Chang, Daesung, Kyonggi University, Dept. of Management, South Korea, 82-331-249-9432 Lee, Sungjin, Osan College, Dept. of Office Automation, South Korea, 82-339-370-2818 Shin, Chung-Sub, Jungmyung High School, City of Bucheon, South Korea ABSTRACT This research was conducted to identify the differences in the quality of services between the deluxe hotels of Kangbuk area and the deluxe hotels of Kangnam area in Seoul. This study utilized 'SERVQUAL' a tool designed to evaluate service quality by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry research team. The eight variables concerning hotel services were selected. The eight variables are hotel facilities, employees' neatness, parking facilities, guest room, trust, responsiveness, assurance, location and geographical environment of hotel. And then hypotheses were developed with using eight variables and tested to identify which area's deluxe hotels provide foreign customers better services, in Seoul. According to the results of hypotheses, it was identified that the deluxe hotels in Kangnam area provide the better service quality than those of Kangbuk area. INTRODUCTION Advanced technology and management techniques with the service industries have yielded innovative approaches to customer services. The service industries have been more important than ever owing to the rapidly changing environment of today and the integration of information systems and communication systems. Among service industries, the hotel industry should be built on systems development to provide better customer services. The hotel industry has grown up since holding big events such as Seoul Summer Olympic Games of 1988 and Asian Games of 1986 in South Korea. However, it currently faces with some difficulties with the depression of tourism industry in South Korea. Thus, it is important to identify the service quality of the hotels in Seoul, the largest city in South Korea, to improve hospitality management. The main purpose of this study is to identify if differences exit in the service quality between the deluxe hotels in Kangnam area and those in Kangbuk area of Seoul. This study employed 'SERVQUAL' tool developed by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry research team(1985, 1988, 1990) to evaluate service quality. EVALUATION OF SERVICE QUALITY 'SERVQUAL' was designed by the marketing research team of Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry(1985, 1988, 1990). They developed a set of five determinants which have been consistently selected from customers as the most important factors of service quality. Table 1 shows the five determinants. Table 1 Determinants Contents Tangibles Appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel, and communication materials Reliability Ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately Responsiveness Willingness to help customers and provide prompt service Assurance Knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to convey trust and confidence Empathy Individualized attention the firm provides its customers Since 'SERVQUAL' was introduced as a measure of perceived service quality, several arguments have been made against its validity and some competing measures have been developed. However, so far no dominant method to measure service quality is available, and evaluation method for service quality is still evolving. Thus, this study employed the 'SERVQUAL' to evaluate the quality of hotel services in Seoul. Because the five determinants are not enough to evaluate the quality of hotel services, they were modified for this study. For example, tangibles are divided into four factors such as hotel facilities, employees' neatness, parking facilities and guest room. After modifying the determinants in order to adjust to evaluate hotel services, the following eight variables are selected to conduct this study. 1) Hotel Facilities 2) Employees' Neatness 3) Parking Facilities 4) Guest Room 5) Trust 6) Responsiveness 7) Assurance 8) Location and Geographical Environment of Hotel In addition, a service quality model developed by Gronroos (1983, 1984) was utilized. According to Gronroos(1983, 1984), service quality is determined by the gab between customers' expectations for service to be provided and customers' perceptions after experiencing the service. Thus, this study was conducted to measure the gap of service performance between two group hotels in Seoul. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Development of Hypotheses The purpose of this study is to identity the difference in service quality between deluxe hotels of Kangnam area and deluxe hotels of Kangbuk area in Seoul. Based on the purpose of this study and using eight variables used to evaluate hotel service quality, the following hypotheses were developed. H1. There is no gap between foreign customers' expectations and customers' perceptions of service quality in terms of the following factors of the Kangnam area deluxe hotels in Seoul. a) Hotel Facilities b) Employees' Neatness c) Parking Facilities d) Guest Room e) Trust f) Responsiveness g) Assurance h) Location and Geographical Environment of Hotel H2. There is no gap between foreign customers' expectations and customers' perceptions of service quality of the Kangbuk area deluxe hotels in Seoul. a) Hotel Facilities b) Employees' Neatness c) Parking Facilities d) Guest Room e) Trust f) Responsiveness g) Assurance h) Location and Geographical Environment of Hotel H3. There is no difference in the service quality (gap between customers' expectations and customers' perceptions) between the Kangnam area deluxe hotels and the Kangbuk area deluxe hotels in Seoul. a) Hotel Facilities b) Employees' Neatness c) Parking Facilities d) Guest Room e) Trust f) Responsiveness g) Assurance h) Location and Geographical Environment of Hotel Data Collection and Statistical Tool The methodology used to acquire data necessary for this study consists of a field survey about the service quality of deluxe hotels in Seoul. 