c



Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 2
Service industry ................................................................................................................................... 2
Tourism and Hospitality ....................................................................................................................... 2
Brief on quality services ....................................................................................................................... 2
Quality services analysis .......................................................................................................................... 3
Why quality is required? ...................................................................................................................... 3
Customer satisfaction .......................................................................................................................... 3
5 dimensions of quality services........................................................................................................... 4
Implementing SERVQUAL ........................................................................................................................ 6
Travelodge........................................................................................................................................... 6
Thomson Holidays ............................................................................................................................... 6
Quality objectives from both organizations .......................................................................................... 7
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................... 8
Bibliography ............................................................................................................................................ 9
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Service industry continues to grow significantly from years the economy of service industry includes
banking, airline, hospitals, hotel, insurance, transportation industry and many more. There significant
quality measures are unacceptable interruption, impoliteness, incompetent services, malfunctioning
material and poor workmanships. All these frustrating activities lead to customer disappointment. The
customer will only be satisfied if they treated as members, guests or associates and served with
delighted service and provided a value. Continuous improvement in customer driven quality services
may result in high quality services and higher customer satisfaction.

 

 

 
Tourism industry is related to providing itineraries and services to tourists, these include advice to
tourist, ravel planning and other services. Hospitality sector is related to businesses which are hotels,
restaurant, cursing and many more. Although these both sectors are different from each other but they
are co-dependent to each other. The example for the inter-dependence is tourism sector organizations
plans the journey for tourist and hospitality sector cater the tourist by providing services like
accommodations, travelling and dining͛s .




 

Before giving any further explanations I would like to define the quality and services meanings. In
English dictionary quality means degree or standard of excellence (Collins language) and services means
work performed in a job (collins language). Quality service in practice can be defined as needs of
consumers, vendors and staff which add value to services and products for an ongoing process of
customer satisfaction.

Quality is one of the factors that are too followed in tourism and hospitality industry to standardize
there services. Although the quality services in these industry are not only important but quality in the
inter-related sectors are also important. Several writers in their literatures have defined the concept of
quality services here are couple of definitions which I have been through during my research for this
assignment.

Oliver (1997, cited in Satisfaction: a Behavioral Perspective on the Consumer. P.19) Satisfaction is the
consumer͛s fulfillment response. It is a judgment that a product or service feature, or the product or
service itself, provided (or is providing) a pleasurable level of consumption-related fulfillment, including
levels of under or over fulfillment. (Crouch, Perdue, & Timmermans, 2004)

The launch of a new aircraft, a new hotel, or a new cruise ship is a capital-intensive, high-risk
undertaking. Inadequate quality planning creates unnecessary costs, possibly even catastrophe. (Juran &
Godfrey, 1998)
Òrom these quality definitions we can find that investing a large amount of capital in hospitality and
tourism sector is not enough it require quality of services from which it will be earning revenue. This can
be only done through the satisfaction of customer needs which are the standard that should be followed
in these sectors.


 

 

 
 


Within the business there have been several attempts to understand the measures of quality from
analysis of goods and products. But if we are talking about the service sector especially hospitality and
tourism the services they provide are usually intangible and can only be measured through performance
and specification from the comparison with quality standards. Mostly services are labor intensive, their
performance can differ from provider to provider and customer to customer so it is difficult to measure
and assure. The reason for this is that the quality services are not created on assembly or production
line, but it occurs during the delivery of services. Well it shows that for the effective and efficient
services the only thing which is matter is quality.

All the above factors in the paragraph give the emergence of 5 dimensions of quality service or
SERVQUAL factors. Before defining all these factors and dimensions like to define about customer
satisfaction.

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Why the organization͛s offer high-quality service, or why organizations often need high quality services
and consumer satisfaction. Because the organizations provide services and goods to customers and
consumers, whenever they discuss quality services the whole organization should be considered. The
organization which are In service business and its customers' refers to as high quality services, for
example, soft, friendly, helpful, caring, commitment, flexibility and cleanliness are the basic quality
characteristics. Customer satisfaction as an important aspect, customers can be satisfied or dissatisfied
with services. If an enterprise customer needs to solve the first problem to how to meet, satisfy
customers, equally important, what organization products and services use for customer satisfaction. It
is expect that consumers and customers of products and services depend on the experience of balance.
When an organization is able to raise a customer͛s experience to a level that exceeds that customer͛s
prospect, then that customer will be satisfied.

