are travellers satisfy

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Are travellers satisfied withMalaysian hotels?

Wai-Ching PoonFaculty of Management, Multimedia University, Selangor Darul Ehsan,

Malaysia, and

Kevin Lock-Teng LowMonash University Malaysia, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to examine the factors that measure different satisfaction levels betweenthe Asian and Western travellers during their stay in hotels in Malaysia. The paper also seeks toanalyse the importance of the tangible and intangible factors in the hotel industry.

Design/methodology/approach The research questions are utilised to measure the differencesbetween Asian and Western perception of hotel attributes. A questionnaire with five-point Likert scaleis applied to measure customer satisfaction. Data is analysed using SPSS software by employingfactor analysis, multiple regression, and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA).

Findings Results indicate that there are significant differences between Asian and Westernevaluations of hotel quality, with clear indication that satisfaction levels Malaysian hotels were higheramong Western travellers than the Asian travellers. Both Asian and Western travellers perceivehospitality as an influential factor in determining the overall satisfaction level.

Research limitations/implications The limitation of the study is that the sample is taken onlyfrom travellers who are leaving Malaysia by plane. Future research can be carried out on the travellersarriving at and depart from Malaysia using different mode of transportations.

Practical implications For practitioners, it is worth noting that Asian travellers are exclusivelyconcerned 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 informationobtained from the travellers can be utilised to enhance a much more efficient marketing strategy in thehotel industry. This paper contains material relevant to education as well as to the tourism industry,and implementable solutions are sufficiently well suggested.

Keywords Customer satisfaction, Travel, Tourism, Hotels, Customer services quality, Malaysia

Paper type Research paper

IntroductionKandampully (2000) defines tourism as a unique product as it is composite in nature,an amalgam of the tangible and intangible that includes everything that touristsexperience. Tourism has become an integral component of lifestyle and it has alsobecome a major component of the economic prosperity of almost all countries.

Overall, the tourism and hotel industry in Malaysia showed an upward trend untilthe onset of financial crisis in 1997, SARS and the US-Iraq war in 2003. During the1980s, the Tourist Development Corporation had engaged in publicity campaigns bothlocally and abroad to entice tourists to the country. By 1990, with the launching ofVisit Malaysia Year campaign, the tourism industry had become the third largestsource of income for foreign exchange. This was due to the development of newtourism products as well as improved promotion and marketing efforts. Ever since

The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at

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International Journal ofContemporary Hospitality

ManagementVol. 17 No. 3, 2005

pp. 217-227q Emerald Group Publishing Limited

0959-6119DOI 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 toRM24.22 billion were recorded in 2001 and the tourist receipts increased to RM 25.78billion in 2002 (Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board, 2003).

To spur growth in the tourism industry, investment approved for hotel andtourism-related projects has been increased more than three-fold from RM8.801 billionduring the Sixth Malaysian Plan period to RM18.2 billion during the Seventh MalaysiaPlan period. In terms of development allocation for tourism, it has increased fromRM605.5 million in the Seventh Malaysia Plan to RM1,009 million in the EighthMalaysia Plan (Economic Planning Unit, 2001). Sadi and Bartels (1997) believe that ifthis trend of tourism growth in Malaysia continues, it may surpass manufacturingsector, which, since 1987 has been the countrys engine of growth. The expansion of thetourism industry, through its linkages, has contributed to growth in other relatedactivities, particularly food and beverage, accommodation, entertainment andshopping.

Objective of the studyThis study examines the level of satisfaction on hospitality in the hotels in Malaysiaamong the Asian and Western travellers. Cultural differences play a significant role inunderstanding differences between Asian and Western travellers, in terms of theirevaluation on Malaysias hotel services and facilities. Understanding hotel attributesare important criterion for hotel industry to tourists visiting Malaysia surfaced. Due tothe fact that 62 per cent of the respondents are travelling on leisure, respondents travelmotives are of importance in affecting their ranking preferential factors. Few, if any,have studied the differences in travellers perceptions about hotel attributes from anAsian point of view. Customer satisfaction is the focus point of this study on the hotelindustry in Malaysia.

Contribution of the studyIncome receipts from tourists is a vital source of income for Malaysia and directs theMalaysian economy to higher levels of growth. It is amazing how the hotel industrycan generate such a major sum of profit to the country. Hence, we suggest ways toimprove the hotel services, and outline factors that manage to provide specific serviceswhich encourage travellers to revisit the country. We also address some practicalimplications by recommending relevant micro-marketing strategies.

