Hospitality Industry in India
The idea of hospitality is centered by the tourism industry. The term Hospitality has been derived from the French word “Hospice” which means “Taking care of the travelers”. The UN World Tourism Organization defines tourism as “Activity of a person traveling to and staying in different places for not more than a consecutive year for leisure, business or traveling purpose”. The inception of traveling is as old as mankind. Our ancient civilization used to travel in search of Food and Shelter but over a period of time the purpose has been changed. Moreover, this has led to a giant industry today. It is now an umbrella term for various services like transportation, food & beverages, lodging, travel agency, entertainment etc. (RDAEP, n.d.)1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Google defines ‘Hospitality’ as ‘the friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitor, or stranger’. At present hospitality industry is considered as the sunrise industry which signifies and interpretation it to the huge scope in this sector. Currently it contributes 7.5 % in the country’s GDP. Considering the prevailing condition, the healthy growth of this sector would be 16.1% and to reach at Rs 2796.9 thousand crore. It is considered to touch the $460 Billion by 2028. Moreover by 2020 this sector was providing 8% of total employment. (NEWS HOUR, n.d.)
In India the Hospitality Industry is categorized into:
This Industry has also 11 sectors as per the current economy and categories
Hotel Industry in India
The Indian hospitality has emerged and is the fastest growing industry today in the service sector in the India. As per the government who is heavily investing in showcasing the gems of Indian attractions and inviting themfor the visit. This has allowed to boost the tourism. This as led to the fortune for the hospitality industry and has lead to the insfrastructure development of the hospitality industry. Indian Hospitality industry has shown the positive the graph in in last few years. This healthy growth is fuelled by the robust inflow of foreign tourist. All this movement within the country and has become one of the leading players in the global industry.6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
Over the last decade the impact of the rush of the travellers foreign and even the Indian travllers have intensifed the occupancy rate in any hotel(Indian Mirror, n.d.). As per the sources India stood at the over 144 thousand rooms in fiancial year 2021. And are expectin to grow to the 180 thousand rooms by 2026. Bangaluru, New Delhi and Mumbai were the major contributors. This will have its impact in the across the country especially in tire-2 and tire-3 cities. (Sandhya Keelery, 2022)
Hotles have been growing at a high pace but the covid has affected them. The ‘ Incedible India’ which keep on promating the country’s attraction and has recoverd the Industy today in 2022. This covid pandamic has as givien the new term Staycation, viz. hybrid of the vation and office work and this has resulted movement of domestic teavellers across the country.12, 13, 14, 15, 16
There are some outlines drawn while categorizing the hotels in India;
Heritage Hotels:- Old havelies, Mentions or any such Royal banglowas are included
Luxury Hotels:- World class standards and appealing contemprory Infrastructure
Budget Hotels:- catering to Upper middle-class and middle-class of population
Resorts:- Usually found in Hill station & Beach Side, admiring the beauty of nature and for leisure
There are multiple fragments in the hotel industry comprises of large players and also small playres and some unregnised players all contributing to the growth of the Indian hotel industry .Some important hotel groups who can be easily higlited on the beasis of their growth and service they provide are;
Indian Hotel Company Limited
Hotel Leela Venture Ltd. (HLV)
East India Hotel Ltd. (EIH) – owned and operated by Oberoi group
Hyatt
JW Marriott
ITC Hotels
The Lalit
Lemon Tree Hotels Ltd.
