HUMAN RESOURCES and PEOPLE MANAGEMENT OF PDR HOTEL AND RESORTS

Introduction

Cursory inspection of the accommodation sector might suggest that a few large chains dominate the market, giving the impression of an oligopolistic structure. However, the service hospitality sector within holiday tourism is mostly fragmented in many small units where location and the spatial distribution of accommodation are important factors determining the degree of competition. Furthermore, the wide range and quality of accommodation, its multi-product nature and seasonal variations in demand, introduce an additional dimension into the operation of the market. These aspects of the accommodation sector are considered at some length in tourism texts, of which those are good examples (Sinclair & Stabler 1997).Accordingly, different forms of structure perfect competition, monopolistic competition, oligopoly and even monopoly might, as argued below, reflect the conditions of different elements of the sector, ranging from the serviced to the un-serviced self-catering segments. Notwithstanding its complicated structure, some fundamental economic factors characterize the accommodation sector. It is subject to fixed capacity with all its attendant problems in the face of periodicity; perish ability and seasonality (Hall & Tucker 2004).

 

 Allied to this, particularly in larger units offering a wide range of services, high fixed costs drive operators to attain high occupancy rates through such devices as product differentiation and market segmentation (Hall & Tucker 2004).These characteristics tend to involve elements of both natural monopoly and oligopoly (Tolentino 2000).The hospitality/ accommodation industry is one of the most successful industries in the global economy. This industry includes business that includes hotels, casinos, tourism and food services.   The accommodation sector can be a source of a profitable business. The competition on the hotel industry is based on the desire of each hotel owners and managers to provide the best service to clients. Countries rely on the hospitality industry and the business within it to assist in the countries goal to have a good economy. The competition on the hotel industry is based on the desire of each hotel owners and managers to provide the best service to clients.

 

 Companies in the hospitality sector that face a tough competition has to make sure that its strategy can overcome the threats by the competitors. In any industry changing a strategy is a must especially if the company has difficulty in surviving in the environment. Companies should have the appropriate tools and procedures that will help them determine whether their strategies are appropriate. The strategies formulated by businesses will always be under certain issues. These issues helps a company determine which strategy is the best one for them to consider. Strategies should not only be based on changes in the local environment. The strategy of any company is affected by the different changes in the international environment. Strategies need to be globally competitive and well adjusted to the demands of the environment for it to be a success and for it to help the company in achieving its goal. This paper will focus on the PDR Hotel and Resort and its strategy on human resources.

 

Hotels and its business operations

Hotel chains have a long history of operating beyond national borders. Some of them started international operations more than a hundred years ago. Certain hotel chains are extremely global. Others are not. The globalization of service industries, notably some professional service industries, brings about new forms of organization of international business activity, which do not exist in manufacturing. In the production of goods, Multinational enterprises (MNEs) are a cluster of firms incorporated under the laws of different countries, all of which are wholly or partially owned subsidiaries of a parent firm (Aharoni & Nachum 2000). In contrast, the expansion of professional service MNEs to new markets is often achieved by a network of several autonomous partnerships. Each partnership gives up some of its autonomy to achieve minimum common standards, and to gain more reputation and thus work. These organization forms are unique characteristics of these firms, and they have important implications for the ways advantages are generated in international competition and diffused within the multinational enterprise (Aharoni & Nachum 2000).

 

 In several service industries, competitive pressures forcing larger Transnational corporations (TNCs) to adopt strategies of following other companies to establish a presence abroad have also contributed to increased foreign direct investments (FDI) by TNCs in important markets aimed at strengthening their respective international market positions in relation to major competitors. The industries mainly affected by this kind of strategies include banking and other financial services and, in some locations, other services such as management consultancy, advertising, air transportation and hotels. International franchising is frequently associated with service firms, such as hotels, retail outlets, and quick service restaurants. These firms often have strongly identifiable trademarks and try to guarantee the customer a uniform and consistent level of service and product quality across different locations and over time. However, the high degree of standardized operations makes the replication of the format across diverse markets difficult (Mowforth & Munt 2003).

 

Global economic restructuring and development are the most pertinent factors in the study of globalization. Economic globalization is reflected in footloose capital and the growth of less nationally regulated industrial, banking and commercial sectors, a process that is also clearly represented in the global tourism industry’s principal economic sectors with mergers and buyouts between international airlines and hotels (Mowforth & Munt 2003). Hotels provide paid lodging on a short or long term basis. It provides accommodations to various kinds of clients who may be are tourists, business people or people who want to experience the hotel service. Hotels are ranked depending on their capability and the kind of service they provide. Hotels help countries to improve its image to the tourists that visit the state. Hotels consider various aspects so that they can maintain their operations. One aspect they consider is the welfare of their human resource. The human resource group of PDR hotel undergoes various changes that coincide with the changes of the external environment.

