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Are travellers satised with Malaysian hotels?

Wai-Ching Poon
Faculty of Management, Multimedia University, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia, and

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Kevin Lock-Teng Low

Monash University Malaysia, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
Abstract
Purpose This paper aims to examine the factors that measure different satisfaction levels between the Asian and Western travellers during their stay in hotels in Malaysia. The paper also seeks to analyse the importance of the tangible and intangible factors in the hotel industry. Design/methodology/approach The research questions are utilised to measure the differences between Asian and Western perception of hotel attributes. A questionnaire with ve-point Likert scale is applied to measure customer satisfaction. Data is analysed using SPSS software by employing factor analysis, multiple regression, and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Findings Results indicate that there are signicant differences between Asian and Western evaluations of hotel quality, with clear indication that satisfaction levels Malaysian hotels were higher among Western travellers than the Asian travellers. Both Asian and Western travellers perceive hospitality as an inuential factor in determining the overall satisfaction level. Research limitations/implications The limitation of the study is that the sample is taken only from travellers who are leaving Malaysia by plane. Future research can be carried out on the travellers arriving at and depart from Malaysia using different mode of transportations. Practical implications For practitioners, it is worth noting that Asian travellers are exclusively concerned with the value for money services, while Western travellers regard security and safety, and food and beverage as important factors for them to stay in the hotels or revisit the country. Originality/value Malaysia is an emerging market for tourism industry and the information obtained from the travellers can be utilised to enhance a much more efcient marketing strategy in the hotel industry. This paper contains material relevant to education as well as to the tourism industry, and implementable solutions are sufciently well suggested. Keywords Customer satisfaction, Travel, Tourism, Hotels, Customer services quality, Malaysia Paper type Research paper

Introduction Kandampully (2000) denes tourism as a unique product as it is composite in nature, an amalgam of the tangible and intangible that includes everything that tourists experience. Tourism has become an integral component of lifestyle and it has also become a major component of the economic prosperity of almost all countries. Overall, the tourism and hotel industry in Malaysia showed an upward trend until the onset of nancial crisis in 1997, SARS and the US-Iraq war in 2003. During the 1980s, the Tourist Development Corporation had engaged in publicity campaigns both locally and abroad to entice tourists to the country. By 1990, with the launching of Visit Malaysia Year campaign, the tourism industry had become the third largest source of income for foreign exchange. This was due to the development of new tourism products as well as improved promotion and marketing efforts. Ever since

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management Vol. 17 No. 3, 2005 pp. 217-227 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0959-6119 DOI 10.1108/09596110510591909

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1995, tourism earning has surpassed the target for the year 2000 of Ringgit Malaysia (RM) 8.36 billion in the National Tourism Plan. The tourism earnings amounting to RM24.22 billion were recorded in 2001 and the tourist receipts increased to RM 25.78 billion in 2002 (Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board, 2003). To spur growth in the tourism industry, investment approved for hotel and tourism-related projects has been increased more than three-fold from RM8.801 billion during the Sixth Malaysian Plan period to RM18.2 billion during the Seventh Malaysia Plan period. In terms of development allocation for tourism, it has increased from RM605.5 million in the Seventh Malaysia Plan to RM1,009 million in the Eighth Malaysia Plan (Economic Planning Unit, 2001). Sadi and Bartels (1997) believe that if this trend of tourism growth in Malaysia continues, it may surpass manufacturing sector, which, since 1987 has been the countrys engine of growth. The expansion of the tourism industry, through its linkages, has contributed to growth in other related activities, particularly food and beverage, accommodation, entertainment and shopping. Objective of the study This study examines the level of satisfaction on hospitality in the hotels in Malaysia among the Asian and Western travellers. Cultural differences play a signicant role in understanding differences between Asian and Western travellers, in terms of their evaluation on Malaysias hotel services and facilities. Understanding hotel attributes are important criterion for hotel industry to tourists visiting Malaysia surfaced. Due to the fact that 62 per cent of the respondents are travelling on leisure, respondents travel motives are of importance in affecting their ranking preferential factors. Few, if any, have studied the differences in travellers perceptions about hotel attributes from an Asian point of view. Customer satisfaction is the focus point of this study on the hotel industry in Malaysia. Contribution of the study Income receipts from tourists is a vital source of income for Malaysia and directs the Malaysian economy to higher levels of growth. It is amazing how the hotel industry can generate such a major sum of prot to the country. Hence, we suggest ways to improve the hotel services, and outline factors that manage to provide specic services which encourage travellers to revisit the country. We also address some practical implications by recommending relevant micro-marketing strategies. Literature review Customer satisfaction Customer satisfaction is the leading criteria for determining the quality delivered to customers through the product or service and the accompanying services (Vavra, 1997). Offering high quality service and thereby improving customer satisfaction has been identied as the most important challenge facing businesses in the 1990s (Barsky and Labagh, 1992). A traditional denition of customer satisfaction follows the paradigm that consumer satisfaction or dissatisfaction is the result of interaction between the consumers pre-purchase expectations and post-purchase evaluation (Czepiel and Rosenberg, 1977; Engel et al., 1990; Handy, 1977).