India has about 53,000 Hotels and 70 Lakh Restaurants in organized category and 2.3 crore restaurants in unorganized sector says the apex body of Indian Hospitality Industry. (Sinha, 2020)
As of May 2022, India Classified 1377 Hotels in the Star category. (Sandhya Keelery, 2022)
Table 1
Pandemic was the big shock to the entire industry and had left no industry unaffected. With the humanitarian crisis from the coronavirus evolving on the daily basis the business were grappling with how to maintain the rhythm. This has heavily and uniquely affected the industries which are in-person interaction, including a wide swath of sectors from banking and insurance to hospitality, telecommunications, and industrial services. The task become more complex when the physical distancing was to be made. The operation in the Hospitality sector became much more difficult as the human health was at the risk. And became the primary task to redefine the service models especially in the hotel industry as to reach out the customer itself was not possible. This pandemic has also introduced to a very disruptive level of emotional stress on the workforce. Candor matters more than charisma in strengthening trust, and leaders at every level can role model empathy and openness. With such strong model of communication, they can now focus on the infusing the vision of the work in the organization and bring things in the track. Successful leaders are frequently asking question such as “How are you feeling?” and “how can I help you?” when this behavior is replicated at every level of an organization, companies can create a standard of care that foster a sense of stability at the front line. “With the thoughtful, judicious moves, businesses can manage coronavirus’ impact on the service sector and keep service personnel supported and effective- even during a crisis”.(Nicolas Guzman, MItesh Prema, Rohit sood, and david Walkes, 2020)
Hotel industry have faced caomparatively more loss than the rest, the loss is not counted in money but in the form of multiple things, be it customers or the employees, the reluctance in serving in the hotels, labour-employee turnover ratio, customers distrust in using the room services, banquets and the restaurents of the hotels. Regainng the trust was a big task. Redefining the service model was not only the solutions but to develop the enthusiasmin employees at first, preparing them, building the confiendence into them will proveide the better result. If you serve well you will be remeberd well.17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23
Thus, new-normal drwan the attention to get the insight to restudy and research on the quality of service provided by the hotles industry.
Aim of the Study
This research aims to determine the impact of service quality on customer satisfaction in the hotel industry. It seeks to determine the direct correlation between service provided and customer perception regarding the service. The study's objective is to establish how an increase or decline in service quality affects customer feedback. This study aims to use the five-dimensional models as a basis for showing how customer satisfaction relates to the services rendered. Using the SERVQUAL model, this research seeks to determine how the five dimensions of service quality determine the nature of customer satisfaction. The research also seeks to determine whether customer satisfaction relies exclusively on service quality or other factors that control it. Additionally, the study defines how dimensions such as empathy, reliability, tangibles, responsiveness, and assurance impact customer satisfaction in the hotel industry. The objective is to describe the nature of the impact of each dimension on customer satisfaction. The impacts will be rated as either low, moderate, or high. Apart from customer satisfaction, the study also aims to determine how the five dimensions directly affect the quality of hotel services and also to point out the gaps. Thus, main objective is to find out gaps among the 5 dimensions which can act as the factor affecting the customer satisfaction at Fortune Park JPS Grand, Rajkot.24, 25
Implication of the study
This research undertaking will be of great significance to service quality managers within the hotel industry. It will serve as a foundation of data that will clarify the importance of having excellent services and also its effect on client fulfilment. This factor enables hotels increase their market dominance. The study will be of significance to the marketing managers of organizations to know the importance of hotels offering quality services and how they play an essential role in growing customer satisfaction. This information will help marketing managers enhance their services to improve the hotel’s image and sales. They need to know that they are the most critical asset of a hotel, and they determine whether the service being offered will be of high quality or not. This study will help them recognize their importance in hotels and how to relate to their customers to ensure high customer satisfaction.
Literature Review
This section was drawn from several studies from the various the authors of the research papers to throw light on the selected topic, thus this section will also discuss about the conceptual framework.
Gap model of service quality (5 Gap Model) | understand your customer better
(Gap Model of Service Quality, 2019)
The GAP Model of Service quality helps to identify the gaps between the perceived service and the expected service. Five Gaps occur in the Service Delivery Process. They are:
The gap between Customer Expectation and Management Perception
The gap between Service Quality Specification and Management Perception
The gap between Service Quality Specification and Service Delivery
The gap between Service Delivery and External Communication
The gap between the Expected Service and Experienced Service
The impact of service quality, customer engagement and selected marketing constructs on airline passenger loyalty.
