A Comparative Research Paper on Service Quality in Winter Garden, Landmark

This research paper analyzes the service quality in Winter Garden, Landmark using the SERVQUAL model and explores its applicability in the luxury service sector. It also discusses the determinants of consumer perception and satisfaction.

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A COMPARATIVE RESEARCH PAPER ON SERVICE QUALITY IN WINTER GARDEN,
LANDMARK
By (Student name)
Student number
Module
Programme
Number of words
Date

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Description and analysis..................................................................................................................3
Application of SERVQUAL model to evaluate service in Winter Garden, Landmark...............3
Expectation disconfirmation and consumer satisfaction.............................................................5
Gap analysis.................................................................................................................................7
Technical versus functional quality.............................................................................................9
SERVQUAL importance weight and change-needs..................................................................11
Recommendation for Winter Garden, Landmark......................................................................12
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................16
Bibliography..................................................................................................................................17
Appendices....................................................................................................................................20
Appendix 1:...............................................................................................................................20
Appendix 2:...............................................................................................................................21
Appendix 3:...............................................................................................................................22
Appendix 4:...............................................................................................................................23
Appendix 5:...............................................................................................................................24

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Introduction
This particular study aims to unveil the determinants of consumer perception in a luxury service
setting. To acquire a practical understanding of the issue service quality of Winter Garden,
Landmark has been assessed using the questions and framework of SERVQUAL model. In
addition, several service quality assessment models have been used not just to analyse and
interpret the findings from the SERVQUAL questions. This is done not just to evaluate the
service quality in Winter Garden but also to assess their applicability in general in evaluating the
service quality of businesses operating in the luxury service sector.
Description and analysis
Application of SERVQUAL model to evaluate service in Winter Garden, Landmark
The SERVQUAL model provides a multi-dimensional, empirical tool to evaluate and compare
the performance or the service quality provided by a business organization with the service
quality needs or performance expectations of the consumers (Jain and Aggarval, 2015). For this
the SERVQUAL model offers a set of 22 questions that inquire about five different performance
factors, namely, tangibility, reliability, assurance, responsiveness and empathy. Applying the
SERVQUAL model, the service quality of the luxury service restaurant Winter Garden has been
reviewed, for which the 22 performance related questions are answered both in respect of the
perception of the service received and the expectations related to the service aspects. The
following figure provides an insight to the findings of the comparative research (for details refer
to appendix 1, 2 and 3).

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Advsnced equipments
Well-dressed Employees
Meets time assurances
Successful first time attempt
Error-free records
Promptness of service
Quick responsiveness of staff
Safety of transaction
Knowledgeable staff
Personal attention from staff
Consumer best interest
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Expectation Score
Perception Score
Chart 1: Comparison between need and perception
(Source: refer to the appendix)
From the chart above it is evident that while in certain performance aspects the organization
meets the consumer expectations in many cases it fails to achieve that goal and in no case except
that of the punctuality the organization surpasses the consumer expectation. The score assigned
to the performance aspects based on the questions asked in terms of the perceived performance,
when tallied with that of the expectations, represent the satisfaction level of the consumer. In
most of the cases it can be seen that the expectations have not been met which might be an
indicator of the consumer dissatisfaction. This might be the consequence of the perceived service
quality of the consumers which, according to Arora and Arora (2015) is not just determined by
the service provided but also by the predetermined notion of the service that consumer’s generate

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through external factors like the word of mouth messages, advertisements, price and prestige. For
instance, the manner in which services of the Winter Garden is reviewed by other entities also
influences the perception of the consumer’s perception. In addition, the promotional promises
that the organization makes in its multiple promotional channels, like its official website
increases the expectation of the customer which naturally creates a higher chance for gap
between the expectation and performance (Whyte, 2018). This might be explained further
through the expectation confirmation theory.
Expectation disconfirmation and consumer satisfaction
The expectation confirmation theory explains the consumer satisfaction as a consequence of the
relationship between the performance, expectation and disconfirmation of the pre-established
belief of the consumers. Oghuma et al. (2016) identified that the disconfirmation of the
consumer expectation has the potential of generating extreme responses from the consumers.
When it is positive disconfirmation, the consumer might generate long-term loyalty and even
advocacy for the serviced provider. On the other hand, negative disconfirmation has the potential
of strong disregard among the consumers regarding the brand harming its image in the market in
considerable manner (Hsu and Lin, 2015).
For instance, if the consumers’ expectation is disconfirmed negatively, that is, if the consumer
receives less than what is expected of the service provider then the consumer would generate
negative perception concerning the service e provider which might be the case for Winter Garden
as it fails to meet the consumer expectation in case of the tangible factors, responsiveness
factors, empathy and assurance (refer to appendix 3). On the other hand, Susanto, Chang and Ha
(2016) identified that the positive disconfirmation, that is, if the organization surpasses the

