ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF HOSPITALITY SERVICE QUALITY ON TOURIST SATISFACTION IN HOTELS: A CASE STUDY OF KUALA LUMPUR

Povzetek

The tourism and hospitality industry are one of the leading sectors in Malaysia, making a significant contribution to the country’s GDP growth. Malaysia is widely recognized as a prominent tourist destination, and this sector plays a vital role in national economic development. To remain competitive and sustainable, organizations in this sector must develop a deeper understanding of the factors that influence customer satisfaction. Therefore, this study aims to examine the relationship between hospitality service quality and tourist satisfaction in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The research is grounded in Expectancy-Disconfirmation Theory (EDT), which posits that customer satisfaction is shaped by the comparison between expected and actual service performance. A quantitative research design was employed, and data were collected from a sample of 404 tourists who had stayed in various hotels across Kuala Lumpur. Stratified sampling was utilized to ensure a representative distribution of the tourist population. The statistical analysis using SPSS version 27,  SmartPLS 4 was used to perform Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM), encompassing both measurement and structural model evaluations. Surprisingly, the findings revealed no statistically significant direct relationship between hospitality service quality and tourist satisfaction. This suggests that superior service quality alone may not directly influence tourist satisfaction levels, highlighting the importance of managing customer expectations and considering other psychological or contextual factors that contribute to satisfaction.