(Hapsari R. Clemes M. & Dean D, 2017)
Here in this journal researcher has outline the ten determinants, including the reliability, communication, courtesy, responsiveness and tangibility. They have also given due attention to the attributes like credibility, understanding, security and competence as the other dimensions. Following is the table that displays the list of the determinant. There has been many research done in order to make sure that which of the following tool is more appropriate, there are many versions of the testing the service quality like LODGSERV model for lodging industry, DIVEPERF for the diving services, LODGEQUAL model to evaluate the hotel’s service quality et cetra. But ultimately, they have reach to the conclusion that SERVQUAL model is most fit model and best serve in evaluating the Service Quality. The following table shows the description of five dimensions that are involved in the SERVQUAL model.
The relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction and retention in Ghana's luxury hotels
Michael Mba Allan
This study investigates the effect of service quality on customer satisfaction and retention among selected luxury hotels in Ghana. Service quality and customer satisfaction significantly predicts customer retention at 5% significance level. In this respect, service quality accounts for a variation of 65.1%, while customer satisfaction accounts for a total variation of 92.1%. Yet, customer satisfaction is driven by service quality with a variation of 66.1% of the total variation. Therefore, as per the researcher the luxury hotels need to enhance their customer satisfaction and retention, they should give more focus on the need to enhance and maximize service quality. (Michael Mba Allan, 2016)
Assessment of gap between service quality expectation and perception: A study on the walk-In guests of economic hotels in cox's bazar, Bangladesh
Panuel Rozario Prince and Zumman Bin Khaleq.
This paper tries to assess the prevailing service quality gap in the economic hotels of Cox's Bazar (ie., the tourism haven of Bangladesh) with SERVQUAL model from the perspective of walk-in guests to assist the management and policy makers in formulating proper policies and strategies for development. A sample of 310 walk-in guests of different demographic characteristics was surveyed with a structured questionnaire. Results reveal that there exists a gap between guests' expected service quality and perceived service quality in different dimensions of service quality.
Profiling customers in the hospitality sector: An approach towards market segmentation in hotels and restaurants in Assam
Sinmoy Goswami, Panchanan Barman and Suman Sarmah
The study revealed 29 parameters that have a significant impact on guests' overall service experience in hotels. The results indicated three possible clusters (guest segments) in relation to these 29 parameters in hotels. The findings of this study also indicated 18 parameters that have a significant impact on customers' overall service experience in restaurants. It was found that there are three possible clusters (customer segments) with respect to these 18 parameters.
Service quality evaluation on the hospitality sector: dimensions, attributes and behavioral intentions
Ana Salazar, Jorge Costa, Paulo Rita
The main objective of this article is to assess dimensions and attributes consumers use when evaluating service quality on the hospitality sector, and its influence on behavioral intentions. The importance of service quality has emerged as a fundamental element due to the rapid growing of the services sector and the competition among firms Moreover, there is usually a peak period where demand is higher, like check-out or high season (Sasser, Olsen and Wyckoff, cit.in Dean and White, 1999), which makes even more difficult to deliver a consistent level of quality.(Ana Maria Jorge Costa and Paulo Rita, 2010)
The impact of service quality on customer satisfaction in hotel business development
“Correlation Between Customer Satisfaction and Service Quality” (BHUIAN, 2021)
This research aimed to study the correlation between customer satisfaction and service quality in the hotel business. It also outlines the significance of understanding customer satisfaction and how customers distinguish service delivery. The statistics were coded and analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) software. The study also contains appropriate recommendations similar to conclusions regarding the research problem. Evaluation of the outcomes shows that responsiveness, empathy, assurance, and reliability significantly influence customer satisfaction hence determining the nature of services provided. This research indicates a close correlation between service quality, the five-dimensional aspects, and customer satisfaction.
