Service quality development of the hotel human resources in preparation to serve ASEAN economic community : an investigation on hotels in Koh Samui, Suratthai
Abstract:
The objectives of this thesis were to study the service quality and to investigate human resources preparation in Koh Samuis hotels towards the ASEAN Common Competency Standards for Tourism Professionals. The Mixed Method Procedure was employed, in which 400 questionnaires were distributed to tourists and 20 hotel managers were interviewed. Data were analysed using Frequency Percentage, Mean, and Standard Deviation, T-test (Independent Sample) and One Way ANOVA.
The results on tourists expectation for service quality were divided into three categories:, people, physical evidence, and service process. Most tourists had high expectations on people, and lower expectation on physical evidence categories. The perception of service quality were divided into five categories,: tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. The highest awareness of the tourists were on reliability while the least is on empathy. The hypothesis testing found that differences in tourists personal factors and expectations would result in different perceptions of the service quality, which was found at the level of statistic significance of 0.05. The interviews conducted with different hotels managers revealed, the following findings regarding four skill attributes; 1) Knowledge of their job role and additional skill set, such as computer technology, 2) basic fundamental English skill, 3) multilingual ability, such as Chinese, Russian and Korean languages, 4) other characteristics, such as honesty and integrity. Furthermore, the hotel managers stressed that internal staff training should be enforced along with technology equipment training. Both practical and theoretical elements should be covered to ensure a full capacity of learning. English language proficiency should be evaluated and subsequent training be given as a result. Hotel staff should be given job orientation, mentoring and incentive system to ensure adequate knowledge and job skills in real practice. Independent learning should be encouraged by offering initiatives. Hotel management should provide the correct legislation regarding the ASEAN Common Competency Standards for Tourism Professionals so that, all members of staff are aware of the future involvement in the ASEAN Economic Community.
Keywords: Service Quality, ASEAN Economic Community, Expectation, Perception
WALAILAK UNIVERSITY. CENTER FOR LIBRARY RESOURCES AND EDUCATIONAL MEDIA