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expectation of the consumer then the level of preference received from the customers might also
be high, which can be the case as a result of punctuality of the organization.
However, Roldán Bravo, Lloréns Montes and Ruiz Moreno (2017) identified that the
disconfirmation model has theoretical, conceptual and measurement problems in terms of the
definition ambiguity and the link between the service quality and the satisfaction or
dissatisfaction of the consumers. Lankton et al. (2016) also identified the error in theoretical
justification of the expectations of consumers in the assessment of the service quality. The
probability specification in the measurement of the evaluated performance is another critical
aspect that requires deeper consideration. Pappas (2016) suggested that more attention is to be
paid to the cognitive aspect of the consumer’s perception generation process. It fails to explain
the impact of the external environmental factors like political, economic, social and cultural
environment to which the consumer belongs as a part of the cognitive process.
The evaluative performance framework, assumes that the perceived ability of a product or
service to deliver consumer satisfaction can be conceptualized to be the relative congruence of
the product with the ideal product features expected by the consumer (Leal and Pereira, 2006).
That is the perceived ability of the service provided by the Winter Garden to generate consumer
satisfaction can be conceptualized as being relatively congruent with the ideal features of the
service as per the consumers. Although this framework, to a large extent, explains the cognitive
aspect of the performance perception of the consumers it fails to assess the gap between the
performance delivered and the customer expectation, which is the key to the understanding
negative consumer perception. The gap theory has the potential to address this issue.

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Gap analysis
The gap model explains five gaps in the service and consumer expectations that determine the
consumer experience and their level of satisfaction concerning the service received (Emilien,
Weitkunat and Lüdicke, 2017). The following figure might effectively present the gaps:
Figure 1: Gap model
(Source: Naude and Rudansky-Kloppers, 2016)
Service delivery
Additional
communication with
consumer
Service quality specifications
Management’s perception of
consumer expectation
Provider
Gap 2
Gap 3
Gap 4
Service perception
Consumer
Word of mouth
communication Personal need Past experience
Expected service
Gap 5
Gap 1

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From the figure above it is evident that the first four gaps lie within the control of the
management or the service provider while the fifth gap is subject to the perception of the
consumer. This might be understood better with the example from the Winter Garden,
Landmark. Patrício, Leal and Pereira (2006) identified that the difference between the
expectations of the consumers and the service delivered, which marks gap 1, is triggered from
the lack of knowledge in part of the management regarding the consumer’s expectations. For
instance, it can be seen in the Chart 1 that the expectation of the consumers regarding the
employee communication is much higher than perception which might be attributed the lack of
awareness in part of Winter Garden concerning the expectation of the consumers concerning the
communication causing the gap.
Here it is worth mention that in the given case it is evident that Winter Garden has delivered
above average service quality in terms of tangibility, reliability and certain aspects of assurance,
however as the expectations of the consumer was comparatively high due to it belonging to the
luxury service center it failed to meet the expectations. Here the socio-economic and cultural
background of the consumers have played important role in determining their expectations as the
consumers in this case belong to an elite segment of the London market and are used to high
service quality. Hence the factors like past experience have encouraged them to have high
expectation adding to the inadequacy of the service availed by Winter Garden.
On the other hand, gap 2 highlights the difference between consumers’ expectation and the
management’s perception of consumer need that affects the quality of the service provided (Lee
et al. 2016). Chart 1 also marks the difference between the expected understanding of specific
need and the service received by the customer which evidently marks the presence of gap 2 in
the service of Winter Garden.

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The gap 3, as per the service model, represents the gap between the specification of service
quality and the service quality actually received. This is also identified as the service
performance gap (Marathe, 2017). Responses to the SERVQUAL questions as indicated in the
appendix 1 and 2 marks that Winter Garden delivers to its promises, successfully avoiding the
performance gap. The final gap that is attributed to the service provider, as per the gap model, is
the fourth gap, which concerns with differenced between the promises made to the consumer and
the service delivered (Teshnizi et al. 2018). The score under the reliability factor as mentioned in
appendix 3 marks that Winter Garden successfully delivers to their promises, which ensures
positive perception among the consumers concerning their trustworthiness.
The final gap indicates the difference between consumer expectation and consumer perception of
the service. This is the outcome of the former four gaps. The larger the gaps in the first four
instances more likely are the customers to perceive the service delivered to be insufficient
(Norouzinia, Mohammadi and Sharifi, 2016). From the examples of Winter Garden it is evident
that the consumers perceive the dimensions like empathy and tangibility as having maximum gap
which demands for significant change in performance from the organization.
Technical versus functional quality
Ali et al. (2017) in the technical and functional quality model, identified three major
determinants of the consumer’s level of satisfaction, namely, the technical quality, which is the
quality of the service or the product that the consumer actually receives; the functional quality,
which indicates the manner in which consumer receives the technical outcome and finally the
image, which is established through former two. This might explain the perception of the
consumers towards the service that they receive in light of some of the other determinants of the
consumer perception such as the ideology of the customers, their traditions, pricing or the