Research Design
This research is exploratory research conducted at Fortune Park JPS Grand, Rajkot. For this Particular research study Researcher has targeted the 38 employees which are directly related for this study they are from Front Office, Marketing Department, F & B Service and F & B Production. Same is applied on the customer part. In total 53 Customers who had booked the event venue for Corporate & Social events and in that both those with/Without booking of rooms are within time frame of July & August are only considered.
Data Analysis & Interpretation of Customers
Table 4
Type of event & booking of rooms
|
Particulars |
Booked rooms with the events |
Total |
|
|
No |
Yes |
||
|
Corporate Event |
4 |
18 |
22 |
|
None |
5 |
0 |
5 |
|
Social Event |
6 |
20 |
26 |
|
Grand Total |
15 |
38 |
53 |
Table 5
Age and gender of the employees
|
Age |
20-25 |
26-30 |
31-35 |
36-40 |
41-45 |
46-50 |
51 and above |
Total |
|
Male |
4 |
10 |
6 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
25 |
|
Female |
2 |
9 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
13 |
Table 6
Departments
|
Departments |
Responses |
|
F & B Production |
11 |
|
F & B Service |
17 |
|
Front Office |
7 |
|
Marketing |
3 |
|
Total |
38 |
Gap Analysis
SERQUAL Model’s main usage is to find out the gap between the Employees perception towards the service quality and what they have expected about the customers’ exaptation and the what is being served to the customer and whether that meets to the customer satisfaction or not is the entire mechanism of this model of service quality.
Now, as this model comprises of five dimensions i.e. Reliability, Assurance, Tangibles, Empathy and Responsiveness.
Here for this particular study, researcher has collected data through questionnaire from the Employees and Guests who books event with the Fortune Hotel. This research design will allow the researcher to check where the employees believe that
They provide quality service and from the customer data we will get to know where the employees have lacked in providing quality service.
Thus, same variable was studied to understand what perception both the parties hold. Employees as the provider and the customer as the receiver.
The researcher came across several such gaps which are listed below with the Graphs.
For this purpose we selected the options of Highly Disagree, Disagree to study the gaps
Table 9
Gap analysis
Findings of the Study
The customer review system at the Fortune Park JPS Grand, Rajkot is very strong, they have their own software called Intera-net and QMS (Quality Management System) viz completely interconnected the HQ where, they have developed the scale of 10 points for each service they provide the events guest and one who books the stay.
Where the judgment is done on the basis of 1 to 6 as dissatisfied and need to make sure what are the reasons, 7 & 8 are natural and 9 & 10 as the Promoter as highly Satisfied customer.
But here in this research the undertaken variables are very specific under the proven model of SERQUAL model.
Thus, after conducting the research on SERQUAL MODEL’s 5 dimensions, we found gaps in some of the variables.
These gaps are visible in many variables under the five dimensions.
These gaps may act as the dissatisfier when it comes to the level of satisfaction that customer/Guests have experienced.
In total after the research eight variables were listed where the gaps are visible. The Assurance & Tangibles are where researcher found in total four variables with the gaps and rest all containing single variables with the gap.
As per the promising acts in terms of quality service Fortune Park JPS Grand, Rajkot needs to focus on these gaps, and they are very much achievable by the management if they properly channelize the skills of human resources of the hotel.
Thus, Fortune Park JPS Grand, Rajkot needs to rectify these gaps in order to maintain the Satisfaction level among the Guests.
Conclusion
From this research we could make out that tangibles elements are crucial and service providers need to deal with the contemporary needs of the consumer. Even in many previous researches aesthetics of the buildings were the concern. Fortune Hotels may need to understand the interior of the Banquets otherwise this could be the reason for low sales. Even being the star category hotel, they are not able to instill trust and confidence is the matter of the concern during the study it reviled that certain variables are not satisfies which plays a vital role in customer satisfaction. This can be connects to the training part, it can be assumed that the proper training are missing in the emplyess that is the reason of these shortcomings are found. If Fortune Hotel focuses upon the training part more all these shortcomings can be converted in the strengths, be it Reliability, Empathy and Responsiveness. All are connected to the need of the meticulous training time and again.
