Servqual potential for quality management in hotel services

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to present possibilities and specifications of using the Servqual method in service quality management in hotel industry. The Servqual method works on the definition of five dimensions of a service quality: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. It is based on so called Gap analysis that crucially comes out of the discrepancy between a customer's expectation and perception. Demonstrating the practical application of Servqual in hotel business is also a part of the paper, as well as verifying possibilities of customer satisfaction quantification with the help of the Gap model, evaluating general applicability and presenting suggestions for possible adaptations and further utilization in the branch of tourism. Input data necessary for the gap analysis have been gained by force of a primary field-research with the help of a quantitative research via questionnaire. The results of Servqual score for individual dimensions of service quality have also been used to calculate a total weighted score that for the examined hotel reached the value of -0.07. This shows that the discrepancy between expectations and perceptions of the hotel guests is minimal. However, the calculation of this score would be of a higher importance if we wanted to compare more accommodation facilities mutually or possibly to follow the development of this index in time.