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perception pre-determine through the word of mouth (Kasiri et al. 2017). These external factors
are the direct consequence of the socio-cultural economic and political environment of the
consumer. The following image might be effective in explaining this relation in better manner:
Figure 2: Technical and functional quality model
(Source: Harmeling et al. 2017)
From the figure above, it is evident that the manner in which the service or the product is
delivered is equally important as the deliverable itself and contributes equally to the consumer
perception and satisfaction. For example, statement 5, 6, 7 or 8 of the SERVQUAL model hold
equal importance as the statements like 1, 2, 3 and 4 as presented in appendix 1 and 2. While the
latter set of questions directly associate with the service delivered or the technical quality the
former inquire about the functional quality of the service provided by the Winter Garden and it
Expected service Perceived service
quality
Perceived service
Image
Technical quality
What?
Functional
quality
How?
Internal
influence:
advertising,
pricing, PR
External influence:
traditions, word of
mouth, ideology

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can be witnessed that although the consumer’s express their dissatisfaction with the technical
qualities they are satisfied with some of the functional qualities which positively serve the
organization (Harmeling et al. 2017). Here it is worth mention that as the organization operates
in luxury service sector, its consumers belong to higher economic strata of the society, whose
preference is unique from the rest of the market of London and is more sensitive towards service
dimensions like empathy which might be observed from appendix 5. Therefore, concepts like
price sensitivity are less applicable in socio-economic segment of consumers. Seth, Deshmukh
and Vrat (2005) identified that though the functional qualities might not be able to generate
positive consumer perception independently, they, to a large extent determine if the consumer
would generate preference for the service provider despite their positive experience in terms of
the technical quality.
SERVQUAL importance weight and change-needs
Based on the evaluation above and calculation of the score as per the SERVQUAL model it is
evident that Winter Garden required strategic change in its performance measures and
managerial processes to meet the expectation of its consumers. It is essential to understand the
importance of each performance aspect to priorities the change that the organization needs to
bring to its operations and management practices. In the present case empathy received the
highest importance with 25 points followed by assurance, responsiveness and reliability with 20
points each while the tangibles are assigned 15 points (for details refer to appendix 4).
In the given study the highest emphasis is given to the empathy which represents the caring
individual attention that the restaurant offers to its consumers. It is interesting to note that
although the empathy does not directly represent the deliverable it plays the most important role
in determining the consumer perception. On the other hand, the tangibles like the appearance of

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the equipment, the physical facilities, communication material and the service personnel though
represent the technical quality or the deliverables received the minimum point in terms of
importance. This effectively explains the cognitive process that determines the consumer
preference.
Tallying the SERVQUAL score with the importance weights assigned to the different aspects of
the services in Winter Garden two service aspects have been identified as of immediate need for
change. These areas are the tangibility and empathy (refer to appendix 5). It can be noticed in the
Chart 1 that the organization has failed to meet the consumer expectations in both the said areas
and needs to improve its services in this respect. Due to the high importance assigned to the
empathy and the high gap between the expectation and perception in case of aspects like
understanding of specific needs and consumer best interest the organization has been identified
as in immediate needs for improvement in this respect. Similarly, in the aspect of tangibility,
except for the appearance of the employee the organization has not met consumer expectations
which might negatively affect their repeated buying decision. Therefore, significant changes are
to be made to improve the consumer perception.
Recommendation for Winter Garden, Landmark
Based on the evaluation above tangibility and empathy are recognized as the SERVQUAL
dimensions that are in urgent need for change. In case of tangibility the areas that have not meet
the consumer expectations are the equipment used for the service, visual appearance of the
physical facilities offered by the restaurant namely the dishes or additional services and visual
appeal of the material used for the service. One of the major issues noticed in the tangible
deliverables is their appearance, whether it concerns with the appearance of the deliverable itself,
that is the dish served or the equipment used to produce them the consumer expectations seem to