Measuring customer satisfaction is an integral part of the effort to improve a product or service quality, resulting in a companys competitive advantages (Cravens et al., 1988; Garvin, 1991). As supported by Kandampully (2000), services are essentially an intangible experience and it is difcult for customers to evaluate the product prior to experience. Failure to pay attention to inuential attributes in choice intention may result in a customers negative evaluation, and may lead to unfavourable word-of-mouth (Chon et al., 1995), and up to 60 per cent of sales to new customers can be attributed to word-of-mouth referrals (Reichheld and Sasser, 1990). Hence, customer satisfaction potentially leads to purchases repetition and favourable word-of-mouth publicity. Hotel attributes Wuest et al. (1996) dene perceptions of hotel attributes as the degree to which travellers nd various services and facilities important in promoting their satisfaction with hotel stays. There have been numerous studies of hotel attributes that are considered when making a hotel choice decision. Among intangible components of hotel service are cleanliness (Atkinson, 1988; Knutson, 1988; Saleh and Ryan, 1992), comfort, spacious and well-maintained rooms (Knutson, 1988; Cadotte and Turgeon, 1988; Saleh and Ryan, 1992), convenient location and accessibility (Rivers et al., 1991; Ananth et al., 1992; LeBlanc and Nguyen, 1996), safety and security (Atkinson, 1988; Knutson, 1988; Cadotte and Turgeon, 1988; Ananth et al., 1992), and room facilities such as better lighting, safety features in the bathrooms, easy to handle door knobs, supporting mattresses and chairs (Ruys and Wei, 1998). Apart from that, prompt and courteous service quality (Knutson, 1988; Cadotte and Turgeon, 1988; Atkinson, 1988; Rivers et al., 1991; Saleh and Ryan, 1992; Ananth et al., 1992; LeBlanc and Nguyen, 1996), food value of a restaurant, convenient parking, as cor and exterior aesthetics (Saleh and Ryan, 1992) are major well as interior de contributors. Value for money is another factor that is strongly associated with high customer loyalty and hotel revenue (Atkinson, 1988; Shifet and Bhatia, 1997). Meanwhile, Wilensky and Buttle (1988) support the view that personal services, physical attractiveness, opportunities for relaxation, standard of services and appealing image are factors that travellers considered when they evaluate value for money. Research question This study is carried out to examine whether there is any difference between Asian and Western travellers in evaluation of customer satisfaction with Malaysian hotels. The areas of focus are hospitality, accommodation, food and beverage quality, hotel supplementary services, recreation and entertainment, security and safety, innovation and value-added services, transportation, location, appearance, price and payment mode. Methodology The instrument The questionnaire is adapted according to the strengths of the methods of Aaker et al. (1998), and Ruys and Wei (1998). The questionnaire comprises two sections. The rst section measures travellers perceptions of hotel attributes throughout their stay in

