Research Proposal - Customer perception of service

quality being offered by hotels: A case study of Peninsula,

Shanghai hotel.
Table of Contents
Working title..............................................................................................................................1
Research Question......................................................................................................................1
Research Aim.............................................................................................................................1
Research Objectives...................................................................................................................1
Reasoned Justification of study..................................................................................................1
Limitations of Study...................................................................................................................2
Relevant Theme and Disciplined Area......................................................................................2
Initial Theoretical Research.......................................................................................................2
Type of Data employed..............................................................................................................7
Method of data collection...........................................................................................................7
Preliminary hypothesis...............................................................................................................7
Data Analysis.............................................................................................................................7
Direction for further research.....................................................................................................8
References..................................................................................................................................9
Working title
An investigation of customer perception of service quality and elevating the quality
being provided by the hotel corporations of China

Research Question
 What are the attributes of service quality in hotels that impacts on the customer
satisfaction level?
 What are the expectations and factors of importance for customers who stay in
different hotels in China?
 What is the importance of service quality in achieving guest satisfaction in hospitality
industry?
 What are the ways through which hotels can excel in the current situation of Covid19?

Research Aim
To assess customer perception of service quality and elevating the quality being
offered by hotels: A case study of Peninsula, Shanghai hotel.

Research Objectives
I. To analyse the importance of service quality in framing customer perception and
satisfying their needs in hotels
II. To evaluate the factors of service quality that impacts on framing customer perception
in Peninsula, Shanghai hotel
III. To identify the ways customers measure service quality and its impact on customer
loyalty in Peninsula hotel
IV. To recommend ways service quality can be enhanced in Peninsula, Shanghai hotel
V. To understand the ways hotels can excel in the current situation of Covid19

Reasoned Justification of study

The present research is being accomplished to study the perception of customer in
terms of service quality and elevating the quality in hotel to acquire deeper insight of their
anticipations to satisfy them. The findings derived from this research would help to indicate
the service areas that needs to be enhanced and focus on factors that aids in shaping positive
perception in the minds of customers. Apart from this the study will also facilitate hotels to
understand the key points in attracting customers in hotel and gain in-depth wisdom of

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guest’s requirements in terms of service quality. Moreover, the research will also help to
study the ongoing trend of hospitality industry service attributes because of the current
pandemic i.e. Covid19 and the ways quality can be elevated to satisfy the needs of the
customers.

Limitations of Study
The opinion being reflected in the study would be comprised of tourists visiting
Peninsula, Shanghai hotel. Hence it might not be fully applicable to other hotels and sample
is concentrated to the hotel only, so opinion being exposed by visitors of hotel may not be
applicable to all place and every time. Further, the study will also be centred on hotel service
managers and operational level hierarchy, for that no exact number is being set to be involved
in this study and insights derived could not be generalized for all.

Relevant Theme and Disciplined Area

The relevant theme and disciplined area of research of present study is assessment of
service quality in hotel industry and the way it affects customer perception. It also deals in
the ways of elevating the service quality of the hotel to satisfy the needs of the customers due
to current pandemic Covid19. For acquiring the results hotel the Peninsula, Shanghai has
been selected for assessment of service quality and issues that customers faces during service
offerings by hotel. As stated by Maghsoodi, Saghaei and Hafezalkotob, (2019) service quality
is the result of a comparison between expectations of services, what is being perceived by
customer and actual service received. The hotel industry of China has seen tremendous
growth in recent time period, despite this rise the sector continues to encounter certain issues
with regards to service quality. The failures include attribute like lowered service quality,
poor coordination among different departments of hotel, inadequate quality of food and other
communication related issues among workforce. All these considerably impact on customer
perception, majorly attributes like physical environment, behaviour of employee, interaction
with guests and outcome variables leads to formation of customer loyalty. Thus, focus will be
made on employee management by building upon proper training and experience in above
identified areas. Hence, it can be stated that service attributes play prime role in satisfaction
of guests in hotels and researcher had made an attempt to evaluate them with regards to the
Peninsula, Shanghai hotel.

