Dissertation: Room Attendant Perception of Service Quality at Meriton

This dissertation investigates the perception of service quality from the perspective of room attendants at Meriton Serviced Apartments in Waterloo, Australia. The study explores key aspects such as housekeeping practices, training programs, employee turnover rates, and communication effectiveness within the organization. The research aims to identify factors influencing room attendants' perceptions of service quality, including the understanding of housekeeping protocols, the adequacy of training provided, the impact of high employee turnover, and the efficacy of communication channels. The methodology involves a descriptive research design, utilizing purposive non-probability sampling to gather data through interviews with room attendants. The findings will be discussed in relation to existing literature on service quality, providing recommendations for enhancing the perception of service quality and improving the overall employee experience. The dissertation seeks to provide valuable insights for Meriton Serviced Apartments, contributing to improved service delivery and employee satisfaction.

Running head: DISSERTATION
Perception of quality service from the view of room attendant
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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Acknowledgement
Thank you to all of those who have helped listened and encouraged me throughout this study. I
am indebted to my supervisor ……………………. whose guidance, advice and patience have
been immeasurable. My sincere thanks to all members of the…………… [Mention your
university/college name], both staff and students, whose continuous support have made this
thesis possible.
I would like to thank all of the participants in the study: students, teachers and Local Education
Authorities, for the time and help given throughout. Without their participation, this research
would not have been possible. In this context, I am also thankful to them, whose research work
helped me to execute this paper well.
Finally, I thank my family, without whom this thesis would not have been started or completed!
Your encouragement and support have never faltered; thank you.

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Abstract
The aim of the research is to investigate the perception of quality service from the view of room
attendant by referring to Meriton Serviced Apartment in Waterloo. Employees are the pillars of
the business organizations irrespective of the business sector. The employees are the ones
representing the company in front of the target audiences and the existing competitors that
signifies the idea of considering the views and opinions of the employees regarding the services
and products. Meriton is one of the largest apartment builder and developer in Australia and the
country’s biggest residential homebuilder that was founded in 1963. Metriton sells operated
service apartments and apartments under the name of Merition Suites brand in Sydney, Brisbane
and Gold Coast.
The main issues that the room attendants have identified in Meriton Serviced Apartments are in
terms of understanding of housekeeping, training, employee turnover and communication. This
research is significant because this will provide an opportunity to compare and contrast the
factors that is affecting the perception of service quality from the views of the room attendant.
For this study, descriptive research design, purposive non-probability sampling technique,
primary data collection process and qualitative data analysis technique has been used for this
study. The sample size taken for this study are four room attendants of Meriton Serviced
Apartment in Waterloo.
In this section, the data gathered by interviewing room attendants of Meriton Serviced
Apartments and the information presented in the literature review section in terms of service
quality is discussed. From the information provided in the previous chapters, it can be said that
employees are the key internal stakeholders for the business organizations because they are the

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ones representing the company in front of the target audiences. Satisfied and efficient employees
ensure quality service for the business organizations because they feel passionate towards their
job roles and responsibilities. The views of the employees are necessary, as this provides an
opportunity for the business organizations to improve their existing products and services.

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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction....................................................................................................................6
1.1 Background............................................................................................................................6
1.2 Significance of the research...................................................................................................8
1.3 Research problem statement..................................................................................................8
Chapter 2: Literature review............................................................................................................9
2.1 Understanding of housekeeping............................................................................................9
2.2 Training................................................................................................................................10
2.3 High turnover.......................................................................................................................11
2.4 Communication....................................................................................................................13
Chapter 3: Methodology................................................................................................................15
3.1 Research design...................................................................................................................15
3.2 Sampling..............................................................................................................................16
3.3 Data collection.....................................................................................................................17
3.4 Data analysis........................................................................................................................17
3.5 Ethical considerations..........................................................................................................18
Chapter 4: Findings........................................................................................................................21
Chapter 5: Discussion....................................................................................................................28
Chapter 6: Conclusion and limitation............................................................................................32

