Evaluation of service quality in sports and recreations programmes at hotels and resorts in the Northern Peninsular Malaysia

Many issues and challenges are faced by the managers and professionals in sports and recreations today. However, the issues and challenges in managing sports and recreations programmes particularly in hotels and resorts are more focused on service quality provided by the organizations. This study aims to assess customers' perceptions of service quality in sports and recreations programmes and to determine the differences based on gender and nationality in terms of their perceptions of service quality provided by hotels and resorts located in coastal areas of the northern Peninsular Malaysia.A total of 450 customers who participated in the survey were asked to respond to a series of the adapted SERVQUAL items.Results from this study revealed that the customers' perceptions of the overall service and facilities in sports and recreations programmes provided by the hotels and resorts were satisfactory.It was also indicated that there was no significance difference between male and female customers' perceptions of service quality in sports and recreations programmes.Conversely, the results revealed that there was a significance difference between local and foreign customers' perceptions of sports and recreations services provided.These findings had implications on sports and recreations programmes in order to design effective management and marketing strategies at hotels and resorts