Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review (OMAN Chapter) Vol. 2, No.8, March.

2013

HOTEL SERVICE QUALITY: PERCEPTIONS AND SATISFACTION

AMONG DOMESTIC GUESTS IN KENYA

Susan Mbuthia1; Caroline Muthoni2 and Stephen Muchina3

1
Karatina University -Department of Tourism and Hospitality (Kenya)
2
Institute of Advance Technology-Department of Marketing and Management (Kenya)
3
Karatina University -Department of business and Entrepreneurship (Kenya)

Abstract
The Kenya tourism industry is a key contributor to its GDP. Hotel subsector benefits directly
from growth of tourism but sustainable customer base would require polished customer
service. Domestic hotel guests to play an important role in bridging the seasonality gap that is
the core of the international tourism business model. The ability to harness this capacity is
dependent on the extent to which they perceive the services provided as being worth their
money value. This study therefore aimed at determining the guest actual experience and
evaluation from the stay hence assess how the hotel performed against perceived quality and
the effect on guest satisfaction operationalised as emotional satisfaction. Descriptive Survey
design was adopted for the study. Cluster sampling was applied to select the hotels from
which customers were derived. The study self-administered questionnaires to 182 guests. 26
items were used to measure perceived service quality on using a seven-point Likert-type scale
for their responses. The study found out that tangibility as a service is rated highly. However
confidence and communication dimensions of quality scored low means hence low rating.
The path leading from “service quality” to “emotional satisfaction” had a coefficient of 0.701,
with a p-value of 3.621. The path was significant; we therefore reject the null hypothesis and
conclude that emotional satisfaction is dependent on service quality which supports that that
emotional satisfaction is dependent on service quality. This study has revealed moderate
influences of quality dimensions such as reliability, responsiveness and communication as
given in their path coefficients on service quality. The study concludes that emotional
satisfaction was derived from service-quality evaluation and agrees with Bagozzi’s (1992)
conclusion that cognitive evaluations precede emotional responses. The study recommends
that service delivery capacity of employees be improved in the said hotels so that for example
the customer can feel that their needs are anticipated, better communication is achieved,
employees become more responsive as well as reliable. The management of these hotels may
also pursue other motivating strategies to improve service quality.

Key word: Domestic guests, service quality; perceived service quality, customer satisfaction
and emotional satisfaction

INTRODUCTION
In Kenya, tourism is the foremost earner of foreign exchange and it contributed to Ksh 100
billion of the GDP in 2011. According to Republic of Kenya (2012), tourism made a direct
contribution to the growth of hotel industry and other related sectors. Hotels on the other
hand have to invest in managing their relationships with customers and maintaining quality to
ensure that customers whose loyalty is in the short term will continue to be loyal in the long
term. The growth in tourism is well anticipated as evident in studies and analyses conducted
by experts and relevant organizations in this industry.
Kenya is home to host of five star luxury hotels most of multinational owned or franchised
such as Hilton Nairobi, Serena hotels and the Fairmont. There is also a wide range of
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domestic hotels and hospitality enterprises whose service offering not only complements
those of world class hotels but also serve the domestics guests or tourists.
Domestic tourism especially in the developing world has for a long time been viewed as
inconsequential. Gerosa (2003) states that domestic tourism is “often overseen”, despite case
studies showing a greater impact particularly on the informal sector than international
tourism. Domestic tourism in Kenya has however received due focus from tourism agencies
for instance the Kenya Tourism Board planned to use Ksh50 million (around US$ 690 000)
mainly in marketing and promoting of domestic tourism in the country (Kenya News Agency,
2004).
One of the ways of assessing the impact of such efforts would be to consider the bed
occupancy rates by residents. It can be seen from Fig. 1 below that domestic bed occupancy in
Kenya has been on the rise since 2002. Notable also is that there was remarkable growth in
occupancy for the 2007/2008 period 26.95% to 42.35%. Meaning that domestic guest have
become an important customer segment that warrants attention. On the other hand, growth
rates notwithstanding inconsistencies are seen in the decline to 34% in 2009 which again
points to some sort of inconsistency a gap which requires some critical attention especially in
relation to service quality a gap this study sought to address.

