SERVQUAL analysis of hotel service quality and guest loyalty in Mauritius

Marketing & Sales for Tourism and Hotels

Thanika, D.J. (2004). Exploring international tourists' perceptions of hotel operations by using a modified SERVQUAL approach - a case study of Mauritius. Managing Service Quality, 14(5), 350-364.

The purpose of this analysis is to evaluate an empirical study completed using the SERVQUAL Index to evaluate the variation in guest expectations vs. experiences for five hotels located on the island of Mauritius.

Resort and hotels on the island of Mauritius had seen a continual stream of guests for the surf, sand and sunshine aspects of their island, as they mentioned to the researcher during the formative stages of the study (Thanika, 2004). Guests' long-term loyalty to the island and a specific hotel has a direct effect on the profitability of not just the hotel but the entire tourism industry of the island, and was fluctuating significantly. The hoteliers and resort managers realized that they would need to transcend just the physical attributes of their location to create a truly unique, and highly valued customer experience. Using the SERVQUAL framework as part of the broader methodology, the most critical determinants of guest satisfaction and loyalty were ascertained. What the hoteliers and resort managers learned helped them change how they operated their reports to deliver more value, giving them a strong foundation on which to base the marketing and promotion strategies.

Study Purpose

The study has three specific objectives that include the following: first, to develop the underlying dimensions of hotel service quality including a definition of hotel service quality factors. Second, to examine the relative impact of the derived hotel factors in influencing the overall level of service quality and customer satisfaction. Third, to determine the specific dimensions of service quality which have the greatest impact on the choice intentions including probability of returning (an implied measure of customer loyalty) to hotels and resorts on Mauritius (Thanika, 2004).

Study Findings

The study found the SERVQUAL dimension of reliability to be the most significant in explaining the variance between hotel and resort guests' expectations vs. experiences. The series of reliability factors delivered an eigenvalue of 8.874 and explained 22.754% of the variance in expectations vs. experiences of hotel and resort guests (Thanika, 2004). Breaking the reliability factor down further, the six most important elements were the responsiveness of the hotel staff, the hotel staff keeps commitments quickly and thoroughly (this shows they respect the guests (Thanika, 2004)), and also make helped recommendations to guests. Assurance factors delivered an eigenvalue of 3.325 and explained 8.526% of the variance between expectations and experiences. Extra room amenities factors delivered an eigenvalue of 2.354 and explained 6.037% of the variance between expectations and experiences.

Study Conclusion

This study of a series of five Mauritius hotels show that it is responsiveness and reliability that matters most in defining and excellent customer experience. The guests are choosing which hotels they will return to based on the treatment they are getting from the staff, specifically how members of the hotel make and keep commitments and manage tasks. The guests are particularly impressed when a staff member will commit to get a task done and then quickly completes it, this is evident in the high eigenvalue rating for reliability (Thanika, 2004). The study also shows that hotels must continually work to create a sense of owning the customer experience on the part of each staff member, if their hotels and resorts are to succeed over time.

Study Implications

This study amplifies the need for a hotel or resort to continually strive to learn new techniques for listening, responding to, and engraining a culture of responsiveness and accountability into their operations. The customer experience is the "product" that these hotels and resorts on Mauritius are selling. Training on these aspects of customer service, including the continual focus on measuring customer SERVQUAL scores through dashboards, will elevate the reputation of the hotels and reports on Mauritius as a result. The bottom line is that it is all about the customer experience -- that is the value these hotels and resorts are delivering. All training, systems, processes and procedures need to revolve around this point.

Study Limitations

There are several significant limitations to this study. First, it is isolated to just the Indian Ocean, and to be more representative of global implications, locations across other nations would need to be taken into account. Second, the cultural variations across guests have not been taken into account. Using a relatively simple coding of nationality and indexing nationality to the Hofstede Model of Cultural Dimensions would have helped to mitigate any variation due to this point as well. Third, this study only represents a given point in time; it does not represent where the island's hotels and resort are performing today. A longitudinal study is needed to capture these factors more effectively.