320 survey questionnaires were directly distributed to foreign customers of eight deluxe hotels in Seoul from April 1 to April 17, 1997. Among 320 questionnaires, 206 responses were available. Response rate was approximately 65% and for the analyses, t-tests and ANOVAs were applied. RESULTS OF DATA ANALYSIS Kangnam Area Hotels To test eight hypotheses, eight t-tests were used. The eight t-tests were conducted to test the significance of difference in foreign customers' expectations and perceptions of service quality in terms of eight variables of the Kangnam area deluxe hotels in Seoul. Table 2 shows the results of testing eight hypotheses. Table 2 Variables Expectations Perceptions P-value Hyp. Accept or Reject Facilities 19.2059 20.0392 .120 H1a Accept Neatness 7.2255 7.3824 .310 H1b Accept Parking 13.4412 14.4314 .000 H1c Reject Guest Room 16.9608 18.6589 .000 H1d Reject Trust 29.8137 32.7745 .000 H1e Reject Responsiveness 17.1569 18.5784 .000 H1f Reject Assurance 30.4216 33.1667 .000 H1g Reject Location 24.1275 26.1863 .000 H1h Reject According to the results and mean values of eight variables, it is identified that foreign customers perceived service performance higher than they had expected before visiting the Kangnam area deluxe hotels in Seoul. Kangbuk Area Hotel The eight t-tests were used to test the significance of difference between foreign customers' expectations and perceptions of service performance in terms of eight variables of the Kangbuk area deluxe hotels in Seoul. Table 3 shows the results of testing eight hypotheses. Table 3 Variables Expectations Perceptions P-value Hyp. Accept or Reject Facilities 20.0192 19.9712 .934 H2a Accept Neatness 7.1827 7.0228 .473 H2b Accept Parking 14.019 12.5962 .000 H2c Reject Guest Room 17.2212 17.1731 .092 H2d Accept Trust 32.1058 30.6538 .537 H2e Accept Responsiveness 16.8558 16.2500 .202 H2f Accept Assurance 30.8750 29.0673 .027 H2g Reject Location 25.0385 23.8462 .028 H2h Reject Table 3 shows that there is no significant gap between foreign customers' expectations and foreign customers' perceptions in Kangbuk area deluxe hotels' service performance in terms of hotel facilities, employees' neatness, guest room, trust, and responsiveness. However, foreign customers perceived service performance in terms of parking facilities, assurance and location and geographical environment of hotel lower than they expected before visiting the Kangbuk area deluxe hotels in Seoul. Kangnam Area Hotels and Kangbuk Area Hotels Finally, for the hypotheses 3a-3h, ANOVAs were conducted to test the significance of difference in service performance (the gap between customers' expectations and customers' perceptions) between the Kangnam area hotels and the Kangbuk area hotels in Seoul. The null hypotheses to be tested that the two mean vectors of the dependent variables are equivalent, i. e., there is no difference in service performances in terms of eight variables between the Kangnam area deluxe hotels and the Kangbuk area deluxe hotels. Table 4 shows the results of testing hypotheses 3a-3h. Table 4 Variables Service Quality Hyp Accept or Reject Hotel Facilities Kangnam=Kangbuk H3a Accept Neatness Kangnam>Kangbuk H3b Reject Parking Facilities Kangnam>Kangbuk H3c Reject Guest Room Kangnam>Kangbuk H3d Reject Trust Kangnam>Kangbuk H3e Reject Responsiveness Kangnam>Kangbuk H3f Reject Assurance Kangnam>Kangbuk H3g Reject Location Kangnam>Kangbuk H3h Reject Table 4 shows no significant difference in service quality for hotel facilities between the Kangnam area deluxe hotels and the Kangbuk area deluxe hotels in Seoul. However, table 4 shows significant differences in service quality for employees' neatness, parking facilities, guest room, trust, responsiveness, assurance and geographical environment of hotel between two groups. According to the mean values and the results of testing hypotheses, the Kangnam area hotels achieved higher service performance for employees' neatness, parking facilities, guest room, trust, responsiveness, assurance, and geographical environment of hotel except hotel facilities than the Kangbuk area hotels. CONCLUSIONS The perceived service quality of foreign customers for the deluxe hotels in Kangnam area was higher in most service factors than their expectations. However, the perceived service quality of foreign customers for the deluxe hotels in Kangbuk area was lower in most service factors than their expectations. Conclusively, the results of this study imply that the deluxe hotels in Kangnam area provide better service quality with foreign customers than those of Kangbuk area in Seoul. REFERENCE Garvin, D.A., "What Does Product Quality Really Mean," Sloan Management Review, Vol.26, No.1, Fall, 1984, pp.25-28. 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