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Conclusion.................................................................................................................................32
Linking with objectives.............................................................................................................32
Limitations.................................................................................................................................34
Chapter 7: Recommendations........................................................................................................35
References......................................................................................................................................38
Appendices....................................................................................................................................43
Appendix 01...............................................................................................................................43
Appendix 02...............................................................................................................................45

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Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Background
Employees are the pillars of the business organizations irrespective of the business sector.
The employees are the ones representing the company in front of the target audiences and the
existing competitors that signifies the idea of considering the views and opinions of the
employees regarding the services and products. As mentioned by Orel and Kara (2014), the
views of the employees are necessary, as this provides an opportunity for the business
organizations to improve their existing products and services. It is essential for the business
organizations to ensure that the present workforce is highly satisfied with their current job roles
and responsibilities so that they can ensure effective and efficient service quality. Additionally,
the business organizations should ensure adequate training and communication so that the
employees develop ability to ensure effective and efficient services to the customers Dhar
(2015). Therefore, the perception of service quality from the view of room attendant is
investigated by considering Meriton Serviced Apartments in Waterloo, one of the largest
residential home builder and developer across Australia.
Meriton is one of the largest apartment builder and developer in Australia and the
country’s biggest residential home builder that was founded in 1963. Metriton sells operated
service apartments and apartments under the name of Merition Suites brand in Sydney, Brisbane
and Gold Coast. November 13th 2013, Meriton celebrated the 50th anniversary with more than
300 former and current employees, dignitaries, families and friends. The annual turnover of the
company rose more than 50% in 2014 that made history for the company. Until now, Meriton
has built an estimated 65,000 residential apartments and offers serviced accommodation in 17

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locations all over Australia. Therefore, the perception of quality service from the opinion of a
room attendant is investigated by referring to Meriton Serviced Apartments in Waterloo in
Australia (Meriton Suites 2019).
Research aim
The aim of the research is to investigate the perception of quality service from the view
of room attendant by referring to Meriton Serviced Apartment in Waterloo.
Research objectives
The objectives of the research are:
 To understand the concept of service quality apartments
 To critically analyzing the factors affecting the perception of service quality from the
viewpoint of the employees
 To provide suitable recommendations for improving the perception of quality service
from the view of the room attendants
Research questions
The questions of the research are:
 What do you mean by service quality?
 What are the factors affecting the perception of service quality from the viewpoint of the
employees?
 What are the suitable recommendations for improving the perception of quality service
from the view of the room attendants

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1.2 Significance of the research
The purpose of the research is to understand the concept of service quality and its
importance for the serviced apartments. The reason for undertaking the research is that this will
provide an opportunity to compare and contrast the factors that is affecting the perception of
service quality from the views of the room attendant (Yarimoglu 2014). The topic is useful
because as the room attendants are the ones directly communicating with the customers,
considering their views about will facilitate understanding the needs and demands of the
customers availing the services of the serviced apartments. Another reason for undertaking the
research is that the potential issues can also be identified that occurs while considering the
perceptions of the room attendants that describes and defines quality services in Meriton
Serviced Apartments (Raunch et al. 2015).
1.3 Research problem statement
Issues have been identified in Meriton Serviced Apartments for the room attendants that
question the perception of quality service from the perspective of the room attendants. The main
issues that the room attendants have identified in Meriton Serviced Apartments are in terms of
lack of understanding about housekeeping, training, employee turnover and communication. The
issues identified have raised questions on the service quality of the company (Khan and Fasih
2014). The employees, in this case the room attendants have faced challenges in terms of room
cleanliness, inadequate training and briefing time, employees leaving the organization in within
short period of time and inappropriate behavior from the management team. Additionally,
communication has been an issue for the room attendants in Meriton Serviced Apartments
because the room attendants feel that briefing session before assigning any task is not effective
because of misunderstandings between the supervisors and the employees (Lee and Kim 2014).