͞To enhance customer experiential value, restaurant managers should focus on three service encounter
factors: restaurant environment, personnel service performance and customer interaction. Regarding
the service encounter factor, restaurant owners can enhance the visual appeal of the restaurant, for
example, by changing fittings, furnishings and colors to enhance elegance and comfort. Employeeʹ
customer interaction can also be enhanced to improve customer satisfaction. Specifically, we suggest
that hotel managers provide periodical personnel training sessions to improve attitude and response,
employee appearance and service performance. Implementing these changes is likely to increase
customer perceptions that personnel provide friendly and proactive service.͟ (Wua & Liang, 2009)
Ò




 
 

Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry During the mid-1980s a team of three researchers developed a way of
researching service quality which became highly influential. SERVQUAL measures perceptions of service
quality on five dimensions (reduced from ten original items): tangibles; reliability; responsiveness;
assurance and empathy .The survey instrument seeks to identify positive and negative gaps in the firm͛s
performance on the five service quality dimensions through two sets of 20 statements which compare
customers͛ expectations and their perceptions of the firm͛s service performance. (Prideaux, Moscardo,
& Laws, 2006)

1.Y Tangibles- the physical facilities features and appearance of an organization buildings
products and employees.
2.Y Reliability- the ability of an organization to continuously deliver goods and services are as
promised.
3.Y Responsiveness- employee͛s willingness to help and provide prompt attention to customers.
4.Y Assurance- a sense of trust inspired by polite, knowledge and competent staff.
5.Y Empathy-where customers feel as though their needs are understood and important to
organization and that they have been given personal attention.

In this system, the service quality is seen as an organization from the ability to meet or exceed all
customer expectations levels. This expectation disconfirmation model assumes that the customer
expectations and clear measures against the expectations of five SERVQUAL to measure organizational
performance. Quality of service is the sum of mental arithmetic; the overall impression is a comparison
between customers and organizations based on several points. In order to improve service quality,
organizations must evaluate the importance of customers in these areas, and use them to rate the
importance of areas of the organization's performance. If the organization also called for measures to
staff and customer response, quality of service management views the gap series can be used to
determine and direct the change and organization improvement. The gap model is also used to
determine the service quality dilemmas and determining appropriate ways to close the gap.

Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry five dimensions of service quality gaps are as follow:

yY Gap 1: is between consumer͛s expectations and those perceived by management to be the

customer͛s expectation.
yY Gap 2: is between management͛s perceptions of consumer expectations and the firm͛s services
quality provision.
yY Gap 3: is between service quality provision and service delivery.
yY Gap 4: the service delivery, external communication gap.
yY Gap 5: the perceived service quality gap, the difference between estimated and noticeable
service.
•



 








 

 
 
  
Tangibles

Physical facilities, equipment, personals and communication materials reflect the condition of physical
surrounding is tangible evidence of the care and attention to details demonstrated by the service
providers. Things that are to be enclosed in these dimensions are:

yY Òacilities attractive, clean and visually appeal

yY Provide facilities and equipment in good condition
yY By staff a clean and professional look.
yY And written materials associated with the hotel's trademark visually attractive and easy to
understand communication
yY As technology and equipment in its current state

Reliability

Reliability is capacity to provide agreed services consistently and accurately. Reliable service
performance is a customer satisfaction and means that the service is accomplished on time, in same
manner and exclusive of errors. Here the ability to perform is to be considered. These are usually
promised services and performance which are interdependent to each other.

yY Serve the right to perform the required standards, the first time and as promised?
yY All times the same level of services for all staff members?
yY All facilities / services are available, as promised?
yY Dealing with the problems to attain reliability?
yY If a response or action within certain time has promised all this, right?

Responsiveness

It is a compliance to help customers and to provide prompt services. Keeping customers waiting, mostly
for no apparent reason, create pointless negative perception of quality. In the event of service failure,
the ability to recover quickly with professionalism can create very positive perception of quality. In this
dimension it assures the ability and willingness to provide efficient services to anticipate the customer
needs.

yY This is a time and place where service is provided on need.

yY A minimum inconvenience to visitors and is provided with the service.
yY Staff development in response to queries.
yY When there is a problem, employees will respond quickly and sympathy.
yY Guests informed of relevant changes.
Assurance

Assurance can be seen as an ability to encourage customer confidence which is only is achievable when
employees or service provider develops an interaction. Characteristics in the assurance factor that
could be very significant in tourism and hospitality these can be concluded as

yY Access to formal privacy and confidentiality of information.

yY Customers are motivated by recognition
yY Service provider level mass.
yY Confirmation or declaration is guaranteed
yY Shared other consumer experience

Empathy

Organization management learns from their mistake and efforts are put together to understand
customer needs.

yY Customers need to understand management

yY Listening and understanding of issues that demonstrate that consumers are listening. Time, and
to answer customer questions
yY Access management to their customers

?





Òor the reason of our assignment we have to choose one organization from two different hospitality
sectors. So we have chosen Thomson Holidays from tour operator industry and Travelodge from hotel
industry. Before starting SERVQUAL analysis I would like to give some background and details of each
organization.

 
Travelodge was the first budget hotel brand name to launch in the UK in 1985 and nowadays operating
380 hotels in UK, Ireland, and Spain. Travelodge is growing rapidly and aims to be the largest hotel
operator in London by the 2012 Olympics.