Source: Compiled by Author from Republic of Kenya: Ministry of Tourism

Figure 1: Domestic Hotel Occupants as Percentage of total Occupancy per Year

This study having appreciated the role the domestic hotel guests play in providing the
necessary patronage, would like to make a case for studying perception of quality for the
services they experience at this hotels. It is important to realise that the domestic guest may
not necessarily attract the same kind of attention and receive similar kind of service as a
foreign guest in some hotels as they may be treated as undeserving. Tourist class hotels are
sometimes referred to as ‘hotels for the whites’ an undertone that may affect negatively the
quality of service offered to the domestic guest.
If domestic guests are to be encouraged to play their roles in bridging the seasonality gap that
is the core of the international tourism business model, then they have to perceive the services
provided as being worth their money value. This study therefore aimed at determining the
guest actual experience and evaluation from the stay hence assess how the hotel performed
against perceived quality and the effect on guest satisfaction.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Service quality
Quality concept can be viewed in various perspectives in order to fully appreciate the role it
plays in the many parts of business organization especially in the hotel industry. According to
Bruhn and Manfred (2006) the concept of service quality emerged as a major challenge for
service companies. This is because of the characteristics of services; especially the encounter

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of provider and customer in the service process, service quality is a more complex construct
than product quality. Indeed the most fundamental definition of a quality product is one that
meets the expectations of the customer. In hotel industry, quality is defined simply as product
conformation to specifications while meeting the expectations of the customer. Since each
customer have their own expectations, and then service quality remains a subjective matter
that befits objective assessment through understanding of various facets of perception, their
measurement and how they relate to satisfaction an issue we shall pursue in this proceeding
section.
Perceived service quality
Several authors through their work have tried to conceptualise perceived service quality with
varying illustrations especially in reference to the dimensions applied in their studies.
Gronroos (1984) in his seminal paper on service quality defined the perceived quality of a
given service as the result of an evaluation process, in which the consumer compares his
expectations with his perception of the service received; in other words, he places the
perceived service and the expected service opposite one another. In the same study, two
factors that consumers consider when evaluating service quality were identified as functional
quality and technical quality. The latter being the process of service delivery and the former is
what consumers actually receive from the service.
Parasuraman et al. (1988) identified five dimensions in their SERVQUAL model. These were
tangible elements which are the physical surrounding of the place where the service is
delivered for instance how the table is set or room furnishings, reliability which is seller’s
capability to supply the promised outputs at the stated level and responsiveness determined as
capability to respond to and satisfy the customer’s wishes. Others are assurance- employees’
knowledge, politeness and trustworthiness and empathy- willingness and capability to
respond to individual customer desires for example making the bed with the sheets of a
particular colour as requested by a customer.
The SERVQUAL model aroused a fair share of attention to the subject some with differing
findings. Carman, (1990); Babakus and Boller, (1992) concluded that the SERVQUAL scale
is not universal because the dimensionality of service quality apparently depends on the type
of service examined. Bruhn and Manfred (2006) the suggest that quality dimension
‘reliability‘ cannot be interpreted as a quality dimension because this attribute can concern
several quality dimensions, for example in a bank , the employees or the teller machine can
both be reliable a proposition we totally agree with.
The criticisms notwithstanding, there has been variable support for the validity of the
SERVQUAL model in the hotel service industry (Wilkins et al., 2007). Akan (1995)
investigated the applicability of the SERVQUAL model in the Turkish hospitality industry
and identified seven dimensions thus courtesy and competence of the personnel,
communication and transactions, tangibles knowing and understanding the customer,
accuracy and speed of service, solutions to problems, and accuracy of hotel reservations.
Mei et al. (1999) examined the dimensions of service quality in the Australian hotel industry
and developed a new scale of service quality in the hotel industry which they called
“HOLSERV”. With these they identified three dimensions which are employees, tangibles
and reliability. Saleh and Ryan (1991) conducted a study in the hospitality industry and
reported five dimensions of service quality that differed from those in the SERVQUAL model
seen as conviviality; tangibles; reassurance; avoid sarcasm; and empathy. A study by
Knutson et al. (1990) identified five dimensions for evaluating service quality given as
reliability; assurance; responsiveness; tangibles; and empathy. In relations to service quality
in UK conference hotels Oberoi and Hales (1990) that service-quality perception was two-
dimensional- tangibles; and intangibles.

