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Impact of Service Quality on Customer Loyalty in the Hotel

Industry: An Empirical Study from Ghana
KOFI POKU
Department of Marketing and Corporate Strategy, Kwame Nkrumah
University of Science and Techonology, Ghana
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +233-244016839

MARIAMA ZAKARI
Department of Marketing and Corporate Strategy, Kwame Nkrumah
University of Science and Techonology, Ghana

AJARA SOALI
Information Services Department, Ghana

Abstract
The hotel industry contributes significantly to Ghanas development. However, they face the challenge of
meeting and exceeding their customers expectations through high quality service delivery in order to ensure
customer loyalty which is the bedrock of any business. The study investigates how service quality impacts
customer loyalty in Golden Tulip, a 4-star hotel; Miklin Hotel, a 3-star hotel and Lizzies Hotel, a 2-star hotel in
Kumasi, a leading city in Ghana. 50 customers seeking lodging and boarding services were randomly selected
and 5 staff members were purposively selected from each hotel for the study. By use of the SERVQUAL model
through survey questionnaire and interviews, the study reveals that customer satisfaction is not based solely on
the rankings/classification of the hotels but on service quality that gives value for money which in turn produces
customer loyalty. Miklin Hotel produced most satisfied and loyal customers, followed by Golden Tulip Hotel
and then Lizzies Hotel contrary to the classification order. In addition to responsiveness service quality
variable for Miklin, empathy and assurance variables made significant impact on customer loyalty for
guests from Miklin and Golden Tulip hotels, while reliability accounts for the loyalty of guests from Lizzies
Hotel. This confirms the direct relationship between customer satisfaction and loyalty. Tangibility does not
play any significant role in developing customer loyalty for all the hotels because the guests were least satisfied
with it and are likely to take it for granted in their quest for change. The study recommends that hotel
classification should not be based mainly on the tangible factors alone but rather on comprehensive service that
provide value for money and impact on customer loyalty.
Key words: SERVQUAL, Satisfaction, Hotel, Loyalty and Tangibility.

Introduction
The hotel Industry, a service provider, plays an immense role in the development of Ghana. Apart from its
contribution to GDP, it also serves as a source of employment for many people such as cleaners, cooks,
receptionists, security guards, etc. Lovelock, C. and Wirtz, J. (2010) report that most new employment is
provided by the service industry and this serves as the strongest growth area for marketing. For example,
in 2010, the service industry contributed 51.4% to GDP in Ghana. This was followed by agriculture and
manufacturing which contributed 29.9% and 18.6%, respectively (United States Central Intelligence
Agency Report, 2012).

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Furthermore, the recent discovery of oil in commercial quantities on the west coast of Ghana comes along
with a huge influx of people requiring some form of service to be provided by the hotel industry. This
brings in its wake issues of quality of service to meet diverse customer or guest expectations. Most hotels
are now faced with the challenge of meeting and exceeding these customer expectations to ensure repeat
patronage, which is the bedrock of any business (Caruana, A. Money, A.H. and Berthon, P.R., 2000).
Loyalty comes about as a result of satisfaction of the customers to the quality of services they receive in
the hotels they patronize. A loyal customer does not only engage in repeat patronage but also provides
positive word- of- mouth to other people, thereby increasing the revenue of the hotel. The implication of
this is that a customers change of patronage would have an impact in the long term revenue of the hotel.
Thus, how service quality impacts customer loyalty is therefore the focus of this paper.

