The impacts of service quality on customer’s satisfaction in 4 and 5 star hotels Malaysia / Fatin Nur Atifah Raziman and Tengku Nur Athirah Tengku Mansor

This research study concentrates on reviewing the dimension in service quality that can affect customer’s satisfaction towards 4 and 5 star hotels in Malaysia. The huge growth of hotels in Malaysia has become competitive between each other, either in urban or suburban areas. This opportunity will certainly attract more visitors from both Asian and non-Asian countries. Due to this, most hoteliers today, are struggling to survive in the industry by implementing different methods of attracting and retaining visitors, whether upscale, mid-scale or budget hotels. As competition increases, hoteliers are now focusing on delivering service quality consistently while maintaining the quality standards that meet customers' basic needs and expectations (Padlee, Thaw, & Zulkiffli, 2019). The purpose of this study is to identify the dimensions in service quality can effect customer’s satisfaction towards 4 and 5 star hotels in Malaysia, and to examine the dimension that brings the biggest impact on customer satisfaction. Literature from previous studies can help to fill the gap between this research objectives and existing studies. Journals and articles referred are from reliable and trusted sources with sufficient information provided. Basic approaches were implemented to get the most accurate results. There are five dimensions of SERVQUAL approaches that have been discussed which is tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy, also as independent variables in this study. Besides that, this study adopts a descriptive research design and data used were collected qualitatively by researchers. Secondary data analysis is also adopted, where information is collected and analysed from sources of articles, journals, previous studies and case studies. This study is important for hoteliers who wish to gain and retain their clients into a niche market, resulting from a good delivery of quality service. The results obtained from this study can encourage hotel operators to strategize good service practices in retaining customers and maximising customers’ satisfaction level towards upscale and luxury hotels in Malaysia, hence creating and maintaining a positive image of 4 and 5 stars hotel in Malaysia.