An Examination Of Role Of Service Quality Of Budget Hotels In Customer Satisfaction– A Comparison Between UK And China

In recent years, with the fast developing of social economy, and due to the comfort of the facilities, the standardization of services, a boom in the development of Budget Hotels has been observed. This research is about the role of service quality in customer satisfaction of the budget hotels. This research considers the budget hotels of two countries i.e. U.K. and China. There are five objectives of this research. It conducts the literature review on theories of customer satisfaction and service quality and to examine the role of service quality in customer satisfaction. It conducts a survey in the budget hotels of China and U.K. regarding service quality and customer satisfaction. It examines the impact service quality of budget of hotels on customer satisfaction in China and U.K. Moreover, it also compares and contrasts the role of service quality of budget hotels on customer satisfaction in U.K. and China. The research is based on quantitative research methods where survey strategy is adopted for fulfilling the aim and objectives of this research. This research uses the questionnaire as the data collection tool. The adapted questionnaire is used for this research. The sample of 176 international tourists visiting China’s budget hotels and 158 international tourists visiting U.K.’s budget hotels is obtained. The descriptive analysis is conducted on the collected data. It is found that service quality level of China’s budget hotels is better but international customers of U.K.’s budget hotels are more satisfied. At the end, the research limitations and future research directions are provided.
 
 
 
 
Key words:  Service quality; budget hotels; customer satisfaction
1. Chapter One: Introduction
1.1. Introduction
Research is based on the existing theoretical basis and the background of the subject for setting the context of the research. This introductory chapter describes the background, aim and objectives and structure of the study, and rationale research are introduced in detail. 
1.2. Background of Dissertation
The travel and hospitality industry of U.K. and China is growing robustly during the past few years and the number of tourists in these two countries are increasing with the every passing year (Oxford Economics, 2015; Wen, 2015). This large number of tourists has generated many opportunities for the tourism and hotel industry of both countries. As time is passing and the global economy is growing, the standards for living quality has improved. Now days, customers have the higher demand for living quality and they look for the such consumption activities which allows them to relax and obtain new knowledge during the time of leisure (AT Kearney, 2015). Likewise, the transport developments occurring in the recent years has opened the door for more efficient and convenient opportunities for both global and domestic tourism (Michopoulou, and Moisa, 2016). 
Further to this, in recent years, the number of budget hotel and branding of these hotels continues to increase (Lee, Morris and Jones , 2009). The budget hotels has their roots in 1920s and they were first introduced in the United States (Shen, 2006). Though, the budget hotels has increased worldwide and there are numerous terms which are used interchangeably with the terminology of ‘economy’, ‘budget’ and ‘limited service’. Still, there is no widely accepted or standardised definition of the budget hotels and numerous researchers has defined it in a different manner. The most agreed upon definition of budget hotel is that it is the lowest category of hotel where rooms and food facilities are available at the lowest prices (Rahimi and Kozak, 2016). 
According to Medlik (2012), the increased popularity of budget hotels is due to the fast development of tourism industry along with the permanent and continuous change which is occurring the market demand. Moreover, the small and medium sized businesses are also flourishing in both Chinese and U.K. economy (Hussain, Millman and Matlay, 2016). Both countries are currently having the huge potential for residents travel. These trends are helping both economies to grow in a rapid manner and achieve the sustained growth. Now, consumer has more leisure time along with the disposable income. This also gives rise to increase in tourism activities. No matter from where the customer belongs, the only demand he/she possesses is to have low price and superior quality of services (Holstila et al., 2016). They do expect to have clean and cheap service and this often determines their satisfaction. The focus of present research is on this aspect, where it tries to explore that how service quality of budget hotels is determining the satisfaction of their customers (Xu and Fox, 2014). Though, global trends of the tourism are similar to the trends observed in both U.K. and China. This is yet to explore that is there any difference in service quality offered by U.K. and China’s hotels and its eventual influence on the customer satisfaction (Michopoulou and Moisa, 2016), therefore, the present research is focusing on the comparison of budget hotels of U.K. and China. 
Indeed, the increased number of budget hotels, this increases the competition between the hotels both in China and in the United Kingdom. Budget hotel has stepped into the era of fierce competition from the era of profitability . Once the hotel is introduced it is hard to survive in the midst of international and domestic chain hotel groups without a good position and characteristic high quality service (Brotherton, 2004). Therefore, for future development in the service, budget hotels has to take such initiatives that could allow them to reach the desired level of profitabuity. In the 21st century, the competition of hotel industry is the competition of service and service quality. Consequently, it is the key to the redevelopment of the hotel industry through strengthening the research of service quality of budget hotel and finding out the way to improve the functional quality of the hotel. The customer satisfaction is the key to the success and future development of budget hotels, therefore, this research is going to focus on two variables namely customer satisfaction and service quality. According to Dabholkar (2015), service quality is known as the comparison of the expectations and performance of the service. The businesses that has higher level of service quality strive to meet the customer needs in an economically competitive manner. The improved service quality has potential to ensure the future development and economic competitiveness.  According to Brady and Cornin (2001), theory of service quality is based on the satisfaction of customer and product quality. The literature has provided various models and theories related to service quality as in different service sectors, the dimensions of service quality varies (Pollack, 2009). The main purpose of all service quality theories is to enable managers to identify the problems related to quality and improve the efficiency and quality of services such that customers expectations are exceeded and they become satisfied. The most famous model of service quality was presented by Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1985) which is also known as SERVQUAL. This model had ten dimensions which were reduced to five dimensions. likewise another important model is known as SEVRPERF model. These will be explored in further details in this research. 
Likewise, as said by Cina (2013), customer satisfaction measures how the offerings of a business are meeting the needs and expectations of the customers. This is an important metric for managing the performance of a business. There are various models and theories related to customer satisfaction. As said by Ahmad, Hussain and Rajput (2015), according to Swedish Customer Satisfaction Barometer, the customer satisfaction is determined on the basis of customer expectation, customer loyalty, customer perception and customer complaints. As per the American Customer Satisfaction Index, customer satisfaction is based on the perceived quality and customer satisfaction which determines the perceived value for customers. Likewise, customer complaints and customer loyalty are the consequences of the customer satisfaction. As per European Customer Satisfaction Index, the dimensions of customer satisfaction are based on perceived quality, customer expectation, corporate image. This results in the perceived value which determines the customer satisfaction which ultimately leads towards the customer loyalty. Similarly, as per arguments of Ghazanfar et al., (2015), in the China Customer Satisfaction Index, corporate image is replaced with the brand image and other dimensions are similar to the European Customer Satisfaction Index. These are few theories and models which determine the customer satisfaction. These models and theories are further explored in this research in relation to the role of service quality of budget hotels on the customer satisfaction. 
1.3. Research Rationale
In the contemporary world, budget hotels are the ones serving the majority of people (Rahimi and Kozak, 2016). Service quality and customer satisfaction are the primary elements in the hotel industry, and some countries are known to have a wider base in the industry than others (Sureshchandar et al., 2002). For instance, in China and the UK, hotel industries are critical for economic development. In 2016, 2.9 million jobs were created by the UK hospitality industry (Oxford Economics, 2015) while 2.6 percent of China’s GPD was being generated by the hospitality industry (Statistia, 2016). However, the level of customer satisfaction is different since the service quality is diverse (Hudson & Hudson, 2013). The reason for taking up this research in the two countries is to have enough information that would help in addressing some gaps that exist in the industry. The following is the detailed description of the gaps in the budget hotels industry:
Gap 1: There is a great gap between the customer expectation and the management perception of quality in the hotel industry (Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry, 1990). In the majority situation, the understanding of quality service is different between the customers and the hotel management, where customers expect to be served in a manner that is not well explained in the scope of the hotel management (Ramsaran-Fowdar, 2007). Thus, this research will help the stakeholders in bridging the service quality understanding gap and streamline the budget hotel industry. 
Gap 2: The second gap is what customers perceive to be quality service and the one that is actually delivered by the hotel employees (Kotler and Keller, 2009). For instance, international travelers find it difficult to understand quality service when they visit hotels which are founded on the local cultural setting. For a UK traveler to get satisfied in a Chinese hotel, there must be a consistency between what they have in mind as quality service and what they get in the hotel. This is the understanding that is going to be brought up explicitly by the research.
The primary intention of this research is to help in the understanding of what quality service is and to bridge the gaps between the perception and reality about budget hotels. The understanding will help the hotel industry players in developing the future of their business in the direction that gets closer to customer satisfaction. In the hotel industry, there are many small market players who are having little market share (Nash et al, 2006). The market players who are likely to benefit from this research are the managers who are in charge of hotel service since they are the ones who issue instructions to the service employees and cooks. Once these individuals understand the concept of quality service and what it means in shaping the future of a hotel, they will be able to connect the expectation of the hotel investors in terms of profits and the customer expectation of quality and satisfaction (Kueh & Boo, 2007). 
The other group that is likely to benefit is the customers who are primary stakeholders in the discussion of quality and satisfaction. Customer satisfaction is a relative issue which no one can quantify, but there can be an understanding of how much one should expect for them to be satisfied (Kotler & Amstrong, 2004). The primary objective being explored in this particular research is to study the factor influencing the development of budget hotels in China and UK and connect it with the quality service and customer satisfaction. Essentially, the overall objective can be summed up to the evaluation of service quality and satisfaction of customers by budget hotels during their time of development.
1.4. Aim and Objectives
The main purpose of the research is to examine the role of service quality of budget hotels in the customer satisfaction and future development. 
 
In this research, the following five research objectives will be investigate and explore:
Objective 1:  To conduct a literature review on theories of customer satisfaction and service quality and to examine the role of service quality in customer satisfaction. 
Objective 2:  To conduct a survey in the budget hotels of China and U.K. regarding service quality and customer satisfaction. 
Objective 3:  To find the impact of service quality of budget of hotels on customer satisfaction in China.
Objective 4:  To investigate the influence of service quality of budget hotels on consumer satisfaction in U.K. 
Objective 5:  To compare and contrast the role of service quality of budget hotels on customer satisfaction in U.K. and China. 
1.5. Structure of Dissertation
Structure of the dissertation is to be presented in the following structure:  
 