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Getty and Thompson (1994) examined the validity of the SERVQUAL dimensions in the
hotel sector and reported that only two of the dimensions –tangibles and reliability were had
the capability of being generalised. In the Turkish resort hotel setting, Ekinci et al. (1998)
found a two-dimensional structure of service quality tangibles and intangibles inherent. In the
study of Juwaheer (2004), nine factors emerged as dimensions of service quality in the
Mauritian hospitality industry; four of these factors were similar to the dimensions of the
SERVQUAL model, but some new dimensions also emerged namely room attraction and
decor factors, hotel surroundings and environmental factors. Khan (2003) examined service
quality expectations in the ecotourism industry and reported six dimensions of service quality
in the form of tangibles, Eco tangibles, reliability; assurance; responsiveness; and empathy.
Getty and Getty (2003) examined the dimensions of service quality in the hotel industry in
USA and developed a new scale (called “Lodging quality index”) with five service-quality
dimensions: tangibility; reliability; responsiveness; confidence; and communication.
Albacete-Saes et al. (2007) identified five dimensions of service quality in rural
accommodation in the form of personal response, complementary offer; tourist relations;
tangible elements; and empathy.
Customer satisfaction
In close connection with perceived service quality is customer satisfaction. Customer
satisfaction is defined as the balancing of customer expectations against the perception of
services delivered by the company (Oliver 1996). The difference between the two constructs
is that service quality often refers to concrete quality attributes, like friendliness and
assurance, whereas customer satisfaction often refers to the service of a provider as an entity
(Bruhn and Grund, 2000).
According to Cronin et al. (2000), satisfaction with a service provider is both an evaluative
and an emotion-based response to a service encounter. This means that two sets of items can
be used to measure satisfaction: an evaluative set of satisfaction measures also referred to as
cognitive measures and an emotion-based set including such items as enjoyment, surprise,
interest, and anger among others.
For the purpose of this study, satisfaction is posited as having both a cognitive component and
an affective component. The cognitive component (referred to as“ perceived service quality”)
refers to a customer’s evaluation of a series of service attributes that constitute a service
performance. The emotional component (referred to as “emotional satisfaction”) consists of
such emotions as anger, contentment, happiness, pleasure, irritation, and disappointment.
The concept of “consumption emotion” refers to the set of such emotional responses elicited
specifically during consumption experiences (Westbrook and Oliver, 1991).Consumption
emotions have been conceptualised as positive emotions and negative emotions (Laros and
Steenkamp, 2005).
Edvardsson (2005) concluded that knowledge about the drivers and the consequences of
emotional reactions elicited during service experience facilitates better management of service
quality. Liljander and Strandvik (1997) contended that consumption emotions represent only
one of many variables that influence satisfaction in certain contexts such as hotel and
restaurant services whereas emotions experienced by consumers account for the greater part
of service evaluation in other contexts such as concert performances, sports spectacles, and
cinema experiences.
Dube´-Rioux (1990) found that the affective reports of consumers were highly predictive of
their satisfaction levels; indeed, these authors found that such affective reports were more
predictive of satisfaction levels than were cognitive evaluations. Liljander and Strandvik
(1997) contended that customer satisfaction includes both an emotional component and a
cognitive component; as a consequence, these authors argued that satisfaction cannot be fully

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understood without acknowledging the “affective-emotional” dimension. So¨derlund and