87% of reservations are currently made online. Employs 5,500 staff and is owned by Dubai International
Capital. Travelodge begins the UK first retail-style price checking program where it compares prices of all
of the major UK hotel chains to ensure that it remains that number one on price.

Travelodge offers double, disabled-access or family rooms. Rooms are en-suite, with luxury king size
beds, TV and free tea- and coffee-making facilities.

 
 
 
Start business in 1965 with the plans to make foreign traveling accessible to all. Òrom the year we
started they are still going strong. Its business staff is all around the world which is more than any other
holiday provider organization. And huge collection of holidays to choose from. So whether you͛re after
a cruise or a 5-star hotel, they help you find a break that͛s right for you.

They know one size doesn͛t fit all. That͛s they given each of their hotels a particular kind of service. Take
our on-demand service, for example. It gives you stuffs like a personalized ticket wallet-come-guide
book and access to their 24/7 Holiday line throughout your stay.


  !" 
 !  

#


Thomson͛s Holidays

Dermot Blastland, TUI Travel UK and Ireland managing director said: ͞Òirst Choice and Thomson look
after 7.5 million holidaymakers every year so our size and scale gives us a really good view of what
people are buying and doing with their holidays. I͛m frustrated when I hear talk about the death of the
package holiday. Package holidays are changing very rapidly to deliver greater quality and variety than
we͛ve ever been able to offer before and our market is therefore actually stable rather than declining.
We͛re firmly of the opinion that more holidaymakers are travelling on packages than current statistics
indicate and also predicts that this figure will continue to grow.͟ (Thomson)

Travelodge

There are loads of reasons why customers choose to stay at Travelodge. Great value clean and
comfortable rooms with suite provide everything needed for a good night's sleep and are close to where
people want to stay.

However, Travelodge do things differently to other hotel organizations. No wonder, we're the UK's No.1
hotel choice on the web.

yY Everyday low prices - how we do it

yY Hassle free
yY Location, location, location
yY Òeel better off (Travelodge)

Reasonably it is difficult to find out the SEVRQUAL analysis on the basis of the organization particular
because we haven͛t found any specific relevant data which is used for the computation of the
SERVQUAL. So over her I am just emphasizing on 5 dimensions of service quality.

Tangibility: the analysis and finding which I had made seems to me that both Travelodge and Thomson͛s
are providing the above standard facilities that are attractive, tempting and giving an expert
appearance.

Reliability: the findings I have made it are obvious that these both organizations are operating from
several years and the only grounds for this are the continuity in providing their agreed quality services.
Responsiveness: both organizations are the major service provider in their industry. They are used to
educate employees how to react on different situations and also the services that I have fulfilled above
shows the response time to any query is as quick as they can.

Assurance: in this factor we can see the maximum part is undertaken by the administration, in my
finding these organizations usually do things by considering the customers in assurance.

Empathy: from time to time these both organizations are analyzing the requirements of customers;
learning͛s from earlier period experiences can be seen as the important role for the success. These
learning can be done when organization management exhibit an empathy, for example listening to the
query of customer and its response time.

c



Òrom all I've done both on the hotel and tourism organizations SERVQUAL factors to analyze the reasons
I set up, these two interrelated business primarily to each other and the quality of their services they
must provide the same. Most of these activities, I can see, travel operators and hotels are the same, but
the only difference is in their place that they provide. Tour operators plan the journeys and hotels
accommodate the services. In the course of the study can be concluded that measures the quality of the
services they provide are often invisible to service quality measurement is followed by those in a
particular industry standard. Òinally these two organization according to me have to be rated above the
customer satisfaction

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 . (n.d.). Retrieved 06 05, 2010, from
http://www.collinslanguage.com/results.aspx?context=3&reversed=Òalse&action=define&homonym=-
1&text=services


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http://www.collinslanguage.com/results.aspx?context=3&reversed=Òalse&action=define&homonym=-
1&text=quality

Crouch, G. I., Perdue, R. R., & Timmermans, H. J. (2004).

  ›
   

   Cambridge: CABI Publishing.

Juran, J. M., & Godfrey, A. B. (1998). 
 
 
  Blacklick: McGraw-
Hill Organisations.

Prideaux, B., Moscardo, G., & Laws, E. (2006).   
 ›  
  

›  Oxfordshire: CABI Publishing.

  . (n.d.). Retrieved 06 11, 2010, from http://www.thomson.co.uk/editorial/press-

centre/2008/half-of-holidaymakers-travel-on-a-package-and-premium-sales-on-the-up.html


 . (n.d.). Retrieved 06 11, 2010, from http://www.travelodge.co.uk/why_choose_travelodge/

Wua, C. H.-J., & Liang, R.-D. (2009). Effect of experiential value on customer satisfaction with service
encounters in luxury-hotel restaurants.   
 
  
   , 586-593.