 

Changes in workforce

Organizations are downsizing, restructuring, merging, and reinventing themselves. Mid-level management layers are diminishing. Functions are being eliminated and replaced by online automation and networked infrastructures. Knowledge workers with technological and people skills must manage processes and themselves in cyberspace with speed, efficiency, and accuracy. These and other changes continue to impact the relationships, rights, and obligations between employee stakeholders and organizations. Organizations saw their workforce as permanent, and tried to build loyalty among employees by making financial investments in training and by providing guaranteed long-term employment (Sims 2003). Employees were committed to the organization and expected steady advancement up the corporate ladder. The seeds of change are taking root, and with these changes new social contracts are developing between organizations and their members. No longer is the traditional social contract that once existed between the organization and the employee valid. Changes like those cited thus far have profoundly changed the ways in which organizations and their employees relate (Boyd 2003).

 

 They want employers who provide them with opportunities, recognize their accomplishments, and communicate openly and honestly. These workforce changes have contributed to a newly emerging social contract between employers and employees. Failure to understand and effectively manage the rights of employees can create many ethical dilemmas for organizations and further strain the social contract with employees (Sims 2002). Many social investors are concerned about the ethics, social responsibility, and reputation of organizations in which they invest; and the growing groups of brokers, financial planners, portfolio managers, asset management, and mutual funds have made themselves available to help investors evaluate investments and purchase stock in ethical organizations for their social impacts (Cooper & Murphy 2000). As the world changes so thus the situation in the workplace changes particularly the attitudes of personnel. The personnel have changed the way they beliefs with regard to employment and opportunities. Their beliefs are focused on achieving what is best for them rather than what’s best for a company.

 

The personnel of this generation are more peculiar on opportunities rather than loyalty. They would rather go to different jobs that provide better monetary opportunity than stay in a job that can help them learn new things. The employees of this generation have undergone significant changes in the way they think. They cannot be taken for granted because they make sure that every aspect of the company works fairly well in their favor. This causes dissension between the company and the employees. It also causes certain things to be left undone thus the products cannot be delivered to clients and proper service cannot be offered by the company.  To solve such change in the workplace companies need to have an effective hr group that will use strategies such as motivation, satisfaction and commitment so that the employees will not easily change jobs and be a hindrance for the company’s success.

 

Welfare of employees

The argument that welfare work was a business proposition, not charity, shifted responsibility from the shoulders of the individual entrepreneur to the more abstract entity of the modern corporation. Welfare work took shape as company- or plant-wide policy rather than as special favors granted on a case-by-case basis at the employer’s discretion. Whereas nineteenth-century employers had exercised benevolent paternalism as isolated individuals, those who engaged in welfare work participated in a national movement that defined labor relations as an essential management responsibility. A few firms adopted employment stabilization as a conscious part of their welfare programs. Welfare managers used their understanding of the relationship between home and work lives to argue for shorter hours as well. Although higher wages, steady employment, and shorter hours were deemed essential, welfare advocates never believed that these alone could solve the labor problem (Mandell 2002).

 

Welfare advocates offered workers a broad agenda of programs designed to inculcate the middle-class work ethic and foster a desire for a middle-class standard of living. Of the two strategies, economic and cultural, the latter proved to be the most popular among welfare advocates and came to dominate the actual practice of welfare work (Hanlan 2004).Two factors account for this development. Most obviously, employers resisted both the challenge to their authority and the costs associated with raising wages, stabilizing employment, and shortening hours. Hired welfare workers generally reinforced their employers’ preference for cultural strategies over economic ones. On a practical level this minimized the potential for conflict between welfare workers and their employers.  It focused the welfare worker’s energies in an arena where she, rather than her employer, could claim expertise teaching and enforcing proper standards of conduct. Welfare workers supported decisions to charge all expenditures for employee welfare to a single welfare account. There was little dispute that some features, such as libraries and company bands, should be charged to welfare work. However, features that touched production phases of a firm’s operations could generate controversy (Hanlan 2004).

 

An important thing that business owners should be concerned of is the welfare of the employees. Employees who are properly cared for can work well and they can be an asset of the company.  They perform better and help the company in achieving its various goals and objectives.  Employees who are properly cared for can be competitive with employees of rival firms. PDR hotels and resorts make sure that they show their care to the personnel. The company makes sure that they threat their personnel with outmost respect for human dignity.  PDR hotel and resorts provide outmost concern for their personnel through their human resources division. The human resources group makes sure that they know the every need of the personnel  The human resource group makes use personal communication, the internet and other techniques to know the needs and wants of the personnel. The human resource group has created weekly meetings that aim to gather the thoughts and ideas of the personnel.  