Literature reviewCustomer satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is the leading criteria for determining the quality delivered tocustomers through the product or service and the accompanying services (Vavra,1997). Offering high quality service and thereby improving customer satisfaction hasbeen identified as the most important challenge facing businesses in the 1990s (Barskyand Labagh, 1992). A traditional definition of customer satisfaction follows theparadigm that consumer satisfaction or dissatisfaction is the result of interactionbetween the consumers pre-purchase expectations and post-purchase evaluation(Czepiel and Rosenberg, 1977; Engel et al., 1990; Handy, 1977).

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Measuring customer satisfaction is an integral part of the effort to improve aproduct or service quality, resulting in a companys competitive advantages (Cravenset al., 1988; Garvin, 1991). As supported by Kandampully (2000), services areessentially an intangible experience and it is difficult for customers to evaluate the

product prior to experience. Failure to pay attention to influential attributes in choiceintention may result in a customers negative evaluation, and may lead to unfavourableword-of-mouth (Chon et al., 1995), and up to 60 per cent of sales to new customers canbe attributed to word-of-mouth referrals (Reichheld and Sasser, 1990). Hence, customersatisfaction potentially leads to purchases repetition and favourable word-of-mouthpublicity.

Hotel attributesWuest et al. (1996) define perceptions of hotel attributes as the degree to whichtravellers find various services and facilities important in promoting their satisfactionwith hotel stays. There have been numerous studies of hotel attributes that areconsidered when making a hotel choice decision. Among intangible components ofhotel 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 facilitiessuch 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 andTurgeon, 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, aswell as interior decor and exterior aesthetics (Saleh and Ryan, 1992) are major

contributors. Value for money is another factor that is strongly associated with highcustomer loyalty and hotel revenue (Atkinson, 1988; Shifflet and Bhatia, 1997).Meanwhile, Wilensky and Buttle (1988) support the view that personal services,physical attractiveness, opportunities for relaxation, standard of services andappealing image are factors that travellers considered when they evaluate value formoney.

Research questionThis study is carried out to examine whether there is any difference between Asian andWestern travellers in evaluation of customer satisfaction with Malaysian hotels. Theareas of focus are hospitality, accommodation, food and beverage quality, hotelsupplementary services, recreation and entertainment, security and safety, innovation

and value-added services, transportation, location, appearance, price and paymentmode.

MethodologyThe instrumentThe 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 firstsection 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 sectioncaptures the demographic profile of the respondents. Respondents are asked to rate thehotel attributes on a five-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 adjustmentswere made before the finalised version was administered to the respondents.

Sample and sampling procedureFor this study, Asian travellers are tourists from East Asia, South Asia, South-EastAsia and Central Asia, whereas others are referred to as Western travellers. Using asystematic sampling approach, a total of 200 travellers were interviewed at thedeparture hall of KLIA airport. Every 10th traveller passing through the securitycheckpoint was chosen for the sample. Two screening questions were asked: first,identifying the respondents as Asian or Western travellers, and second,ascertaining whether they have stayed in hotels during their visit to Malaysia.

Data analysisThe data were analysed using SPSS software. The respondents were asked to indicatewhich factors are important for their satisfaction. A factor analysis, with orthogonalVARIMAX rotation, was conducted to allow a grouping of 48 hotel attribute variablesto identify the underlying factors that explain the variance of the attributes.VARIMAX method maximised the sum of variances of required loading of the factormatrix. Furthermore, in order to enhance the analysis, we have adopted analysis ofcovariance (ANCOVA). ANCOVA is the most complicated of the standard statisticalmethods. It is complicated because it involves simultaneous employment of theconcepts of analysis of variance and regression analysis. The primary goal in carrying

out covariance analysis is to control statistically within cell variability. If we canreduce within cell variability and keep between cell variability at the same level, wewill have a more powerful test by eliminating some systematic errors beyond thecontrol of the researchers. The second objective is to adjust (between) cell means fordifferences in the covariate.

ResultsProfile of the respondentsOf 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 centare 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 abusiness trip. Most of the respondents (83.2 per cent) have tertiary education. 38.2 percent of the respondents hold professional positions; 26.7 per cent hold administrationrelated positions; 2.6 per cent are self-employed, 31.4 per cent are retirees, housewivesor students, and only 1 per cent are skilled workers. More than 40 per cent of therespondents have an annual income of less than US$10,000; 42.4 per cent have anannual income of between US$10,001 and US$50,000; and minority has an annualincome of over US$50,000.