Table 1.1 Structure of the dissertation
Number of Chapter Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction This chapter provides a brief introduction to the article, including the research background, research rational, aim and objective as well as the structure of the study.
Chapter 2: Literature Review This chapter presents a theoretical concept by reviewing the existing literatures of service quality, customer satisfaction and customer evaluation for budget hotel.
Chapter 3: Research Methodology This chapter explains the research design and research methods used in this paper.
Chapter 4: Research Findings and Discussion  This chapter presents the research of the survey conducted on Chinese and U.K. tourists. 
Chapter5: Conclusion and Recommendation This chapter is a general conclusion of the findings of the research as well as the recommendation for the development of budget hotel.
2. Chapter 2?Literature review
2.1. Introduction
Based on the world-wide academic researches of the existing scholars, this chapter reviews the related concepts of budget hotel, service quality and customer satisfaction, related theories as well as related models. First, this chapter analyses the concept of budget hotel which contains the difference between in UK and China. The chapter further introduces the concepts of service and service quality, where the model of SERVQUAL (DeMoranville and Bienstock, 2015), SERVPERF (Leong et al., 2015) are critically analysed. The authors of these models are representative figures of the quality of service and these models provide a reference for the follow-up studies. Next, the definition of customer satisfaction and customer satisfaction theories including where various theoretical arguments are considered. Most of the follow-up scholars research the customer satisfaction which is based on these theories. Besides, Evaluation index and model of customer satisfaction including Swedish Customer Satisfaction Barometer, ACSI, ECSI and C-CSI (Paddeu, Fancello and Fadda, 2016) will be described in detail. These models have a certain guiding significance to the study of customer satisfaction from different angles. The relationship between customer satisfaction and service quality will be analysed. Through analysing previous literature, that provides a theoretical background for the study, the first objective of this research is accomplished. 
2.2. Budget Hotel
2.2.1. Budget Hotel Concept
Without uniform definition of the concept of budget hotel, scholars present their own concepts from different perspectives. Quest (1983) thought budget hotel is a kind of new type of hotel industry, it refers to the hotel which is small and provides limited facilities and honest price. Scholars portrayed the budget hotel as a budget accommodation industry, to provide basic facilities, keep the price low, do not provide food and beverage services and remove other entertainment facilities, such as banquet facilities and gym (Justus,1991; Ruetz and Marvel, 2011). Smith (1995) and Rogerson (2011) believed budget hotel aims at 20% of consumers who are sensitive to price at the low-end market and maintains a low price. This study suggests the budgets hotel is Customer-centric and provides customers with safe, comfortable, healthy, convenient and cost-effective limited service, as well as moderate price.
2.2.2. The Characteristics of Budget Hotel
Tongqian Zhou (2003) and Cai (2004) pointed out the characteristics of budget hotel include:(1) professional and limited services, outstanding small and specialty and focusing on the room service. (2) the targeted consumer groups are price-sensitive domestic tourists. (3) efficient organisation setup, streamlined staffing. (4) simple and practical equipment configuration as well as low-cost operation. Budget hotel can be identified based on its real assets and operational characteristics: convenient locations; relatively limited service high value for money; good standard accommodation at low tariffs; standardised room design and guest room facility (Bortherton, 2004; Nash et al., 2006).
2.3. Budget hotel development in the UK and China
As the present research is about the service quality of budget hotels in UK and China, therefore, it is reasonable to review the previous studies which are related with the budget hotels in the context of China and UK The following section reviews the development of budget hotels in UK and China. 
2.3.1. Budget hotel in Chinese context
In 1997, the opening of the first Jin-jiang Inn in Shanghai marks the beginning of the development of budget hotel in China. From then on, the budget hotel has been expanded in an unparalleled speed (Lianpingetal, 2016). According to Inntie (2012), there are 8313 budget hotels in the first quarter of 2012 in China, accounting for 15.1% of the total number of hotels in this country. And the number of budge hotel in China has grown to more than 12,000, with over 500 various brands of budget hotel in 2014 (Inntie, 2014).
Furthermore, the competition in Chinese hotel industry has been intensified in recent years, especially the fierce competition between foreign brands and domestic brands (Wong and Wickham, 2015). Some foreign brands such as Super 8 Inn, Ibis, Days Inn etc?are rapidly expanding and gain a competitive advantage in China with their strong financial support, mature management mode, rich reserves of talents and strict quality-control system, etc., (Yang and Cai, 2016). 
2.3.2. Budget hotel in the UK
Over the last 10-15 years, the budget hotel has been one of the most successful sectors in the UK hospitality industry, and continues to be so (Bortherton, 2004). The budget hotel continues to be the fastest-growing sector in the UK (Deloitte and Touche, 2002). The number of budget hotels is numerous in the UK, which is very convenient for the accommodation for tourist.
Meanwhile, the competition among budget hotels is also fierce and the competition becomes intense in the UK, with more than 1,500 budget rooms added in 2015 alone (Aaron Greenwood, 2015). For the first time, budget bedrooms make up more than half of the total amount of the UK’s hospitality industry bedrooms (Aaron Greenwood, 2015) and in budget hotel, Bed and Breakfast (B&B) is in the majority (Si Chen,2009).
2.4. Service and service quality
This section starts with the basic introduction of service and service quality. Then it moves towards the theories and models of the service quality. The purpose is to critically evaluate the renown models and theories of service quality to lay the foundation of this research and understand the ‘body of knowledge’ in the area of service quality. 
2.4.1. Service
According to Kauppinen-Räisänen and Grönroos (2015), it is hard to sum up the service as a whole, because of the invisibility of service activities and the universality of the service industry. So, the academia has not given a unified definition of service, but the definitions below are relatively more influential. The service considered as one or more activities, is finished in the process of the interaction among customer, service provider and equipment to make the customer satisfied (Hehtinen, 1983). The service, a kind of process, is composed of a series of activities with invisible characteristics. This kind of process is carried out among customer, employee and tangible resource (Christian Gronroos, 1990; Lu, Tsao, and Charoensiriwath, 2011).
Service, action or performance provided by one party to another party, may be more complicated than physical goods, but its performance is largely intangible and generally cannot be attributed to any factor in production. This study sums up the characteristics of service, based on the definitions above:(1) The Intangibility;(2) Non storage;(3) The diversity and (4)The perceptibility (Christopher Lovelock ,2001;Gilbert, Xia, and Yu ,2007).
2.4.2. Service Quality
Service vastly affects customers’ satisfaction and loyalty(Baker and Crompton, 2000, Caruana, 2002 and Cronin et al., 2000),which occupies an important position in the enterprises (Getty and Getty, 2003).The earliest theoretical research on the service quality is the definition of basic concept. Hehtinen (1983) divided service quality into three parts, which is based on his definition of service quality on service elements: entity quality, interaction quality and company quality. The service quality is a kind of service level compared with customer expectation, which contains two main points: first, service quality must be higher than customer expectation level, and then the level of service quality depends on the level of customer perceived quality (Philip Kotler,2003; Fernando et al,2008).
Finland scholar Gronroos is an iconic character who promoted the study of service quality management becoming a later research hotspot. Gronroos (1983) put forward the theory of service quality which is based on consumer perception. He thought Customer Perceived Service Quality includes two parts: technical result elements and functional process elements. 
The second stage of service quality research focuses on studying the factors of service quality. In this period, the most influential figures are Parsuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (PZB), three American marketing experts. Customer perceived service quality gap model (PZB model?, proposed by PZB in 1988,underlines that customer perceived service quality is composed of the gap of five aspects. In the meanwhile, PZB presented the SERVQUAL (SERVECE QUALITY) measurement scale. To date, the SERVQUAL measurement scale and Customer perceived service quality gap model have been the most widely used theory of service quality research so far (Basfirinci and Mitra, 2015). 
2.5. Theories and Models of Service Quality
Scholars have done a lot of research on service quality measurement tools, among SERVQUAL model and SERVPERF model contributed the most, therefore, this research focuses mainly on these two models. 
2.5.1. SERVQUAL model
This is a quality management framework which was introduced by Valarie A. Zeithaml, A. Parasuraman & Leonard L. Berry. This model helps in measuring the quality in the service sector. 
This model is also used as a management framework where it focuses on the gaps
Using the gap between the consumer expectation for service and the actual feeling after service as the standard to measure service quality and proposing the service quality gap model of five gaps to explain the formation of service quality, this model discusses why service quality is unable to meet the demand of customer, emphasising the process of service is a kind of interaction between customer and industry and any kind of services which want to satisfy customer must meet these five gaps.This model is also known as ‘The Gap model of the service quality’ and it was first proposed by the authors, including Parasuraman, Zeithaml, Berry at Texas A&M and North Carolina Universities, in 1985 (Parasuraman et al., 1996). And the measurement scales for service quality were developed deeply by them in later years (Parasuramanet al, 1988). In the model, service quality is determined by the size of the gap between customer service expectation and perception of service. The gap of customer service expectation and perception of service is defined as the gap 5, it is affected another four gap, the cumulative sum of another four gap causes gap 5.
 
Figure 2.5 Gap Model by PZB88 (Source: 12manage.cc)
Gap 1: There is a gap between the customer expectation and the management perception of quality in the hotel industry. Customer expectations are affected by many factors, but managers can not accurately understand customer expectations due to lack of investigation and understanding. The critical analysis tells that the reason of this gap’s arousal is the difference in what is perceived by the managers regarding the needs, wants and expectations of the customers. 
Gap 2: There exists a gap between management perception and the actual specification of the customer experience - Managers need to ensure that their services are what the customer needs. It could be analysed that this gap is purely about inability of services providers to meet the performance standard. 
Gap 3: There exists a gap in the communication where customers are not handled in the way they would wish to feel satisfied. This does not mean that a hotel does not have the understanding of quality but the manner in which the quality service is communicated to the customer does not satisfy their wishes. Communication is paramount in every business sector, and hotel industry is not an exception. To be precise, this gap is purely about the difference in service delivery and external communication. The expectations of the consumers are made from the advertisement and company representatives’ statements. This gap occurs when service providers do not provide the level of service which was promised. 
Gap 4: Customers perceive to be quality service and the one that is actually delivered by the hotel employee. For instance, international travellers find it difficult to understand quality service when they visit hotels which are founded on the local cultural setting. For a UK traveller to get satisfied in a Chinese hotel, there must be a compromise between what they have in mind as quality service and what they get in the hotel. This gap is relevant with the service personnel and these service personnel could be the reason of this gap. Due to poor training, unwillingness or incapability of the service personnel, there could be a difference among the service quality specification and delivery of service. 
Gap 5: The gap between customer's perception experience and Customer expectation to service - Oral communication, personal needs and past experiences have shaped Customers' expectations. Daily routine investigations after offering the customer experience are crucial for a business to measure customer perceptions of service. This gap is basically use to the misinterpretation of the service quality by the consumers, hence they develop a different expectation level which later on become a source of problem. 
Some other scholars have corrected this model. For example, Hsieh et al. (2008) modified the measurement items of the five dimensions in SERVQUAL to study the service quality in hotel better. Ekinci et al. (2003) also revised SERVQUAL to study lodging services on Crete.
At present, the SERVQUAL model may have the most utility times of evaluation scale to measure service quality in academic circles. While studying the gap model, the team of PZB designed the measurement scale. PZB mentioned that the basis of customer perceived service quality evaluation is the gap between customer expectation and perception and put forward 10 dimensions to evaluate the quality of service, based on customer perceived gap model. They summarised the factors that determine the quality of service as ten aspects, which include: reliability, responsiveness, capacity, close to client, politeness, communication, credibility, safety, understanding and physical evidence. In actual, PZB (1988) used factor analysis to sort out five factor dimensions: tangibility, reliability, reactivity, certainty and empathy. The measurement scale, made up by the five factor dimensions and 22 items, is the first scale to measure service quality. In actual measurement, first measuring customer expectation to the five dimensions, and then measuring the customer’s perception to the results of service. Eventually, service quality levels are formed by the gaps between them. 
In 1990, PZB decided to integrate the ten dimensions of service quality into five dimensions. (1) reliability: the capacity that companies can ensure that the customers can enjoy the company’s commitment to the whole process. (2) reactivity: the company is willing to help customers, respond to customers’ demand in time and provide customers with fast and efficient service at any time. (3) certainty: the staff of the company who have received a good education, have deeper specialised knowledge and professional accomplishment, with expert professional knowledge, to provide customers with satisfying service. (4) tangibility?the virtual condition that enterprises can provide for customers, including enterprise architecture, hardware facilities and staff grooming, etc. (5) empathy: the company’s concern for customers and special conditions for individual cases. Additionally, the staff care about customers and attach much weight to their special requirements (Parasuraman, et al, 1990).
Table 2.1 Five dimensions and 22 items of SERVQUAL scale
Five Dimension 22 Items 
1. Reliability 1. Enterprises can fulfil their commitment to customers
2.  When the customer is in trouble, the enterprise can show its sincerity for assistance.
3. Enterprises can always be trusted by customers.
4. Enterprises can provide the promised service on time.
5. Enterprises can record the activities, related to the service, correctly 
2. Reactivity 6. Enterprises can inform customers the time of various services for certain.
7. The services provided by enterprises meet   customers’ expectations. 8. The employees are always ready to help customers.
9. The staff will not ignore customers because they get ready
3. Certainty 10. The staff is reliable for customers.
11. The staff can provide the service which makes the customer feel at ease
12. The staff is always very polite to provide service.
13. The staff can help each other to provide better help.
4. Tangibility 14. The appearance of the design of an enterprise is attractive to customers.
15. Enterprises own perfect facilities and equipment.
16. The staff with good grooming.
17. Various equipment should be in harmony with the services provided by the enterprise.
 
5. Empathy 18. The staff is concerned with customers.
19. The staff pays personal to different customers.
20. The staff understands customers’ special requests.
21. Enterprises and the staff pay more attention to the interests of customers.
22. Enterprises provide customers with convenient times. 
Source: Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (1990), Refinement and Reasessment of the SERVQUAL scale, Journal of Retailing, Vol.67. pp.420-450.
 