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Malaysian hotels, which is generated after the review of literature. The second section captures the demographic prole of the respondents. Respondents are asked to rate the hotel attributes on a ve-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (very poor) to 5 (very good). Based on the earlier pilot test on 60 travellers of various nationalities who departed from Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), subsequently, several adjustments were made before the nalised version was administered to the respondents. Sample and sampling procedure For this study, Asian travellers are tourists from East Asia, South Asia, South-East Asia and Central Asia, whereas others are referred to as Western travellers. Using a systematic sampling approach, a total of 200 travellers were interviewed at the departure hall of KLIA airport. Every 10th traveller passing through the security checkpoint was chosen for the sample. Two screening questions were asked: rst, identifying the respondents as Asian or Western travellers, and second, ascertaining whether they have stayed in hotels during their visit to Malaysia. Data analysis The data were analysed using SPSS software. The respondents were asked to indicate which factors are important for their satisfaction. A factor analysis, with orthogonal VARIMAX rotation, was conducted to allow a grouping of 48 hotel attribute variables to identify the underlying factors that explain the variance of the attributes. VARIMAX method maximised the sum of variances of required loading of the factor matrix. Furthermore, in order to enhance the analysis, we have adopted analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). ANCOVA is the most complicated of the standard statistical methods. It is complicated because it involves simultaneous employment of the concepts of analysis of variance and regression analysis. The primary goal in carrying out covariance analysis is to control statistically within cell variability. If we can reduce within cell variability and keep between cell variability at the same level, we will have a more powerful test by eliminating some systematic errors beyond the control of the researchers. The second objective is to adjust (between) cell means for differences in the covariate. Results Prole of the respondents Of the 200 samples, 191 (95.5 per cent) are found to be usable. Of these, 105 (55 per cent) are of Asian origin. Exactly 58.1 per cent of the respondents are male; and 43 per cent are in the age group of 21-35, followed by 36-50 years old (32 per cent). Most respondents (62 per cent) are on holiday, followed by 13.6 per cent who are making a business trip. Most of the respondents (83.2 per cent) have tertiary education. 38.2 per cent of the respondents hold professional positions; 26.7 per cent hold administration related positions; 2.6 per cent are self-employed, 31.4 per cent are retirees, housewives or students, and only 1 per cent are skilled workers. More than 40 per cent of the respondents have an annual income of less than US$10,000; 42.4 per cent have an annual income of between US$10,001 and US$50,000; and minority has an annual income of over US$50,000.

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Identication of hotel factors From the VARIMAX factor matrix, 74.88 per cent of variance explains the 48 hotel attributes that are captured in the 12 factors. High factor loadings signal the correlation of the variables with the factors on which they are loaded. To assess the reliability of the factor identities, a Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) index is used. KMO of 0.925 indicates high sampling adequacy. Hotel attributes inuencing travellers satisfaction levels in Malaysia hotels are depicted in Figure 1. For instance, hospitality factor (F1) contains six items that deal with hotel employee-customer interaction, while accommodation (F2) contains ten items and food and beverage (F3) is loaded with ve items relating to food and beverage quality, and so on. Travellers overall satisfaction levels The correlation coefcient, R, for Asian (Western) travellers is 0.800 (0.862), indicating both Asian and Western have high positive overall satisfaction levels with the 12 independent hotel factors. Meanwhile, the coefcient of determination, R 2, for Asian (Western) travellers is 0.640 (0.743). This suggests that 64 per cent (74 per cent) of the variation of the travellers overall satisfaction can be explained by the 12 factors. The signicant F-value is 18.767 (24.438) for Asian (Western) travellers. This shows that the regression model attaining goodness-of-t in predicting the variance of both Asian and Western travellers overall satisfaction in relation to all hotel factors. Figure 2 summarises the ranking of preferences that inuence the overall satisfaction levels for travellers. Results for all the 12 factors remain signicant in the equation with a different value of the beta coefcients. This contributes different weights to the variance of overall satisfaction level for both Asian and Western travellers. For Asian travellers, factor 11 (pricing), with the highest absolute beta of 0.543, carries the heaviest weights in explaining travellers overall satisfaction level. This indicates a one-unit decrease in satisfaction with pricing factor can lead to 54.3 per cent increases in the Asian travellers overall satisfaction with their hotel stay, ceteris paribus. This is followed by food and beverage (F3, with beta 0.377), hospitality (F1, 0.356), recreation and entertainment (F4, 0.332), supplementary services (F5, 0.301), accommodation (F2, 0.269), location (F9, 0.198), transportation (F8, 0.175), security and safety (F6, 0.106), and payment (F12, 0.028). Appearance, and innovation and value-added services, however, are of no statistical signicance in inuencing the overall satisfaction level of Asian travellers. For Western travellers, the security and safety factor appears to carry the highest beta (F6, 0.490), and heaviest weights in explaining their overall satisfaction, especially after the September 11 incident. This is followed by hospitality (F1, 0.473), food and beverage (F3, 0.461), accommodation (F2, 0.325), recreation and entertainment (F4, 0.318), supplementary services (F5, 0.258), appearance (F10, 0.176), location (F9, 0.029), and transportation (F8, 0.017). The regression results, however, indicated that payment (F12), price (F11) and innovation and value-added services (F7) are not statistically signicant in inuencing Western travellers overall satisfaction levels. To further enhance the analysis, a decent ANCOVA is conducted. From Table I, we can conclude that the factors that have different effects on the Asian and Western travellers are pricing, appearance of the hotel, and the mode of payment. However, the innovation and value-added services factor has had no effect on both types of

