服務(wù)質(zhì)量對(duì)馬來(lái)西亞豪華飯店的研究

1、標(biāo)題：Service Quality: A Study of the Luxury Hotels in Malaysia原文：During 1997 until 2002, the Malaysian economy experienced slower growth as compared to previous years. This was due to global events such as the September 11 attacks, global economies slowdown, the Bali bombings, the Severe Acute Respira

2、tory Syndrome (SARS), and bird flu. All this had caused a significant impact on the travel and tourism industry in Malaysia.The numbers of inbound and outbound tourists have been decreasing due to an avoidance of travel. Tourism arrivals to Malaysia dropped from 13.29 million in 2002 to 10.58 millio

3、n in 2003 (fell by 20.4%). However this decrease was not as serious as those that were experienced by some of Malaysias neighboring countries like Singapore and Indonesia. This was perhaps due to the aggressive promotional activities by the Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board (Tourism Malaysia). Touris

4、m Malaysias aggressive promotions and the economic relief package extended by the government to the players in the travel industry enabled the industry to recover quite well. The promotional efforts of Tourism Malaysia as well as Malaysias increasingly strong reputation as a center for international

5、 events, for example the OIC Conference, the F1 Grand Prix, etc., boosted the slow economy and ensure that the balance of tourism payments still remain positive. Furthermore, due to Bank Negara Malaysias policy on keeping the US$ peg for the past few years, the relatively weaker Malaysian currency h

6、as become a positive factor for inbound tourism, while making outbound tourism more expensive. At the same time, domestic tourism has been steadily increasing over the period, rising 11% in 2002 to 22.2 million trips. This is because Tourism Malaysia by carrying out programmes such as Cuti-cuti Mala

7、ysia that are aimed at encouraging domestic travel has undoubtedly contributed to the increase (Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board, 2004).However, the hospitality industry that was still experiencing severe oversupply and occupancy rates have been severely affected by the SARS and bird flu crisis. Ind

8、ustry sales grew in 2002 but experienced a drastic decrease in 2003. The industry was highly competitive especially with the opening of more hotels. The number of hotels supply has increased 5.7% and the number of hotel rooms supply has increased 4.4% from year 2001 to year 2002 (Malaysia Tourism Pr

9、omotion Board, 2004). However, the year 2004 began on an encouraging and positive note. In January, Malaysia saw the arrivals of 1.4 million tourists, which was the highest monthly arrival in the history of the industry (The Star, 20 March 2004). Furthermore, hotels in Kuala Lumpur recorded an avera

10、ge occupancy of 61% for January 2004 (The Star, 25 March 2004) and tourist arrivals to Malaysia are expected to increase by 6.9% to 14.3 million by 2005 (The Star, 20 March 2004).The main concern for the Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) for year 2004 was the issue of recognition of hotel worker

11、s as professionals. The Malaysian Association of Hotels Training and Education Centre is now working towards promoting regular training and enhancing training programmes for hotel workers so that they would be recognized as professionals and increase the service quality (The Star, 25 March 2004).Hot

12、el ClassificationHistorically, hotel classification systems were formed to ensure safe and reliable lodging and food for travelers at a time when very few such trustworthy establishments existed. In the past fifty years, hospitality has reached the status of a mature industry with the unprecedented

13、growth of international tourism. As a result, the focus of hotel classification systems has shifted from consumer protection to consumer information. Presently, standardization and competitive marketing of hotel services to foreign customers and tourist professionals have appeared as driving forces

14、for instituting a local or national hotel classification system (WTO and IH&RA, 2004). According to a research study by World Tourism Organization (WTO) and International Hotel & Restaurant Association (IH&RA) (2004), the most widely used graphical symbol in hotel classification is the s

15、tar. The classification systems are mostly set up by the countries governments, and the Tourism Board and establishments are only consulted. Subsequently, they are adopted into the Tourism Law, the State Constitution or regional constitutions.In Malaysia, the official hotel classification system is

16、enforced by Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism Malaysia and it is a mandatory system. It is necessary for a hotel to be classified before it can obtain license/ permission/ registration to operate. The classification authority in Malaysia is a panel set up under the Ministry of Culture, Arts and