Rosengren (2004) found that customer joy is positively associated with customer satisfaction.
In terms of hotel service experience, Mattila and Enz (2002) reported that emotional factors
(that is, hotel guests’ self-declared mood state measured immediately after the service
encounter and their displayed emotions during the interaction) were significant predictors of
their assessment of the service encounter and their overall evaluation of the hotel service
provider.
As a result of this review of the literature, the present study posits that emotions are
influenced by the service quality. For example, such emotions as pleasure may be elicited by
the physical décor of a hotel or frustration may elicited by poor service from a waiter.
Relationship between perceived service quality and emotional satisfaction
It is generally accepted that a positive relationship exists between perceived service quality
and customer satisfaction (Bei and Chiao, 2001). For example, such a positive relationship
was found by Cronin and Taylor (1992), who examined the impact of perceived service
quality on consumer satisfaction in four service industries (banking, pest control, dry-
cleaning, and fast food), and by Cronin et al. (2000), who investigated the relationship in six
service industries. Similarly, Brady et al. (2005) studied service consumers in the USA,
Australia, The Netherlands, Hong Kong, and Morocco, and concluded that service quality has
a direct impact on satisfaction. Similar conclusion was reached by Bei and Chiao (2006),
who found a significant link between service quality and satisfaction, in three service settings
(petrol station, baking, and automobile repairs).
Despite the consistency of these findings, it should be noted that most of the studies that have
examined this relationship in services industries have focused on the cognitive component of
satisfaction, with satisfaction being operationalised as an evaluative judgment. Relatively few
studies have considered the “affective-emotional” component of satisfaction (So¨derlund and
Rosengren, 2004; Wong, 2004) a gap this study intended to fit.
Among the studies that have examined the relationship between perceived service quality and
consumption emotions, Wong (2004) found that service quality in retail services was
positively associated with emotional satisfaction. In a study of service encounters in a hotel,
So¨derlund and Rosengren (2004) found that displays of emotion among service employees
affected customers’ assessments of the joyfulness of service employees, and that this
perceived joyfulness mediated the relationship between the service employees’ behaviour and
customers’ own levels of joy.
De Rojas and Camarero (2008) found that perceived service quality influenced the
satisfaction of visitors to an interpretation centre.
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Fig. 2 shows the conceptual schema applied in this study. According to this framework,
Perceived service quality is positively related to emotional satisfaction. Emotional satisfaction
was used in this study as the proxy variable for customer satisfaction. Specific variable
measurement is provided as follows:
Perceived service quality- In accordance with the views of Cronin and Taylor (1992) and
Brady et al. (2005), the present study measured service quality with a performance measure
rather than a gap measure). The measure selected was the Lodging Quality Index (LQI)
developed by Getty and Getty (2003). LQI is composed of 26 items categorised into five
dimensions:
i. Tangibles (consisting of eight items, such as “The front desk was visually appealing”);
ii. Reliability (consisting of four items, such as “My reservation was handled
efficiently”);
iii. Responsiveness (consisting of five items, such as “employees responded promptly to
my requests”);

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iv. Confidence (consisting of five items, such as “the hotel provided a safe
environment”); and
v. Communication (consisting of four items, such as “charges on my account were
clearly explained”).
Emotional satisfaction- Emotional satisfaction was measured in terms of three emotions:
happiness, pleasantness, and joy. The hypothesis which was tested by the study is: H1-
emotional satisfaction is independent perceived service quality as stated earlier.