 

Employee Motivation

Managers who want their employees to participate in performance growth and development plans need to recognize that employees have reasons for everything they do. Managers should realize that employees choose to perform the way they do because of some internal or external motivation. Employees participate when the goal they have chosen to pursue is attainable. To ensure greater participation, managers must understand this simple motivational principle. Employee motivation can be greatly enhanced when managers understand the seven assumptions that underlie change behavior (Boughton, Gilley & Maycunich1999).  To motivate the personnel rewards are given to them. Rewards can be defined as something verbal or tangible. Verbal rewards have generally been found to increase measures of intrinsic motivation. According to cognitive evaluation theory, all rewards are experienced as controlling by individuals, but verbal rewards provide an informational function that overrides the feelings of control. Rewards classified as tangible include money, candy, gold stars, good player awards, theater tickets, opportunities to engage in preferred activities, and so on (Cameron & Pierce 2002).

 

Rewards that are promised to participants are referred to as expected rewards; unexpected rewards are those delivered at the end of the experimental session but not promised beforehand. Expected tangible rewards were found to produce a negative effect on the free-time measure of intrinsic motivation; unexpected reward had no impact.  Unexpected rewards do not affect feelings of competence, self-determination, or locus of control because the controlling process only takes place when the rewards are in progress. With unexpected rewards, individuals do not know that they will receive a reward, and thus, intrinsic motivation will not be affected (Cameron & Pierce 2002). Non-competency-contingent rewards are those given for merely doing, completing, or repeating an activity and are most likely to reduce intrinsic interest. Competency-contingent rewards, on the other hand involve rewards given for mastery. This type of reward contingency is said to develop perceptions of self-efficacy and task interest. Rewards given for achieving challenging standards are also indicative of competence (Cameron & Pierce 2002).

 

To motivate employees, companies should first know the behaviors of employees and why it changes. By doing this companies can know how to approach a certain employees and what motivational strategy can be used towards them.  To motivate the personnel DRP provide rewards to employees that perform well. Rewards come in different forms. It can be in the form of physical gifts such as monetary incentives, trophies or the like.  It can also be in the form of verbal praise or commendation. DRP has regular rewards session wherein they present plaques of appreciation to outstanding employees. DRP hotels and resorts place the award winners on bulletin boards and then give them the award within a special program created for them.  The company makes sure that it double checks the performance of the personnel so that the appropriate reward can be given to the right personnel.

 

References

Aharoni, Y & Nachum, L (eds.) 2000, Globalization of

services: Some implications for theory and practice,

Routledge, London.

 

Boughton, NW, Gilley, Maycunich, A 1999, The performance

challenge: developing, management systems to make employees

your organization’s greatest asset, Perseus Publishing,

Cambridge, MA.

 

Boyd, C 2003, Human resource management and occupational

health and safety, Routledge, New York.

 

Cameron, J & Pierce, WD 2002, Rewards and intrinsic

motivation: resolving the controversy, Bergin & Garvey,

Westport, CT.

 

Cooper, CL & Murphy, LR 2000, Healthy and productive work:

an international perspective, Taylor & Francis, London.

 

Hanlan, M 2004, High performance teams: how to make them

work, Praeger, Westport, CT.  

 

Hall M & Tucker, H (eds.) 2004, Tourism and post

Colonialism: contested discourses, identities and

representations, Routledge, New York.

 

Mandell, N 2002, The corporation as family: the gendering

of corporate welfare, 1890-1930, University of North

Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, NC.

 

Mowforth, M & Munt, I 2003, Tourism & sustainability:

development and tourism in the third world, Routledge, New

York.

 

Sinclair, MT & Stabler, M 1997, The economics of tourism,

Routledge, London. 

 

Tolentino, P 2000, Multinational corporations: emergence

and evolution, Routledge, London.

 

Sims, RR 2003 Ethics and corporate social

responsibility: why giants fall, Praeger, Westport, CT.

 

Sims, RR 2002, Organizational success through effective

Human Resources Management, Quorum Books, Westport, CT.

 

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The Emergence, Evolution and the Development of Japanese, American and European Countries Multinational Corporations

The Evolution and the Development of Multinational Corporations

 

 

American and European Countries Multinational Corporations

The domination of American in the development of Multinational Corporation has been widely identified (Nussbaum et.al, 1980). This idea of the multinational corporation, according to Hymer (1979), was initially based on the American perspective. The precursor to this is the United States’ “national corporation”, which was created at the end of the 19th century when American capitalism developed a multi-city and continent-wide marketing and manufacturing strategy. These state-chartered companies were considered multinationals at least to the extent that they represented a business organisation with economic goals projected on an international stage (Reardon, 1992). Prior to 1970s, most of the early studies tend to examine the United States foreign investment activity. This process began in the latter part of the nineteenth century when American industry began to supersede its European rivals. 