17、Tourism Malaysia, which consists of ministry officials and members from non-governmental organizations, such as hotel associations, tour operator associations and other relevant government agencies (WTO and IH&RA, 2004). There are two hotel classification schemes, namely the Star Rating (from on

18、e- to five-star), and the Orchid Rating (from one- to three-orchid). The Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism Malaysia introduced the Orchid Classification Scheme in order to accommodate those hotels such as beds and breakfast, inns, boarding houses, rest houses and lodging houses, which do not qua

19、lify for any Star Rating (Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism Malaysia, no date).In this research, focus was given to the luxury hotels. Only those hotels rated four-star (4S) or five-star (5S) were included in the research study.Influence of Service Quality in HospitalityKing (1995) mentioned tha

20、t hospitality in the commercial setting is a specific kind of relationship between individuals, which in this context is the hospitality service provider and customer. In this relationship, the host understands the needs and wants of the customer, which give pleasure to the customer and enhance his

21、or her wellbeing and comfort. The host will deliver with generous and flawless face-to-face interactions. The objective is to enhance guest satisfaction and develop repeat business.Kandampully (2000) revealed that service quality is crucial to the success of any service organization. As the customer

22、s participate in the production and consumption of services, they interact closely with various aspects of the organization. This inside knowledge gives them the opportunity to assess critically the services provided, in particular the quality of service. Customers will assess service quality by com

23、paring the service they get with the service they desire. Hence, service quality plays a critical role in adding value to the overall service experience. Since superior quality is one of the crucial factors within the control of the hospitality service provider, Lee, Barker, & Kandampully (2003)

24、 suggested that enhancing the quality of service at all levels of service delivery has therefore become mandatory for organization survival.The purpose of this study is therefore to assess the expectations and the perceptions of service quality dimensions in Malaysias luxury hotels from the hotel cu

25、stomers perspective by applying a modified version of the SERVQUAL model (Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry, 1988). This study has the following objectives: to determine the service-quality attributes that constitute fundamental service-quality dimensions in evaluating hotel operators;to examine and

26、to compare relative importance attached by customers in terms of their expectations and perceptions bytype of hotels (four-star or five-star hotels); andto identify the role of service quality towards customer satisfaction in the hospitality industry.LITERATURE REVIEWConcept of ServiceFor the last t

27、wo decades, economies have experienced an extensive social and economic transformation globally. One of the most significant of these changes is the increased rate of spending on services. Service industries are leading the economy. Services lie at the hub of the economic activity of society and are

28、 linked closely with many other sectors of the economy (Kandampully, 2000). Services are not limited to the service industries, for example, a manufacturer like IBM can be highly involved in the service business. Services are deeds, processes and performance. The broad definition of services suggest

29、ed that intangibility as a key factor of deciding whether an offering is a service (Zeithaml and Bitner, 2003).Services are generally described in terms of four unique characteristics, namely intangibility, inseparability, heterogeneity, and perishability. Intangibility can be defined as something t

30、hat cannot be touched, seen, tasted, heard, or felt in the same manner in which goods can be sensed (Groth and Dye, 2000). It has been said that intangibility is the single most important difference between products and services (Santos, 2002). Due to the intangibility characteristic of services, th

31、e firm may find it hard to understand how consumers perceive their service and evaluate service quality (Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry, 1985).Services possess the inseparability characteristic since the service provider usually creates or performs the service at the same time as the full or parti

32、al consumption of the service take place. The conversion is highly visible and it is not possible for the service provider to hide any mistake or quality shortfall. Furthermore, the involvement of the customer in the delivery process introduces an additional factor, which causes the service provider

33、s to have little or no direct control over the service experience (Ghobadian, Speller, and Jones, 1994). With this condition, the consumers input becomes vital to the quality of service performance (Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry, 1985). There are high degrees of variability in the performance of

34、services. Services are difficult to standardize, in contrast to manufactured goods. The quality of a service can vary from producer to producer, from customer to customer, and from day to day (OBrien and Deans, 1996). Service providers have to rely heavily on the ability of their staff to understand

35、 the requirements of the customer and react in an appropriate manner (Ghobadian, Speller, and Jones, 1994).Perishability is a characteristic of services that prevents them from being stored, warehoused, or inventoried (Lamb, Hair, and McDaneil, 2000). Unlike manufactured goods, it is impossible to h