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Initial theoretical Research
In any organization customer satisfaction and the management of their anticipations are prime
strategic components for sustainability and it has been argued by several researchers that
these attributes play an important role in generating customer allegiance and achieve desired
retention. Hospitality industries are seeking to attain augmented customer satisfaction by
focusing on the quality of service being provided to guests. The prime motive of the current
research paper is to assess the perception of customers with regards to service quality and its
impact on the selected hotels brand reputation. The rising competition in the global economy
precisely in the hospitality sectors are placing increased prominence on meeting and
exceeding the needs and expectations of customers.
Hotels need to deliver and manage the service quality to differentiate themselves from
their competitors and enhance brand image. Service quality is one of the most vital aspects in
services and customers undertake their comparisons of their expectations about a service
encounter with the perception of their own service encounter. There is a close relationship
between customer satisfaction and service quality, the contentment of customers can be
safeguarded by offering high quality services (Maghsoodi, Saghaei and Hafezalkotob, 2019).
However, the concept of service quality has emerged as a prime challenge for the industry
and it is because of the characteristics of services, precisely in the encounter between
customers and service provider.
According to Parasuraman et. al., (2014), service quality is being defined as the global
attitude or judgment that is related to the overall superiority or excellence in service delivery.
On the other hand service quality is being considered as an assessment of well delivered
service that conform the expectations, needs and wants of customers. It is vital for an
organization to clearly assess the needs of customers and accordingly design service as it
would facilitate in developing mechanisms to enhance the service offerings. In this researcher
had accomplished detailed evaluation related to service quality and its impact on customer’s
perception, focus had been on attaining information about Chinese hotel industry.
As stated by Khan, Yusoff and Kakar, (2017) customers primarily assess service
quality on the basis of perception of two dimensional service quality concepts, result of the
service act dimension or how well the service is being performed as anticipated. It can be
critically be started that as per author customers give importance on the service delivery and
it helps them in framing their perception towards the hotel and technical quality also known
as extrinsic quality is defined as to what the customers actually desire. Quality is considered

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as one of the most crucial attribute of an organization’s competitive priorities that is vital for
growth. Author Radojevic, Stanisic, Stanic and Davidson, (2018) stated that customer
perception and service quality are related concepts but they are not exactly similar. Here,
author argues that customer’s perception about service quality relies on long term
performance of a hotel and cognitive assessment of service delivery.
In the present competitive environment survival of hotels is quite challenging because
most of the similar luxurious hotels offer similar services and retention of customers majorly
depends on customer delight. Author Yin, et. al., (2016) suggest that service quality should
be well planned, initiated, presented, tracked and sustained. Here in the author gives
emphasis on quality related and other staff related issues that occurs in the hotel and which
can be resolved through common approach of people and quality strategy. This involves
placing the needs of customers at priority, acquiring ideas from employees, forming adequate
corporate people and philosophy, developing training and development, empowering the
workforce, framing benchmark and analysing the strategy.
According to Saini and Singh, (2018) explain about perceived service quality as an
aspect that helps in making global judgment or approach related to superiority of any service;
it is apparent that the superiority of service is being confirmed, what is the result and is
assessed after the performance. It can be stated that quality is the ability of an organization to
accomplish customer anticipations, for the purpose of present research service quality is an
ability of corporation to provide goods and services in an extraordinary manner. Quality is
considered as one of the corporation’s top management major duties that are important for
growth of any organization. According to author Nunkoo, et. al., (2019) stated that the two
concepts service quality and perception of customer are associated with each other, but are
not exactly similar thing. It can be critically cited that service quality is used more as an
approach to measure the overall performance about the anticipation of customers. For guests
in hotels service quality implies about the variation among what is being anticipated and the
overall service being acquired by customers. All these impacts on customer satisfaction or not
the factor that determines service quality for business being perceived by from the customer
point of view. The fact that the guests becomes satisfied are not by the services being offered
but the way business is being undertaken and measures to improve service quality, assess
problems and acquisition of long term customer satisfaction. From reviewing the two
author’s definition it can be attributed that service quality is an outcome of relationship
between anticipations of customers that is acquire previous to delivery of service versus the
overall experience of customer that takes place and majorly relies on the behaviour, attitude
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and performance of management in terms of leadership, motivation, and commitment and
training.