Perceived service quality

Emotional satisfaction

H1
Figure 2: Conceptual Framework
METHODOLOGY
Descriptive Survey design was adopted for the study. Cluster sampling was applied to select
the hotels from which customers were derived. Hotels sampled were those located within
towns and cities or their vicinity meaning that the study excluded hotels and lodges in the
national parks and reserves. Mombasa and Malindi is being coastal towns have large
populations of hotels and so is Nairobi being the administrative capital of Kenya meaning that
hotels in this three localities represented at about 60% of the sample. Another criterion used to
select the sample was the rate for bed and breakfast which was maintained at $50. This was so
because higher rates than this attract mainly foreign guests or tourist. In total a sample of 22
hotels were chosen. In choosing the sample of guest the study purposive sampled guests who
spent the weekend in the hotel. This criterion distinguished smoothly between guests who
paid their stay with those who had been booked in because of other reasons such as
conferences and workshops payments being made by third parties as rarely do these events
occur during the weekend.
The study self-administered questionnaires to 182 guests. 26 items were used to measure
perceived service quality on using a seven-point Likert-type scale for their responses.
Emotional satisfaction was measured in terms of three emotions: happiness, pleasantness, and
joy. Respondents were asked to indicate their feelings on a seven-point Likert scale (1 “not at
all happy/pleasant/joyful” and 7 “very happy/pleasant/joyful”.
Reliability analysis for service quality dimensions
Reliability checks were conducted on the multi-item measures used in this study. Cronbach’s
alpha coefficients for the five service-quality dimensions were computed with the as
following results:
Table 1: Reliability analysis for service quality dimensions
Dimension Alpha co-efficient
Tangibles 0.920
Reliability 0.811
Responsiveness 0.828
Confidence 0.854
Communication 0.849
Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the measure of “emotional satisfaction” was 0.923. All of
these values indicated adequate reliability (Nunnally, 1978).
RESULTS
Characteristics of respondents
Majority of customers visiting hotels according to the study were males being 68%. Persons
with higher monthly incomes visited hotels more for instance those earning at least Ksh110,

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000 accounted for 41% of the visits. Finally, table 2 shows that a cumulative percentage of
66% made single or double visits to hotels during the year.
Table 2: Characteristics of respondents
Characteristics Frequency
Gender
Male 124 (68)*
Female 58 (32)
Monthly income
Below KSh 50,000 12 (7)
50001-80,000 38 (21)
80001-110,000 58 (32)
Above 110,001 74 (41)
Frequency of stay in hotels
Once a year 41 (23)
Twice a year 78 (43)
Three times a year 30 (16)
Four times a year 16 (9)
Five times a year 10 (5)
More than five times a year 7 (4)
*figures in parenthesis are relative frequencies

Descriptive statistics
Means and standard deviation for all measures which consist of 26 items of LQI, and three
items of emotional satisfaction are given in Table 3. All scales ranged from one to seven. The
Means point to a varied level of service quality in respect to the various dimensions.
Tangibility is rated highly with most items having a mean of greater than five. The item “The
hotel was bright and well lit has the highest mean of 5.524. The means regarding to reliability
spanned between 4.027 to 5.007. “Employees were willing to answer my questions” had a
mean of 3.216, the lowest in responsiveness dimension. Confidence and communication
dimensions of quality also scored low means especially the item “Employees anticipated my
needs” at a mean of 2.125.
The results also show that respondents reported a greater number of satisfactory experiences
than unsatisfactory experiences. Means for the three emotional satisfaction items were:4.561
(“not at all happy/happy”), 5.577 (“not at all pleasant/pleasant”), and 5.320 (“not at all
joyful/joyful”).
Table 3: Descriptive statistics
Constructs Mean Std dev. Max Min
Service quality (26 items) 4.932 1.203
Tangibility The staff had clean, neat uniforms 5.192 1.136 7 2
The restaurant’s atmosphere was inviting 5.039 0.911 7 1
The shops were pleasant and attractive 5.217 1.211 7 2
The outdoor surroundings were visually 5.302 1.325 7 2
attractive
The hotel was bright and well light 5.524 1.256 7 2
The hotel’s interior and exterior were 5.431 1.031 7 2
well maintained
The hotel was clean. 5.003 1.347 7 2
Reliability My guestroom was ready as promised 5.902 1.035 7 1
My reservations were handled efficiently
TV, telephone A/C, lights, sockets, 4.359 1.203 7 2

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showers and sinks t worked properly