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be higher than the performance. Therefore the organization might need to re-design their kitchen
setting and service equipment. As the organization promotes itself as a modern European fine
dining restaurant, its customers are likely to expect state of the art equipment and presentation
which from the response to SERVQUAL question seems to have not met. Therefore, the first
recommendation to the organization is to upgrade their equipment.
Specific  The redesign plan is to be developed by the design and development team
 Approval is to be acquired from the beard
 Modern equipment is to be installed and older equipment need to be
upgraded
Measurable Result of this change can be measured through the increased number of re-visits,
positive reviews and recommendations from customers.
Attainable The Winter Garden is one of the most iconic and popular restaurants in London
therefore the organization has enough funding and human resource to
successfully complete the recommended changes
Realistic London hosts a large collection of modern fine dining restaurants that compete
with each other for preference of the same socio-economic strata, therefore
Winter Garden cannot afford to lose customers because of lack of updated
equipment
Time-based This recommendation can be achieved within the period of 6 months
Table 1: SMART recommendation for Winter Garden, Landmark
(Source: Created by student)
Actions Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 Month 5 Month 6

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Need identification
Planning for change
Cost estimation
Receiving approval
Assigning responsibility
Changed implementation
Review the implemented change
Rectification
Final approval
Table 2: Time plan
(Source: Created by student)
Another crucial dimension that has been identified, which needs immediate change is the
empathy, where aspects like understanding of specific needs of the consumers, personal attention
paid to the consumers and individual attention paid by the restaurant have not properly been
addressed by the restaurant as per consumer expectations. This has led the consumer to believe
that the restaurant does not have consumers’ bet interest in heart which can be observed in case
of statement 21 of appendix 3. For addressing this issue the organization needs to arrange a
training session for its staff members, informing them of the fine details of consumer
expectations and effective communication. Therefore the second recommendation for Winter
Garden is to arrange a communication training programme for its staff members.
Communication is the key to any service oriented business and as Winter Garden falls under the
category of luxury service; communication and individual attention paid to each consumer marks
the excellence of the service and hence the consumer’s preference.

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Specific  Research and development department needs to be assigned the
responsibility of developing a training programme
 Training sessions need to be schedules as per the duty timing of the staff
members
 Staff members need to be instructed to attend training sessions
 Learning needs to be evaluated
 Performance is to be evaluated
Measurable Result of the recommended change can be measured through customer reviews,
recommendation and repeated visits.
Attainable If the organization makes the training session compulsory for all its staffs and
allows time for the training within the working hour of its employees then Winter
Garden can easily achieve the target.
Realistic The plan is more cost effective than acquiring new staff or changing the entire
service plan.
Time based This recommendation can be completed within 2 months
Table 3: SMART recommendation for Winter Garden Landmark
(Source: Created by student)
Actions Week
1
Week
2
Week
3
Week
4
Week
5
Week
6
Week
7
Week
8
Need Identification
Planning for training sessions
Review the plan

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Rectification
Plan finalization
Implementation
Learning evaluation
Performance review
Training based on review
Improved communication
Table 4: Time Plan
(Source: Created by student)
Conclusion
Assessment of the service quality of Winter Garden through SERVQUAL model in this
academic research while has helped in identifying issues in the service quality specific to the fine
dining restaurant it has also helped in understanding the manner in which the model can be used
to assess service gaps that might generate consumer dissatisfaction. This academic paper has
allowed the opportunity to assess different determinant that influence the consumer’s perception
towards the service quality in the luxury service sector. It has highlighted the fact that in the
luxury service sector the manner in which service is availed to the consumers is as important as,
if not more important than, the actual deliverable. It has also been observed that, the external
factors such as the advertisements or promotions, word of mouth and personal determinants of
the consumer behaviour like ideology and traditions also play significant role in determining
consumer perception when it comes to the luxury service items, which is determined by the

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external factors such as political, economic and socio-cultural environment of the target
customer.

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Appendices
Appendix 1:
Figure: SERVQUAL expectation score of Winter Garden, Landmark
(Sourced: Created by student)

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Appendix 2:
Figure: SERVQUAL perception score of Winter Garden, Landmark
(Sourced: Created by student)

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Appendix 3:
Figure: Calculation of SERVQUAL score of Winter Garden, Landmark
(Sourced: Created by student)

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Appendix 4:
Figure: SERVQUAL importance weight of Winter Garden, Landmark
(Sourced: Created by student)

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Appendix 5:
Figure: Need for change identified as per SERVQUAL score of Winter Garden, Landmark
(Sourced: Created by student)