety and security of customer); empathy (caring and individualized attention). Parasuraman, Zeithaml & Berry (1985, p. 48) defined service quality as ‘a function of the differences between expectation and performance along the quality dimensions’. Parasuraman, Zeithaml & Berry in 1985 evolved an abstract model of service quality that admits the following attributes: Reliability, competence, responsiveness, courtesy, access, communication, understanding, credibility, security and tangibility. This model examines service quality as a fabricate that is similar to a standpoint that leads from a comparison between purchaser’ service anticipations and insights of the performance they've received on those attributes. SERVQUAL model by Parasuraman (1988) to measure service quality contains 22 items in 5 dimensions: reliability, assurance, tangible, empathy and responsiveness (RATER model) (Figure 1).

 

Customer/Tourist Satisfaction

 

Zeithaml (1988) defined customer value as the overall assessment of the quality of the product depending on perception of what is perceived by the customer and what is received. Customer satisfaction can also be defined as satisfaction based on an outcome or a process (Vavra, 1997). As per Bitner & Hubbert (1994), consumer satisfaction defines the measure to which service or product manufactured by the firm satisfies consumer expectations. Customer satisfaction has been defined by many researchers as an individual’s feeling of happiness or dissatisfaction resulting after comparing a product’s actual performance (outcome) in relation to the product expected performance (Oliver, 1981; Brady & Robertson, 2001; Lovelock, Patterson & Walker, 2001). The product or service quality if it meets consumer satisfaction, it creates consumer loyalty towards the firm product or services. In tourism, consumer satisfaction is the tourist state of emotion during and after the completion of the tour (Baker & Crompton, 2000). The better the satisfaction level of the customer, the more likely is the probability of customer to return or increase their hotel stay (Choi & Chu, 2001). Past satisfaction of the guest with a particular hotel will influence his future decision to stay in the hotel chain. Tourist satisfaction increases the profitability of hotel (Anderson et al., 1994). Akan (1995) study revealed staff behavior, timeliness and cleanliness are main determinant of guest satisfaction. As per Atkinson (1988) the determinants of customer satisfaction with hotel involve cleanliness, courtesy and value for money and security.

 

Relationship between Service Quality and Tourist Satisfaction

 

Various studies have been conducted to investigate the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction. The study found that the image of the hotel is created or destroyed by the quality of service provided and the customer satisfaction. Depending on the knowledge of the product or service customer satisfaction and expectations varies (Reisig & Chandek 2001). Research in customer satisfaction and service quality is dominated by SERVQUAL, which describe that service quality is basically a gap between consumer expectations about the service provided by supplier and their actual performance (Cronin & Taylor, 1992; Parasuraman et al., 1991). Bello & Majebi (2018) in the study demonstrate a positive and significant relationship between the dimensions of service quality, i.e., tangibility, Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance, empathy/communication and customer satisfaction. It is the service quality (service environment, service product and service delivery) which decide customer loyalty towards the hotel with respect to revisit and recommendation of hotel to others (Rauch et al., 2015). Customer satisfaction is highly influenced by the conformity of expected service and quality of service experienced (Jasinskas et al., 2016). Their exist a relationship between process and outcome quality with perceived quality and tourist satisfaction (Keshavarz et al., 2018). Egziabher (2015) evaluated the expectation and perception of service quality in three stars hotels of Ethiopia and find a lower perception of service quality than expectations. Hau (2014) reported a relationship between service quality, cleanliness, facility and tourist satisfaction and also indicated service quality has a positive impact on tourist satisfaction (Figure 2).

 

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

 

The research questions put under study are:

1.      What is the demographic profile of tourist visiting Nainital?

2.      What is the satisfaction level of tourist visiting Nainital with reference to staff attributes and service quality?

3.      What is the satisfaction level of tourist visiting Nainital with reference to amenities within Hotel premises and food service, Hotels ancillary services and Accessibility and suitability of the hotel?

After undertaking various studies regarding elements of service quality, staff attributes and hotel dimensions, items of the questionnaire was designed and modified as per the requirement of the study area. The study area being small, hilly and hotels lacking on proper categorization base, the questionnaire and schedule includes only those questions that are relevant for the study area instead of completely implementing any standard format and model which cannot be replicated in the study area.

Questionnaire/Schedule was utilized to collect primary information from a large audience. The questions were designed in closed ended format. Likert scale was designed to ascertain the degree to which respondents agree to a specific statement. The questionnaire also contains Dichotomous questions to make responders answer with a simple yes or no. These questions were used to ascertain in future would they like to visit the destination again. Few open ended questions were also included as per the requirement of the study.

The response of 350 tourist were collected through questionnaires/schedules on tourist satisfaction where factors like staff attributes and services quality and various hotel related dimensions were focused. The sample is selected randomly during the season time (April-June) as the destination gather maximum tourist during that time. Hotels are visited for data collection. More over some data from tourist is collected with the help of online questionnaire e-mailed to tourist.