 

The United States was economically self-sufficient during the half century, between the end of the Civil War and its entry into World War I. This resulted to the halt of the internationalisation of Corporate America. But when World War I forced the U. S. to be exposed to the outside world, its ideological isolationism changed dramatically. This unforeseen turn enabled the U. S. to learn various foreign business policies and to study how foreign corporations coped up from economic and political dislocations caused by a major continental war. Corporate America then realized that the U. S. and its economy had been isolated, virtually untouched by world events The effect of World War I to the economy of the U. S. included forming irreversible commitments by larger oil, paper, copper, nitrates, rubber, and aluminum companies to foreign investments to ensure their companies’ futures. However, some consumer-driven companies such as general Motors, Goodyear, General electric, and Du Pont had less aggressive foreign expansion. These foreign ventures had the geographic spread qualifications of  “MNCs” yet, in terms of corporate management and finances, they were American companies with “subordinate” foreign branches that acquired their justification because they served some specific limited objectives.

 

While World War II and America’s involvement therein halted the limited foreign expansion of the late 1930s, this was to become the window, which saves America a global perspective. Because of the recession and isolationism after World War I, many developing multinational corporations quickly withdrew from the global economy. The only U.S. corporations and true multinationals in the late 1940s and early 1950s were in the primary sector. These corporations anticipated real shortages, so they had to invest in the Middle East, Latin America, Africa, and Canada. Some even went so far as to rebuild their pre-war processing or distribution facilities in Europe. American corporations expanded their businesses into Latin America. But it was limited by labour-intensive industries’ establishment of assembly facilities in countries with depressed economies and an ample supply of cheap, unskilled labour.

 

The first real impetus to the multinationalisation process in the industrial and service sectors was developed during the late1950s. The United States direct investment abroad increased nearly fivefold, from billion to billion between 1950 and 1965, and by the end of 1980, the total was approximately 0 billion. America’s massive post-war aid to war-ravaged countries, allowed the international economy to recover sooner than expected. It formed a healthy and favourable economic climate for corporate expansion, reaching its zenith in the period 1960 – 1980. Following its victory in the war and in response to the Soviet challenge, the United States created in its own security interests the pattern of relations among the non-Communist countries within which American MNCs have flourished. In addition, the advances in transportation and communication, the introduction of the computer, and massive rebuilding requirements in Europe coincided with the rapid growth of American multinational corporations. Perhaps it was the common market that stimulated the multinationalisation of America’s manufacturing and service enterprises.

 

The response of European businesses to the expanding and developing U. S. MNCs was to join the MNC system rather than to challenge it. The European firms were already multinational, though their overseas expansion had been somewhat frustrated by balance of payment restrictions. As a result of mergers, nationalisation and growth, other firms became better equipped for multinational operations and began to extend their international operations in other European countries, in underdeveloped countries, and even in the United States. Therefore, the MNC system was no longer an American system, but at the very least became a North Atlantic system both in the sense that Europeans joined the MNC ranks and in the sense that American firms became less tied to the United States.

 

European, specifically British, capitalism has traditionally practiced capital export like portfolio investment and loans. In the 19th century, Great Britain’s direct investments were invariably infrastructure investments (Hall ed., 1968). In the 20th century, it has been largely in manufacturing, particularly in the growth sectors of advanced or rapidly developing countries. These investments were accompanied by mass migration of labour. Management, capital, and technology have gone as a package to foreign lands in search of labour, markets, and resources. In the 19th century, at least in the so-called lands of recent settlement (Canada, Australia, the United States, and South Africa), management and operating control usually remained in local hands (see Table 2.0).

 

Most of the original investment made by European countries to the USA was of the portfolio variety. Direct investments made in the US manufacturing sector near the end of the 19th century included capital from the British in textiles, primary metals, and food and beverages, and from the Germans in chemicals, beverages and electrical equipment. Subsidiaries in the United States were established during this time by such familiar MNCs as Bayer (in 1865), Merck, Geigy, Bosch, Siemens, Daimler, Lever Brothers, Dunlop, Michelin, and Nestle. By nationality, British holdings ranked first followed by German holdings. By type of portfolio, manufacturing ranked first, finance next, then transportation. The following (Table 2.0) is a comparison table between British and American foreign investment

 

Table 2.0: British and American Foreign Investment

 

 

British, 19th century

 

 

United States, 20th century

 

 

Investors

Banks

Individuals

Bond Market

Corporations

Type of Investment

Portfolio

Loans

Direct

 

Activity

Raw Materials

Agriculture

Utilities (railroads and seaport)

Manufacturing

Raw Materials (especially petroleum)

Marketing

Primary Motivation

Local Opportunity for Immediate Profit

Global Corporate Strategy

Location of Investment (Bulk of Investment)

Europe

United States

Lands of Recent Settlement (Australia, Canada)

Europe

Latin America

Canada

Middle East (petroleum)

Migration

Stimulated Mass Migration

Corporate Management

 

 

Source: US Power and the Multinational Corporation, Robert Gilpin, 1975

 

 

 

The Japanese Multinational Corporations

Japanese firms on the other hand, constructed an extensive network of exploration and production abroad. The move was stimulated by the need to guarantee supplies of raw materials, the need to be cost-competitive due to the rising of wages, labour shortages, and an appreciating currency, and the need to secure access to the world market. Those activities were conducted by leading Japanese trade firms who were already multinational (Hymer, 1979). Many of these ventures do not take the form of the wholly owned subsidiary or branch plant used by American MNCs. Instead, they frequently involve production sharing, guaranteed demand contracts, technical assistance, and portfolio capital.