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Identification of hotel factorsFrom the VARIMAX factor matrix, 74.88 per cent of variance explains the 48 hotelattributes that are captured in the 12 factors. High factor loadings signal the correlationof 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 indicateshigh sampling adequacy. Hotel attributes influencing travellers satisfaction levels inMalaysia hotels are depicted in Figure 1. For instance, hospitality factor (F1) containssix items that deal with hotel employee-customer interaction, while accommodation(F2) contains ten items and food and beverage (F3) is loaded with five items relating tofood and beverage quality, and so on.

Travellers overall satisfaction levelsThe correlation coefficient, R, for Asian (Western) travellers is 0.800 (0.862), indicatingboth Asian and Western have high positive overall satisfaction levels with the 12independent hotel factors. Meanwhile, the coefficient of determination, R2, for Asian

(Western) travellers is 0.640 (0.743). This suggests that 64 per cent (74 per cent) of thevariation of the travellers overall satisfaction can be explained by the 12 factors. Thesignificant F-value is 18.767 (24.438) for Asian (Western) travellers. This shows thatthe regression model attaining goodness-of-fit in predicting the variance of both Asianand Western travellers overall satisfaction in relation to all hotel factors.

Figure 2 summarises the ranking of preferences that influence the overallsatisfaction levels for travellers. Results for all the 12 factors remain significant in theequation with a different value of the beta coefficients. This contributes differentweights to the variance of overall satisfaction level for both Asian and Westerntravellers.

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 centincreases in the Asian travellers overall satisfaction with their hotel stay, ceterisparibus. 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 andsafety (F6, 0.106), and payment (F12, 0.028). Appearance, and innovation andvalue-added services, however, are of no statistical significance in influencing theoverall satisfaction level of Asian travellers.

For Western travellers, the security and safety factor appears to carry the highestbeta (F6, 0.490), and heaviest weights in explaining their overall satisfaction, especiallyafter the September 11 incident. This is followed by hospitality (F1, 0.473), food andbeverage (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 statisticallysignificant in influencing Western travellers overall satisfaction levels.

To further enhance the analysis, a decent ANCOVA is conducted. From Table I, wecan conclude that the factors that have different effects on the Asian and Westerntravellers are pricing, appearance of the hotel, and the mode of payment. However, theinnovation and value-added services factor has had no effect on both types of

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Figure 1.Major factors of attractionin Malaysian hotels

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Figure 2.Ranking of preferences for

Asian and Westerntravellers in Malaysian

hotels

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Western/Asian

Hospitality

Accommodation

Foodand

beverage

Recreation

Supplementary

service

Safety

and

security

Value-added

service

TransportLocation

Appearance

Pricing

Payment

Hospitality

0.0079

0.1

243

0.0766

0.0079

0.0033

0.0031

0.0431

0.0572

0.0

785

0.0726

0.0

127

Accommodation

0.0586

0.0

776

0.0337

0.0062

0.0068

0.0078

0.0348

0.0168

0.0

240

0.0076

0.0

258

Foodand

beverage

0.0234

0.0064

0.0624

0.0176

0.0052

0.0064

0.0002

0.0944

0.0

572

0.0694

0.2

772

Recreation

0.0871

0.0073

0.0

057

0.0075

0.0357

0.0047

0.0647

0.0137

0.0

453

0.0673

0.0

057

Supplementary

service

0.0562

0.0067

0.0

072

0.1672

0.0031

0.0172

0.0671

0.0934

0.0

284

0.0252

0.0

192

Safetyand

security

0.0365

0.0621

0.0

063

0.0671

0.0052

0.0015

0.0589

0.0745

0.0

063

0.0542

0.0

005

Value-added

service

0.0594

0.0086

0.0

089

0.0536

0.0033

0.0069

0.0228

0.1621

0.0

709

0.0611

0.0

641

Transport

0.0047

0.0582

0.0

069

0.1582

0.0071

0.0027

0.0257

0.0268

0.0

647

0.0086

0.0

717

Location

0.0043

0.0539

0.0

157

0.0549

0.0498

0.0226

0.0628

0.0604

0.0

284

0.0056

0.0

449

Appearance

0.0127

0.0481

0.0

573

0.0435

0.0507

0.0182

0.0443

0.0059

0.0525

0.0523

0.0

078

Pricing

0.0419

0.0545

0.0

485

0.0816

0.0357

0.0590

0.0554

0.0178

0.0272

0.0

596

0.0

181

Payment

0.0147

0.0426

0.0

681

0.0458

0.0153

0.0035

0.0297

0.0556

0.0460

0.0

282

0.0526

Table I.Covariance for theexperimental sample

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travellers. Asian travellers pay more attention to the price offered by the hotelscompared with Western travellers. As for the factor regarding the appearance of thehotels chosen, Western travellers would favour more the outlook of hotels than Asiantravellers. As for the payment mode, Asian travellers would emphasise more on the

methods being implemented by the hotels than the Western travellers. In addition, asanticipated, the factors which have positive relationship on the Asian and Westerntravellers are food and beverage, hospitality, recreation, supplementary service,accommodation, location, transportation and security and safety of the hotels selected.

