ABSTRACT
Malaysia has been recognised as one of the best destinations for Muslim travellers and the excellent focus on Islamic tourism and hospitality industry. Indeed, it was acknowledged as the country with the most developed Islamic economy ecosystem for halal travel for the year 2014 to 2015 by the Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre (DIEDC) Halal Travel Index. Therefore, the idea of creating Islamic hotels should be seen as the perfect platform to promote true Islamic concepts and their implementation in contemporary lifestyle. Islamic hotels would certainly attract more Muslim tourists and, in turn, generate more return on investment. Hoteliers could take advantage of the situation and join the centralised effort by getting their hotel Shariah-compliant, or at the very least, Muslim-friendly. This chapter suggests that an Islamic hotel emphasises the importance of its innovation for a hotel’s competitive advantage. However, the knowledge about the innovation capability of an Islamic hotel has yet to be explored. The chapter is a novel attempt to document the strategy for an Islamic hotel in Malaysia based on the knowledge of halal business prescribed in the Quran. The interview findings of a case study of Islamic hotel reveal some proactive improvements in handling halal hotel, halal resources, and capabilities for achieving a hotel competitive advantage.