 

After World War II, the Japanese continued their policy of not permitting foreign direct investment but of spending liberally for imported licenses of technology (Tsurumi, 1976). Their purchases of technology from abroad were considerable, yet at the same time they spent more than four times that amount on domestic research and development. The incredible result was that within a relatively short period of two decades, Japan succeeded in breaking up the “package” of capital, technology, and entrepreneurship, which foreign direct investment has most frequently entailed. Interesting was the fact that they didn’t need the capital and got the technology without managerial control by American corporations, and the entrepreneurship remained in the hands of Japanese.

 

Dunning (1993) categorised Japanese foreign direct investment strategies into two categories: as a defensive market-seeking investment and as an offensive. The first strategy was the use of their strong owner advantages. These advantages were sustained and supported by strong location advantages to protect existing export markets with respect to trade barriers and competitors’ threats. Cases in point are the green-field plant type of ‘screwdriver’ factory for automobile, electrical and electronic equipment industries. Majority of Japanese MNCs activities in the early 1980s were of this type. The second strategy was the supply-oriented investment aimed at gaining access to the information and technology needed to upgrade and rationalise ‘domestic’ operations, and to advance a global competitive strategy. By the end of the 1980s, Japan’s leading MNCs departed from  trade replacing function, towards a new phase of advancing global competitive strength. They increasingly adopted offensive strategies in their attempt to secure and advance their foreign markets. Such strategies have been largely driven by the need of Japanese firms to transform themselves from exporters to ‘insiders’ in the major markets of the world, and to keep in touch with the latest technological and organisational developments, while benefiting from economies of cross-border arbitraging and the gathering and disseminating of information.

 

 

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, outward FDI was encouraged in light manufacturing sectors (textile, toys) – former export ‘stars’ which were rendered uncompetitive by the increasing predominance of heavy industries (steel, chemicals, shipbuilding). Most of these labour intensive industries were exported to Asian developing countries (Ozawa, 1989). Subsequently, outbound investment was aimed at securing access to the natural resources (oil, mineral and etc.) required fuelling the growth of heavy domestic industry. Finally, the continuation of the upgrading process demanded a shift up the value-added chain into higher knowledge and technology intensive activities.

 

It was in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when Japanese MNCs were encouraged by the government to develop host countries to sustain or enlarge the markets for the exports of firms whose owner advantages had by then reached rough parity with their Western counterparts (Ozawa, 1989). In other words, because of changing location advantages of Japanese firms, the latter showed an increasing preference in the late 1980s to exploit those advantages by engaging in foreign production. This was particularly true for Japan’s burgeoning car and consumer electronics industries, whose highly competitive products (low-cost, high quality and market oriented) were beginning to capture high market shares in the United States and Europe. In the early 1980s, the main aim of the Japanese MNC was to protect the competitive advantage of Japanese-made products. This was evident in what were then Japan’s premier export sectors, i.e. cars and electronic goods. Japanese had invested more in the United States than to Europe because of location advantages, and the fact that because of differing regulatory environments, Japanese firms could internalise the market to their owner’s advantages more easily in the United States than in Europe.

 

In other words, industrial rationalisation and restructuring mainly took place in Japan, with outward manufacturing FDI geared towards maintaining or advancing markets for Japanese exports (in developed countries) and relocating uncompetitive activities (in developing countries). But relative to their United States and European counterparts, Japanese multinationals still possessed relatively weak owner advantages in the innovation of many new technologies. This meant that Japan needs a continual inflow of technology from abroad for its industrial upgrading. Given this, a second important function of FDI was to act as a channel to absorb technologies developed in the West (Ozawa, 1989). However, Japan preferred to acquire such technology through means other than direct investment (licensing, reverse engineering, etc.).

 

Some still maintain that Japanese MNCs are ‘late comers’ to the international political economy and that this forcefully sets them apart from the experienced American and European-based MNCs (Ozawa, 1979). The Japanese multinationals’ alignment with the overarching industrial policy of the Japanese government is a frequent issue for debate. This policy focuses on circumventing protectionist measures abroad that limit market access. Thus, the foreign direct investment behaviour of Japanese MNCs is said to be concerned primarily with establishing export platforms and the practice of transhipments (Yoffie, 1990). Other researchers believe that Japanese MNCs, have traditionally emphasised the development of natural resources rather than agricultural and manufacturing endeavours. And compared to American MNCs that have focused more on profit making in manufacturing, Japanese MNCs are more into foreign direct investment behaviour that is consistent with nature resources diplomacy.