Implications for practitionersAsians travellers are more concerned with the value for money services. Thus, pricingfactor is of great concern for them. They look for ways to buy more for less and arecautious towards discretionary spending. This is plausible since most of the Asiancountries are developing countries and the income per capita is relatively low. Undersuch circumstances, Asian travellers tend to demand the right combination of product

quality, fair prices and good services. As expected, the Asian travellers tend not tospend much on accommodation as compared to Western travellers. However, there ishigh demand for recreational and entertainment facilities.

To capture the potential Asian market, hoteliers have to focus on satisfying theneeds of the Asian travellers, by developing more hotels with low rates to meet thetravellers needs, for instance. Situated in a region of high accessibility and competitiveenvironment, the availability of alternatives facilities is regarded as an importantattribute assuring the probability of travellers revisiting the country. Hoteliers inMalaysia must enhance the value of offerings to achieve competitive advantage.

Security and safety is a major factor for Western travellers. There is a considerablegrowing concern for their safety in choosing Malaysia as their destinination, especiallyafter the September 11. They also expect something different in Malaysia. The great

varieties and fresh food are of great importance to them. Furthermore, the Westernworld is known for their connoisseurs and chefs, who take great pride in their food.

Hospitality is the most influential factor in determining the overall satisfaction levelfor both Asian and Western travellers and will lead to revisit intention. To satisfy thetravellers, hotel managers have to devote extra efforts for human resourcesdevelopment. Furthermore, hoteliers should ascertain that all employees are involvedin upgrading quality standards, and make them realise that a warm and cordialreception is imperative in their profession.

On the other hand, proficient internal marketing from employer to employees isfundamental to the provision of hospitality quality to hotel customers. Hence, in-housetraining programmes ought to be meticulous and improve employee courtesy,helpfulness, language skills, appearance, and check-in/check-out efficiency. On top of

that, domestic hotel industry is obliged to consider additional resources to maintain thequality of hotel rooms. Resources must be directed to improve the quality of rooms. Inthis regard, hoteliers need to ensure that hotels reflect their standards well, especiallyin designing advertisement.

It is noteworthy that Western travellers appear to be more concerned with the hotelappearance compared to Asians. Other hotel factors such as location, transportation,payment, and innovation and value-added services seem to be comparatively lessinfluential 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 thesehotel attributes are maintained at an acceptable level by constantly reviewingcustomers feedback.

Limitations of the studyThere 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 travellerswho have travelled to Malaysia and stayed in at least one hotel during their visit. Thesample taken should have included travellers who arrived at and departed fromMalaysia using any mode of transportations. However, our sample covers onlytravellers who are leaving Malaysia by plane. Moreover, different ranking of hotelsnormally provides different service quality to the travellers. Those staying in three,four, and five star hotels, of course, will obtain much better service quality than one ortwo star hotels. Future research needs to examine a wider sample and widen the scopeof study in other related linkages in which the tourism industry can be considered.

ConclusionSuccess in hotel business depends on understanding the key factors in determiningcustomer satisfaction. As Malaysian hotels continue to compete intensely for a largermarket share, effective marketing strategies are essential to target both Asian andWestern travellers. This can be achieved by satisfying them during their first visit andprolonging their stay in order to develop customer loyalty and thereby building up thedesire to revisit Malaysia.

The differences and similarities in hotel attribute evaluation and customersatisfaction evaluation between the Asian and Western travellers have beenhighlighted. Hospitality factor is the most influential factor in determining thesatisfaction level for both Asian and Western travellers that will lead to revisit

attention. Asian travellers are more concerned with value for money services, whileWestern travellers perceive security and safety as major factors, especially afterSeptember 11. Due to the minority (13.6 per cent) of the respondents being businesstravellers, the innovation and value-added services is the least important factor to bothAsian and Western travellers in this study. Nevertheless, overall, high KMO andR-square values indicate that the results are reliable and imply a good measure ofsampling adequacy.

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