Literature Review
Service Quality
A service is an economic activity that creates value and provides benefits for customers at specific times
and places by bringing about a desired change in or on behalf of the recipient of the service. Although the
process may be tied to a physical product, the performance is transitory, often intangible in nature and does
not normally result in ownership of any of the factors of production (Lovelock, C. and Wirtz, J. 2004).
However, being able to satisfy given needs reflects the value (or quality) of the product or service to the
customer, including the economic value, safety, reliability, and maintainability (Garvin, D.A., 1989).
Therefore, a customers evaluation of service quality and the resulting level of satisfaction are perceived to
affect bottom line measures of business success (Lacobucci, D., Grayson, K. A., and Omstrom, A. L.
1994). To some, service quality can also be defined as the difference between customers expectations for
the service encounter and the perceptions of the service received (Zeithaml, V. A., and Bitner J. M., (2003);
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A. and Berry, L. L (1988); Munusamy, J., Chiellah S. and Mun, H. W.
(2010). According to Suman M. and Garg, R. (2012), Oliver, (1980) said it is thus predicted that customers
will judge quality as ` low` if performance does not meet their expectations and quality as `high` when
performance exceeds expectations. This study adopted the five dimensions (SERVQUAL model)
employed by Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A. and Berry, L. L. (1988) to measure service quality. They
are assurance (knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to convey trust and confidence),
reliability (ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately), tangibility (physical
facilities, equipment and appearance of personnel), empathy (caring, individualized attention) and
responsiveness (willingness to help customers and provide prompt service).
Customer Loyalty
The term customer loyalty is used to describe the behavior of repeat customers, as well as those that offer
good ratings, reviews, or testimonials (Kumar, R. S., and Advani, J.Y. 2009). It is not only about
customers doing a particular company a great service b2y offering favorable word of mouth publicity
regarding a product/service, telling friends and family, but also, it is a process, a program, or a group of
programs geared toward keeping a guest happy so he or she will provide more business. According to
Iddrisu, A. M. (2011), Teich (1997) mentioned that loyalty is developed over a period of time from a
consistent record of meeting, and sometimes even exceeding customer expectations. Customer loyalty can
therefore be achieved in some cases by offering a quality product with a firm guarantee or through free
offers, coupons, low interest rates on financing, high value trade-ins, extended warranties, rebates, and
other rewards and incentive programs. The ultimate goal of these is to develop happy customers who will
return to purchase again and persuade others to use that company's products or services. This equates to
great cost savings and profitability to the company through the keeping of current customers as against
attracting new ones (Kotler, P. and Gertner, D. 1996) as well as making stakeholders happy (Mukherjee, P.
2009). Loyal customers are those who are not easily swayed by price inducement from competitors, and
they usually purchase more than those less loyal customers. However, there are many factors for such
manner of customers to remain loyal.

