Cross-Cultural Perspectives On Customer Satisfaction

An exploration of customer satisfaction in the Indian tourism and hospitality industry

by Akash Sharma*, Dr. Sunita Chauhan,

- Published in Journal of Advances and Scholarly Researches in Allied Education, E-ISSN: 2230-7540

Volume 20, Issue No. 4, Oct 2023, Pages 247 - 252 (6)

Published by: Ignited Minds Journals


ABSTRACT

India is a significant market for tourism and the travel industry overall. It broadens the selection of unique things that are available for use in the tourism business. The country provides a variety of offerings in the travel and tourism industries, including journeys, experiences, sports, MICE, health, healthcare, eco-tourism, cinema, journey, and town tourism. The management are required to make a concerted effort to talk to the customers and hear their concerns in order to remedy problems even before they are reported. The personnel of the hotel had a higher sense of how satisfied hotel customers were than the actual satisfaction levels of hotel guests. Online Input and Guest Comment Cards were reported to be the most popular means of gathering feedback from customers by staff. It was discovered that the Comments Form and Staff Interaction were the two most well-liked ways for guests to provide their feedback.. The hospitality business is a labor-based sector that consistently has huge openings for entry-level workers as well as individuals with unexpectedly extensive expertise.

KEYWORD

India, tourism, travel industry, customer satisfaction, offerings, management, hotel, guests, feedback, hospitality business

INTRODUCTION

Service Quality Dimensions

The quality of the service being provided has recently been a major focus of concern for professionals. When looking at the various definitions of service quality, it is possible to see that it is the result of the correlation that customers make between what they want and what they actually get from the relevant service provider. A number of studies have been conducted in order to uncover the aspects of service quality that most significantly contribute to fundamental quality assessments in the service encirclement. It is essential to gather evidence of the factors that determine service quality since this will assist in measuring, controlling, and ultimately improving the level of service that is obvious to customers.

The Market of Hospitality and Tourism in India

India is a significant market for tourism and the travel industry overall. It broadens the selection of unique things that are available for use in the tourism business. The country provides a variety of offerings in the travel and tourism industries, including journeys, experiences, sports, MICE, health, healthcare, eco-tourism, cinema, journey, and town tourism. India has been well-known as a tourist destination over the years, which has helped the country's economy. It is anticipated that total contribution to India's GDP by the travel and tourism industry would increase from $135 billion in current US dollars to $276 billion in current US dollars between the years 2015 and 2025. The travel and tourism business in India is the third most significant source of unaccustomed trade labour for the country. In the year 2014, India achieved a profit of twenty billion dollars United States dollars from foreign commerce thanks to the tourism business. Incredible India and Athiti Devo Bhava are only two of the many branding and marketing campaigns that the Indian government has launched in recent years, both of which have contributed significantly to the forward momentum of the country. The clinical visa, also known as the M visa, is a new kind of visa that was recently introduced by the government of India. This change has had a significant impact on the clinical, wellness, and health tourism industries in India. It is anticipated that the total market size would reach 162 billion US dollars by the year 2017 and 285 billion US dollars continually by the year 2020. In November 2014, the Indian government implemented the Tourist Visa on Arrival (TVoA) programme, which is also known as the e–Tourist Visa scheme, for tourists from 43 different countries. The Electronic System for Authorization of Travel made this possible (ETA).

Structural characteristics and comparison of HT with other industries

Competition The level of competition influences strategic decision-making in a variety of domains, be one of the most important aspects of Porter's Five Forces model, which describes the competitive environment of an industry and offers a framework for examining the profitability of an industry (Porter,2015). For a number of different reasons, we feel that the HT business has a higher level of competition than other industries. To begin, there is a high level of agglomeration, which ultimately results in highly competitive and localised marketplaces (Chung and Kalnins, 2017). In industries that require high levels of technological know-how, high levels of R&D investment, and the ability to cater to a national market, industries with limited local market sizes and low barriers to entry allow for fierce price competition until profit margins erode. This is in contrast to industries that have high entry barriers because they require the ability to cater to a national market. Second, the low barrier to entry in the hospitality and tourism industry is compounded by the ease with which inputs such as unskilled labour and food supplies may be obtained. This is in contrast to other retail enterprises, which can rely on specialised inputs, labour, or supplies. Third, because of the fixed expenses that arise from capital investments in land and structure, there is little room for manoeuvrability and a lot of resistance to leaving.

