Exploring Service Quality in the Hospitality Sector from the Perspective of Religious Tourists in Saudi Arabia

In a developing country like KSA some studies have explored individual concepts regarding service quality and customer satisfaction, but fewer if none have investigated their relationship in hotel industry. Clients’ perceptions seem to be largely ignored by the management in hotel industry. Therefore, this study is a customer-centered one and focuses on examining service quality indicated by differences of clients’ expectations and perceptions. It also examines the link between clients’ perception and their overall satisfaction with hotel services. Respondents were interviewed using a modified SERVQUAL (Service quality) questionnaire. Results of the study reveals that relatively high customer perception scores were found for understanding of speci?c needs of client, individual attention by the company, interest in solving client’s problems etc. and low perception was found for advanced reservation technology, employees behavior towards customers , just in time service etc. the article concludes by giving Future research directions and policy recommendations. Keywords: Service Quality, Religious Tourists, Perceptions, Saudi Arabia

An Exploratory Study of HRM Practices in the Hospitality Sector of Saudi Arabia

Effective human resource management practices are considered to be very important for the overall success of an organization. We have investigated the prevailing human resource management practices in the hospitality sector of Saudi Arabia. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews from the human resource managers and general managers of hotels operating in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. Finding of the study shows that proper human resource management practices are not adopted, especially very little attention is given to employees training and development and their performance appraisals. Mangers are confronted with a number of challenges due to ineffective human resource management practices. Limitations of the study and future research directions are given Keywords: HRM practices, Hospitality sector and Saudi Arabia