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Geronikolas (2012) reports that the five factors in the hotel industry that are most likely to drive customers
away include untrained and perceived rude staff; lack of cleanliness around the premises, in hotel rooms or
within its restaurants; the guests desire to experience new places (need for change); price, affordability,
and value for money. Overall, hotel food and beverage standards appear as the most important in hotel
tangibles and seem to be becoming increasingly significant in creating both a loyal base of satisfied
customers and driving dissatisfied customers away. Other factors that appear frequently as elements
driving business away are the actual hotel room (state, comfort, air condition or heating facilities, etc.), bad
service, issues concerning the hotels reliability (delivering promised services, accurately and consistently),
managerial behavior towards special needs and situations that may occur, problems occurring with other
guests (the general ambience the hotels other customers create) and noise within the hotel or surroundings.
Relationship Between Service Quality and Customer Loyalty
Various studies have examined the relationship between service quality and customer preference loyalty.
For example in focusing on repurchase intentions as a measure of loyalty, Cronin, J. Jr., and Taylor, S. A.
(1994) observed that service quality does not have a significant (positive) effect on repurchase intentions
(in contrast to the significant positive impact of satisfaction on repurchase intention). However, Boulding,
W., Kalra, A., Staelin, R. and Zeithaml, V.A. (1993), focusing on the elements of repurchasing as well as
the willingness to recommend as measures of customer loyalty, found positive relationships between
service quality and repurchase intentions and willingness to recommend (Akbar, M. M. and Parvez, N.
2009). Nevertheless, some customers may remain loyal due to high switching barriers or the lack of real
substitutes, while others will continue to be loyal because they are satisfied with the services provided
(Lam, R. and Burton, S. 2006).
Service providers must avoid being complacent since retained customers may not always be the satisfied
ones and similarly not all satisfied customers may always be retained. Research has pointed out that
perceived service quality has a positive impact on customer loyalty (Wong, C. B., 2005). This is because
service quality has been found to relate to behavioral outcomes, especially in the form of word-of-mouth,
complaint, recommendation and switching (Al-Rousan , Ramzi, M. and Mohamed, B., 2010).
Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty
Customers are said to be satisfied because they have positive feelings which result from a process of
evaluating what has been received against what was expected, including the purchase decision itself and the
needs and wants associated with the purchase (Armstrong, G. and Kotler, P. 1996; Wiele, T. V., Boselie P.,
and Hesselink, M. 2002); Akbar, M. M. and Parvez, N., 2009). Ehigie (2006) quoted Choi and Chou
(2001) saying that there is a significant positive relationship between customer satisfaction and customer
loyalty. This relationship is further strengthened as customers get tremendously satisfied or delighted
(Oliver, R.L., Rust, R.T., and Varki, S. 1997); Lam, Y. S., Shankar, M. K. E., and Murthy B. (2009).
Wong, C.B. (2005) cited Clarke (2001) as mentioning that customer satisfaction, which has become
nothing more than the price of entry to a category is therefore the starting point to build customer loyalty.
However, customer satisfaction in itself does not guarantee loyalty because in some cases 65% to 85%
percent of customers who defect to competitors brands say they are either satisfied or very satisfied with
the product or service they left (Reichheld, F.F. and Sasser, W.E. Jr., 1990; Storbacka, K. and Lehtinen, J.,
2001; Sivadas, E. and Baker-Prewitt, J. L. 2000). Therefore, in order to ensure that customers do not
defect, Bowen, T. A. and Brown, S. W. (2001) are correct to say that customers must be extremely
satisfied. Nevertheless, customers may change providers because of price, or because the competitor is
offering new opportunities, or simply because they want some variation (Storbacka, K. and Lehtinen, J.,
2001). That notwithstanding, for satisfaction to be effective, it must be able to create loyalty amongst
customers because building customer loyalty is not a choice any longer with businesses, it is the only way
of building sustainable competitive advantage (Bansal, S. and Gupta, G. 2001). Yet not all loyal customers
are necessarily satisfied customers, the level of service quality plays a role (Akbar, M.M. and Parvez, N.
2009).

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Hotel Classification in Ghana

According to the Ghana Standards Board, there are five classes of hotels, resorts and motels namely one
star (4th class); two star (3rd class); three star (2nd class); four star (1st class) and five star (luxury). Ghana
has fused Economic Community of West African States Standard with its own standards and it has resulted
in the set of standards prescribed for the industry (Ghana Tourist Board, 2005). Majority of the elements
that make up the respective classes are based on tangibles such as furnishings and flooring. Others include
bathrooms and water closets, electrical gadgets such as telephone, television, radio and lights, bed, dining
hall, meals and staff, as well as firefighting equipment, electrical installations and other safety measures in
accordance with safety laws. Alternate power supply or a standby generator, maintenance of hygienic
conditions and pest control measures as well as access roads are all inclusive (Ghana Standards Board,
2005).