Guest Satisfaction in Hotel Departments

The hospitality business is a labor-based sector that consistently has huge openings for entry-level workers as well as individuals with unexpectedly extensive expertise. Therefore, labor in the hotel sector that possesses specialized knowledge on its many divisions is an imperative need in each and every department of the industry. It is the master information that assists in completing one hundred percent of the task when servicing a visitor to achieve the desired level of satisfaction for the visitor. Since they first opened their doors, hotels have made significant strides forward. Modern hotels are equipped with a wide variety of offices, machinery, instruments, and human assets to provide the modern traveller with the variety of goods, services, and offices they have come to anticipate. The Front Office, Housekeeping, Food and Beverage Service, and Food Production are the most important offices in a hotel. These offices are supported by Human Resource, Accounts and Finance, Engineering and Maintenance, Stores, Sales and Marketing, and other departments (Bhatnagar, 2007). There are many aspects that are connected to a tourist, and all of those aspects are being taken into consideration as factors in the overall happiness of a visitor. Alternately referred to as visitor satisfaction determinants, these components are discussed more below. Determinants of visitor happiness may be classified in many areas of hotels which customers that each and every visitor is satisfied, there are a great number of factors or components that need to be identified in minute detail. These components might be considered to be aspects that contribute to the pleasure of visitors.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1. To study on Guest Satisfaction in Hotel Departments 2. To study on the Market of Hospitality and Tourism in India

RESEARCH METHOD

Population and Sampling

The research is based on a select group of eighteen five-star deluxe hotels located in Delhi. In accordance with the standards of this study, all of the Managers, Supervisors, and Executives of these 5 Star Deluxe Hotels, along with their Guests, will be regarded to be the universe.

Sample Size for Hotel Guests

Formula of Sample Size = (Z-score) ²*Std Deviation*(1-Std Deviation)/ (margin of error) ² Therefore, a sample size of 400 hotel guests considered in this study is appropriate.

Sample Size for Hotel Employees

Total number of rooms = 3091 (as the total room count of the 10 selected hotels is 3091) Ratio of room: Staff is 1: 2 (For 5 Star Deluxe Hotels of Delhi) Total staff required= 3091 X 2 = 6182 (as per the ratio of 1:2) It is anticipated that the research on hotel employees that is now being carried out will have a confidence interval of ninety percent as the typical confidence interval. According to the Human Resource standards utilised in 5 Star Deluxe Hotels in Delhi, it was discovered that the executive and above level accounts for 23

1421.86 (after rounding off = 1422). In accordance with the degree of confidence, which is the interval of 10 percent of the entire population, the sample size for the present research will be 10 percent of 1422, which, once the numbers have been computed and rounded off, will equal 142.2. As a consequence of this, it is acceptable to utilise a sample size of two hundred individuals who are currently employed by hotels in the research.

Period of Data Collection

Between the months of November 2020 and April 2021, an useable sample of 600 respondents, including 200 hotel staff and 400 hotel visitors, provided the results of the data collection.

Study Site/ Area

The five-star deluxe hotels in Delhi served as the basis for the research. The 5 Star Deluxe Hotels in Delhi provided all of the samples that were used in this study.

DATA ANALYSIS

Table 1: Rating frequency: Hypothesis 1A

The table above is the Observed Matrix. The observed matrix has values at least 5 in each cell.

  • Degrees of Freedom

The observed values table has 2 rows and 6 columns. Hence, the degrees of freedom is (rows-1) x (columns -1) i.e. (2-1) x (6-1) = 1x5= 5 d.f. Testing level: 95 percent significance level (i.e. alpha = 0.05) *. The Chi-square statistic is significant at the .05level.

  • Interpretation: Findings for Hypothesis 1A

According to the chi-square test, the value of the chi-square statistic is 446.94. (5 degree of freedom, 5 percent significance level). The null hypothesis is not supported since the significant value p=0.000 is lower than the significance threshold of 0.05 (which corresponds to a probability level of 5%).

2. Test for Hypothesis 1 (B)

Ho: There is no significant difference between ratings given by hotel guests to ―Cleanliness, Furnishing and Comfort of the Room‖ and ―Smooth Check-in and Check-out Procedures‖. H1: The ratings that hotel customers give for "Cleanliness, Furnishing, and Comfort of the Room" are significantly different from the ratings that visitors give for "Smooth Check-In and Check-Out Procedures.‖.

  • Variables considered:

Ratings on: Cleanliness, Furnishing and Comfort of the Room Smooth Check-in and Check-out Procedures The ratings are of 6-point scale, as below: 1. = Extremely Unimportant 2. = Very Unimportant 3. = Unimportant 4. = Neutral 5. = Important 6. = Very Important First the frequency tables of respective variables are examined to see if minimum count of at least 5 is available. This is a required condition to run a chi-square analysis. The table above is the Observed Matrix. The observed matrix has values at least 5 in each cell.

  • Degrees of Freedom

The observed values table has 2 rows and 6 columns. Hence, the degrees of freedom is (rows-1) x (columns -1) i.e. (2-1) x (6-1) = 1x5= 5 def. Testing level: 95 percent significance level (i.e. alpha = 0.05)

Table 4: SPSS Results-Chi-Square Value Calculation

*. The Chi-square statistic is significant at the .05 level.

