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org © 2018 IJCRT | Volume 6, Issue 2 April 2018 | ISSN: 2320-2882

SERQUAL OF LUXURY HOTELS IN KURNOOL

CITY
1
Dr. H. S. ABZAL BASHA, 2M YELLAIAH NAIDU,
1
Assistant Professor, 2Assistant Professor,
1
Department of Management Studies,
1
G.Pullaiah College of Engineering & Technology, Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh, India.

“Only a Life Lived to the Service of Others is Worth Living”-Albert Einstein

Abstract: Food, shelter and clothes are the three basic needs of human lives. Hotel industry or hospitality is the only sector which
offers two necessary things among the three; such as food and accommodation. Hence, what is hotel industry or Hospitality
industry? Hotel is a part of the hospitality industry is an umbrella term for a broad variety of service industries including, but not
limited to, hotels, restaurants and casinos. Hotel is often referred as a “Home away from home”. If we consider meaning of hotel
in the dictionary, a hotel is a building where you pay to have a room to sleep in and where you can eat meals or a hotel is an
establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. According to A.M. Sheela, the author of the book “Economics of
Hotel Management”, hotel is the place where the tourist stops being the traveler and become a guest. Hotels typically provide a
full range of accommodations and services, which may includes suites, public dinning, banquet facilities, lounges and
entertainment facilities.
The present study is an effort to identify the quality attributes of the hotel services in Kurnool City and also try to evaluate service
quality and customers satisfaction in the hotel industry in Kurnool. However, in this study, three essential models; SERVQUAL,
HOLSERV and LODGING QUALITY INDEX are select for analysis. Furthermore, it reveals the difference in the customer
expectations and perceptions for men and women guests related to the hotel services. It includes an inclusive analysis of service
offerings, hotel facilities, hotels factors, etc. that affect their choices. It also provides suggestions of disable people about the hotel
services. To get the statistic data for the study, one survey with 22 questions will implement. And results will prepare a form for
analysis, interpretation and empirical findings of the study.

Key Words: Hotel Industry, Holserv and Lodging Quality, Servqual.

I. INTRODUCTION
The Indian economy is opening up its horizons as it continues to integrate with the world economy. Therefore, the advantages of
conducting business with and in India are many. This has lead to the maneuvering of variety of jobs to the shores of India,
bringing in its wake transit travelers, business travelers, business meets and holiday seekers. India is the ninth largest civil
aviation market in the world in 2014. The sector is projected to be the third largest aviation market globally by 2020. India’s
aviation market caters to 117 million domestic and 43 million international passengers in 2014. Over the next decade the market
could reach 337 million domestic and 84 million international passengers. It is considered as an industry whose main aim is also
to make profits for the hoteliers, though this may change at times. Traditional hotels were provided rooms, banquets and
restaurants only. But, modern hotels are providing from telephone call services, laundry services, travel services, internet services
and recreational, entertainment activities in the hotels.
Changing Face
The Indian tourism and hospitality emerging as a chief growth driver for services industry in India, hotel sector is only poised for
further growth. Though economic slowdown has resulted in low occupancy and average room rates for hotels across certain major
cities in the country, Indian hotel sector is still expected to show healthy prospects compared to global hotel growth. At a time
when global hospitality conditions are still nearing saturation, Indian hospitality sector is being considered as a viable proposition
for players.
The Future of Indian Hospitality Sector
The Indian economy is opening up its horizons as it continues to integrate with the world economy. Therefore, the advantages of
conducting business with and in India are many. This has lead to the maneuvering of variety of jobs to the shores of India,
bringing in its wake transit travelers, business travelers, business meets and holiday seekers. India is the ninth largest civil
aviation market in the world in 2014. The sector is projected to be the third largest aviation market globally by 2020. India’s
aviation market caters to 117 million domestic and 43 million international passengers in 2014. Over the next decade the market
could reach 337 million domestic and 84 million international passengers.

