Assessing the Quality of Hospitality Services: A Study on Hotels in Chittagong

Abstract

Service quality is considered as an important aspect to the success of hospitality industry, the importance of evaluating service quality provided to guests becomes apparent. Assessing service quality provides with the necessary information needed to manage service delivery operations appropriately. Considering the importance, the study aims to evaluate the service quality of two five star hotels in Chittagong using random sampling. The study applied SERVQUAL model consisting of five dimensions namely tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. Based on a questionnaire survey of 68 customers (guests), frequency analysis, gap analysis between perceptions and expectations, reliability tests of items were conducted. The results of the reveal that the overall service quality of sample hotels is rated as -0.24. The perception of service delivery was less than expectations of guests in all the dimensions of SERVQUAL. The sample hotels have not fulfilled the expectations of their guests. The findings of the study imply that the management of selected hotels should understand the guests’ expectation and standardize their relevant services with expectation, set proper standards and support them with necessary resources to minimize the gaps between perception and expectation.

Keywords:   quality, hospitality services, customers.