 

 

 

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COMPARING SERVICE QUALITY BETWEEN DOMESTIC HOTEL AND INTERNATIONAL HOTEL IN CHINA

PART 1

 

A. Comparing service quality of customers’ perceptions between domestic and international hotel. (T-test)

 

1) Courtesy

 

Table 1. Perceptions of the Participants regarding Courtesy

 

Variable

Domestic hotel

Mean±SD

International

hotel

Mean±SD

Estimated t

Critical t

Significance level

Courtesy

4.09±1.10

4.73±0.52

-2.914                                     

2.000

0.005

 

As most of the respondents of the study were from different places in the world, the way they perceived the importance of courtesy appeared to be varied as well. In Table 1, although a greater number of respondents said that they had higher perceptions regarding the courtesy of the staff members in the Grand Hyatt Beijing Hotel, the results of the participants’ responses in Beijing Hotel courtesy seemed to be slightly well-distributed also.

2) Guide

Table 2. Perceptions of the Participants regarding Guide

 

Variable

Domestic hotel

Mean±SD

International

hotel

Mean±SD

Estimated t

Critical t

Significance level

Guide

4.85±0.44

4.87±0.43

-0.165                                      

2.000

0.870

 

Generally, the participants of the study evaluated that the guides in both the Grand Hyatt Beijing Hotel and Beijing Hotel were very important to them, and they also mentioned that the guides were helpful and cooperative with them. They did not consider it a problem to easily interact with the guides of both the international and domestic hotels. As shown in Table 2, majority of the respondents strongly agreed that the guides of both the Grand Hyatt Beijing Hotel and Beijing Hotel were able to provide a wide variety of quality services with less waiting time. In fact, during the interview, most of the respondents commonly observed this factor.

3) Technology

 

Table 3. Perceptions of the Participants regarding Technology

 

Variable

Domestic hotel

Mean±SD

International

hotel

Mean±SD

Estimated t

Critical t

Significance level

Technology

4.82±0.53

4.97±0.18

-1.463                                       

2.000

0.149

 

Tourists are able to quickly feel at home when the hotel’s technologies are well updated. As this survey revealed, the Beijing Hotel and the Grand Hyatt Beijing Hotel in China were doing a relatively good job in making sure that their technologies make their guests very accommodated. See Table 3 for the distribution of the participants’ perceptions with regards to the technologies of the 2 hotels involved.

4) Checkout

 

Table 4. Perceptions of the Participants regarding Checkout

 

Variable

Domestic hotel

Mean±SD

International

hotel

Mean±SD

Estimated t

Critical t

Significance level

Checkout

4.67±0.88

4.57±0.79

0.427                                      

2.000

0.671

 

As most of the respondents of the study were from different places in the world, the way they perceived the importance of checkout appeared to be varied as well. In Table 4, although a greater number of respondents said that they had higher perceptions regarding the efficient checkout mechanisms in Beijing Hotel, the results of the participants’ responses in Grand Hyatt Beijing Hotel’s checkout mechanisms seemed to be slightly well-distributed also.

5) Check in

Table 5. Perceptions of the Participants regarding Checkout

Variable

Domestic hotel

Mean±SD

International

hotel

Mean±SD

Estimated t

Critical t

Significance level

Check in

4.70±0.81

4.57±0.63

0.709                                       

2.000

0.481

 

Generally, the participants of the study evaluated that the check in mechanisms in both the Grand Hyatt Beijing Hotel and Beijing Hotel were very important to them, and they also mentioned that the check in mechanisms were helpful in guaranteeing their security. As shown in Table 5, majority of the respondents strongly agreed that the check in mechanisms of both Grand Hyatt Beijing Hotel and Beijing Hotel were able to provide a great quality of security to them. In fact, during the interview, most of the respondents commonly observed this factor.

6) Rooms

Table 6. Perceptions of the Participants regarding Rooms

Variable

Domestic hotel

Mean±SD

International

hotel

Mean±SD

Estimated t

Critical t

Significance level

Rooms

4.79±0.48

4.90±0.31

-1.086                                        

2.000

0.282

 

Tourists are able to quickly feel at home when the hotel’s rooms are clean and comforting. As this survey revealed, the Beijing Hotel and the Grand Hyatt Beijing Hotel in China were doing a relatively good job in making sure that the rooms that they offer to their guests are very clean and refreshing. See Table 6 for the distribution of the participants’ perceptions with regards to the rooms of the 2 hotels involved.