Research Methodology
This study was conducted on three selected hotels in Ghana with different classifications as provided by the
Ghana Tourist Board (Ghana Tourist Board, 2005). They are Lizzies Hotel, a 2-star Hotel; Miklin Hotel, a
3-star Hotel; and Golden Tulip, a 4-star Hotel. Since all the hotels offered boarding and lodging which is a
common feature, the study selected fifty guests from each of the hotels for investigation.
A survey questionnaire was used to gather data on customer expectations, perceptions and satisfaction with
respect to the service quality of the hotels using the SERVQUAL model (Parasuraman, A. Zeithaml, V.A.
and Berry, L.L. 1988). In addition, 5 staff members per hotel were purposively selected and interviewed.
Descriptive characteristics of the respondents and the weighted averages of their responses were
summarized using tables, frequencies and graphs (Kerlinger, F. N. 1973).
In addition, gap analysis was used in comparing means between expectation score and perception score of
the respondents. Assessing the impact of service quality on customer loyalty was measured using a simple
probit regression model and analysed by SPSS. Probability values were estimated using the software Stata
v10. All the service quality elements were obtained using proxies and measured using a five-point likert
scale. However, responses were transformed to dummies where all responses with a mean of 4.0 or above
belonged to the 1= satisfactory category, whilst responses with averages less than 4.0 belonged to the 0=
unsatisfactory category. Thus, all guests who had visited their respective hotels twice or more (repeat
guests) were deemed loyal and otherwise deemed not loyal). The empirical model used was of this form:
Y = 0 + 1Tan + 2Rel + 3Res + 4Ass + 5Emp+ (Aurora and Orden, 2010).
where: Y1= customer loyalty status, 1 if loyal, 0 if otherwise. 0 = intercept;
i=coefficients of individual service quality variables; Tan = Tangibility;
Rel =Reliability; Res = Responsiveness; Ass = Assurance; Emp = Empathy; = error term.

Results and Discussions

The overall response rate for the study was 65%. The study revealed that in spite of the varying customer
responses with respect to satisfaction levels of the service quality variables of all the forms of services
provided by the hotels, guests of Miklin Hotel were generally most satisfied (weighted average of 4.59),
followed closely by guests of Golden Tulip Hotel (weighted average of 4.58), and lastly, guests of Lizzies
Hotel (weighted average of 3.95). However, tangibility and empathy variables recorded unsatisfactory
levels for guests of Lizzies hotel (Table 1).

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Table 1. Ranking of Service Quality Factors for Selected Hotels with respect to
Customer Satisfaction (N = 97)
SERVQUAL Factors Satisfaction Means

Golden
Tulip

Rank

Miklin

Rank

Lizzies

Rank

Tangibles

4.52

5th

4.53

5th

3.71

4th

Assurance

4.66

1st

4.60

3rd

4.02

3rd

Reliability

4.59

3rd

4.54

4th

4.17

1st

Responsiveness

4.61

2nd

4.65

1st

4.12

2nd

Empathy

4.54

th

3.71

4th

Weighted Average

4.58

4.62

nd

4.59

3.95

Source: Researchers field data.

Further, the satisfaction levels of guests from Lizzies Hotel, a 2-star hotel, were relatively low. Also, in all
the hotels, the guests were least satisfied with the tangibility factor of their service quality. This may be
because tangibility is a factor that accounts for physical facilities, equipment and appearance of personnel
(Parasuraman et al., 1990), it is easily discerned and the impression may last for a short time because of the
general desire of guests to experience new places and new things all the time (Geronikolas, N. 2012).

Services
According to the guests of all the three hotels, the kinds of services offered that have attracted them to the
hotels include standard accommodation, neat bathroom facilities and well-stocked bars for guests or
customers as confirmed by Geronikolas, N. (2012). However, facilities such as a well-maintained
swimming pool and live music for the guests relaxation as well as a functional internet facility, together
with other special services and loyalty packages (as shown in table 2) are only available at Golden Tulip
and Miklin Hotels. It is not surprising that guests of these hotels have higher satisfaction levels of service
quality because according to Geronikolas, N. (2012), they influence guests satisfaction and patronage.
Table 2. Special Services and Loyalty Packages by Hotels
Golden Tulip
Miklin
Lizzies
Special Services
Conference Hall
Conference Hall
Conference Hall
Restaurant
Restaurant
Restaurant
Gym
Gym
Supermarket
Car rentals
Swimming pool
Swimming pool
Tennis court
Salon
Nightclub
Tennis court
Continental buffet
Car rentals
Live band music
Loyalty Packages
Free air ticket
Discount on room and food
Discount on room and food
Credit basis
Free breakfast
Source: Researchers field data.
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With all these different services offered by the different classes of hotel with resultant varied satisfaction
levels, the question that arises is, Which aspects of the quality of the services being offered actually
motivate guests to become loyal?
Customer Loyalty
The weighted averages of hotel guests responses regarding the loyalty indicators are all very positive as
shown in Table 3 below.