36、ave a final check on quality. It needs to be done right at the first time (Ghobadian, Speller, and Jones, 1994).Measuring Service Quality GapsLewis (1987) suggested that what can be measured are the differences between the abstractions. So, it is the logic that if we can measure the difference betwe

37、en expectations and perceptions, which is defined as perceived quality, therefore we can determine the level of satisfaction. This concept is quite similar with Parasuramans (1985) service quality model, which applied the expectancy-disconfirmation theory. Parasuraman (1985) defined service quality

38、in ten major dimensions that consumers use in forming expectations about and perceptions of services. In a later research, Parasuraman (1988) revised and defined the service quality in five dimensions reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangibles. The model suggested service quality

39、 as the gap between customers expectations (E) and their perception of the service providers performance (P). Hence, the service quality score (Q) can be measured by subtracting customers perception score from customers expectations score:Q = P - ELamb, Hair and McDaniel (2000), and Zeithaml and Bit

40、ner (2003) have also discussed that there are five key discrepancies that can influence customer evaluations of service quality:Gap 1 is the gap between customers expectations and managements perceptions of those expectations.Gap 2 is the gap between managements perception of what the customer wants

41、 and specifications of service quality.Gap 3 is the gap between service quality specifications and delivery of the service.Gap 4 is the gap between service delivery and what the organization promises to the customer through external communication.Gap 5 is the gap between customers service expectatio

42、ns and their perceptions of service performance.Therefore, it shows that customers expectations towards a specific hotel stay will influence their perceptions, and this will have a great effect on their satisfaction towards the service they get.Zeithaml and Bitner (2003) stated that in order to mana

43、ge service quality, it is important to manage the gaps between expectations and perceptions on the part of management, employers and customers. The most important gap (Gap 5) is that between customers expectation of service and their perception of the service actually delivered. Hence by referring t

44、o the gap model, it states that a service marketer must close the customer gap (Gap 5). In order to do so, the service provider must close the four other gaps (Gap 1, 2 3, and 4) within the organization that inhibit delivery of quality service. Serious action must be taken because how the customers,

45、 in these case hotel customers, perceive the level of service performance that meets their expectations will reflect on the quality of service provided by the organization.According to Lewis (1987), the gaps measurement may be a significant marketing tool. It also has the advantage of being less abs

46、tract, even though not completely. It also considerably eases the task of measuring service quality.出處：Pei Mey Lau; Akbar, Abdolali Khatibi; Yong Gun Fie, David. Service Quality: A Study of the Luxury Hotels in MalaysiaJ.Journal of American Academy of Business.2005.07(09),pp.46-55標(biāo)題：服務(wù)質(zhì)量：對(duì)馬來(lái)西亞豪華飯店的研

47、究譯文：簡(jiǎn)介由于全球諸多事件，諸如美國(guó)911事件，全球經(jīng)濟(jì)疲軟，巴厘島爆炸案，SARS和禽流感等的發(fā)生，致使1997年至2002年間馬來(lái)西亞的經(jīng)濟(jì)發(fā)展較之前緩慢了許多。這些事件的發(fā)生均對(duì)馬來(lái)西亞的旅游產(chǎn)業(yè)造成了重大影響。為避免旅游期間遇到麻煩，境內(nèi)外旅客大幅減少。馬來(lái)西亞旅游人數(shù)從2002年的1329萬(wàn)下降至2003年的1058萬(wàn)（跌幅20.4%），但即使如此，跌幅仍小于其周邊國(guó)家如新加坡和印尼。這其中也許有因?yàn)轳R來(lái)西亞旅游促進(jìn)局積極宣傳的一份功勞。馬來(lái)西亞旅游當(dāng)局的積極促進(jìn)和經(jīng)濟(jì)救濟(jì)方案使旅游行業(yè)復(fù)蘇的相當(dāng)不錯(cuò)。通過(guò)伊斯蘭會(huì)議組織會(huì)議、F1大獎(jiǎng)賽等的活動(dòng)的推廣工作，使馬來(lái)西亞逐漸成為一個(gè)日益