7) Food

Table 7. Perceptions of the Participants regarding Food

Variable

Domestic hotel

Mean±SD

International

hotel

Mean±SD

Estimated t

Critical t

Significance level

Food

4.76±0.75

4.70±0.65

0.324

2.000

0.747

 

As most of the respondents of the study were from different places in the world, the way they perceived the importance of food appeared to be varied as well. In Table 7, although a greater number of respondents said that they had higher perceptions regarding the excellent food in Beijing Hotel, the results of the participants’ responses in Grand Hyatt Beijing Hotel’s food quality seemed to be slightly well-distributed also.

8) Flow Service

Table 8. Perceptions of the Participants regarding Flow Service

Variable

Domestic hotel

Mean±SD

International

hotel

Mean±SD

Estimated t

Critical t

Significance level

Flow service

4.55±0.87

4.27±0.69

1.399

2.000

0.167

 

Generally, the participants of the study evaluated that the flow service in both the Grand Hyatt Beijing Hotel and Beijing Hotel were very important to them, and they also mentioned that the efficient flow service were critical in making every minute of their stay in the hotels worthwhile. As shown in Table 8, majority of the respondents strongly agreed that the flow service of both Grand Hyatt Beijing Hotel and Beijing Hotel were able to provide a great quality of time to them. In fact, during the interview, most of the respondents commonly observed this factor.

9) Promptness

Table 9. Perceptions of the Participants regarding Promptness

Variable

Domestic hotel

Mean±SD

International

hotel

Mean±SD

Estimated t

Critical t

Significance level

Promptness

4.36±0.82

4.57 ±0.73

-1.033

2.000

0.306

 

Tourists are able to quickly feel at home when the hotel’s services are always delivered quickly and promptly. As this survey revealed, the Beijing Hotel and the Grand Hyatt Beijing Hotel in China were doing a relatively good job in making sure that the services that they offer to their guests were fast and efficient. See Table 9 for the distribution of the participants’ perceptions with regards to the promptness of the services of the 2 hotels involved.

10) Timeliness

Table 10. Perceptions of the Participants regarding Timeliness

Variable

Domestic hotel

Mean±SD

International

hotel

Mean±SD

Estimated t

Critical t

Significance level

Timeliness

4.76±0.79

4.80±0.41

-0.263

2.000

0.793

 

As most of the respondents of the study were from different places in the world, the way they perceived the importance of the timeliness of the hotel services appeared to be varied as well. In Table 10, although a greater number of respondents said that they had higher perceptions regarding the timeliness of the services in Grand Hyatt Beijing Hotel, the results of the participants’ responses in Beijing Hotel’s timeliness of services seemed to be slightly well-distributed also.

B. Comparing service quality of customers’ expectations between domestic and international hotel. (T-test)

 

1) Courtesy

Table 11. Expectations of the Participants regarding Courtesy

Variable

Domestic hotel

Mean±SD

International

hotel

Mean±SD

Estimated t

Critical t

Significance level

Courtesy

4.73±0.45

4.97±0.18

-1.003

2.000

0.320

 

Generally, the participants of the study expected that the courtesy of the staff members in both the Grand Hyatt Beijing Hotel and Beijing Hotel would be very well observed, and they also mentioned that courtesy of the hotel staff was critical in making every minute of their stay in the hotels worthwhile. As shown in Table 11, majority of the respondents strongly agreed that the courtesy of the staff members of both Grand Hyatt Beijing Hotel and Beijing Hotel would be able to provide a great quality of time to them. In fact, during the interview, most of the respondents commonly observed this factor.

2) Guide

Table 12. Expectations of the Participants regarding Guide

Variable

Domestic hotel

Mean±SD

International

hotel

Mean±SD

Estimated t

Critical t

Significance level

Guide

4.70±0.59

4.20±0.66

3.156

2.000

0.002

 

Tourists are able to quickly feel at home when the hotel’s guides are always active and ready to help their customers. As this survey revealed, the Beijing Hotel and the Grand Hyatt Beijing Hotel in China must make sure that the guides that they hire to help their guests are active and efficient. This was because there was a high range of expectations that registered for both Beijing Hotel and Grand Hyatt Beijing Hotel. See Table 12 for the distribution of the participants’ expectations with regards to the guides of the 2 hotels involved.

3) Technology

Table 13. Expectations of the Participants regarding Technology

Variable

Domestic hotel

Mean±SD

International

hotel

Mean±SD

Estimated t

Critical t

Significance level

Technology

4.52±0.57

4.63±0.67

-0.760

2.000

0.450

 

As most of the respondents of the study were from different places in the world, the way they expected the importance of the technologies of the hotels appeared to be varied as well. In Table 13, although a greater number of respondents said that they had higher expectations regarding the technologies in Grand Hyatt Beijing Hotel, the results of the participants’ responses in Beijing Hotel’s technologies seemed to be slightly well-distributed also.