Staff attributes and service quality were studied using five point Likert scale to find out how much they agree or disagree with a the following statement:

 

Staff attributes

·         Staff has respect for customer

·         Staff can be trusted

·         Staff is friendly

·         Communication of staff with customers is clear

·         Level of service and cost of service is appropriate

·         Staff shows politeness and friendliness

·         Staff avoids technical jargon when speaking with the clients

·         Staff is willing to help guests

·         Problems are quickly solved by the staff to the satisfaction of customer

 

Service quality

·         The service arrive at the promised time

·         Exact orders are being followed

·         Level of service is same at all times of day/night

·         Quick check-in facility to the guest

·         Staff has the skill and knowledge needed to deliver a good service

·         Hotels are equipped with necessary technology

·         Staff can use the latest technology quickly and skillfully

·         Facilities are attractive

·         Staff is neatly dressed and greet nicely

 

Degree of tourist satisfaction with hotel related dimensions were studied in five point Likert scale ranging from very poor to excellent. The various hotel related dimensions studied were:

 

Hotel premise and food service

·         Car parking

·         Overall look of the premises/ambience

·         Cleanliness

·         Restaurant facility

·         Food Hygiene

·         Food taste

·         Serving time

·         Variety of Cuisine

·         Food on request

 

Hotels ancillary services

·         Pick up and drop facility by hotel (transport facility)

·         Room heaters

·         Games/activities and cultural performances at hotel

·         Gym facility

·         Lift facility

·         Laundry service

·         Travel desk facility

 

Access

·         Accessibility to Nainital

·         Accessibility to Hotel

·         Location of Hotel

·         View from room

 

DISCUSSION

 

Satisfaction with the Staff Attributes and Service Quality

 

Tourist satisfaction is a short-term, transaction-specific measure, whereas service quality is an attitude formed by long-term, overall evaluation of performance (Hoffman & Bateson, 1997). Service quality is considered as a standard used to assess the effectiveness of a particular leisure service agency, including the tourism service sector (Godbey, 1997) (Table 1).

Cronbach’s Alpha was applied to estimate reliability of the staff attributes and service quality and KMO and Bartlett’s Test was used to check the adequacy of the sample. Cronbach’s Alpha value for 18 items for a sample of 350 tourists was .948. KMO value turns out to be 0.954 which indicates sample is adequate and we may go for factor analysis. For Bartlett’s test of sphericity, taking level of significance at 0.05. The sig. of 0.000<0.05 therefore the factor analysis is valid.

Table 2 represents factor loadings with respect to two factors containing 18 items. Two factors were extracted as shown. The factor loadings of:

Factor 1: ‘Staff attributes’ contain nine items ranging from 0.646 to 0.813.

Factor 2: ‘Service quality’ also contains nine items ranging from 0.531 to 0.820.

 T-test and one-way ANOVA was applied to study satisfaction level of tourist with respect to the factors staff attributes and service quality. The result derived on application of t-test and one-way ANOVA are summarised in Table 3.

 

Satisfaction with Amenities within Hotel Premises and Food Service Quality, Hotel Ancillary Services, Accessibility and Suitability of the Hotel

 

Similarly satisfaction with hotel related dimensions was studied as great location, comfort of the premises, well managed restaurant, clean and orderly management makes a good hotel. Cleanliness from dining hall to washroom constitutes an important component of the hotel. A dirty room can make you exit on arrival. Ancillary services like pick up and drop provides you with additional comfort. All these hotel related dimensions add up to the satisfaction of tourist and enhances the value of hotel.

To analyze these entire dimension SPSS was used. For measuring reliability and sample adequacy for Hotel dimensions Cronbach’s Alpha is applied similar to the one applied for measuring staff attributes and service quality and its value for 20 items for a sample of 350 tourist turns out to be 0.941. KMO and Bratlett’s test values were used to find out the appropriateness of factor analysis. KMO value derived was 0.954 and Bratletts test results indicates a sig. of 0.000 which is lesser that 0.05, therefore factor analysis is valid. After finding the sample adequacy, rotated component matrix, mean, standard deviation, t-value and f ratio was calculated and level of significance was reached out (Table 4).

 T-test and one-way ANOVA was applied to study satisfaction level of tourist with respect to the factors Hotel premises and food service quality, Hotel ancillary services and Accessibility and suitability. The result derived on application of t-test and one-way ANOVA are summarised in Table 5.

