Factors affecting the quality of service of accommodation Koh Phangan, Surat Thani

Abstract

During the past years, Pha-ngan District, Surat Thani Province had been a popular tourist destination visited by more travellers; yet, its number of places of accommodation i.e. hotels, hostels, etc., was quite insufficient to serve the visitors. Thus, this study on factors affecting accommodation service quality at Pha-ngan District, Surat Thani Province was aimed to investigate such service quality in order to provide recommendation to hoteliers/ accommodation owners.

This paper employed a qualitative research as well as in-depth interview through a snowball sampling technique with the criteria of initiating from the first entrepreneur operating a hotel business in the district for at least 5 years. Ultimately, other associates of 11 entrepreneurs in the same line of business were interviewed.

The findings reveal 5 factors affecting the accommodation service quality: (1) reliability; (2) assurance; (3) service tangibles; (4) recognition and empathy; and, (5) responsiveness, respectively. New discovery is also added, that is, all five factors are correlated.  It means the five factors and their correlation must consecutively exist in every accommodation place within the district.