4) Checkout

Table 14. Expectations of the Participants regarding Checkout

Variable

Domestic hotel

Mean±SD

International

hotel

Mean±SD

Estimated t

Critical t

Significance level

Checkout

4.76±0.44

4.80±0.48

-0.366

2.000

0.715

 

Generally, the participants of the study expected that the checkout mechanisms in both the Grand Hyatt Beijing Hotel and Beijing Hotel would be very well observed, and they also mentioned that the checkout mechanism was critical in making every minute of their stay in the hotels worthwhile. As shown in Table 14, majority of the respondents strongly agreed that the checkout mechanisms of both Grand Hyatt Beijing Hotel and Beijing Hotel would be able to provide a great quality of time to them. In fact, during the interview, most of the respondents commonly observed this factor.

5) Check in

Table 15. Expectations of the Participants regarding Check in

Variable

Domestic hotel

Mean±SD

International

hotel

Mean±SD

Estimated t

Critical t

Significance level

Check in

4.70±0.81

4.83±0.38

-0.842

2.000

0.403

 

Tourists are able to quickly feel secured when the hotel’s check in mechanisms are always ready to help them secure their privacy. As this survey revealed, the Beijing Hotel and the Grand Hyatt Beijing Hotel in China must make sure that the check in mechanisms that they use to guarantee their guests’ privacy must be efficient. This was because there was a high range of expectations that registered for both Beijing Hotel and Grand Hyatt Beijing Hotel. See Table 12 for the distribution of the participants’ expectations with regards to the check in mechanisms of the 2 hotels involved.

 

 

6) Rooms

Table 16. Expectations of the Participants regarding Rooms

Variable

Domestic hotel

Mean±SD

International

hotel

Mean±SD

Estimated t

Critical t

Significance level

Rooms

4.88±0.33

4.87±0.35

0.142

2.000

0.888

 

As most of the respondents of the study were from different places in the world, the way they expected the importance of rooms of the hotels appeared to be varied as well. In Table 16, although a greater number of respondents said that they had higher expectations regarding the rooms in Beijing Hotel, the results of the participants’ responses in Grand Hyatt Beijing Hotel’s rooms seemed to be slightly well-distributed also.

7) Food

Table 17. Expectations of the Participants regarding Food

Variable

Domestic hotel

Mean±SD

International

hotel

Mean±SD

Estimated t

Critical t

Significance level

Food

4.73±0.45

4.70±0.53

0.219

2.000

0.827

 

Generally, the participants of the study expected that the food in both the Grand Hyatt Beijing Hotel and Beijing Hotel would be very delicious and tasty, and they also mentioned that the food was critical in making every minute of their stay in the hotels worthwhile. As shown in Table 17, majority of the respondents strongly agreed that the quality of foods of both Grand Hyatt Beijing Hotel and Beijing Hotel would be able to provide a great level of satisfaction to them. In fact, during the interview, most of the respondents commonly observed this factor.

8) Flow Service

Table 18. Expectations of the Participants regarding Flow Service

Variable

Domestic hotel

Mean±SD

International

hotel

Mean±SD

Estimated t

Critical t

Significance level

Flow service

4.73±0.45

4.77±0.43

-0.353

2.000

0.725

 

Tourists are able to quickly feel impressed when the hotel’s flow service is always quick and ready to help them. As this survey revealed, the Beijing Hotel and the Grand Hyatt Beijing Hotel in China must make sure that the flow service systems that they use to guarantee their guests’ comfortable stay must be efficient. This was because there was a high range of expectations that registered for both Beijing Hotel and Grand Hyatt Beijing Hotel. See Table 18 for the distribution of the participants’ expectations with regards to the flow service of the 2 hotels involved.

9) Promptness

Table 19. Expectations of the Participants regarding Promptness

Variable

Domestic hotel

Mean±SD

International

hotel

Mean±SD

Estimated t

Critical t

Significance level

Promptness

4.76±0.50

4.57±0.50

2.933

2.000

0.005

 

As most of the respondents of the study were from different places in the world, the way they expected the importance of promptness of services of the hotels appeared to be varied as well. In Table 19, although a greater number of respondents said that they had higher expectations regarding the promptness of the services in Beijing Hotel, the results of the participants’ responses in Grand Hyatt Beijing Hotel’s promptness of services seemed to be slightly well-distributed also.

10) Timeliness

Table 20. Expectations of the Participants regarding Timeliness

Variable

Domestic hotel

Mean±SD

International

hotel

Mean±SD

Estimated t

Critical t

Significance level

Timeliness

4.82±0.47

4.73±0.52

0.683

2.000

0.497

 

Generally, the participants of the study expected that the timeliness of the services in both the Grand Hyatt Beijing Hotel and Beijing Hotel would be very well observed, and they also mentioned that the timeliness of the services was critical in making every minute of their stay in the hotels worthwhile. As shown in Table 20, majority of the respondents strongly agreed that the timeliness of services of both Grand Hyatt Beijing Hotel and Beijing Hotel would be able to provide a great level of satisfaction to them. In fact, during the interview, most of the respondents commonly observed this factor.

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