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Figure 1. Major factors of attraction in Malaysian hotels

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Figure 2. Ranking of preferences for Asian and Western travellers in Malaysian hotels

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Western/Asian 0.0079 0.0064 0.0073 0.0067 0.0621 0.0086 0.0582 0.0539 0.0481 0.0545 0.0426 0.0089 0.0069 0.0157 0.0573 0.0485 0.0681 0.0536 0.1582 0.0549 0.0435 0.0816 0.0458 0.0033 0.0071 0.0498 0.0507 0.0357 0.0153 0.0063 0.0671 0.0052 0.0069 0.0027 0.0226 0.0182 0.0590 0.0035 0.0072 0.1672 0.0031 0.0172 0.0015 0.0257 0.0628 0.0443 0.0554 0.0297 0.0057 0.0624 0.0176 0.0075 0.0052 0.0357 0.0064 0.0047 0.1243 0.0776 0.0766 0.0337 0.0079 0.0062 0.0033 0.0068 0.0031 0.0078 0.0431 0.0348 0.0002 0.0647 0.0671 0.0589 0.0228 0.0604 0.0059 0.0178 0.0556

Hospitality Accommodation Food and beverage Recreation Supplementary service Safety and security Value-added service Transport Location Appearance Pricing Payment

Table I. Covariance for the experimental sample

Safety and security Value-added service Transport Location Appearance Pricing Payment 0.0572 0.0168 0.0944 0.0137 0.0934 0.0745 0.1621 0.0268 0.0525 0.0272 0.0460 0.0785 0.0240 0.0572 0.0453 0.0284 0.0063 0.0709 0.0647 0.0284 0.0596 0.0282 0.0726 0.0076 0.0694 0.0673 0.0252 0.0542 0.0611 0.0086 0.0056 0.0523 0.0526 0.0127 0.0258 0.2772 0.0057 0.0192 0.0005 0.0641 0.0717 0.0449 0.0078 0.0181