  

Various studies, models theories exist regarding measurement of service quality. SERVQUAL model by Parasuraman provides a framework of measurement of service quality where of customer evaluation of service expected and perceived give the gap between the two. Another popular model to measure service quality is Lodging Quality Index Model (LQI) which was specifically designed to measure service quality in hotel industry. The 5 dimensions incorporated in the model are tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. In the same way the current study after reviewing various theories and model worked to find out the gap in service expected and service perceived in the uncovered popular tourist destination of Nainital taking the best suited dimensions of service quality for the service area so that further improvement can be made for better tourist satisfaction and customer loyalty. Rauch (2015) developed a three dimensional model to measure service quality in mid-scale hotels as they differ from high end hotels and revealed service environment, service delivery and service product are the predictor’s that defines hotel ability to meet guest expectations. The current study which involved budget to high end hotels of Nainital also deduced that service environment in terms of hotel premises and ambience, effective and prompt service delivery effects satisfaction level of the guest.

The disconfirmation theory suggests that customer form satisfaction judgments after evaluating actual product/service performance. The satisfaction process involves comparison of what was expected with the product or service’s performance – this process has traditionally been described as the ‘confirmation/disconfirmation’ process (Vavra, 1997). Initially the consumer would form expectations prior to purchase of a product or service. Later, consumption of service or experience with the product or service produces a level of perceived quality that is influenced by expectations (Oliver, 1980). Confirming from the literature review that the customer satisfaction is highly dependent on expected and perceived performance, the satisfaction of guest was determined applying Likert scale which ranges from poor satisfaction level to excellent satisfaction from service provided (Figure 3).

Nainital is a popular destination among tourist of all ages, though most of them see it as a short-haul destination due to limited activities to get engaged in. In business terms, for hotels the longer the tourist stays the more will be the profits. So if the hotel industry can offer more to the tourist or can organize package tours with visit to specific nearby places like lake tour, small treks it will be an added advantage. Nainital fascinates not only new tourist but also attracts repetitive tourist with its beauty and charm since during the study it appeared most of the tourist were repeated visitors to the destination which is a positive sign as retaining tourists is difficult than attracting new tourist and it is rightly said in economics that long term buyer is of more value than single deal customer, though more focus should be given to service quality and hotel amenities as many tourist prefer to opt for a different hotel than the earlier one.

The study revealed the need to focus more on service quality so that guest satisfaction can be enhanced as service quality is critical factor for the success of any business. SERVQUAL Model, LQI model, disconfirmation theory suggests that customer form satisfaction judgments after evaluating actual product/service performance. The current study result also indicated just average service quality being provide by the hotels to its guest and therefore their exist a gap. The outcome of the study revealed need of improvement in service aspects like maintenance of service standard during both day and night, addition of comfort and facilities, quick service, cleanliness of the hotel and premises, etc. The LQI and SERVQUAL model also consider these aspects important for improvement in service. In Hotel industry service quality is a crucial factor for that determines magnitude of customer satisfaction. Management focusing on reliability, assurance, responsiveness and empathy can attain a higher degree of customer satisfaction and thus higher profit and customer loyalty (Minh, 2015). The result also determined need for improving the service for magnifying guest satisfaction.

Service quality may be improved by focusing on employee’s confidence, interpersonal relationship and other HRM aspects. More over staff attributes can be improved by providing them with training. From this a perceptual hypothesis can be drawn why tourist are average satisfied but repeated visitor. This can be the reason for repeated tourist visiting different or better hotel as service quality which is very life of the hotel deviates from hotel to hotel. This again highlight need of improvement in service quality which can be done by providing employees with training, involving them in decision, taking care of their benefits and making them feel as important part of the hotel. By acquiring an understanding of how to offer the optimum levels of service, hotel will be able to acknowledge increase in market share and brand loyalty (Oh & Parks, 1997). High level of service generates repeat business for the hotel. Staff attributes, room qualities and value were the three most important factors in Influencing tourist overall satisfaction and their likelihood of revisiting to the same hotels (Akibaba, 2006).

Average satisfaction was revealed in relation with hotel premises, food service and hotel ancillary services. This also pictured the need to focus on this dimension. Zeithaml (1988) outlined customer satisfaction as the overall assessment of the quality of the product contingent on perception of what is perceived by the customer and what is experienced. The better the satisfaction level of the customer, the more plausible is the probability of customer to revisit or increase their hotel stay (Choi & Chu, 2001). Therefore hotel should promise only the facilities it can deliver. The premises of the hotel should be clean and well lightened, prompt and hygienic food service is required to be delivered and ancillary services if mentioned should be delivered on time. Cleanliness from dining hall to washroom comprises an important component of the hotel. A dirty room can make you exit on arrival.  Supportive services like pick up and drop provides you with additional comfort. All these hotel related dimensions add up to the satisfaction of tourist and enhances the value of hotel. The studied variable are a complete set of factors that can effects guest satisfaction and any loophole in any of the studied variable can impact the overall satisfaction. 

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