Factors influencing the Decision to Use the 5-Star Accommodation Service of Thai Tourists Under the Epidemic Situation of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Case Study : Koh Samui, Suratthani Province

Abstract

      The purpose of this research is to study factors influencing the decisions to use the 5-Star accommodation service of Thai tourists under the epidemic situation of the Coronavirus disease 2019, case study of Koh Samui, Suratthani Province by using demographic factors, service user’s behavior and satisfaction levels towards the service marketing mix factors (7Ps). The sample was consisted of 400 Thai tourists who stayed
at the 5-Star accommodation in Koh Samui, Surat Thani. Questionnaires were used to collect data. The accidental sampling technique was involved. The statistics used for data analysis were descriptive statistics and inferential statistics.  The research results are most of the respondents were female, aged between 31-40 years old with a bachelor's degree or equivalent. Work as an employee working in a private company with an average salary 15,001 - 35,000 baht. In terms of service behavior, it was found that most of the sample group stayed for more than 2-3 times. Their purpose of staying focused on a family vacation on weekends, 2-3 nights at a time, reserved a room through the hotel booking site. The average room rate per 1-night stay is 5,001-6,000 baht. They knew about the hotel through friends and decided to stay by themselves. The main reason for deciding to stay was social
media referrals and expected to use the hotel service again. The study indicated that most of the respondents had the highest satisfaction level of overall opinions towards the service marketing mix affecting staying in the hotel. When individual aspects were considered, the factor levels were listed in descending order; physical characteristics followed by process and the last one is price.  Under the epidemic situation of the Coronavirus disease 2019, the result of the hypothesis testing showed that the different demographic factors including gender, age, levels of education, occupation and average monthly income of Thai tourists influence the decision of accommodations selection and service marketing mix factors
including product/hotel service, price, people, process, and physical characteristics factors affect the decision to select accommodations for Thai tourists visiting the 5-Star accommodation in Koh Samui, Surat Thani with a statistical significance of 0.05.