SERVQUAL evaluation method, based on the customer perception, is a kind of dynamic service quality measurement method, according to the measurement of customer expectation and perceived gap. PZB emphasised that SERVQUAL assessment method, when in use, need special attention, notably in the following areas. The five dimensions are not fixed and can be adjusted according to characteristics of the industry, when studying different industries. Accordingly, the 22 items should be adjusted on the basis of characteristics of the enterprise to design reasonable questions, because different types of enterprises differ greatly. The critical analysis shows that there exists few critics of this model. For example, many researchers has questioned the validity of this model. There exists two clusters of criticism on this model i.e. theoretical and operational. After reviewing 40 scholarly research articles, it was found by Nyeck, Morales, Ladhari and Pons (2002), it is found that the validation of the measuring tool is heavily questioned by its critics. They have criticised that there is little empirical evidence regarding the validation i.e. it is not certain that this model is actually measuring what it intends to measure. Moreover, it was found that it is criticised for operational issues like examining an understanding the reality of perceptions and reality of promise quality services is quite difficult for service providers. However, on the other hand, the proponents (e.g. Hu et al., 2016; Teeroovengadum, Kamalanabhan and Seebaluck, 2016; Galeeva, 2016) of this model of service quality tell that this is one of the widely accepted tools to measure the quality of service. Though, it is criticised but there are more proponents of this model, therefore, this research will use this model for measuring the service quality level in budget hotels of China and U.K. 
2.5.2. SERVPERF service quality evaluation method
SERVQUAL evaluation method is widely used in service quality researches of all kinds of industries, but with the in-depth study, this method is queried by the expert. These caveats mainly focus on that customer perception is hard to measure and the questionnaire, divided into two parts: expectation and perception, is not only difficult to compete for customers, but also not easy to be empirically analysed. Among the scholars who put forward their own service quality evaluation methods, Cronin and Taylor (1992) are more representative. They produced a kind of performance perceived service quality measurement method that is more easily to conduct in an empirical study, namely, SERVPERF (Service Performance). 
SERVPERF uses only one variable that is service performance to measure customer perceived service without taking into account the weighted in the process of measurement. Cronin and Taylor (1992) respectively applied “weighted direct performance evaluation model”, “not weighted direct performance evaluation model”, “not weighted performance and expectation gap model” and “weighted performance and expectation gap model” to study four industries of fast food, dry cleaning, bank and pest control and compare them with reliability, validity and explanatory ability, and based on these, they thought SERVPERF is always superior to SERVQUAL. Therefore, they put forward that the premise of customer satisfaction is customer perceived service quality, and customer satisfaction has a significant impact on their purchase motivation (Cronin and Taylor, 1992).  
Cronin and Taylor (1992) raised the SERVPERF model, and measured the level of service quality by the customer's actual perception of the service. This model remains the five key dimensions and 22 indicators of SERVQUAL model and abandons difference analysis method, but only taking into account the actual performance, as well as replacing the gaps between service expectation and perceived service with actual perception performance indicators to determine the quality of service (Cronin Taylor, 1992).
This model has made obvious progress compared with SERVQUAL?not only effectively deleting nearly half of question items, but also becoming more superior by using a single scale that can explain more variation of the overall service quality(Minxue Huang and Xiaoling Li,2005).Jain and Gupta (2004) thought the model is easier to be analysed and can actually measure customer perception, which can be used as a measurement tool to ensure the service quality of company. Tsaur et al. (2014) adapted the measurement items of SERVPERF scale to test customer perceived service quality of travel agencies and theme parks. The critical analysis shows that SERVPERF model is difference from the SERVQUAL because of its focus on customers’ perception. Therefore, critical analysis shows that better results could be obtained using this model.
While comparing SERVPERF with SERVQUAL, the same points include studying service quality on the basis of customer perception, measuring from five dimensions and centreing around the same 22 question items to design the questionnaire. However, the former removes part of the desired contents on the foundation of the latter and is more easily to use empirical method. As content is similar for both, this research has used combination of both models where model is used of SERVPERF. The rationale is the ease to use it empirically. 
2.5.3. Hotel service quality evaluation method of Gundersen.
Gundersen (2000)divided the hotel products into two dimensions, including tangible product and intangible products. He designed certain measurement variables on the basis of three functional departments of hotel which are front office, the guest room and the food & beverage department. The results corroborated that the hotel’s invisible service products are more affected on service quality of hotel than physical products. While analysing and measuring the customer satisfaction from budget hotels, this aspect will be considered in this research. 
In addition to the above evaluation models, many scholars also put forward their own optimisation models. Michael, Joseph and Richard (2001) proposed that the service quality is measured according to three attributes, the service result, the quality of association and the service environment, and designed multi-level structure model. Ling-Feng Hsien (2008) established the service quality evaluation model of hot spring hotel, based on five main dimensions of PZB service quality and APN method. These models, to a great extent, just slightly correct and inherit SERVQUAL and SERVPERF model. Basically, that research was also based on combination of the dimensions presented by these two models and the author designed the scale using the theory of these models. 
2.6. Customer Satisfaction
2.6.1. The definition of customer satisfaction
Customer satisfaction is the core concept of customer satisfaction theory, and it has always been the focus of debate for many scholars. Some scholars believed that customer satisfaction is the state of purchaser who realises the cognition of the process after comparing the cost with gains s (Churchill &Surprenant, 1982). Kueh and Boo (2007) held the view that customer satisfaction is reflection of consumer's satisfaction, is satisfaction of the judgment of product / service characteristics or product / service provided by itself or providing for the process of consumption, including the three states of dissatisfied, satisfied and very satisfied (Oliver., 1980, Lee, 2000 and Szymanski and Henard, 2001). Eboli and Mazzulla (2014) considered that individual overall evaluate the experience of using or consuming a product / service.
Some scholars pointed out that customer satisfaction is customer's feeling on consumption experience, is reflection of feeling comparison of the evaluation of purchased products, services and the market and its value concept (Brink and Berndt, 2004). Kotler and Amstrong (2004, p. 74) defined customer satisfaction as "customer who accepted product or service produce the feeling of disappointment or pleasure that is produced by comparing the quality of the customer's satisfaction with the expectation, which decide whether they will continue to purchase your product or service." He believed that it is the key for enterprise which want customer loyalty to maintain customer satisfaction.
Meanwhile, Customer Delivered Value is put forward by Philip Kotler (1996), which refers to the gaps between total customer value (Service Value, Product value, Personnel Value, Image Value) and total customer cost(Psychic Cost, Time Cost,  Energy Cost, Monetary Cost), Customers will buy products from companies that can provide the highest customer delivered value (Mohammed and Riyad, 2016).
The definition of customer satisfaction basically can be summarised as two main points of view. One is based on the behaviour science, and the customer satisfaction is the evaluation of a certain behaviour in the latter. This view is called transaction specific point of view, starting from the angle of individual customers, it is of great importance to transactions directly with customers play dealing with communication skills, that the sales personnel's behaviour will affect the success of a deal. An alternative view emphasises the customer purchase behaviour after the accumulation of experience. Customer satisfaction is determined through the overall evaluation of the time of purchase and consumption experience of an enterprise performance measurement. The two views are not contradictory, the former is often the basis of the latter (Eisingerich et al., 2016). 
2.7. Customer Satisfaction Theoretical Ground
The theoretical underpinnings of this construct shows that there are various antecedents of customer satisfaction. It is based on numerous aspects which are psychological, physical and normative aspects. Most of the times, there are two basic constructs which are its part and these are the expectations prior to purchase of a certain product or service and the relative perception of the performance once it is used by the customers. 
It is basically the element of expectations of the customer which determines the anticipated performance for that product. The level of expectations of customers may vary which results in varying opinions for the anticipated performance of the product. According to Miller (1977), there are four categories of the expectations which are ideal, expected, minimum tolerable and desirable expectation. The perceived performance is influenced with the ability of customers of certain products to make comparison with the expectations. There are certain norms and attributes which are also used for customers. The perceived performance level of the products is influenced with the expectations which are developed in the mind of customers. The customer satisfaction is actually explained by the difference between the perceived performance expectations and actual performance received from a certain product. While measuring the customer satisfaction of budget hotels, this will be considered. 
Few research studies (e.g. Baumann, Elliott and Burton, 2012) have also argued that there is also an element of emotion and affective component in the customer satisfaction. Other researchers (e.g. Oliver, 2014) have a belief that it is due to the affective and cognitive components of the customer satisfaction which are determinants of customer satisfaction and these both elements influence each other to shape the overall customer satisfaction.
As per the general theory and methods of customer delivered value which was presented by famous marketing and management experts Philip Kotler (1996) in "marketing management", put forward the concept of customer delivered value, he thought that customer who receive labour costs and pay is the total cost of the customer, it represent the money, time, energy and other aspects of pay (consumption); customer who accept material and spiritual benefits from labour service is the total customer value (Kotler and Keller, 2009). This concept of customer delivered value is related with the customer satisfaction and will be considered while measuring customer satisfaction. The gap between the total customer value and the total customer cost is the customer delivered value (Kotler and Keller, 2009). From this, it could be analysed that this is the delivered value which determines the customer satisfaction. 
Process theory considered that the improvement of customer satisfaction is a process, the customer gradually improves the level of satisfaction getting in touch with the organisation, so the organisation should focus on the process of customer contact. But it is the result of obtaining, assimilation, consolidation, and recovery of the virtuous circle of the various links, any link of the interruption or a mistake will affect the overall customer satisfaction (Dai Akita, 2016).
Quality three degree theory was proposed by Kano Dr, a professor at Harvard University. He divided quality into preset quality, expected quality and the latent quality of discovery according to the quality of the product or service to improve the various functions of customer satisfaction (Kano, 1984). Therefore, as per this view, the preset quality, expected quality and the latent quality actually determines the customer satisfaction. This has helped to understand the construct of customer satisfaction in a better manner, hence, these aspects are used while measuring the customer satisfaction. 
Experience theory is a relatively new concept. It emphasises the overall experience of the customer. America's strategic horizon consultancy founder Joseph Pine II (2010) and James Gilmore (2010) put forward the experience economy in the "experience economy", that organisation serve as a centre of gravity and the commodity of the material to create a memorable experience for the customer.
Kano model of customer satisfaction is another model which is often used for understanding the customer satisfaction theoretical background. If starting from the demand of customer satisfaction management, the two concepts of quality and customer satisfaction can be further explained. Kano model will help in understanding the concept of customer satisfaction for people. Kano model classify the quality of products and services as three categories. There is a correlation between the degree of each quality and customer satisfaction, and the relationship between the service quality and customer satisfaction are different (Kano et al. 1984).
 
Figure 2.6 KANO Customer satisfaction model
As per this model, there are five dimensions of the customer satisfaction. In this research, while measuring the customer satisfaction, all of these dimensions will be used. Must be quality refers to those features which are taken for granted by the customers in normal situation, but these can result in dissatisfaction if ignored by the service providers (Tontini, 2007). One-dimensional quality attributes are those whose presence results in direct satisfaction while dissatisfaction is from their absence. Attractive quality are not mandatory for satisfaction but if provided, customers become satisfied. Indifferent quality attributed are not determinant of customer satisfaction. The presence of reverse quality attributes could result in achievement of dissatisfaction (Xu et al., 2009). This model is reviewed for achieving the first objective of this research which is about reviewing the theories related to customer satisfaction and service quality. 
2.7.1. Evaluation index and model of customer satisfaction
This section reviews various models of customer satisfaction and the purpose of reviewing these models is to fulfil the first objective of this research and set the foundation of this research after reviewing various theories. The measurement model of customer satisfaction can be divided into two classes: Based on the CSI econometric model of the famous American Scholar Professor Fornel, the customer satisfaction evaluation system was established by the index method. Fornell (1992) proposed a logic model of econometrics which was comprised by the customer expectations, the perception of purchase, the acquisition price and other various factors, namely Fornell logic model. Then the Swedish National Bureau of statistics applied Fornell model to establish the Swedish customer satisfaction index model, Europe, the United States and other countries proposed their own customer satisfaction index model on the basis of this model, china also launched a CCSI model, based on the cause and effect relationship of customer satisfaction measurement and improvement has been greatly applied (Dong-Hee Shin, 2015).
2.7.2. Swedish Customer Satisfaction Barometer
Sweden is the world's first country to use the customer satisfaction index. The model was developed by Dr. Fomell, which tested customer satisfaction index from 32 industries up to 130 companies (Fornell, 1992; Turkyilmaz and Ozkan, 2007). Swedish Customer Satisfaction Barometer include 5 structural variables altogether, as shown in Figure 2.1. 
 
Figure2.1 Swedish Customer Satisfaction Barometer
 
Source: Fomell, Claes, (1992). A National Customer Satisfaction Barometer: The Swedish experience. Journal of Marketing, (56): 6-21.
 
The structural equation model reflects the causal relationship between the 5 variables, in which the customer expectation and perceived value are cause variables, and customer complaints and customer loyalty are outcome variables (Fornell, 1992). The meaning of each variable is explained as follows: 
Customer expectation is the subjective intention of the customer who purchased product or service to the quality. Customer expectation and perceive value and customer satisfaction were positively correlated.
Perceived value, the quality of a product or service perceived by the customer is relative to a consumer price. There is positive correlation between perceived value and customer satisfaction.
Customer satisfaction, that is, the degree of customer satisfaction, is a result of the process variables which is the objective variables to be measured. Customer satisfaction and customer loyalty are positively correlated and customer complaints and customer satisfaction are negative correlation.
Customer complaint is the way to express dissatisfaction. The behaviours of customer dissatisfaction include not buying the company's products or services and expressing their dissatisfaction with the company, in order to obtain material or spiritual compensation. 
Customer loyalty is that customers are willing to purchase from a specific product or service provider.
The purpose of reviewing this model is to review what does literature say about the customer satisfaction. Moreover, this model is also used for measuring customer satisfaction. 
2.7.3. American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI)
Based on the Swedish customer satisfaction index model, American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) was constructed in 1994. Compared with SCSB, ACSI added the factors of perceived quality, and increased the calculation method of customer expectations. As the figure 2.2 shows:
 
Figure 2.2 American Customer Satisfaction Index
Source: Fomell et al.. (1996) 
As shown in the picture above, the ASCI model includes total 6 hidden variables of customer expectation, perceived quality, perceived value, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and complaint behaviour (Fomell et al., 1996). Perceived quality mainly includes the perception of customer for the overall quality of the product or service, whether it is reliable and can meet the needs of perception. Customer expectations, mainly refers to the expectation of customer for the overall quality of product or service, whether it is reliable and can meet the needs of expected; Perceived value  contain the  perception of quality and price perception; customer satisfaction mainly manifested as the overall satisfaction degree of customer for product or service and the gap between the expectation and the ideal; complaint behaviour is a formal or informal complaint about a product or service and customer loyalty is refers to the products or services of purchasing power and the willingness to buy again( Fomell et al.,1996; ACSI, 2010).
2.7.4. European Customer Satisfaction Index (ECSI)
European Customer Satisfaction Index (ECSI) is a variant of the ACSI model. Compared with the ACSI model, perceived quality is not divided into service quality and product quality, instead, it is replaced by perceived quality as perceived software quality and perceived hardware quality and expressed in the model. At the same time, the corporate image is increased (Vilares, et al., 2003; O?Loughlin and Coenders, 2004). The variables are more detailed and specific.
 