Food and Supplementary Hospitality Accommodation beverage Recreation service

0.0586

0.0234 0.0871

0.0562

0.0365

0.0594 0.0047 0.0043 0.0127 0.0419 0.0147

travellers. Asian travellers pay more attention to the price offered by the hotels compared with Western travellers. As for the factor regarding the appearance of the hotels chosen, Western travellers would favour more the outlook of hotels than Asian travellers. As for the payment mode, Asian travellers would emphasise more on the methods being implemented by the hotels than the Western travellers. In addition, as anticipated, the factors which have positive relationship on the Asian and Western travellers are food and beverage, hospitality, recreation, supplementary service, accommodation, location, transportation and security and safety of the hotels selected. Implications for practitioners Asians travellers are more concerned with the value for money services. Thus, pricing factor is of great concern for them. They look for ways to buy more for less and are cautious towards discretionary spending. This is plausible since most of the Asian countries are developing countries and the income per capita is relatively low. Under such circumstances, Asian travellers tend to demand the right combination of product quality, fair prices and good services. As expected, the Asian travellers tend not to spend much on accommodation as compared to Western travellers. However, there is high demand for recreational and entertainment facilities. To capture the potential Asian market, hoteliers have to focus on satisfying the needs of the Asian travellers, by developing more hotels with low rates to meet the travellers needs, for instance. Situated in a region of high accessibility and competitive environment, the availability of alternatives facilities is regarded as an important attribute assuring the probability of travellers revisiting the country. Hoteliers in Malaysia must enhance the value of offerings to achieve competitive advantage. Security and safety is a major factor for Western travellers. There is a considerable growing concern for their safety in choosing Malaysia as their destinination, especially after the September 11. They also expect something different in Malaysia. The great varieties and fresh food are of great importance to them. Furthermore, the Western world is known for their connoisseurs and chefs, who take great pride in their food. Hospitality is the most inuential factor in determining the overall satisfaction level for both Asian and Western travellers and will lead to revisit intention. To satisfy the travellers, hotel managers have to devote extra efforts for human resources development. Furthermore, hoteliers should ascertain that all employees are involved in upgrading quality standards, and make them realise that a warm and cordial reception is imperative in their profession. On the other hand, procient internal marketing from employer to employees is fundamental to the provision of hospitality quality to hotel customers. Hence, in-house training programmes ought to be meticulous and improve employee courtesy, helpfulness, language skills, appearance, and check-in/check-out efciency. On top of that, domestic hotel industry is obliged to consider additional resources to maintain the quality of hotel rooms. Resources must be directed to improve the quality of rooms. In this regard, hoteliers need to ensure that hotels reect their standards well, especially in designing advertisement. It is noteworthy that Western travellers appear to be more concerned with the hotel appearance compared to Asians. Other hotel factors such as location, transportation, payment, and innovation and value-added services seem to be comparatively less inuential in determining the overall satisfaction levels among both Asian and

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Western travellers. Nevertheless, hoteliers still need to ensure that the qualities of these hotel attributes are maintained at an acceptable level by constantly reviewing customers feedback. Limitations of the study There are two major limitations associated with this study that need to be highlighted. Ideally, the entire population for the study consists of all Western and Asian travellers who have travelled to Malaysia and stayed in at least one hotel during their visit. The sample taken should have included travellers who arrived at and departed from Malaysia using any mode of transportations. However, our sample covers only travellers who are leaving Malaysia by plane. Moreover, different ranking of hotels normally provides different service quality to the travellers. Those staying in three, four, and ve star hotels, of course, will obtain much better service quality than one or two star hotels. Future research needs to examine a wider sample and widen the scope of study in other related linkages in which the tourism industry can be considered. Conclusion Success in hotel business depends on understanding the key factors in determining customer satisfaction. As Malaysian hotels continue to compete intensely for a larger market share, effective marketing strategies are essential to target both Asian and Western travellers. This can be achieved by satisfying them during their rst visit and prolonging their stay in order to develop customer loyalty and thereby building up the desire to revisit Malaysia. The differences and similarities in hotel attribute evaluation and customer satisfaction evaluation between the Asian and Western travellers have been highlighted. Hospitality factor is the most inuential factor in determining the satisfaction level for both Asian and Western travellers that will lead to revisit attention. Asian travellers are more concerned with value for money services, while Western travellers perceive security and safety as major factors, especially after September 11. Due to the minority (13.6 per cent) of the respondents being business travellers, the innovation and value-added services is the least important factor to both Asian and Western travellers in this study. Nevertheless, overall, high KMO and R-square values indicate that the results are reliable and imply a good measure of sampling adequacy.
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