Item

Table 3. Levels of Customer Loyalty of Hotel Guests (N = 97)

Response
Responses by Percentages
Golden Tulip
Miklin

Stay/visit in the hotel

again

Strongly agree
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly disagree

67.4
30.2
2.3
0
0
4.67

90.5
4.8
4.8
0
0
4.86

30.3
21.2
48.5
0
0
4.00

Strongly agree
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly disagree

60.5
39.5
0
0
0
4.60

76.2
19
4.8
0
0
4.71

57.6
24.2
18.2
0
0
4.39

Strongly agree
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly disagree

67.4
32.6
0
0
0
4.67

76.2
19
4.8
0
0
4.71

51.5
27.3
21.2
0
0
4.30

Weighted Average
Recommend hotel to
others

Weighted Average
Tell/inform others of
hotels quality

Lizzie

Weighted Average
Source: Researchers field data.

From table 3, guests of Golden Tulip, Miklin and Lizzies Hotels in Kumasi are loyal to their respective
hotels. However, the loyalty level of guests was highest for Miklin Hotel, followed by Golden Tulip and
then Lizzies Hotel. This corresponds to the guests, satisfaction levels of service quality in table 1 above
where guests of Miklin Hotel were most satisfied, followed by guests of Golden Tulip Hotel and those of
Lizzies Hotel. This confirms the assertion that there is a direct relationship between customer satisfaction
and customer loyalty. Miklin Hotel appears to be doing something right which is attracting loyal customers
to itself. The study revealed that one of the things Miklin Hotel is using as competitive advantage is its
pricing.
From table 4 below, Miklin Hotel appears to be attracting the lower income earners of less than
approximately $250 a month (which forms the majority of its customer base) with its superior and
competitive service quality which matches that of Golden Tulip Hotel, a 4-star hotel as shown in table 1
above. Thus, it is clear that Miklin is giving its customers, value for their money, which is a key
component for keeping customers loyal (Lovelock, C. and Wirtz J., 2004). It is further established from
table 4, that people who earn high incomes have the taste for high class hotels such as Golden Tulip, since
they can afford to stay in them, while those whose earnings are lower also settle for lower class hotels but
will definitely look for value for their money.
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Table 4. Monthly Earnings of Hotel Guests (N = 97)

Golden Tulip
Miklin
$
(% guests)
(% guests)
Earnings
Below 250
2.4
44.4
250 -500
11.9
11.1
500 -750
4.8
0
750 1,000
9.5
11.1
1,000 -1,500
7.1
11.1
Above 1,500
64.3
22.2
Source: Researchers field data.

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Lizzies
(% guests)
12.5
40.6
12.5
6.2
28.1
0

Impact of Service Quality on Customer Loyalty

Al-Rousan, Ramzi, M. and Mohamed, B. (2010) said Wong and Soha (2000) conducted a study that
revealed that the quality of service offered by hotels influences positively on the tendency for guest to keep
patronizing the hotels.
The Probit Regression Estimates for the selected hotels are shown in table 5 below where the elements of
service quality as against customer loyalty status were fit into a regression model in order to assess their
effects and relationships.
Table 5. Probit Regression Estimates for Selected Hotels
Tangibility
Empathy
Assurance
Responsiveness
-0.0843
6.086*
5.4195*
11.421*
0.8310
-0.4269
1.3831*
1.3912*

Miklin Hotel
Golden Tulip
Hotel
Lizzies
0.3734
0.2574
Hotel
* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level
Source: Researchers field data.