Figure 2.3 European Customer Satisfaction Index
Source: Vilares et al., (2003) 
It could be analysed that customer satisfaction in the model is the same as the SCSI model and the ACSI model. Perceived software quality mainly refers to the company's quality perception, including achieving the customer's demand and the whole communication effect of the assessment. Perceived quality of hardware mainly refers to the perceived quality of a product or service, specifically the demand of product or service. The image of the company include perception of the customer of the company's ethics, business practices and corporate of the corporate image (Vilares, et al., 2003). The purpose of reviewing this model is to review what does literature say about the customer satisfaction. 
2.7.5. China Customer Satisfaction Index (C-CSI)
CCSI model that was the first more perfect customer satisfaction index model was developed by the China Enterprise Research Centre of Tsinghua University and the State Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision according to the actual situation of the Chinese market. The model is based on the ACSI model, which absorbs the successful experience of the ECSI model, including 6 structural variables and 11 relationships (Zhao Ping, 2002).
 
Figure 2.4 China Customer Satisfaction Index
Source: Zhao Ping, (2002). Research on the construction method of Chinese customer satisfaction index (general report), National Natural Science Foundation of China, 2002:23
The critical analysis of all index which are discussed in this section shows that customer satisfaction is measured through similar variables like brand image, perceived quality, expected quality and expected value. Though, all index has introduce some modification in their frameworks. For example, China customer satisfaction Index has the variable named brand image while European customer satisfaction has the variable named the corporate image. This shows that the main idea or conceptualisation to measure customer satisfaction is similar in all these models. This is at the discretion of the researcher which model or index should be used. The present research uses the pioneer index i.e. Swedish Customer Satisfaction Barometry as more relevant because that is more simple and easier to understand moreover that also have higher empirical support (Fornell, 1992). 
2.8. Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction
Service quality was positioned as from the perspective of the enterprise of by previous scholar, it is the level of satisfaction of customer demand which enterprise provided the product or service, while customer satisfaction is actually a kind of psychological reaction (Stuart et al., 2000). Therefore, service quality and customer satisfaction are closely related (Saha and Theingi, 2009). There are more achievements about the two concepts, but there is little research on the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction, and this is an important problem and has not yet been solved.
Some scholars study from customer satisfaction, some expert research from service-oriented view. The results of the study are often different. Parasuraman et al. (2005) pointed out that the range of customer satisfaction is wider than the quality of the service. Product quality, price, service quality, personal factors and situational factors will affect the degree of customer satisfaction, and measure of quality service only focus on service quality indicators. Therefore, customer perceived quality is considered to be one of the factors that affect customer satisfaction, therefore, this will be considered during measuring the customer satisfaction for budget hotels. 
 
Service quality is the deciding factor of customer satisfaction, namely service quality is the antecedent variable and the service quality will affect the purchase intention (Posselt and Gerstner, 2005).  Johansson (2006) also have put forward that service quality determines the satisfaction, and then at a certain level, satisfaction will affect the perception of quality in future. Lin et al. (2010) concluded that there was no regression relationship between these two concepts. The present research aims to analyse the relationship among service quality and customer satisfaction in perspective of budget hotels of U.K. and China. 
When a service is experienced and encountered, it determines the overall customer satisfaction, hence it is widely accepted notion that one determinant of the customer satisfaction is the service quality (Cronin and Taylor, 1992). As per the theory of customer satisfaction presented by Burns and Neisner (2006), customer satisfaction is about the certain transaction where the difference which exists among the predicted and perceived level of service is analysed, in opposite to the attitudes which are more situational oriented. The idea presented by Zeithaml et al., (2006) is also similar to this where it is asserted that service quality level determines the customer satisfaction. Oliver et al., (1997) stated that one antecedent of the customer satisfaction is service quality irrespective of the nature of the construct that either it is transaction specific or cumulative. For the argument of Oliver et al., (1997), the empirical support is also provided by the research studies which are conducted by Anderson and Sullivan (1993) and Spreng and Macky (1996). Wilson et al., (2008) stated that it should be noted that customer satisfaction is broader concept, on the other hand, the service quality is related to the specific dimension of the offered service. Though, there are other factors like price and quality of the product which are considered as an important element of this construct which known as the customer satisfaction (Zeithaml et al., 2006). This theoretical argument is also aligned with the idea presented by Wilson et al., (2008). 
Figure: The relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction 
 
Source: Wilson et al., (2008) 
 
The critical analysis of the presented framework also gives an idea that there exists a clear and obvious relationship among service quality and customer satisfaction. The perception of the service is influenced with the reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangibles. These dimensions of the service quality will determine the customer satisfaction (Wilson et al., 2008). 
The empirical study conducted by Wang and Hing-Po (2002) considered the customer satisfaction and service quality relationship and they used the SERVQUAL model. Their study was specific to the service quality of the China’s telecommunication market where the attributes of industry and cultural elements were also examined during the examination. Using the structural equation modelling, it was found that there is a linkage which exists among the service quality and customer satisfaction. The study was conducted in Chinese context, hence, its findings are relevant to the present study. 
Likewise, Kuo (2003) conducted a study on virtual community where he attempted to construct the instrument for evaluating the service quality of websites of virtual community. In the same research, the researcher also explored the influence of service quality of customer satisfaction and loyalty. This empirical study was based on statistical tests, involving Pearson Correlation, T-test, Factor analysis and others. Using the data from Taiwan, this study actually concluded that service quality dimensions have an influence on the customer satisfaction. This again gives the indication of the relationship which the researcher is intending to explore in the context of budget hotels. The present research also aims to analyse the relationship empirical using the statistical tests like this study of Kuo (2003). 
2.9. Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction in Budget Hotels
This research is specifically about the hospitality industry of UK and China, where the particular emphasis is on the budget hotels. Therefore, this section critically reviews the previous studies which are conducted in hospitality sector of UK or China and budget hotels. 
Fong (2007) conducted the study to examine the role of service quality dimensions on the customer satisfaction from the budget hotels which were existing in the region of Kota Kinabalu. This study also considered few moderating variables like past experience, nationality and age of the tourists which was assumed to be influencing the strength or nature of the relationship among service quality and customer satisfaction. using SERVQUAL model, this study measured the service quality using the dimensions of reliability, assurance, empathy, tangibles and responsiveness. The sample size for this particular study was of 201 questionnaire. The study concluded that there exists significant influence of the service quality dimensions on the customer satisfaction of the budget hotels of Kota Kinabalu. As there are five dimensions of the service quality, it was found that all of the dimensions are not having the equal or similar influence on the customer satisfaction. To be specific about the results, the dimensions namely empathy, assurance and reliability are having the significant influence on the customer satisfaction while other dimensions namely responsiveness and tangibles do not determine the level of customer satisfaction in budget hotels. 
Ren, Zhang and Ye (2015) also examined the customer satisfaction of the China’s customers of the budget hotel sector. As this sector is rapidly growing, therefore, it has become a centre of attraction for many researchers. This study analysed which factors are leading towards the satisfactory or dissatisfactory accommodation experience within budget hotels of China. Using the data from 3000 online comments about the budget hotels, data sheet was developed. from these comments, 200 were randomly selected which were analysed using NVivo 9. The results identified three factors which are leading towards the customer satisfaction. These three factors were named location, guest rooms and service quality. Hence, on the basis of this study which was specific to budget hotels of China, it could be said that service quality determines the customer satisfaction in budget hotels as well which is tested as the hypothesis of this study. 
Another research was conducted by Amin et al., (2013) in the budget hotel industry of Malaysia. This study also examined the relationship which exists among the service quality and customer satisfaction. This study was based on convenience sampling for sample selection. Those participants who have experience of Malaysian budget hotels were considered for this study. The result told that the service level is the factor which is most important predictor of customer satisfaction in the budget hotels of Malaysia as well. 
From the above studies, it could be analysed that budget hotels are so far examined in the context of developed countries. It is reasonable to conclude that though there exists the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction for budget hotels in developing countries. This is yet to explore for the developed countries. Hence, the present study aims to use SERVQUAL model for measuring service quality and  Swedish Customer Satisfaction Barometry with modifications for measuring the customer satisfaction. Moreover, no comparative study evidence could be found for this research issue. hence, the present study is going to be a contribution in the existing body of knowledge as it will compare the level of service quality and its influence on budget hotels of two countries i.e. UK and China.
2.10. Conceptual Model
For studying the influence of service quality on customer satisfaction in budget hotel, following conceptual model is used. 
 
Figure 3.2 The conceptual model of service quality satisfaction of budget hotel
The tangibility of hotel service quality means the service quality information displayed by hotel to customer through its visible part , such as architectural appearance, facilities, decorative layout, staff image and so on (Akbaba?2006). The front-line guest service departments in high star hotels include the housekeeping department, front office, food and beverage department, recreation department and sales department (Shanka and Taylor, 2004). Budget hotels in order to save cost, compressed some sectors which earn money indistinctively, but they all have retained housekeeping department and simplified front office. Tangible entities of these two sectors make all the services that customers receive realised, and the appearance, quality, design details of tangible entities can convey information to customers. In the meanwhile, customers will leave apperceiving image in the brain through contacting with the entity. Therefore, the first hypothesis of the article is put forward:
 