SERVQUAL Model for service quality

Author Parasuramen, et.al., (1985), developed the SERVQUAL model to measure the
service quality, the model contains 22 attributes across the five dimensions i.e. reliability,
tangibility, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. Further Qaiser Danish et. al., (2018)
added the benefits of SERVQUAL model that helps in assessing service quality in hotel
industry and its related industries; however range of issues and shortcomings of the model
has been identified, the prime attributes of the model are as stated below;
 Tangibility – It signifies the physical equipment, physical facilities and appearance of
workforce. As cited by author Garga and Bambale, (2016) this dimension states about
the facilities, material and equipment that must imply positively about the
corporation. Hence, the physical representation should be prominent and satisfying
among customer perception during the service delivery process. Presentation of
services is fundamental to acquisition of customer satisfaction, as guests review a
hotel in terms of its photos and reviews being given by other guest’s prior selection of
any room. If the room does not meets customers expectation or obsolete, if the
restaurant looks filthy and cleanliness is not maintained visitors will make an
underlying judgment about the property that would not be suitable for hotel.
 Responsiveness – It states about the willingness to assist and respond to requirements
of customers. Corporations need to be receptive to the changing needs of their
customers and giving courses and developing programs that are crucial for business.
Author Atiyah, (2017) defined responsiveness as the ability to help customers and
offer prompt services on a regular basis, this attribute gives attention and willingness
in dealing with guests needs, queries, requests and swift complaint resolution. Hotel
employees must possess the ability to meet-out guest’s issues and inquires on time as
it would help to achieve satisfaction of guests and optimize the services.
 Reliability – This implies about the capability to undertake service that majorly
depends on some organizations that tend to oversell their services. Moreover,
company also seeks to attain appropriate guarantees that distort the overall potential.
Organizations should provide the customers precise service as it promotes in their
advertisement and must offer that the company guarantees within the specified time
period. In this context if service delivery is being carried in a proper manner, this will

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 enhance the overall perceived quality that the guests experience (Paul, Mittal and
Srivastav, 2016). Hence, hotels should strive to be reliable during their service
offering and should never promise when they could not deliver certain food products
or any other services.
 Assurance – This attribute states about the capability of workforce to inspire
confidence and trust, with aspects of lowered or higher service quality that majorly
relies on the way customer perceive the overall service on the basis of their
anticipations. Quality assurance is associated with customer service that is offered by
corporation and being satisfied or dissatisfied about the service. Guaranteeing quality
depends on customer loyalty and additionally retention of guests, hence hotels should
ensure that it offers best service to its customers always.
 Empathy – It signifies about the level to which caring individualised services are
being given, this is at times when challenge for an organization surpasses desires of
customers and request. For instance deficiencies of workforce in the hotel and
demand for optimum service and occasion facilitating have observed an extension in
its overall size, this leads to implications on the level of individual consideration and
compassion being given to every customer.
From the five aspects being stated above, reliability is consistently proven to be the
most crucial attribute that helps customers in decision making process in terms of
service quality (Sharma and Srivastava, 2018). Moreover, unreliable service signifies
about the aspects that customers majorly care and if the core service is not being
performed reliably, guests might assume that the hotel is incompetent and might
switch to other competitor in similar industry.
The service quality model states about the expectation of guests depicting aspects of a
service to the overall experience. This includes initial assessment of prime service dimension
that is seen as critical to management and customers. Difference between experiences and
overall experience on the numerous aspects of service dimensions, provides a guide to
management on where action might be crucial. SERVQUAL is one of the prominent models
that help in measuring customer’s perception about service quality and where the answers to
statements related to customers’ needs are being answered.
According to Kandampully and Suhartanto (2000), maintenance of consistency of the
services quality as well as standards are being regarded as the most critical aspects in hotel
industry. Further, it is also considered as a key expectation of customers especially in case of

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hotel like “Peninsula, Shanghai hotel”. Due to the current situation and pandemic, there is a
threat to the hotel which is a customer driven business. There is a need of effective employee
management though training and experience for improving the service quality in such tough
times. This will enhance the reputation of the hotel, retain the valuable customers and will be
source of great satisfaction.
The prime focus of the study remains to assess the impact of service quality on the
Peninsula, Shanghai hotel and the ways it can be elevated for better accomplishment of the
customer’ needs. Service quality is one of the prime issues that are an outcome of judgmental
values of customers and it differs as per perception of customers. Moreover, when customers
does not possess expertise, time of motive to make an assessment of technical attributes most
of the times they depend on the functional quality perception to evaluate service quality
(Anand and et.al., 2018). Hence, brand image and service quality are part of present debates
on services in numerous areas like organizational communication, marketing and
management. From this perspective, the main focus of present research paper is to assess
customer’s perception of service quality in hotels and its overall impact on the brand image.
While accomplishing the study the research work acknowledges the aspects of customer
anticipations, loyalty and satisfaction that remains crucial for measuring organizational
success from customer’s point of view.

Type of Data employed

The present research will be undertaken in the hotel sector of China, for which the
Peninsula, Shanghai hotel has been selected. The data for study will be accumulated through
secondary and primary sources. Here, in order to collect primary data survey will be
accomplished for that participants will be selected through stratified sampling method, as
data will be collected from operations and service manager and staff of hotel. So, stratified
sampling will help in acquiring relevant information related to framed research aim and exact
insights about service quality of hotel can be evaluated through this approach.