-0.2876

-0.3249

Reliability
0.8416
0.5377
0.8430*

From the table above, even though Golden Tulip Hotel is of higher class (4-star) than Miklin Hotel (3-star),
table 5 reveals that they both have their guests loyalty being influenced by empathy and assurance but
with greater impact on the guests of Miklin Hotel. This means that the customers perceive that their loyalty
to the hotels is greatly influenced by the fact that the staff of these hotels are caring, and provide
individualised attention as well as exhibit knowledge, courtesy, trust and confidence (Parasuraman, A.
Zeithaml, V. A. and Berry, L. L. 1988). In addition, guests of Miklin Hotel indicated that the hotel staff
demonstrated a willingness to help customers and provide prompt service (responsiveness variable).
This is a clear example of superior service offer, even though the hotel is of a lower class than Golden
Tulip Hotel. However, Lizzies Hotel, a 2-star hotel, revealed that reliability was the service quality
variable that significantly and positively impacted on customer loyalty, but with the least impact. It is
therefore clear from the study that the provision of comprehensive service that gives value for money
makes a greater impact on the loyalty of customers than the class of the hotel which is predominantly based
on tangible variables as demonstrated by Miklin Hotel. Some of these unique superior services were
confirmed by the staff of Miklin Hotel that the hotel also possesses a serene environment and compound,
high quality staff, flexibility in their rates and a timely service, even when not booked beforehand. Golden
Tulip on the other hand, aside high quality staff, also indicated that buffet and night club were contributory
factors to their customers loyalty. In the case of Lizzies Hotel, a 2-star hotel, reliability was the service
quality variable that impacted significantly and positively on its guests loyalty. This suggests that
customers perceive the staff of the hotel as being able to perform the promised service dependably and
accurately (Parasuraman, A. Zeithaml, V.A. and Berry, L.L. 1988). The staff of the hotel confirmed this
during interviews.

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The tangibility variable of service quality (such as physical facilities, equipment appearance of personnel,
etc.) showed no significant impact on customer loyalty for all the guests of the respective hotels. This is
not surprising since tangibility was the service quality variable that enjoyed the least satisfaction by the
guests of each hotel (see table 1). This confirms the direct relationship between satisfaction and loyalty
(Penang, B. and Keng, L. L., 2006). In addition, because this variable is most obvious to guests at their
initial contact with the hotel, the insatiable appetite for guests to seek change could motivate them to expect
more, hence the tendency to take that for granted and unable to remain loyal based on that factor. This
explanation sits well with the report of Storbacka, K. and Lehtinen, J. (2001) that customers search for
change and variety affects their satisfaction and hence patronage in the hotel industry.

Conclusion
This paper relies on responses from randomly selected guests seeking boarding and lodging services in
three different classes of hotel in Ghana: a 4-star, 3-star and a 2- star. The study shows that the satisfaction
levels of guests are not based solely on the classification of the hotels which are generally based on the
tangibility variable (Ghana Standards Board, 2005). Thus, from the study, guests of Miklin Hotel, a 3-star
hotel were more satisfied than guests of Golden Tulip hotel, a 4-star Hotel, followed by guests of Lizzies
Hotel, a 2-star hotel. It is believed that the quality of service which provides value for money is critical to
the satisfaction of guests to these hotels (Lovelock, C. and Wirtz, J. 2004). Additionally, this satisfaction
trend also translates unto the loyalty levels of guests; where guests of Miklin Hotel were impacted greatly
by the service quality variables, followed by Golden Tulip Hotel and Lizzies Hotel, respectively as shown
in tables 3 above.
The relationships and impact of the service quality variables are further buttressed by the results of a simple
Probit Regression Model where the elements of service quality as against customer loyalty status are fit
into a regression model. Here, in addition to the responsiveness" variable for the 3-star hotel, empathy
and assurance variables play significant roles in generating customer loyalty for the 4-star and 3-star
hotels, while reliability generates loyalty for Lizzies hotel, a 2-star hotel. Guest however, were least
satisfied with the tangibility variable which does not also make any significant impact on their loyalty to
the respective hotels. A key policy message is for the framers of the classification measures of hotels in
Ghana is to consider service quality variables that impact on customer loyalty and not focus on just the
tangibles since that variable can be taken for granted by hotel guests who are generally characterized as
looking for different environments all the time.

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