48、強(qiáng)大的國(guó)際活動(dòng)中心，促進(jìn)了經(jīng)濟(jì)發(fā)展，確保旅游業(yè)的國(guó)際收支依舊保持樂(lè)觀。此外，由于馬來(lái)西亞國(guó)家銀行過(guò)去幾年對(duì)保持美元的匯率政策，原本較弱的馬來(lái)西亞貨幣在使境外旅游更加昂貴的同時(shí)，使境內(nèi)旅游更為便宜方面已成為一個(gè)積極的因素。與此同時(shí)，國(guó)內(nèi)旅游在此期間一直在穩(wěn)步增加，2002年達(dá)到2220萬(wàn)人次，增幅達(dá)到11%。這是因?yàn)轳R來(lái)西亞旅游局通過(guò)開(kāi)展諸如Cuti-cuti馬來(lái)西亞等方案鼓勵(lì)國(guó)內(nèi)旅游發(fā)展，這無(wú)疑有助于國(guó)內(nèi)旅游的增長(zhǎng)（馬來(lái)西亞旅游促進(jìn)局，2004）。然而，飯店業(yè)仍面臨著嚴(yán)重的供過(guò)于求，入住率嚴(yán)重受到SARS和禽流感危機(jī)的影響。2002年行業(yè)銷(xiāo)售增長(zhǎng)，但在2003年經(jīng)歷了大幅度下降，該行業(yè)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)激烈

49、，尤其是隨著越來(lái)越多的飯店開(kāi)業(yè)。從2001年至2002年，飯店的供應(yīng)量增加了5.7%，而飯店房間的供應(yīng)數(shù)量增加了4.4%（馬來(lái)西亞旅游促進(jìn)局，2004）。然而，2004年是一個(gè)令人歡欣鼓舞的年份。一月份，馬來(lái)西亞迎來(lái)了140萬(wàn)旅客，這是歷史月度到達(dá)的最高行業(yè)記錄。此外，2004年1月吉隆坡飯店的平均入住率為61%（The Star，2004.03.25），到2005年馬來(lái)西亞的旅客人數(shù)預(yù)計(jì)將增加6.9%至1430萬(wàn)（The Star,2004.03.20）。2004年馬來(lái)西亞飯店協(xié)會(huì)(MAH)關(guān)注的重點(diǎn)是工作人員作為專(zhuān)業(yè)人士的認(rèn)可問(wèn)題。馬來(lái)西亞飯店培訓(xùn)教育中心現(xiàn)正努力促進(jìn)和加強(qiáng)對(duì)飯店工作人員的

50、定期培訓(xùn)，使他們成為被認(rèn)可的專(zhuān)業(yè)人士，并以此提高服務(wù)質(zhì)量（The Star,2004.03.25）。飯店分類(lèi)從歷史上看，飯店分類(lèi)制度的形成，是為確保旅客安全可靠的食物和住宿。在過(guò)去五十多年里，國(guó)際旅游產(chǎn)業(yè)接待已經(jīng)發(fā)展到了一個(gè)成熟的地位，因此，飯店的分類(lèi)系統(tǒng)的重點(diǎn)已經(jīng)從保護(hù)消費(fèi)者轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)橄M(fèi)信息了。目前，針對(duì)外國(guó)消費(fèi)者和旅游專(zhuān)業(yè)人士的飯店標(biāo)準(zhǔn)化和競(jìng)爭(zhēng)性市場(chǎng)表現(xiàn)為對(duì)于地方或國(guó)家實(shí)行飯店分類(lèi)制度的一個(gè)驅(qū)動(dòng)力（WTO and IH&RA, 2004。據(jù)世界旅游組織（WTO）和國(guó)際酒店及餐館協(xié)會(huì)（以下簡(jiǎn)稱(chēng)IH&RA）（2004）的調(diào)查研究顯示，星級(jí)是最廣泛使用的圖形符號(hào)。分類(lèi)系統(tǒng)大多是由國(guó)

