Hotel Image and Service Quality on Value and Customer Satisfaction and Its Impact on Word of Mouth at Star Hotels in Central Sulawesi Province

Abstract

The company image to attract customers' attention must be considered. Companies must work hard in image building in the eyes of the wider community. Seeing the critical role of word of mouth in marketing services, especially in hotels in the Province of Central Sulawesi, can be used as an important consideration so the hotel will be more developed in the future. Objective: The study aims to analyze the effect of hotel image and service quality on customer value and satisfaction and determine their impact on word of mouth in star hotels in Central Sulawesi Province. This study used two survey methods, a descriptive survey and an explanatory survey. The population in this study were all customers who stayed at hotels in the Central Sulawesi Province. The sample size was 330 respondents distributed from hotels in Central Sulawesi Province. The research variables were star hotel image, service quality, customer value and satisfaction, and word of mouth. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used in data analysis. The influence of each variable to customer value, customer satisfaction, and word of mouth revealed in this study, as following described: Hotel image variable with customer value showed significant results (p-value = 0.000; CR value = 2.537). The service quality variable with customer value showed significant results (p-value = 0.000; CR value = 11.011). The hotel image variable with customer satisfaction showed insignificant results (P-value = 0.380; CR value = -0.878). The service quality variable with customer satisfaction showed significant results (P-value = 0.000; CR value = 3.836). The variable customer value with customer satisfaction showed significant results (P-value = 0.000; CR value = 5.388). The variable of customer satisfaction with word of mouth showed significant (P-value = 0.000; CR value = 6.927). The variable of service quality with word of mouth showed significant results (P-value = 0.034; CR value = 2.117). The hotel image variable with word of mouth showed insignificant results (P-value = 0.180; CR value = 1.342). Hotel image and service quality have a significant effect on customer value. Service quality and customer value significantly affect customer satisfaction for star hotel customers in Central Sulawesi Province. Meanwhile, customer satisfaction and service quality significantly affect word of mouth for star hotel customers in Central Sulawesi Province.