Guideline for Creating Muslim Friendly Budget Hotels Based on Customer Needs Using Design Thinking
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Abstract
Increasing number of Muslim tourists, including Indonesians, traveling to Thailand especially Bangkok, along with Thailand national policy to become Muslim friendly tourism destination, presented opportunities for hotels and services to target the specific needs of the Muslim tourists. Understanding customer needs in order to create a satisfied customer experience is crucial for success, especially for budget hotels, where cost-efficiency and value for money is most concerned. This study aims to 1) study insight on the needs of Indonesian Muslim tourists based on experience staying in budget hotels in Bangkok, Thailand, using Design Thinking process, and 2) propose guideline for developing value proposition of budget hotels based on the needs of Muslim tourists. The study is qualitative action research, employing the Design Thinking process by using semi-structured interviews to collect data from samples of 10 participants, who are Indonesian Muslim having experience staying in budget hotel in Bangkok, selected using purposive sampling technique. It was found that factors include affordable price, comfortable rooms and common areas, Muslim-friendly accommodation with inclusive facilities, culturally/religiously sensitive staff, a variety of halal food options and Thai halal snacks included in the room rate, dedicated prayer rooms and prayer equipment/facilities, the availability of room utilities, Muslim-friendly travel information, and clean rooms with gender-separated floors. The guideline for budget hotels to develop value propositions based on the needs of customers were then proposed into Value Proposition Canvas. Based on this study, budget hotels can gain more understanding of Indonesian Muslim customer needs and be able to improve customer experience and satisfaction by meeting specific needs of these customer segment, thereby becoming Muslim friendly budget hotels.
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