The capacity of hotel to support the promised service refers to that the hotel in order to expand market promotion and attract customers, promised to achieve various services and fulfill its commitments when customers arrive at the hotel. Based on PZB gap model, customer satisfaction is comparison result, which is built on the basis of customer perception and customer expectation (Parasuraman, et al, 1990). Customers will think the service quality is high and show satisfaction with the service received only when customer perception is much higher than customer expectation (Nasution and Mavondo, 2008). For example, budget hotels has promised to provide to customers with convenient, comfortable and clean room service although its room price is more lower than high star hotel’s, and if customers feel the commitment services of the hotel have not materialised and make a request, in the meanwhile the hotel does not timely record customers’ complaints and solves the problems, customers would be disappointed and reach the conclusion that service quality of this hotel is not good. Thus, the second hypothesis of this article is put forward:
The rapid pace of modern life leads modern man hopes that the service requests are put forward by themselves to be completed in the shortest period of time. The time standard of high star hotel to complete the reception service for the casual visitor to check in is three minutes (Cser& Ohuchi, 2008). Although there are no express provisions to ask how long it could take to complete the reception service for casual visitor to check in, customers want it to be achieved as quickly as possible. For instance, the customer asks for his room to be changed when the air container in this room is broken, and the customer will accumulate discontent in the process of waiting which leads to complain, while the hotel does not change room for the customer in time. Accordingly, the third hypothesis of this article is put forward:
The assurance of service quality refers to that the enterprise can ensure the quality of service, including appearance and facilities of the enterprise, employee spirit, service skills, etc. Many customers like to spend in the hotel chain which is familiar to them, because they depend on the brand of this hotel group (Kotler and Keller, 2009). Therefore, how to guarantee service quality of hotel chain is very important now for budget hotel (Anton et al., 2007). 
Hotel Service empathy refers to that the hotel and employees meet the needs of customers from the view of customers and think more about customers. In the early period, budget hotel focused on providing products with cheap price and high quality, but with the market competition aggravating, modern mainstream consumers of budget hotel are young group such as the Millennials, while this part of group generally requires attention and personalised service (Wong and Wickham, 2015). From this, it could be analysed that all five dimensions of service quality could lead towards the customer satisfaction. This relationship between dimensions of service quality and customer satisfaction will be further explored with reference to budget hotels of U.K. and China. 
3. Chapter Three: Research Methods
3.1. Introduction
This chapter introduces a comprehensive analysis of research methodology, including the whole research process. It explains which methods are selected and how data is collected for this research. This chapter also provides the rationale for selecting the particular alternative. It clearly explains why quantitative methods, primary data collection method and questionnaire is preferred for this research. 
3.2. Quantitative Research Methods
The present research collects the quantitative data in order to fulfil the aim and objectives of this research. The quantitative methods are selected as such methods allow to collect objective and reliable data hence the objectivity and reliability of the research study is enhanced with the quantitative methods (Neuman, 2002). For generalising the findings to a larger population, statistical analysis could also be used on quantitative research studies (Cooper, Schindler, and Sun, 2003). Therefore, with the intention to generalise the findings over U.K. and China’s tourists, this research method was being preferred over the qualitative methods. The quantitative research is feasible for those research studies where the relationship among variables has to be examined. The present research looks into the relationship which exists among service quality and customer satisfaction at budget hotels, therefore, quantitative research methods are more feasible for examining the relationship as this also aims to examine the relationship among variables. Through using quantitative research method, the researcher also assured that the subjectivity element is not incorporated in this study (Neuman,2002). Most importantly, the aim and objectives could be accomplished successfully using quantitative methods, hence, the decision to use quantitative methods was being taken. 
3.3. Deductive Research approach
There are two kinds of approaches which could be used i.e. inductive and deductive research approach. The present research which is about services quality and customer satisfaction relies on the deductive approach and its rationale is that it provides a structured way to test the already provided theories. The present research is also based on SERVQUAL and SERVPERF (Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry, 1988) and Customer satisfaction, so this approach has helped in fulfilling the aim and objectives. Before writing the research, the author determined to choose budget hotels service quality as research direction by browsing the impact factor journals related to marketing, retailing and hospitality to identify the gap. After extensively collecting and studying the domestic and foreign literature about service quality, it is found that the research of service quality has been verified by many authors (Dong-Hee Shin, 2015). On the basis of adding the results of budget hotels customer satisfaction research and combining with industry characteristics, author selects the suitable theory and method for this research builds the model which provide theoretical basis for this research.  This relationship posited by the conceptual model is further tested through empirical analysis which will help to conclude whether service quality has any influence over customer satisfaction or not. Hence, this tells that researcher has adopted the specific to general approach which is known as deductive research approach. 
3.4. Data collection
To complete the research, both primary and secondary data has been collected. The secondary data is collected for the first objective of this research which was about reviewing the literature while for accomplishing other objectives, primary data is being collected. The primary data is the first hand data which is not already collected by any other researcher and the author collects it for the very first time. For the present research, the primary data is selected to find the impact of service quality on customer satisfaction. The justification for selecting the secondary methods is that a large theoretical data is being collected in a time and cost effective manner. this secondary data has set the basis for the primary research (Clark, 2013). Once sufficient secondary data about customer satisfaction and service quality is reviewed, then the researcher moved towards the primary data. This primary data is collected for analysing the relationship among service quality and customer satisfaction in an empirical manner. The primary data collection methods allows to enhance the significance of this research, therefore, it was also used in this research (Bryman, 2015; Pallant, 2016). Moreover, it provided the recent and updated information about service quality and customer satisfaction from budget hotels. Hence, new data is collected which was not previously available. This has increased the worth of present study (Vogt, 2007). For collecting the primary data, survey strategy was being adopted as that is the most commonly used, time and cost effective and standardised method for collecting the quantitative data (Fowler Jr, 2013)
3.5. Questionnaire
Primary data is collected through questionnaire method where both online and offline questionnaire methods are used for administration.Though, other methods like ethnography and observation could also be used, but considering the limited time and budget constraint, this questionnaire method is most feasible. This can allow to collect data in an efficient and cost effective manner, therefore, this technique is being selected (Cooper, Schindler and Sun, 2003). 
As per recommendation of Brace (2008) and Peterson (2000), the questionnaire is divided into three distinct sections where the first one will capture the respondent’s particulars on nationality, age, and gender. The second part of the questionnaire will be structured to collect the information regarding customer perception of satisfaction and service performance. This research uses the adopted scale for measuring the service quality level. The adopted scale is modified as per the need of this research. Moreover, various models are consulted for developed the scale for customer satisfaction. The questionnaires for U.K. and China’s budget hotels’ customers are attached in Appendix A. 
3.6. Population and Sample
The sample of this research are the international tourists who visit China and UK. The sample size of 158 is obtained for U.K. while 176 sample size is for China. Though, initially, the researcher distributed 500 questionnaires to the tourists of each country. However, due to non-responsiveness of participants, only the sample of 158 and 176 could be obtained from U.K. and China respectively. The sample is selected using the convenience sampling technique (Polit-O'Hara and Beck, 2006; Babbie, Wagner III and Zaino, 2015). The researcher has selected the sample on the basis on convenience where those tourists were asked to fill the questionnaire which were easily accessible to researcher. 
3.7. Data analysis
After obtaining the questionnaire survey data, the data is coded into Microsoft Excel Sheet. Using the in-built functions of Microsoft Excel, descriptive analysis is performed. Frequencies and percentages are presented in forms of tables and graphs.  
3.8. Ethical Consideration
As per suggestions of Bryman and Bell (2015), all ethical considerations are observed. in the questionnaire, no respondent is required to indicate their name or personal details other than their country of origin. This will help in having a nonbiased analysis of their feedback during data analysis since what will only be available for scrutiny is the feedback and not the respondent. In the questionnaire survey, personal information of the respondents are not collected, it is sure not to infringe on the privacy of the respondents. The demographic information is collected for the purpose of analysis but that will never be shared with any other person without the consent of the participants. Similarly, none of the participant was being forced to take part in the survey of this research. Their participation was on the basis of their consent where researcher did not influence them to participate in this research [Appendix B]. For secondary data collection, it is ensured that the data is properly acknowledged using the standard methods of referencing. 
3.9. Limitations
In this research, time was very limited hence it was not possible to increase the sample size. As it has included the sample from two countries, therefore, to collect the data was quite challenging. To access the participants, the researcher visited the budget hotels and waited in the reception area. From there, the tourists were being asked to take part in this study. At few budget hotels, it was not being allowed by their managers to stay for longer time for data collection, hence, to collect large sample was not possible. Therefore, sample size could not be increased further. Moreover, it was not a funded project therefore considering the limited budget this research is being conducted. though, the combination of qualitative data could have increased its worth but due to limited time and budget, that could not be ensured. 
4. The Research
4.1. Introduction
This chapter presents the results of this research. This research is based on survey hence the survey findings are presented in this research. After presenting and analysing the findings, discussion on results is also conducted in the light of previous studies. 
4.2. Demographic analysis
The purpose of this section is to analyse the the demographics of the participants who has taken part in this research study.  Analysis of the personal information of respondents and the descriptive statistical results is in the table below. 
 
Table: Gender of Customers of U.K. budget hotels 
 
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
 
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
Table: Gender of Customers of China’s budget hotels 
 
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
  Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
The sex ratio of respondents is reasonable. Male accounts for 49.4% and female accounts for 50.6% in the British questionnaire. Male accounts for 50.6% and female accounts for 49.4% in the Chinese questionnaire.
Table: Age demographics of Customers of U.K. Budget Hotels 
 
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
 
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
Table: Age demographics of Customers of China’s Budget Hotels 
 
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
 
 
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
The age structure is evenly, but young people still more than older people. The respondents aged 18-25 years account for 19.6%, 26-35 years account for 16.5%, 36-45 years account for 27.8%, 46-55 years account for 21.5%, above 55 years account for 14.6 % in the British group of respondents. The respondents aged 18-25 years account for 18.2%, 26-35 years account for 22.2%, 36-45 years account for 27.3%, 46-55 years account for 18.2%, above 55 years account for14.2 % in the Chinese questionnaire. The respondents aged was mainly in the range of 36-45
Table: Nationality of Customers of U.K. Budget Hotels 
 
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
Table: Nationality of Customers of China’s Budget Hotels 
 
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
 
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
People are mainly from USA and Europe in the British respondents. People are mainly from Middle, Asia and Europe in the Chinese respondents. 
Table: Purpose of visit in U.K’s budget hotels 
 
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
Table: Purpose of visit in China’s budget hotels 
 
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
 
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
From the above descriptive analysis, it becomes clearer that purpose of visiting the budget hotels of U.K. and China was mainly business, meeting/conferences or leisure.
Table: Frequency of visit to budget hotels of U.K. 
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
Table: Frequency of visit to budget hotels of China  
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
 
 
 
 
 
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
From the above analysis regarding the number of visits in budget hotels of U.K. and China, it become evident that majority of travellers of China has visited the budget hotel for 2-5 times while same is true for U.K. 
 
