Title: SIHAT: an assessment tool for Shariah-compliant hotel operations

Authors: Mohd Rizal Razalli; Risyawati Mohamed Ismail; Noorulsadiqin Azbiya Yaacob

Addresses: College of Business, School of Technology Management and Logistics, Universiti Utara Malaysia, 06010 Sintok, Kedah, Malaysia ' College of Business, School of Technology Management and Logistics, Universiti Utara Malaysia, 06010 Sintok, Kedah, Malaysia ' College of Business, School of Technology Management and Logistics, Universiti Utara Malaysia, 06010 Sintok, Kedah, Malaysia

Abstract: Hotel customers are demanding better services, propelling the industry from standardised services, towards customised services. Evidence was seen in the form of increasing trend in the demand of this focused segment. Hoteliers take this opportunity to offer what is called Shariah compliant hotel due to its enormous economic gain. However the concept is still relatively new to many hoteliers with no established model of the Shariah compliance as guideline. Hence, we introduce SIHAT or Shariah Islamic Hotel Assessment Tool, a comprehensive model generated from an exploratory study of Shariah-compliant hotels in Malaysia. SIHAT is meant to serve as an audit tool, used in assessing Shariah compliance level. SIHAT has five main practices namely administration, common areas, bedroom, services and food and beverages, with 64 attributes. Our findings are useful as inputs of operation procedures for hoteliers that seek to attract Muslim travellers in Malaysia and globally.

Keywords: Islamic hospitality industry; Islamic tourism; Shariah compliance; assessment tool; hotel operations; Islam; Malaysia; compliance levels; compliance assessment; Muslim tourists.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIMB.2015.068152

International Journal of Islamic Marketing and Branding, 2015 Vol.1 No.1, pp.55 - 68

Received: 26 May 2014
Accepted: 23 Sep 2014

Published online: 20 Mar 2015 *

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