51、家政府所設(shè)立，旅游局和旅游機(jī)構(gòu)僅是作為顧問(wèn)。隨后將通過(guò)旅游業(yè)的法律，國(guó)家憲法或地方憲法。在馬來(lái)西亞，官方飯店分類(lèi)制度是由馬來(lái)西亞文化、藝術(shù)和旅游部強(qiáng)制執(zhí)行的，一家飯店必須先分類(lèi)，才能取得牌照/許可/注冊(cè)資格。馬來(lái)西亞飯店的分類(lèi)是按照文化、藝術(shù)和旅游部門(mén)的權(quán)威文化所進(jìn)行的，包括政府官員和非政府組織如飯店協(xié)會(huì)，旅游經(jīng)營(yíng)商協(xié)會(huì)和其他相關(guān)政府機(jī)構(gòu)（WTO和IH&RA, 2004）。飯店有兩種分類(lèi)法，即星級(jí)（從1至5星級(jí)）和蘭花等級(jí)（從一到三蘭）。文化、藝術(shù)和旅游部介紹了馬來(lái)西亞蘭花分類(lèi)計(jì)劃，以使如床和早餐，客棧，旅店和招待所等不符合任何星級(jí)的住所有所適應(yīng)（文化、藝術(shù)、旅游局。無(wú)日期）。在此研究

52、中，重點(diǎn)是考慮豪華飯店，僅那些四星級(jí)（4S）或五星級(jí)（5S）酒店列入了這次的研究調(diào)查中。服務(wù)質(zhì)量的影響King（1995）提到，在一個(gè)商業(yè)環(huán)境下好客是個(gè)人之間的關(guān)系，在這里則是熱情周到的服務(wù)供應(yīng)商和消費(fèi)者的關(guān)系。在這種關(guān)系中，主人了解消費(fèi)者的需求，使其愉悅，提高他或她的幸福指數(shù)。主辦單位提供優(yōu)厚的和完美的面對(duì)面的交流。我們的目標(biāo)是提高客戶(hù)滿(mǎn)意度和重復(fù)業(yè)務(wù)發(fā)展。Kandampully(2002)顯示，服務(wù)質(zhì)量是任何服務(wù)組織成功的至關(guān)重要的因素。正如客戶(hù)參與服務(wù)的生產(chǎn)和消費(fèi)，他們密切與該組織的各個(gè)方面互動(dòng)，使他們有機(jī)會(huì)批判評(píng)估提供的服務(wù)，特別是服務(wù)質(zhì)量。通過(guò)比較，客戶(hù)將評(píng)估他們得到的服務(wù)與他們期望

53、的服務(wù)的質(zhì)量，因此，服務(wù)質(zhì)量在整體的增值經(jīng)驗(yàn)中發(fā)揮了關(guān)鍵作用。由于上乘的服務(wù)質(zhì)量是提供商控制的關(guān)鍵因素之一，Lee.Barker和Kandampully(2003)建議，加強(qiáng)在各個(gè)層面提供的服務(wù)質(zhì)量已成為組織生存的關(guān)鍵，因此應(yīng)是強(qiáng)制性的。該研究的目的是評(píng)估期望服務(wù)與通過(guò)應(yīng)用SERVQUAL模型（Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry, 1988）修改后的服務(wù)質(zhì)量的比較。該研究有以下目標(biāo)：1 確定服務(wù)質(zhì)量的根本屬性，構(gòu)成飯店經(jīng)營(yíng)服務(wù)質(zhì)量評(píng)估標(biāo)準(zhǔn)2 審查和比較客戶(hù)相對(duì)重視的飯店類(lèi)型和期望3 確定客戶(hù)對(duì)服務(wù)質(zhì)量滿(mǎn)意度在服務(wù)行業(yè)中的作用文獻(xiàn)回顧服務(wù)理念在過(guò)去20年，經(jīng)濟(jì)經(jīng)歷了一個(gè)廣泛的全球社會(huì)和經(jīng)濟(jì)變革。這些變化帶來(lái)的最重要的一項(xiàng)是在服務(wù)方面的支出增長(zhǎng)速度。服務(wù)行業(yè)處于經(jīng)濟(jì)的領(lǐng)先地位，服務(wù)處于社會(huì)經(jīng)濟(jì)活動(dòng)中心，與經(jīng)濟(jì)直接掛鉤（Kandampully，2000）。服務(wù)并非僅限于服務(wù)行業(yè)，例如像IBM制造商也可高度參與服務(wù)業(yè)務(wù)。服務(wù)是行動(dòng)，過(guò)程和性能。