4.3. Service Quality at UK and China’s Budget Hotels
4.3.1. Reliability of UK and Chinese Budget hotels
1. The budget hotels of UK and China can fulfil their commitment to their customers
China’s Budget Hotels Customers UK’s Budget Hotels Customers 
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage 
S.A. 67 38.06818 51 32.27848
A 45 25.56818 34 21.51899
U 10 5.681818 31 19.62025
D.A 22 12.5 21 13.29114
S.D.A 32 18.18182 21 13.29114
Total 176 100% 158 100%
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
The purpose of the present question was to analyse the reliability of budget hotels with respect to their commitment to fulfil the needs of customers. For China’s. budget hotels, it is found that majority of the customers has strongly agreed that these hotels are fulfilling their commitment to their customers. Further to this, twenty-five percent also agreed that budget hotels are fulfilling their commitment to customers. Same is the case for UK’s hotel. Majority of the customers of budget hotels has strongly agreed or agreed. However, direct comparison of both hotels depict that the responses for China’s budget hotel are in greater percentage for strongly agree and agree, depicting that China’s hotels are better able to fulfil the commitment to the customers. Hence, it could be analysed that China’s budget hotels show more commitment to fulfil the needs of the customers, which provides the indication of greater service quality at China’s budget hotels in terms of the reliability. 
2. The budget hotels of UK and China always provide the promised service on time.
China’s Budget Hotels Customers UK’s Budget Hotels Customers 
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage 
S.A. 61 34.65909 34 21.51899
A 51 28.97727 29 18.35443
U 10 5.681818 15 9.493671
D.A 22 12.5 41 25.94937
S.D.A 32 18.18182 39 24.68354
Total 176 100% 158 100
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
The purpose of the above mention item was to analyse whether or not budget hotels are providing what they have promised to their customers. For China’s budget hotels, the results have showed that majority of the customers of budget hotels believe that they have received that value what was being promised to them. There were thirty-four percent customers of China’s budget hotels who have stated that the hotels have provided them the service which was promised to them. In opposite to this, UK’s hotels are unable to deliver what is being promised by them as this has been told by majority of the customers. Twenty-five percent has disagreed while twenty-four percent has disagreed with the statement that they get what is being promised.  From this it could be analysed that U.K’s budget hotels are not able to offer the reliability to their customers, hence the service quality level is low in this country. 
3. During problems, UK and China’s budget hotels’ employees are reassuring and sympathetic. 
China’s Budget Hotels Customers UK’s Budget Hotels Customers 
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage 
S.A. 49 27.84091 21 13.29114
A 51 28.97727 41 25.94937
U 10 5.113636 31 19.62025
D.A 31 18.18182 23 14.55696
S.D.A 35 19.88636 42 26.58228
Total 176 100% 158 100
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
For providing higher level of service quality, it is important to ensure that employees are reassuring and sympathetic. The purpose of this item in the questionnaire was to analyse whether or not employees of budget hotels are reassuring and sympathetic. The results have shown that majority of customers from China’s budget hotel believe that the employees are reassuring and sympathetic. However, this is not true for the case of UK’s budget hotels, majority of the customers are strongly disagreeing with this statement. Next to this, twenty-five percent agreed with this that employees are reassuring and sympathetic. So it could be observed that mixed results have been found for UK’s budget hotels while China’s budget hotels have reassuring and sympathetic employees. This again highlights the fact that reliability of U.K’s budget hotels’ service quality is not as high as it is of China’s budget hotels. 
4. Budget hotels of UK and China have trustworthy employees.  
China’s Budget Hotels Customers UK’s Budget Hotels Customers 
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage 
S.A. 29 16.47727 28 17.72152
A 69 39.20455 55 34.81013
U 26 14.77273 23 14.55696
D.A 38 21.59091 29 18.35443
S.D.A 11 6.25 21 13.29114
Total 176 100 158 100
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
The trustworthiness of employees is also critical for service quality level. In both China and UK majority of customers have agreed that the employees of hotels are trustworthy. In China, there were thirty nine percent customers who said employees are trustworthy while in UK, there were thirty four percent customers who highlighted that the trustworthiness of employees. This shows that U.K.’s budget hotels are not bad in terms of all dimensions of reliability of the service quality. The analysis is leading towards the conclusion that trustworthiness of employees of U.K’s and China’s budget hotels is almost equal 
4.3.2. Reactivity of UK and China’s Budget Hotels
1. The services provided by the budget hotels of UK and China meet customers’ expectations. 
China’s Budget Hotels Customers UK’s Budget Hotels Customers 
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage 
S.A. 41 23.29545 32 20.25316
A 55 31.25 48 30.37975
U 34 19.31818 13 8.227848
D.A 27 15.34091 38 24.05063
S.D.A 16 9.090909 26 16.4557
Total 176 100 158 100
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
In service quality, another dimension is about the reactivity. So this question was asked form UK and China’s budget hotel customers to measure the reactiveness of hotels in terms of meeting the customers’ expectations. Majority of customers of budget hotels from both countries has agreed that their needs and expectations are being fulfilled in the budget hotels. Perhaps, their most important need is that reasonable prices and higher value of services and this is being provided to the customers. In China’s budget hotels, there were thirty-one percent who agreed while in UK’s budget hotels, there were thirty percent who agreed that their expectations are fulfilled in the budget hotels. From this response, it could be analysed that expectations of customers at budget hotels of both countries are fulfilled, which highlights the service quality level of budget hotels. 
2. The employees of the budget hotels of UK and China are always ready to help customers.
China’s Budget Hotels Customers UK’s Budget Hotels Customers 
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage 
S.A. 16 9.090909 32 20.25316
A 73 41.47727 40 25.31646
U 41 23.29545 16 10.12658
D.A 28 15.90909 42 26.58228
S.D.A 16 9.090909 26 16.4557
Total 176 100 158 100
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
The purpose of this question was to know how reactive is the service quality in terms of employees’ orientation to help customers. For China’s Hotel, majority of customers have agreed that employees are ready to help them to fulfil their needs. There were forty-one percent respondents who said that they truly agree that employees of budget hotels are willing to help customers whenever they need. For UK’s hotels, there exists mixed results as twenty-six percent agreed that employees are not ready to help the customers while twenty-five percent agreed that employees are ready to help the customers. Again, like few of the previous responses, U.K.’s budget hotels are behind the China’s budget hotels in terms of reactiveness depicted by willingness of employees to help the customers. 
3. Budgets hotels of UK and China provide timely services. 
China’s Budget Hotels Customers UK’s Budget Hotels Customers 
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage 
S.A. 21 11.93182 36 22.78481
A 75 42.61364 42 26.58228
U 35 19.88636 17 10.75949
D.A 33 18.75 31 19.62025
S.D.A 9 5.113636 32 20.25316
Total 176 100 158 100
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
The reactiveness of service quality is also estimated form the timeliness of the services. Usually, budget hotels are notorious for not providing the timely services. For the case of China’s budget hotels, a large percentage of customers i.e. forty-two percent agreed that timely services are being provided to them. Like previous responses, UK’s customers provided mixed results. Twenty-six percent agreed that timely services are offered to them at the budget hotels of UK however, there was a large percentage of customers who were actually disagreeing or strongly disagreeing with the timely service orientation of budget hotels of UK. This depicts that budget hotels of U.K. are less reactive in terms of providing the timely services to their customers. 
4. Employees of budget hotels of UK and China provide adequate support.
China’s Budget Hotels Customers UK’s Budget Hotels Customers 
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage 
S.A. 34 19.31818 31 19.62025
A 50 28.40909 31 19.62025
U 40 22.72727 19 12.02532
D.A 31 17.61364 46 29.11392
S.D.A 18 10.22727 31 19.62025
Total 176 100 158 100
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
The reactiveness level is also judged from the adequate level of support provided to customers. therefore, the present question aimed to measure the reactiveness of budget hotels’ service quality with the help of adequate support providing facility. There were twenty-eight percent respondents of China’s budget hotels that stated that they agree that adequate support is provided to them at the budget hotels. On the other hand, twenty-nine percent of UK’s budget hotel has provided the response that they disagree that the hotels provide them adequate support when they need. The analysis for this question tells that level of reactiveness in terms of providing adequate support is not high in budget hotels of both countries. But for U.K’s budget hotels, the situation is even worse as majority has directly disagreed that they get the adequate support. 
4.3.3. Certainty of UK and China’s Budget Hotels
1. The staff of budget hotels of UK and China can provide the service which makes the customer feel at ease
China’s Budget Hotels Customers UK’s Budget Hotels Customers 
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage 
S.A. 14 7.954545 31 19.62025
A 77 43.75 39 24.68354
U 50 28.40909 11 6.962025
D.A 24 13.63636 53 33.5443
S.D.A 9 5.113636 24 15.18987
Total 176 100 158 100
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
Another dimension for measuring the service quality is the certainty which is associated with the service level. The present question was asked to analyse the certainty in terms of behaviour of staff to provide the ease and comfort to customers. The majority of customers of China’s budget hotel agreed that the staff provides them necessary service to ensure that they are at ease. On the other hand, this is not found in the UK’s budget hotels. There were thirty percent which disagreed that staff provide such services to put customers on ease. The analysis has revealed that in terms of U.K’s budget hotels, this ease is not being offered to customers while this is being offered in China’s budget hotels. 
2. The staff of budget hotels of UK and China is always very polite. 
China’s Budget Hotels Customers UK’s Budget Hotels Customers 
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage 
S.A. 25 14.20455 32 20.25316
A 80 45.45455 31 19.62025
U 40 22.72727 14 8.860759
D.A 24 13.63636 49 31.01266
S.D.A 5 2.840909 32 20.25316
Total 176 100 158 100
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
The level of politeness of employees matter a lot in determining the overall service quality level. Therefore, this question was asked to investigate how satisfied are customers with the behaviour and attitude of employees. In case of China’s budget hotels, majority of employees are satisfied with the polite behaviour of staff and employees. On the other hand, the staff of budget hotels of UK does not demonstrate polite behaviour to customers, as thirty-one percent disagreed and twenty percent strongly disagreed that staff is polite with them. It could be analysed that service quality level at U.K’s budget hotels is again proved to be less effective than China’s budget hotels. 
3. The budget hotels of UK and China deliver what is being promised by them.
China’s Budget Hotels Customers UK’s Budget Hotels Customers 
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage 
S.A. 38 21.59091 32 20.25316
A 82 46.59091 27 17.08861
U 30 17.04545 19 12.02532
D.A 20 11.36364 47 29.74684
S.D.A 6 3.409091 33 20.88608
Total 176 100 158 100
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
It is of utmost importance that the service which is promise should be delivered to the customers. When promised level is not provided, it results in dissatisfaction. In China’s budget hotels, majority of customers has stated that they agree that the promised service level is being provided to them. Forty-six percent has agreed that they get the promised level of service at the budget hotels of China. On the other hand, there were twenty-nine percent which is the majority of customers of UK’s budget hotels, the promised level of service is not being offered to them. In U.K’s budget hotels, the promised service level is also not offered to customers while China’s budget hotels do provide what is being promised with the customers. 
4. While doing transactions at budget hotels of UK and China you can feel safe.  
China’s Budget Hotels Customers UK’s Budget Hotels Customers 
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage 
S.A. 10 5.681818 31 19.62025
A 44 25 52 32.91139
U 48 27.27273 16 10.12658
D.A 47 26.70455 27 17.08861
S.D.A 24 13.63636 31 19.62025
Total 176 100 158 100
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
Safety is another important element which must be provided to customers when they come to get the hotel services. For China’s hotels, there were twenty-seven percent who were uncertain while twenty-five percent agreed and twenty-six percent disagreed. This tells that safety level is neither very high nor very low as mixed results are found. On the other hand, safety is being offered to the customers of UK’s budget hotels. Thirty-two percent agreed that they get the feeling of safety when they do any transaction at the UK’s budget hotels. This is the factor which is differentiating the better feature of service quality level of U.K’s budget hotels. The safety level which is offered at the budget hotels of U.K. is better than the safety level offered in China’s budget hotels. 
4.3.4. Tangibility of UK and China’s Budget Hotels
1. The budget hotels of UK and China own perfect facilities and equipment.
China’s Budget Hotels Customers UK’s Budget Hotels Customers 
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage 
S.A. 15 8.522727 30 18.98734
A 38 21.59091 31 19.62025
U 35 19.88636 17 10.75949
D.A 58 32.95455 42 26.58228
S.D.A 28 15.90909 35 22.1519
Total 176 100 158 100
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
In service quality, the role of tangibility is quite high. The tangible factors help the customers to evaluate the service quality level. It is important for hotels to have the perfect facilities and equipment. Therefore, this question was asked to analyse the level of tangibility offered at budget hotels through facilities and equipment. As per the responses, there were thirty-two percent customers of China’s budget hotels that disagreed with the given statement that perfect facilities and equipment are being offered to customers. Similarly, the customers of UK’s budget hotels also showed the same response that majority disagreed that hotels are having perfect facilities and equipment. Analysis is revealing that budget hotels of both countries are unable to offer the perfect facilities and equipment. As these are budget hotels, so perhaps customers even do not expect to receive the perfect equipment and facilities from these hotels, therefore, this dimension might not be that important as other aspects. 
2. The staff of budget hotels of UK and China have good grooming.
China’s Budget Hotels Customers UK’s Budget Hotels Customers 
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage 
S.A. 15 8.522727 35 22.1519
A 65 36.93182 37 23.41772
U 35 19.88636 14 8.860759
D.A 44 25 41 25.94937
S.D.A 14 7.954545 28 17.72152
Total 176 100 158 100
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
The staff’s grooming level demonstrate the another aspect of tangibility offered in the service level. The responses of this question shows that majority of China’s budget hotels’ customers has proved that the staff is groomed in a good manner. On the other hand, majority of customers of UK’s budget hotels has not agreed with this statement. However, the results were mixed for UK’s budget hotels as twenty-five percent agreed, seventeen percent strongly disagreed, twenty-three percent agree and twenty-two percent strongly agreed. China’s budget hotels has showed the superior service level by depicting the good grooming of employees which is not provided in U.K’s budget hotels, as said by majority of customers. 
3. The physical facilities of budget hotels of UK and China are visually appealing. 
China’s Budget Hotels Customers UK’s Budget Hotels Customers 
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage 
S.A. 24 13.63636
37 23.41772
A 65 36.93182 50 31.64557
U 42 23.86364 15 9.493671
D.A 29 16.47727 38 24.05063
S.D.A 13 7.386364 17 10.75949
Total 176 100 158 100
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
The visual appearance of facilities must be appealing and this is also a determinant of service quality level. Therefore, this question was asked from the customers to have an idea about the visual appeal of the facilities of budget hotels in both countries. Results showed majority of China’s budget hotels’ customers has agreed while thirty-one percent of UK’s budget hotels has agreed. The results are similar for budget hotels in both countries, depicting that all budget hotels are offering the visual appealing facilities in their hotels. 
4. The employees of budgets hotels of UK and China are well dressed.
China’s Budget Hotels Customers UK’s Budget Hotels Customers 
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage 
S.A. 9 5.113636 59 37.34177
A 67 38.06818 51 32.27848
U 52 29.54545 27 17.08861
D.A 28 15.90909 7 4.43038
S.D.A 18 10.22727 14 8.860759
Total 176 100 158 100
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
Dressing level and style of hotel staff is also an important determinant of the service quality level. In this research, the results have demonstrated dressing level of staff is good in budget hotels of UK and China. For China’s budget hotels, there were thirty-eight percent customers who agreed that staff has a good dressing level. Likewise, for UK’s budget hotels, there were thirty-two percent customers who agreed that the dressing style of staff is good. The analysis leads towards the conclusion that tangibility in terms of dressing of staff is good in both countries’ budget hotels. 
4.3.5. Empathy of UK and China’s Budget Hotels
1. The staff of budget hotels of UK and China understands customers’ special requests.
China’s Budget Hotels Customers UK’s Budget Hotels Customers 
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage 
S.A. 18 10.22727 43 27.21519
A 22 12.5 74 46.83544
U 24 13.63636 14 8.860759
D.A 85 48.29545 18 11.39241
S.D.A 25 14.20455 9 5.696203
Total 176 100 158 100
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
Like other dimensions, empathy is another important determinant of service quality level.  The purpose of present question was to know how much empathy is being showed by the budget hotels in fulfilling the requests of the customers. The results found that special requests are not being handled appropriately in China’s budget hotels as forty-eight percent has disagreed that their special requests are handled appropriately. On the other hand, in the UK’s hotels, the special requests are handled in an effective manner as majority of customers has agreed with this statement. The analysis is demonstrating that the service quality level in terms of empathy is better in the budget hotels of U.K. 
2. The Budget hotels of UK and China have convenient check in and check out hours.  
China’s Budget Hotels Customers UK’s Budget Hotels Customers 
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage 
S.A. 20 11.36364 60 37.97468
A 21 11.93182 63 39.87342
U 21 11.93182 9 5.696203
D.A 89 50.56818 17 10.75949
S.D.A 23 13.06818 9 5.696203
Total 176 100 158 100
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
It is also important to have such check in and check out times which are convenient for customers. This convenience provided through opening and closing timings help in determining the service quality level. The results depicted that China’s hotels are not having appropriate and convenient timings for check in and check out as a large percentage has disagree with this statement. Conversely, in UK’s budget hotels, this convenience is being offered to customers as majority has agreed with this statement. Like the previous question, the analysis of this question leads towards the conclusion that service quality in terms of empathy is better in U.K’s budget hotels while China’s budget hotels are unable to offer this. 
3. The Budget hotels of UK and China have employees who understands the needs of customers.
China’s Budget Hotels Customers UK’s Budget Hotels Customers 
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage 
S.A. 13 7.386364 42 26.58228
A 14 7.954545 76 48.10127
U 22 12.5 11 6.962025
D.A 82 46.59091 16 10.12658
S.D.A 42 23.86364 12 7.594937
Total 176 100 158 100
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
It is also important that employees understand the needs of customers and this also provide the demonstration of service quality level in terms of empathy. The response for this question has told that the majority has disagreed, in case of China’s budget hotels. This depicts that their employees are unable to understand the needs of customers. In case of UK’s budget hotels, results depicted that majority of customers agreed that employees can understand their needs. From this, it could be analysed that U.K’s budget hotels offer higher level of empathy which is not being offered in China’s budget hotels. 
