INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC & TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH VOLUME 9, ISSUE 02, FEBRUARY 2020 ISSN 2277-8616 2957 IJSTR©2020 www.ijstr.org Attributes Building Business Excellence For Different Class Of Star Rated Hotels Using Fuzzy Logic AHP Approach Deepali Anand, Dr. Alka Munjal, Dr. George Thomas Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the factors of business excellence that are important in formulation of strategy for different categories of hotels based on Baldrige Model of Business Excellence. Survey using questionnaire was conducted and data collected from top and middle management employees of different star-rated hotels of Delhi NCR region. Questionnaire was administered personally and the sample size was 80 respondents. AHP as a statistical tool has been used to identify important criterion of business excellence based on Baldrige Model of Business Excellence. The study revealed that only those hotels can expect better financial outcomes, long term relationship with customers, channel partners and employees, efficient operating performance and a positive image in the society when there is effective leadership, clearly specifying hotel’s goals, plans and strategic planning. All this can be realized through implementation of business excellence model. However different star rated hotels have different areas on which they focus while attaining excellence. All of these defined processes should lead to enhanced customer satisfaction. Important factors of Business Excellence for different categories of star rated hotel have been identified. If these parameters are considered while formulating strategies it can lead to competitive advantage for the hotel. Index Terms: Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), Budget Hotels, Consistency Index (CI), Consistency Ratio (CR), Indian Hotel Industry, Luxury Hotels, Tourism Sector. ——————————  —————————— 1. INTRODUCTION HOSPITALITY industry has a wide range and categories of hotels servicing different segment of customers with diverse needs. Each category of hotel wants to give best of service to its clientele and build long-term relationship with them, this can be achieved through application of business excellence model that will help in strategizing for creating a winning situation. One important question that needs to be addressed before developing business excellence model is whether or not the criteria for achieving business excellence is same across different categories of hotels or they must focus on their strong attributes? This paper made an effort in identifying the attributes building business excellence for different class of hotels. Focusing on such attributes will help in achieving business excellence that can lead to competitive advantage. The discussion is based on results of AHP fuzzy logic approach applied on responses collected from selected experts from the industry. Different class of customers have different needs and hence there is an array of services being offered by different categories of hotels. Product mix offered by the hoteliers is no longer restricted to lodging (although it is still a major source of revenue), they are into organizing weddings, parties, conferences, meetings etc. Competition has made the environment hostile and turbulent; Customers nowadays are more aware, knowledgeable and demanding making competition more intense and sophisticated. Marketer will have to identify innovative ways of providing service while remaining profitable. The heart of all improvement in process, quality and excellence lies in the art of partnering with people through the process of continuous improvement and makeover of business processes art of partnering with people through the process of continuous improvement and makeover of business processes (―Assessing Business Excellence‖ Porter and Tanner; 2003). In order to assess business excellence people must be involved in the process of self-assessment enabling an organization to recognize its strengths that can be utilized to explore an opportunity for further progress. Excellence programs must be monitored in a systematic way. Researcher has tried to establish role of excellence in tourism and hospitality industry. Indian tourism industry is growing and has led to the growth of hospitality sector as well. Various formats from luxury hotels to Bed and Breakfast have evolved over the years giving customers a wide variety of choice depending upon objective of vacation. With increase in foreign tourist arrival and domestic travel average occupancy ratios and room rates have increased. The Indian Hospitality industry is a promising sector due to increase in leisure travelers, ever expanding middle class, growth of millennials and DINKS (Double income no kids) who have higher disposable income than previous generations, are more informed and technology savvy. Hence there is a huge demand by both domestic and foreign traveler creating a gap in between demand and supply. Due to these factors international companies are also increasingly looking to setup more hotels in India. With such a wide variety of offerings, customers bargaining power has increased manifold times and has forced the marketer to provide best of service at most competitive price. Several government initiatives are being taken in order to ensure growth of the hospitality industry. Investment glimpses in the Hospitality Industry ―Keys Hotels‖ a subsidiary of Berggruen Hotels is planning to increase its capacity by adding 20 properties in India; by year ending 2021, Hilton Group plans to open 18 more properties pan India; Radisson Group plans to reach to the mark of 200 properties by the end of 2022; Louvre Hotels currently has approximately 7% market share in India. It plans to increase its business to 10-15% by 2021. Louvre Hotels group is the fifth largest group in the world. Foris (2014) in her study defined ―hotel classification‖ as the process of providing information to ————————————————  Author, Deepali Anand is currently pursuing Ph. D program in Strategic Marketing in Amity University, India, PH-9891450129. E-mail: dachopra@amity.edu  Co-Author, Dr. Alka Munjal is Dean (Student Academic Affairs and Support Services) in Amity University, India, PH-9810702680. E-mail: amunjal@amity.edu  Co- Author, Dr. George Thomas is Director, Shri Vaishnav Institute of Management, India, Ph-9425900016. E-mail: georgethomas7169@gmail.com