Service quality is vital to the success of any service organization. The
rapid growth of the Malaysian hotel industry in the 2000's forced hotel
operators to seriously recognize the importance of service improvement
in order to gain competitive advantage. This study aims to examine the
impact of service quality on customer satisfaction, and how customer
satisfaction subsequently affects customer loyalty in the hotel industry
in Malaysia. This study also investigates the mediating effect of
corporate image on the relationship between customer satisfaction and
customer loyalty. A systematic sampling approach was adopted to collect
data through self-administered questionnaires from 500 hotel guests.
Preliminary data analysis, descriptive analysis, reliability test and
regression analysis were adopted to analyze the reliability of items and
the hypothesized relationships in the proposed research model. The
findings revealed that perception of service quality is significantly
related to customer satisfaction, which in turn generates positive
customer loyalty in the hotel industry. Besides, corporate image is
found to be a partial mediator in the relationship between customer
satisfaction and customer loyalty. Overall, the findings of this study
would help hotel operators to formulate and implement effective
marketing management strategies to cope with the keen competition in the
hotel service industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]