QUESTIONNAIRE VALIDITY

The face validity, the content validity, and the construct (convergent) validity of the SERVQUAL questionnaire that was utilised in this study will each be discussed in the next two subsections to demonstrate how the instrument's validity was demonstrated.

Factor rotation and factor loading

The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) and Bartlett's test was carried out in order to determine the sample adequacy, which is defined as a value that is more than 0.5 and is required in order to carry out an adequate factor analysis. 0.880 is the value of the KMO measure. The significance of the Bartlett's test of sphericity is demonstrated by the fact that it may be gleaned from the same table. That is, the chance that is connected with it is lower than 0.05. That the correlation matrix is not an identity matrix may be deduced from the fact that this is the case. As soon as it was determined that the five dimensions that had been selected were adequate, the loading of each item into each of the five dimensions was analysed. It was determined to employ the Varimax method for rotational component analysis, and the cut-off value for the interpretation of the factors was set at 0.40 or higher. On the page after this one is a table that provides a summary of the findings.

Table 5 Statistics Relating to the Personalized Service Group

  • Independent Samples Test

The average rate at a chain hotel was 45.370 dollars per night, with a standard deviation of 7.843 dollars. The average rate of a standalone hotel was 44.160 dollars per night, and its standard deviation was 10.602. A t-test based on independent samples was carried out in order to determine whether or not there was a significantly different level of service quality expectation between standalone hotels and chain hotels in terms of personalised service. Since the p-value (sig.) for Levene's test is.006, which is more than.05, we may infer that the variances are identical. According to the results of the test, there is a statistically significant difference between the customers of standalone hotels and those of chain hotels (t = -1.381, df = 498, p >.05). Therefore, we may conclude that there is not a substantial difference in the service quality expectations of individualised service between customers of standalone hotels and customers of chain hotels. This leads us to the conclusion that the hypothesis must be rejected. It is anticipated that the

(mean = 44.160, standard deviation = 10.602).

Table 6 Mean of Individual Items under Personalised Service.

When staying at a hotel that is part of a chain, rather than a standalone establishment, guests have higher expectations about personalised care. Chain hotels have scored higher than standalone hotels in the category of "Guest relation service," with a score of 9.14 out of a possible 10 points, as opposed to 9.00. Additionally, in the category of "To be noticed rather than to be considered as simply another client," Chain hotels scored higher, receiving a score of 9.05, while Standalone hotels earned 8.85. When it comes to the criterion "To be made to feel unique," Chain hotels have earned an 8.98, while Standalone hotels have got an 8.79. And yet again, when it comes to "Staff remembering your requests," Chain hotels have scored 9.17, while Standalone hotels have received 8.77. The situation is the same with regard to the criterion "The staff remembers your name," where once again Chain hotels have scored 9.04, while Standalone hotels have scored 8.75. All of these scores make it quite evident that guests of chain hotels have extremely high expectations regarding the kind of customised treatment they will get. Taking into consideration the fact that even when we look at the total score, Chain hotels have scored 9.07 out of a possible 10, whereas Standalone hotels have scored 8.83 out of 10. The disparity in scores is significant and provides a clear indicator of the level of service that visitors anticipate to get from respective hotels. The visitors have an expectation that the chain hotels will be more uniform and that the personnel would handle guest services in a more professional manner.

CONCLUSION

The hotels have an obligation to make investments in research and development in order to improve and innovate utilising these techniques. The ongoing tension caused by online feedbacks for hotels is due to the fact that, when put on travel portals, these comments frequently have the effect of discouraging potential new consumers. Hoteliers pay close attention to internet reviews in order to determine the aspects of a hotel that customers value the most and to evaluations, which indicates that hotel visitors place the utmost significance on the rooms while offering feedback about the hotel (Li, 2014). Hotels need to include such cues into their operations in order to improve the pleasure of their guests. Therefore, hotels have a responsibility to guarantee that only good comments are posted on these online platforms by soliciting verbal input from customers about their stays and connecting with them more frequently to gain insight into any areas that may require improvement. It is essential for employees to engage in conversation with customers since doing so helps to build an emotional connection (Enz, Verma, Walsh, Kimes&Siguaw, 2010).. The research also found that the nationality of the guest (whether they were Indian or from another country) had a substantial influence on their overall level of satisfaction with the reception, room facilities, and room service. there is a substantial influence of nationality (Foreigner or Indian) on overall visitor satisfaction in relation to Room Service; on the other hand, there is no significant impact of nationality (Foreigner or Indian) on overall guest satisfaction in relation to Food and Beverage Outlets. The findings of this study are consistent with the findings of earlier studies (Mohsin and Lockyer, 2010) and (Rao, 2013) that have indicated a lower level of satisfaction among visitors in comparison to their expectations. The input from employees on the expectations of visitors and the actual deliverables highlights the necessity for 5 Star Deluxe Hotels to enhance the employees' opinions of the level of satisfaction experienced by customers.

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Corresponding Author Akash Sharma*

Research Scholar, University of Technology