4. The Budget hotels of UK and China provide individual attention to its customers.  
China’s Budget Hotels Customers UK’s Budget Hotels Customers 
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage 
S.A. 12 6.818182 67 42.40506
A 13 7.386364 67 42.40506
U 28 15.90909 6 3.797468
D.A 83 47.15909 10 6.329114
S.D.A 38 21.59091 8 5.063291
Total 176 100 158 100
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
The individual attention is another determinant of service quality and this must be provided to customers. The results of this survey showed that China’s budget hotels are unable to offer the individualised attention to their customers while UK’s budget hotels are able to provide the individual attention to customers. Like previous responses, the analysis of present response is leading towards the conclusion that service quality level (in terms of empathy) of U.K’s budget hotels is better than the China’s budget hotels. 
4.4. Customer satisfaction of UK and China’s budget hotel’s customers
The section analyses the customer satisfaction level. There are eight determinant of the customer satisfaction level and this section analyses the responses of customers regarding those eight determinants. 
6. Budget hotels of UK and China provide services as per my expectations.
China’s Budget Hotels Customers UK Budget Hotels Customers 
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage 
S.A. 22 12.5 33 20.88608
A 17 9.659091 72 45.56962
U 16 9.090909 11 6.962025
D.A 82 46.59091 20 12.65823
S.D.A 39 22.15909 22 13.92405
Total 176 100 158 100
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
In services, one of the important thing is to ensure that customers’ expectations are met. The expectations of customers set the desired and adequate level of service which in turn determines the satisfaction level. For this particular item, it was found that expectations of China’s budget hotels’ customers are not met which means they are not satisfied. On the other hand, the expectations of UK’s budget hotels’ customers have met, highlighting their satisfaction level. Now, it could be analysed that though many of the aspects of service quality were not good in U.K’s budget hotels, but they are still satisfied. This highlights the importance of those service elements which are considered by the U.K. hotels. 
7. The quality of services provided by Budget hotels of UK and China are satisfactory, in terms of their prices.
China’s Budget Hotels Customers UK’s Budget Hotels Customers 
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage 
S.A. 11 6.25 27 17.08861
A 33 18.75 75 47.46835
U 35 19.88636 13 8.227848
D.A 67 38.06818 20 12.65823
S.D.A 30 17.04545 22 13.92405
Total 176 100 158 100
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
This response analyses satisfaction level in terms of prices. The results depicted that customers of China’s budget hotels are less satisfied than UK’s budget hotels customers. There were thirty-eight percent responses from China who disagreed while forty seven percent from UK who has agreed with the given statement. Even though, China’s budget hotels are demonstrating the better service quality level, but customers of China’s budget hotels are still not satisfied and they also believe that they are not satisfied in terms of prices which are offered. 
8. I do not have any complaints from Budget hotels of UK and China.  
China’s Budget Hotels Customers UK’s Budget Hotels Customers 
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage 
S.A. 12 6.818182 42 26.58228
A 33 18.75 64 40.50633
U 27 15.34091 10 6.329114
D.A 70 39.77273 20 12.65823
S.D.A 33 18.75 22 13.92405
Total 176 100 158 100
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
The complaint behaviour also determines the satisfaction level. As per the results, it can be observed that China’s budget hotels are having more complains. There were thirty-nine percent respondents that actually disagreed, highlighting their dissatisfaction level. In opposite to this, forty percent customers of UK’s budget hotels depicted that they do not have any complaint, which highlights their satisfaction level. This again provides unexpected results as the service quality level seem better in China’s budget hotels, but they still have more complaints. In opposite to this, U.K.’s budget hotels were better than China’s budget hotels only in terms of few aspects. But still, these are having less complains showing the better customer satisfaction level. 
9. I will continue purchasing the services of Budget hotels of UK and China. 
China’s Budget Hotels Customers UK’s Budget Hotels Customers 
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage 
S.A. 26 14.77273 28 17.72152
A 29 16.47727 74 46.83544
U 23 13.06818 14 8.860759
D.A 62 35.22727 20 12.65823
S.D.A 36 20.45455 22 13.92405
Total 176 100 158 100
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
The future purchase intention is another determinant of customer satisfaction level. It is found that China’s budget hotels customers do not have the purchase intention while the customers of UK’s budget hotels are having the high purchase intention. There were forty-six percent respondents of UK’s budget hotels that agreed that they will continue purchasing the services from budget hotels of UK. This tells that customers are satisfied from U.K’s budget hotels more than they are satisfied with the China’s budget hotels. This analysis depict that U.K’s budget hotels has successfully focused on those service elements which are critical for customer satisfaction. 
10. I will be a loyal customer of budget hotels of UK and China in future. 
China’s Budget Hotels Customers UK’s Budget Hotels Customers 
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage 
S.A. 47 26.70455 23 14.55696
A 17 9.659091 82 51.89873
U 21 11.93182 10 6.329114
D.A 61 34.65909 20 12.65823
S.D.A 30 17.04545 22 13.92405
Total 176 100 158 100
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
The loyalty is much similar to satisfaction level. Only those customers remain loyal who are actually satisfied from the services. The results are depicting that majority of customers of China’s budget hotels are not satisfied while UK’s budget hotels’ customers are satisfied. Again, the loyalty of customers of U.K’s budget hotels is better and it must be due to those few elements of service quality which are considered in U.K. 
11. According to my perception, budget hotels of UK and China offer reliable services. 
China’s Budget Hotels Customers UK Budget Hotels Customers 
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage 
S.A. 9 5.113636 26 16.4557
A 43 24.43182 44 27.8481
U 29 16.47727 24 15.18987
D.A 63 35.79545 40 25.31646
S.D.A 31 17.61364 23 14.55696
Total 176 100 158 100
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
The reliability of hotels must be high to obtain the higher level of customer satisfaction. The results, as depicted in above table, are demonstrating that thirty-five percent from China’s budget hotels has disagreed. On the other hand, majority from UK’s budget hotels has agreed for reliability factor which shows they are satisfied with the service quality level. 
12. The corporate and brand image of budget hotels of UK and China is positive for me.
China’s Budget Hotels Customers UK’s Budget Hotels Customers 
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage 
S.A. 47 26.70455 29 18.35443
A 63 35.79545 66 41.77215
U 34 19.31818 10 6.329114
D.A 20 11.36364 30 18.98734
S.D.A 10 5.681818 22 13.92405
Total 176 100 158 100
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
The brand image and corporate image must be considered positive by the satisfied customers. In opposite to the previous responses of China’s budget hotels, it is found that brand image and corporate image is positive in mind of customers as majority has agreed for this question. On the other hand, forty-one percent agreed that they are having positive image for budget hotels of UK. Though, the service quality level was problematic in U.K’s hotels, but still they are able to satisfy their customers. The role of other factors which are not studied in this research should not be ignored. 
13. The budget hotels of UK and China provide value for money. 
China’s Budget Hotels Customers UK’s Budget Hotels Customers 
Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage 
S.A. 40 22.72727 26 16.4557
A 48 27.27273 70 44.3038
U 41 23.29545 10 6.329114
D.A 23 13.06818 29 18.35443
S.D.A 23 13.06818 22 13.92405
Total 176 100 158 100
Source: Created by author through survey data conducted on budget hotels (2016)
One important aspect of satisfaction is that customers must perceive that they have achieved the value for their money. When value for their price is not being provide to them, this only results in dissatisfaction level of customers. therefore, this question was being asked from the customers of budget hotels of both countries. The results are showing that customers of budget hotels of both countries believe that they get value for their money and this again highlights their satisfaction level from the offered service. Overall, it could be said that satisfaction level of U.K’s budget hotel customers is high. 
4.5. Discussion and Analysis
It is analysed that reliable services are being offered in budget hotels of both countries. Though, for few aspects, mixed results were found but it is also found that majority of the aspects are agreed and strongly agreed by the customers for demonstrating the reliability of the offered services. The commitment to services is demonstrated. The promised services are provided on time. The critical analysis tell that it is really important for budget hotels to offer what they have promised. Many of the researchers has stated that it becomes challenging for budget hotels to offer the promised quality. Many times, budget hotels overstate what they can actually deliver, and this results in poor satisfaction level of customers (Peng, Zhao and Mattila, 2015). However, the analysis reveal that in China’s budget hotels, customers receive what is being promised to them. This should be a reason of satisfaction for the customers, but the research found that their satisfaction is still low. It is also observed that UK’s hotels are unable to provide what they have promised, but level of satisfaction of its customers is still high. This might be due to the fact that customers already expect that level of service might not be as it is told because it is a budget hotel and these results are consistent with the findings of Jeong, Cha and Jang (2016). The reassuring and sympathetic attitude is not being demonstrated by the UK’s hotels but their customers are still satisfied more than China’s budget hotels. This tells that the importance of sympathetic and reassuring attitude is not much high. Likewise, the results has also depicted that trustworthiness of employees is high in both countries. On the basis of this, it could be concluded that reliability is important for ensuring the customer satisfaction level. Similar results are also found by the study of Bansal and Taylor (2015). 
The reactiveness also demonstrated the mixed results for both countries’ budget hotels. Discussing the results of majority basis, it could be said that reactiveness of China’s budget hotels is better than those of the UK’s hotels. However, it is also found that customers of China’s budget hotels are less satisfied than UK’s hotels. This lead towards the conclusion that for budget hotels, customer satisfaction is not determined by the reactiveness level of the hotels. What differentiates the budget hotels from the other hotels is the pricing level, so it might be due to the fact that customers already pay less so they do not expect higher level of reactiveness so if it is not offered they are still satisfied (Ahamed and Mohideen, 2015). 
For certainty, it is found that China’s budget hotels are successful in providing the certainty in their service level. Customers could feel at ease, staff is polite and whatever is promised is delivered in the China’s budget hotels. However, the safety is not being offered when customers do any transaction at the budget hotels. In any transaction, the role of safety is high and it should not be ignored. This is also highlighted by many authors like Subramanian, Gunasekaran and Gao (2016). However, China’s budget hotels are providing all other elements but they lack behind in terms of offering the safety of transactions to the customers. This aspect is analysed carefully by UK’s budget hotels and they are providing the required safety level to their customers. Indeed, UK’s budget hotels lack behind in other aspects, but they are providing safety and their satisfaction level is also high. This led to conclusion that not all factors related to the certainty are important for customer satisfaction. 
Another important factor of service quality is the tangibility. The level of facilities and equipment is not good in China’s budget hotels while it is better in UK’s budget hotels. Staff of China’s hotels is more groomed as compared to UK’s budget hotels. Staff is well dressed and facilities are visual appealing in budget hotels of UK and China. In empathy, it is found that facilities and equipment and grooming of staff are better in UK’s budget hotels. The higher satisfaction level of customers of UK’s budget hotels could be due to these factors. Rahimi and Kozak (2016) also mentioned that well-groomed staff give signal of professionalism and good equipment and facilities provides convenience to customers. So it could be analysed that the satisfaction of UK’s customers is higher due to these highlighted factors of tangibility. 
The empathy level is higher for budget hotels of UK and it is quite low for China’s budget hotels. UK’s budget hotels staff understand the special requests of customers. These hotels have convenient check in and check out times. Employees understand the needs of customers and provide individual attention in UK’s budget hotels. These aspects are missing in the China’s budget hotels. This could be the reason that customers of China’s are less satisfied than UK’s customers. This is also said by Yan Shen and Kong (2016) that better empathy could lead to higher satisfaction level. 
5. Chapter Six: Conclusion and Recommendations
5.1. Conclusion
It is concluded that the reliability of China’s budget hotel is better than U.K’s budget hotels. China’s budget hotels are better able to show commitment for fulfilling the needs of the customers. China’s budget hotels are providing their customers what is being promised to them. The employees of China’s budget hotels are more sympathetic and reassuring than U.K’s budget hotels. One important dimension of reliability is trustworthiness and it is concluded that employees of both China’s and U.K’s budget hotels are trustworthy. Overall, it can be concluded that reliability of China’s budget hotels is better than the reliability of U.K.’s budget hotels. 
The next important dimension of service quality is about the reactiveness of service quality offered at China’s and U.K’s budget hotels. It is concluded that both China’s and U.K’s budget hotels are in position to meet the expectations of their customers, which shows their reactiveness. Though, the employees of U.K’s budget hotels are also ready to help the customers but the willingness of China’s budget hotels’ employees to help customers is higher. It is being concluded that employees of China’s budgets are more willing to help the customers. Likewise, the reactiveness of China’s budget hotels in terms of providing timely service is higher. It is concluded that service quality of China’s budget hotels is better because they do provide timely service to customers as compared to the U.K’s budget hotels. However, it is also found that adequate support is not provided to customers in both countries’ budget hotels. The situation is even worse as most of the customers told that they do not get the adequate support when they need at the U.K’s budget hotels. 
Certainty is another important dimension of service quality. this research concludes that U.K’s budget hotels do not provide the adequate level of ease to its customers which depicts the lower level of certainty at the U.K’s budget hotels. On the other hand, China’s budget hotels are able to offer this certainty and their customers could feel the ease. In terms of politeness of the employees, China’s budget hotels again left being the budget hotels of U.K. The response of more customers helped to conclude that the politeness of employees at China’s budget hotels is better, showing the higher level of certainty of service quality. Moreover, China’s budget hotels also provide what is being promise to the customers. However, moving towards the safety offered at the budget hotels of both countries, it can be concluded that safety level which is offered while doing any transaction at the budget hotels is higher for U.K.’s budget hotels. In this aspect, China’s budget hotels are far behind.  
Next important dimension of service quality is the tangibility. It is concluded that budget hotels of both countries are unable to have the perfect facilities and equipment. This shows the tangibility element is lower in both countries’ budget hotels. Budget hotels of both countries have staff with good grooming but this level is higher for China’s budget hotels. Budget hotels of both countries are having such facilities which are visually appealing. In a similar manner, it is found that employees from budget hotels of both countries are well dressed. It could be concluded that other than perfect facilities and equipment, tangibility of budget hotels of both countries is satisfactory. 
Moving towards empathy of service quality, it is found that U.K.’s budget hotels are better able to deal with the special requests of the customers as compared to the China’s budget hotels. The check-in and check-out times of U.K.’s budget hotels are better hence they are providing more convenience to customers. U.K.’s budget hotels are also showing more empathy by providing what is demanded by the customers. Likewise, U.K’s budget hotels are declared more high on empathy than China’s budget hotels because they do provide the individualised attention to customers. 
The analysis of customer satisfaction level at budget hotels of both countries lead towards the conclusion that U.K’s budget hotels customers are more satisfied than customers of China’s budget hotels. Hence, it could be concluded that U.K’s budget hotels has incorporated those elements of service quality which could lead towards the satisfaction of customers. It is also found that China’s budget hotels’ service quality was better but the customer satisfaction is not high in China’s budget hotels. Therefore, it could be concluded that all service quality dimensions are not linked with the customer satisfaction level. Only empathy is linked with the customer satisfaction level in budget hotels. The concept of service quality is different in budget hotels, therefore, the focus should be on those factors which could help them improving the customer satisfaction. Few of the elements like safety and empathy are the elements of the service quality which are crucial for the customer satisfaction. Hence, budget hotels should focus on these aspects more than other factors. 
This research was on the analysis of service quality and customer satisfaction in China’s and U.K’s budget hotels. It was based on certain objectives and all of those objectives are accomplished effectively. Firstly it had an objective conduct a literature review on theories of customer satisfaction and service quality and to examine the role of service quality in customer satisfaction. The second chapter of this research dissertation has analysed various theoretical and empirical studies for fulfilling this objective. The second objective was to conduct a survey in the budget hotels of China and U.K. regarding service quality and customer satisfaction. This objective is also accomplished. The results of survey are presented in forms of tables and graphs in chapter five of this dissertation, hence, this objective is also accomplished. The third objective was to find the impact of service quality of budget of hotels on customer satisfaction in China. It is found that service quality of budget hotels of China is good but their customer satisfaction level is lower, which means the impact of service quality on customer satisfaction is not significant. The results of this objective are also presented in fifth chapter of this dissertation. The forth objective of this research was to investigate the influence of service quality of budget hotels on consumer satisfaction in U.K. It is found that U.K’s budget hotels’ service quality is not as high as it is in China’s budget hotels, but their customers are satisfied. This again lead towards the conclusion that service quality of budget hotels is not significantly linked with the customer satisfaction. Only empathy (a dimension of service quality) is associated with the customer satisfaction as China had worse empathy level and its customers are dissatisfied while U.K.’s budget hotels have better level of empathy and their customers are satisfied. The last objective of this research was to compare and contrast the service quality and customer satisfaction in budget hotels of U.K. and China. This objective is also accomplished as chapter five of this research. It can be concluded that all aims and objectives of this research are effectively accomplished.
5.2. Limitationsand Future Research Recommendations
Due to the limited level of personal experience and research conditions, it is found that this research has the certain limitations. The sample of this research is selected from international tourists who are from different countries. The study is limited in the number of the sample and, which is not wide enough. It only obtained 176 international tourists visiting China’s budget hotels and 158 international tourists visiting the U.K.’s budget hotels. This represents a weakness or limitation of this research as the sample size was quite less. Moreover, in this research, the quantitative data is analysed in a descriptive manner where no statistical or inferential analysis is conducted. This could be another limitation of this research. It is recommended to future researchers that they must conduct this study on large sample size and sophisticated statistical analysis techniques should be used for increasing the accuracy of conclusions.
 