Method of data collection

In present research report data will be acquired through both secondary and primary
sources, in secondary research author will give attention to review previously published
scholarly books, journals and articles in the area of service quality in hospitality industry and
the way it helps in framing customer perception. While accumulating secondary information
emphasis would be given that all the materials are from authorized and authentic sources

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only. Moving ahead in the research primary data will be acquired by undertaking a small
survey in the Peninsula, Shanghai hotel. For this questionnaire will be framed and distributed
among selected respondents, the questionnaire will include both open and close ended
questions. In order to collect primary data questionnaire method has been selected as it is an
economical way to acquire suitable information and is feasible for the participants as well as
sender. It is because the information can be acquired in time, effort and cost. The overall cost
of undertaking the research with the help of questionnaire method is probably very low.
Apart from this in questionnaire method researcher do not have to visit respondents
personally, as questionnaire can be send through email so it does not require high cost for
undertaking the research. Questionnaire will also help the researcher to contact large group of
people at the same time and attain insights on topic.

Data Analysis
Here, in the current research report data will be analysed through using quantitative
techniques using Ms-Excel tool. In addition to this, in quantitative assessment different bar
diagrams and pie chart will be used to represent the data. Finally, data will be analysed
through reviewing quantitative aspects and accordingly findings will be framed.

Direction for further research

The study is centred on the perception of management of service quality and process.
The research provides insights about the way service quality is being understood, what it
means, how quality needs to be manages, way customer evaluates service quality in hotels
and what issues exist for the service and operational management with regards to service
quality. The information would mainly be derived regarding the perception of service quality
by customers of hotel properties and results acquired will be useful to frame potential
business strategies for hotels. Moreover, hotel management can better focus on designing and
development of services in hotels after reviewing the results of research, as customers
feedback would be useful in forming potential strategies forming and attain long term
customer satisfaction in hotels.

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References
Anand, V. V. and et.al., 2018. A Study On Guest Perception About Service Quality With
Reference To Hotel Industry. International Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics,
(119), 7, pp. 2741-2750.

Atiyah, L.A., 2017. Impact of service quality on customer satisfaction. Australian Journal of

Basic and Applied Sciences, 11(5), pp.20-28.

Garga, E. and Bambale, A.J.A., 2016. The Impact of Service Quality on Customer Patronage:
Mediating Effects of Switching Cost and Customer Satisfaction. International Journal of
Global Business, 9(1).

Khan, F., Yusoff, R.M. and Kakar, P., 2017. Impact of service quality and customer
satisfaction on tourism industry. Journal of Advanced Research in Social and Behavioural
Sciences, 6(2), pp.146-155.

Maghsoodi, A.I., Saghaei, A. and Hafezalkotob, A., 2019. Service quality measurement
model integrating an extended SERVQUAL model and a hybrid decision support system.
European Research on Management and Business Economics, 25(3), pp.151-164.

Nunkoo, R., Teeroovengadum, V., Ringle, C.M. and Sunnassee, V., 2019. Service quality
and customer satisfaction: The moderating effects of hotel star rating. International
Journal of Hospitality Management, p.102414.

Paul, J., Mittal, A. and Srivastav, G., 2016. Impact of service quality on customer satisfaction
in private and public sector banks. International Journal of Bank Marketing.

Qaiser Danish, R., and et. al., 2018. The impact of service quality and service value on
customer satisfaction through customer bonding: evidence from telecommunication
sector. European Online Journal of Natural and Social Sciences: Proceedings, 7(1 (s)),
pp.pp-40.

Radojevic, T., Stanisic, N., Stanic, N. and Davidson, R., 2018. The effects of traveling for
business on customer satisfaction with hotel services. Tourism Management, 67, pp.326-
341.

Saini, S. and Singh, R., 2018. Service quality assessment of utility company in Haryana using
SERVQUAL model. Asian Journal of Management, 9(1), pp.702-708.

Sharma, S. and Srivastava, S., 2018. Relationship between Service Quality and Customer
Satisfaction in Hotel Industry. TRJ (Tourism Research Journal), 2(1), pp.42-49.

Yin, S.Y., and et. al., 2016. Telehealth services evaluation: a combination of SERVQUAL
model and importance-performance analysis. Quality & Quantity, 50(2), pp.751-766.

Kandampully, J. and Suhartanto, D., 2000. Customer loyalty in the hotel industry: the role of
customer satisfaction and image. International journal of contemporary hospitality
management, 12(6), pp.346-351.
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