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Chapter 2: Literature review
2.1 Understanding of housekeeping
Housekeeping is an integral part of the hospitality sector, as this highlights the duties and
responsibilities related to the hotel rooms of the hotels. According to Anthonisz (2014), the
concept of housekeeping indicates the management chores and duties involved in running a hotel
successfully. Different functions of housekeeping highlights maintenance, cleaning and laundry
in the hotel services. However, as argued by Fouad, Hussein and Attia (2016), housekeeping in
hotels is a physical job with wide range of tasks to perform. Housekeeping in hotel is physically
challenging because the housekeepers or the room attendants have to perform the duty of
cleaning rooms and keeping it highly appropriate for more than 15 hours each day. Additionally,
housekeeping is also challenging because the actual amount of work depends on the size and
number of the rooms.
Service quality is of utmost significance in hospitality sector and the room attendants and
housekeepers have to ensure effective service quality for meeting the expectations of the
customers. In doing so, it is necessary for the room attendants to have a sound understanding
about service quality and the attributes of appropriate housekeeping. As mentioned by Cetin and
Walls (2016), being an housekeeper, it is necessary for the room attendants to have a clear idea
about the needs and demands of the customers that defines quality service. However, as
criticized by Ren, Zhang and Ye (2015), only understanding quality service needs is not enough
to satisfy of the customers. The room attendants have to ensure that the needs and requirements
are implemented and executed successfully.

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According to the housekeepers, quality service signifies clean and tidy rooms for the
customers that give them the feeling of being at home. As a result, the room attendants are able
to give the feeling of home to the customers and provide them a safe, sound, secured and
hygienic place to stay thereby, developing a pleasant experience. From the perception of the
room attendant, quality service is defined when the physical facilities in the room at appropriate,
the room have up-to-date equipment and the physical facilities are consistent (Knox, Warhurst
and Nickson 2016).
The room attendants also feel that quality service is assured when being housekeepers
they are highly responsive to the requests and needs of the customers and is successful in
keeping the rooms and beds tidy, provide uninterrupted room service twice a day, manage and
keep the beds clean along with replacing the needful items in the rooms. Additionally, the room
attendants feel that quality service is ensured in hotels when they are able to provide service to
the customers in the said time-frame and act as dependable individuals for the customers
(Anthonisz 2014).
2.2 Training
A well-trained employee highlights increased productivity and higher quality of work
work output than untrained employees. Additionally, trained employees have better skills to
handle customer requests and fulfill them with high efficiency that leads to positive perception
about quality services. As commented by Cohen (2017), it is necessary for the management to
ensure adequate time and equipment for training the employees. Similarly, the room attendants
of Meriton Serviced Apartments are no different. Therefore, adequate training should be given to
the room attendants of the selected serviced apartment in Waterloo, as this influence developing
positive perception of quality service.

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However, as argued by Hanaysha (2016), it is necessary to ensure a positive and trained
workforce for the business organizations irrespective of the business sector because the adequate
training helps in improving the existing skills of the employees while performing their job.
Similar is the case of Meriton Serviced Apartments where the room attendants should be given
adequate training. Training provides an opportunity for the employees to learn new skills as well
as upgrade their existing skills that help in offering better and improved services to the
customers. With time, the needs and demands of the customers change that the employees might
not be able to fulfill due to lack of adequate training. Being a room attendant is not an easy task
because they are the ones directly communicating with the customers and offer them service
accordingly (Liu et al. 2014). Therefore, it is necessary for the room attendants to be adequately
and timely trained because this helps them in offering better, effective and efficient services to
the customers at Meriton Serviced Apartments.
As mentioned by Asfaw, Argaw and Bayissa (2015), training is only successful when it is
offered by qualified and skilled trainers. Training cannot be provided by everyone having the
knowledge. Effective and successful can be achieved if the trainer providing the training have
the ability to inculcate the required skills to the trainee and they are able to imbibe it within them
successfully. Similar is the case for the room attendants of Meriton Serviced Apartments where
the room attendants should be trained by qualified and skilled trainers. This provides an
opportunity for the room attendants to improve their existing skills as well as learn new skills
that are necessary for providing quality services to the customers visiting Meriton Serviced
Apartments in Waterloo.