 
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Appendices
Appendix A: Questionnaires
QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE UK’S BUDGET HOTELS
The purpose of this questionnaire is to analyse the role of service quality in customer satisfaction from Budget Hotels of the UK. The data collected from you will be used for academic purposes only.
 
PART 1: RESPONDENT GENERAL INFORMATION
This part is on general information about you as respondent. Please provide answers to the following question by ticking (√) against the most suitable alternative or giving narrative responses in the spaces provided. Your response shall be accorded the confidentiality it deserves and will only be used for academic purposes.
Name of Hotel: 
Gender:   Male [  ]                  Female [  ]
Age:     18-25 [  ]       26-35[  ]      36-45 [  ]    46-55 [  ]    above 55 [  ]
Nationality:  Kenya [  ]   Rest of Africa  [  ]   Europe [  ]   USA [  ]  Middle [  ]  Asia [  ]   Other ( Specify)
Purpose of Visit:  Airline crew [  ]   Leisure [   ]   Business [   ]   Meeting/Conference [   ]   Other (Specify)
Number of visits to this hotel: First visit [  ]     2 to 5 visits [   ]    6 to 10 visits [   ] more than 10 visits [  ]
 
Service quality of Budget hotels of UK
Please show your level of agreement with the given statements. 
Reliability 
5. The budget hotels of UK can fulfil their commitment to their customers
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
6. The budget hotels of UK always provide the promised service on time.
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
7. During problems, UK budget hotels’ employees are reassuring and sympathetic. 
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
8. Budget hotels of UK have trustworthy employees.  
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
Reactivity
5. The services provided by the budget hotels of UK meet customers’ expectations. 
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
6. The employees of the budget hotels of UK are always ready to help customers.
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
7. Budgets hotels of UK provide timely services. 
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
8. Employees of budget hotels of UK provide adequate support.
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
Certainty
5. The staff of budget hotels of UK can provide the service which makes the customer feel at ease
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
6. The staff of budget hotels of UK is always very polite. 
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
7. The budget hotels of UK deliver what is being promised by them.
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree
8. While doing transactions at budget hotels of UK you can feel safe.  
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree
Tangibility
5. The budget hotels of UK own perfect facilities and equipment.
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
6. The budget hotels of UK’s staff have good grooming.
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
7. The physical facilities of budget hotels of UK are visually appealing. 
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
8. The employees of budgets hotels of UK are well dressed.
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
Empathy
5. The staff of budget hotels of UK understands customers’ special requests.
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
6. The Budget hotels of UK have convenient check in and check out hours.  
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
7. The Budget hotels of UK have employees who understands the needs of customers.
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
8. The Budget hotels of UK provide individual attention to its customers.  
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
 
 
Customer satisfaction
14. Budget hotels of UK provide services as per my expectations.
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
15. The quality of services provided by Budget hotels of UK are satisfactory, in terms of their prices.
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
16. I do not have any complaints from Budget hotels of UK. 
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
17. I will continue purchasing the services of Budget hotels of UK. 
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
18. I will be a loyal customer of budget hotels of UK in future. 
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
19. According to my perception, budget hotels of UK offer reliable services. 
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
20. The corporate and brand image of budget hotels of UK is positive for me.
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
21. The budget hotels of UK provide value for money. 
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
 
 
 
 
 
QUESTIONNAIRE FOR CHINA’S BUDGET HOTELS
The purpose of this questionnaire is to analyze the role of service quality in customer satisfaction from Budget Hotels of China The data collected from you will be used for academic purposes only.
 
PART 1: RESPONDENT GENERAL INFORMATION
This part is on general information about you as respondent. Please provide answers to the following question by ticking(√) against the most suitable alternative or giving narrative responses in the  spaces provided. Your response shall be accorded the confidentiality it deserves and will only be used for academic purposes.
Name of Hotel: 
Gender:   Male [  ]                  Female [  ]
Age:     18-25 [  ]       26-35[  ]      36-45 [  ]    46-55 [  ]    above 55 [  ]
Nationality:  Kenya [  ]   Rest of Africa  [  ]   Europe [  ]   USA [  ]  Middle [  ]  Asia [  ]   Other ( Specify)
Purpose of Visit:  Airline crew [  ]   Leisure [   ]   Business [   ]   Meeting/Conference [   ]   Other (Specify)
Number of visits to this hotel: First visit [  ]     2 to 5 visits [   ]    6 to 10 visits [   ] more than 10 visits [  ]
 
Service quality of Budget hotels of China
Please show your level of agreement with the given statements. 
Reliability 
9. The budget hotels of China can fulfil their commitment to their customers
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
10. The budget hotels of China always provide the promised service on time.
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
11. During problems, China budget hotels’ employees are reassuring and sympathetic. 
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
12. Budget hotels of China have trustworthy employees.  
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
Reactivity
9. The services provided by the budget hotels of China meet customers’ expectations. 
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
10. The employees of the budget hotels of China are always ready to help customers.
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
11. Budgets hotels of China provides timely services. 
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
12. Employees of budget hotels of China provide adequate support.
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
Certainty
9. The staff of budget hotels of China can provide the service which makes the customer feel at ease
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
10. The staff of budget hotels of China is always very polite. 
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
11. The budget hotels of China deliver what is being promised by them.
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree
12. While doing transactions at budget hotels of China you can feel safe.  
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree
Tangibility
9. The budget hotels of China own perfect facilities and equipment.
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
10. The budget hotels of China’s staff have good grooming.
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
11. The physical facilities of budget hotels of China are visually appealing. 
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
12. The employees of budgets hotels of China are well dressed.
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
Empathy
9. The staff of budget hotels of China understands customers’ special requests.
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
10. The Budget hotels of China have convenient check in and check out hours.  
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
11. The Budget hotels of China have employees who understands the needs of customers.
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
12. The Budget hotels of China provide individual attention to its customers.  
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
 
Customer satisfaction
22. Budget hotels of China provide services as per my expectations.
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
23. The quality of services provided by Budget hotels of China are satisfactory, in terms of their prices.
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
24. I do not have any complaints from Budget hotels of China. 
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
25. I will continue purchasing the services of Budget hotels of China. 
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
26. I will be a loyal customer of budget hotels of China in future. 
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
27. According to my perception, budget hotels of China offer reliable services. 
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
28. The corporate and brand image of budget hotels of China is positive for me.
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
29. The budget hotels of China provide value for money. 
Strongly Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly Disagree 
Appendix B: Consent form
An examination of role of service quality of budget hotels in customer satisfaction– A comparison between UK and China 
 
CONSENT FORM FOR KEY INFORMANTS
 
I have understand what this research is about. All my questions have been answered to my satisfaction.  I understand that I am free to request further information at any stage.
I know that:-
1. my participation in the project is entirely voluntary;
 
2. I am free to withdraw from the project at any time without any disadvantage;
 
3. the data will be destroyed at the conclusion of the project but any raw data on which the results of the project depend will be retained in secure storage for five years, after which it will be destroyed;
4. the results of the project may be published or recorded in student reports but my anonymity will be preserved.
 
I agree to take part in this project.
 
 
............................................................................. ...............................
      (Signature of participant) (Date)
 
 
 
 


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