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Government Initiative
The Government of India and the Ministry of Tourism have contributed significantly to the growth and development of the
industry by providing various policy measures, tax incentives and infrastructural support such as-Promotion of rural tourism by
Ministry of Tourism in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme, Availability of Medical Visa for tourists
coming into the country for medical treatment,100 percent FDI allowed through automatic route in hotel and tourism sector,
Insurance of visa on arrival for tourists from select countries like Finland, Japan and New Zealand, Capital subsidy programmes
for budget hotels, Elimination of customs duty for import of raw materials, equipment, liquor etc, Five-year income tax holidays
for 2-4 star hotels established in specified districts having UNESCO-declared 'World Heritage Sites' Further, the tourism policy of
the government aims at development of integrated tourism circuits, speedy implementation of tourism projects, special capacity
building in the hospitality sector and new marketing strategies.
Hotels in Kurnool
Kurnool is an III-Tier city in the state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a called as gateway of Rayalaseema Region of Andhra Pradesh, lies
on the banks of Tungabhadra river. Kurnool has relatively good connectivity in the form of rail and road transportation. And also
be the hub of Temples and Tourism, not only for the state but also for Southern India. It has one of the oldest and famous Temples
and Tourism places. Like Belum Caves, Orvakallu Rock Garden, Rollapadu Wildlife Sanctuary, and also Srisailam, Yaganti and
Mahanandi. There are various hotels located in Kurnool and surrounding vicinity. To name few DVR Mansion, Hotel Suraj
Grand, The Mourya Inn, Hotel Shobha, and Hotel Sign Regency.
II. SERQUAL
The SERVQUAL service quality model was developed by a group of American authors, 'Parasu' Parasuraman, Valarie A.
Zeithaml and Len Berry, in 1988. It highlights the main components of high quality service. The SERVQUAL authors originally
identified ten elements of service quality, but in later work, these were collapsed into five factors - reliability, assurance,
tangibles, empathy and responsiveness - that create the acronym RATER. Businesses using SERVQUAL to measure and manage
service quality deploy a questionnaire that measures both the customer expectations of service quality in terms of these five
dimensions, and their perceptions of the service they receive. When customer expectations are greater than their perceptions of
received delivery, service quality is deemed low. Thus according to Zeithaml, Bitner and Gremler (2009:107), “a sound measure
of service quality is necessary for identifying the aspects of service needing performance improvement, assessing how much
improvement is needed on each aspect, and evaluating the impact of improvement efforts” Due to the intangible nature of a
service SERVQUAL model was developed to measure customers‟ evaluations of service quality (Zeithaml, Bitner and Gremler,
2009:151).
III. REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Stephen Ball et al (2007) in their book “Contemporary Hospitality and Tourism” presented a detailed historical development of
the Indian hotel sector. This book represented a comprehensive, authoritative and up-to-date analysis of key sectors in the
hospitality and tourism industries in China and India. Roger J. Challan and Gabrielle Kyndt (2001) in their research paper
“Business Travelers‟ Perception of Service Quality: A Prefatory Study of Two European City Centre Hotels” had analyzed
customer satisfaction based on various hotel attributes with different categories of hospitality customers especially business
travelers, and reviewed various literatures and surveys on hotel attributes. Alex M. Susskind (2002) in his research paper “I told
you so- customer’s word of mouth” examined how the nature of service failure together with the restaurant’s service-recovery
effort influenced customer’s intentions to return to the restaurant and their subsequent word-of-mouth communication regarding
the incident and the restaurant. Karthik Namasivayam and Timothy R. Hinkin (2003) in their research paper “The Customer’s
Role in the Service Encounter: The Effects of Control and Fairness”, argued that customers should be allowed some sense of
control over the service encounter, if not employees should act in such a way that guests perceive the services as fair and
acceptable. Thanika Devi Juwaheer and Darren Lee Ross (2003) in his research paper “A study of Hotel Guest Perceptions in
Mauritius”, carried out a study with the objectives of “assessing the customers‟ expectations and perceptions of quality in hotels
of Mauritius”. Karnikeya Budhwar (2004) in his research paper “An Analysis of the Gap between Management Perceptions and
Customer Expectations”, conducted the research to evaluate the crucial factors that would impact the restaurant’s success or
failure; to identify the gaps between management’s and the customers‟ perceptions; and to analyze choice of cuisines. Julie
Feickert et al (2006) in their research paper “Safeguarding Your Customers: The Guest’s View of Hotel Security”, highlighted
the concept of acceptance to pay extra for certain security measures.
NEED FOR THE STUDY
The present study is an exceptionally important one from the perspective of dealing and developing the services marketing culture
in the industry, particularly in the Hotel & Hospitability sector. In the cutting edge competition and liberalization, those
organizations will survive and lead who will maintain service quality. The present study is a humble attempt to identify the major
factors based on descriptive research design and addresses very important aspect of service quality in hotel industry especially in
Kurnool City.
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The present study is confine to select luxurious hotels in Kurnool City. This study focuses on to explore the correlation among
select Service Quality dimensions and its impact on Customer Satisfaction. This study may be helpful for the concerning
organizations to bridge this gap in order to benefit the society at large and build a profitable proposition to adapt to the specific

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requirements of tier three cities. Particularly, this study aims to decisively evaluate the below elements of SERVQUAL in Hotels
of Kurnool City.
1. Tangibility: Physical Facilities, Equipment, Staff Appearance, etc.
2. Reliability: Ability to perform Service dependably and accurately.
3. Responsiveness: Willingness to help and respond to Customer need.
4. Assurance: Ability of Staff to inspire Confidence and Trust.
5. Empathy: The extent to which caring Individualized Service is given.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1. To study SERQUAL, HOLSERV and LODGING QUALITY dimensions in select hotels in Kurnool City.
2. To evaluate the satisfaction of customers expectation and post service behaviour.
3. To evaluate the level of Customer Satisfaction towards select Hotels.
HYPOTHESES
 H1: There is a significant difference between the select Hotels regarding the Service Quality that affect Customer
Satisfaction.
IV. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The present study is an empirical research in nature. The descriptive research procedure is also used for describing the present
scenario in Hospitality sector.
4.1 Sources of Data
For the present study, the data has been gathered from both primary and secondary sources. The primary data was collected by
distributing a well structured questionnaire and personal interview from select customers of Hotels in Kurnool City. The
secondary data is gathered from Internet, books, research articles, survey reports, newsletters, various journals and magazines.