I got what I paid for 4.027 1.349 7 1
Responsiveness Employees responded promptly to my 3.054 1.520 7 1
requests
Informative literature about the hotel 3.415 1.054 7 1
was provided
Employees were willing to answer my 3.216 1.331 7 1
questions
Employees responded quickly to solve 4.524 1.320 7 1
my problems
Room service was prompt 4.452 1.032 7 1
Confidence Employees knew about local places of 3.044 1.101 7 1
interest
Employees treated me with respect 4.044 1.302 7 1
Employees were polite when answering 3.908 0.981 7 1
my questions
The hotel provided a safe environment 5.022 1.205 7 2
The facilities were conveniently located 5.327 1.035 7 2
Communicatio Charges on my account were clearly 3.021 0.923 7 2
n explained
I received undivided attention at the front 4.029 1.238 7 2
desk
Receptionist tried to find out my 5.265 1.341 7 2
particular needs
Employees anticipated my needs 2.125 1.321 7 1
Emotional Not at all happy/happy 4.561 1.341 7 2
satisfaction Not at all pleasant/pleasant 5.577 1.210 7 2
Not at all joyful/joyful 5.230 1.301 7 2

Path analysis and hypothesis testing

Path analysis was conducted to determine the relationship between service quality dimensions
and perceived quality as well as emotional satisfaction. Path analysis allows for the testing of
a model and both direct and indirect effects on outcome. Path coefficient which is a fraction
of the standard deviation of the dependent variable for which the designated factor is directly
responsible was determined. The co-efficient was then tested for significance using a
student’s’ test. The parameter estimates and their associated t-values tested using α= 0.05.
The path analysis illustrated in figure 2 shows that from “service quality” to “tangibles”, the
coefficient was 0.952, with a p-value of 1.045. From “service quality” to “reliability”, the
coefficient was 0.533, with a p-value of 2.412. From “service quality” to “responsiveness”,
the coefficient was 0.652, with a p-value of 5.231. Further, from “service quality” to
“confidence”, the coefficient was 0.780, with a p-value of 2.622 and from “service quality” to
“communication”, the coefficient was 0.635, with a p-value of 2.114.
In all of the above instances the coefficient depicts a strong relationship between service
quality perceptions and the various dimensions. The p values in the said paths is also greater
than the alpha of 0.05 which means that the dimensions are significant and support perceived
service quality.
The path leading from “service quality” to “emotional satisfaction” had a coefficient of 0.701,
with a p-value of 3.621. The path was significant; we therefore reject the null hypothesis and
conclude that emotional satisfaction is dependent on service quality which supports H1.

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0.952 (1.045)*
Tangibles

Reliability 0.533 (2.412)

0.652 (5.231) Perceived

Responsiveness 0.701 (3.621) Emotional
Service
Quality Satisfaction
0.780 (2.622)
Confidence

0.635 (2.114)
Communication
*p value is given in parenthesis.

Figure 3: Path Analysis and Hypothesis Testing

DISCUSSION
The main objective of this study was to determine the guest actual experience and evaluation
from the stay hence assess how the hotel performed against perceived quality and the effect
on guest satisfaction. This relationship was tested on the hypothesis that emotional
satisfaction is dependent on service quality. In which case this hypothesised relationships
were supported by the results of the study.
These results also support and clarify the findings of previous studies. Brady et al. (2005)
reported that service quality has both direct and indirect influences on through satisfaction.
Similar findings are available from Bei and Chiao (2006).
This study has revealed moderate influences of quality dimensions such as reliability,
responsiveness and communication as given in their path coefficients on service quality.
Similarly the mean of some items such as “Employees anticipated my needs’’ is quite low. It
is also interesting to note that the said quality dimensions relate to employee performance and
their service delivery. This is also to say that tangibility stand out strong among the service
quality dimensions.
This study provides empirical evidence that emotional satisfaction plays an important role in
service experiences. The study concludes that emotional satisfaction was derived from
service-quality evaluation and agrees with Bagozzi’s (1992) conclusion that cognitive
evaluations precede emotional responses.
In light of the above conclusions the study recommends that service delivery capacity of
employees be improved in the said hotels so that for example the customer can feel that their
needs are anticipated, better communication is achieved, employees become more responsive
as well as reliable. The management of these hotels may also pursue other motivating
strategies to improve service quality.
Further studies may be carried to determine whether emotional satisfaction is capable of
eliciting behavioural expectations from customers such as loyalty, repeat visits, and referrals.
Similar studies that interrogate service quality influences on emotional satisfaction in on
foreign guests are also encouraged.
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