Sample Size

S.No Hotel Name No of Respondents

1 DVR Mansion 20
2 Hotel Suraj Grand 20
3 The Mourya Inn 20
4 Hotel Rajvihar Deluxe 20
5 Hotel Sign Regency 20
Total 100

4.2 Sampling Technique

The sampling method adopted for this study is non-probability convenience sampling method to collect the data from the
customers.
4.3 Data Collection Instruments
A well designed structured questionnaire was distributed among the Customers of the select Hotels for primary data collection.
4.4 Statistical tolls and techniques
The collected data is analyzed and interpret by using Weighted Averages, Mean and Correlation coefficient analysis with the aid
of SPSS-20 Version.
4.5 Field Work
The fieldwork on the study will start by February 2018 and continued up to April 2018. The data will collect from the customers
of 5 major Hotels of the Kurnool City; viz., DVR Mansion, Hotel Suraj Grand, The Mourya Inn, Hotel Shobha, and Hotel Sign
Regency in Kurnool.
4.6 Limitations of the Study
1. The study is confined to customers of select Hotels in Kurnool City only.
2. The results of the study cannot be generalized to other Hotels like, Hotels located outside the Kurnool City.
3. The accuracy of given information is merely based on the response of the respondents.

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V. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

5.1 Results of the Study Variables

Table-5.1: Demographic Profile of the select customers

Element No. of Respondents Frequency

20-30 years 40.0

31-40 years 50.0

Age
41-50 years 0

51 years and above 10.0

Total 100
SSC 0

Intermediate 10.0
Educational Qualifications
Graduation 40.0

PG & Professional 50.0

Total 100

Businessman 40.0

Private Employee 20.0

Occupation
Government Employee 10.0

Professional 30.0

Total 100

Married 70.0
Marital Status Unmarried 30.0

Total 100

Vacation 40.0

Business Trip 50.0

Occasions
Daily Life 10.0

Temporary Living 0

Total 100

Source: Primary data

Table-5.1 exhibits the response rate for the age, educational qualifications, occupation, marital status details and occasions for the
customers for visiting and staying in Kurnool Hotels.
The table shows that majority (50 per cent) of the respondents are belongs to the age group of 31-40 years, followed by 20-30
years 40 per cent, and 51 years and above are least with 10 percent. Concern to educational qualifications majority of the
customers are post graduates 50 per cent, followed by graduates 40 percent, and least (10 percent) customers’ educational
qualification is intermediate. In the case of occupation, majority (40 per cent) of them is businessmen, followed by professionals
30 percent, private and Government employees are 20 and 10 percent. When concerns to marriage 70 percent of them are married
and only 30 percent unmarried. And finally majority (50 percent) of the respondents are visiting and staying in Kurnool for
business purpose, while 40 percent for vacation and only 10 percent for daily life.

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Table-5.2: Independent Samples Test

Levene's Test for
Equality of t-test for Equality of Means
Variances
95% Confidence
Sig. (2- Mean Std. Error Interval of the
F Sig. t df Difference
tailed) Difference Difference
Lower Upper
Equal variances
.002 .962 -2.891 90 .006 -.68571 .23717 -1.16142 -.21001
assumed
Tangibility
Equal variances not
-2.838 77.48 .007 -.68571 .24165 -1.17513 -.19630
assumed
Equal variances
4.603 .037 -1.022 90 .311 -.08571 .08385 -.25390 .08247
assumed
Reliability
Equal variances not
-1.358 84.00 .183 -.08571 .06313 -.21401 .04258
assumed
Equal variances
.041 .841 -3.249 90 .002 -.50714 .15609 -.82023 -.19406
Responsive assumed
ness Equal variances not
-3.266 80.30 .002 -.50714 .15528 -.82090 -.19339
assumed
Equal variances
.351 .556 .287 90 .775 .05714 .19890 -.34180 .45608
assumed
Assurance
Equal variances not
.280 86.53 .781 .05714 .20438 -.35714 .47143
assumed
Equal variances
3.008 .089 1.982 90 .053 .52857 .26668 -.00632 1.06346
assumed
Empathy
Equal variances not
1.851 82.28 .073 .52857 .28550 -.05277 1.10991
assumed
Source: Primary data

Table-5.3: Group Statistics

Std. Error
N Mean
Select Hotels Std. Deviation Mean
Tangibility SH 100 2.6000 .88258 .19735

Reliability SH 100 2.8500 .15670 .18230

Responsiveness SH 100 1.7500 .55012 .12301

Assurance SH 100 1.4000 .75394 .16859

Empathy SH 100 2.5000 1.10024 .24602

Source: Primary data
Conclusion:
The research is investigated dimensions of service quality in the terms of select Serqual attributes. The study result proves that
reliability, tangibility and empathy are better in Kurnool Hotels whereas the responsiveness and assurance is low. According to
the survey results it is confirmed that Hotels in Kurnool city are getting better to attract customers by providing good reliability,
tangibility and empathy.

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*****

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