Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction in the Hospitality Industry

Program: Consultancy for The Visitor Economy
Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
(1) Literature Review on Service Quality..............................................................................3
(2) Case Study........................................................................................................................6
(3) Ledbury's Online Presence...............................................................................................6
(4) Evaluation of Service Quality through online reviews.....................................................7
(5) Recommendation..............................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Hospitality and tourism play an enormous role in delivering business-related services.
The hospitality industry is one of the parts of the service industry. It provides essential services
for travellers, lodging services etc. The main aim is to attain customer satisfaction effectively.
Whereas Tourism sector is vital as it helps in boosting the economies by encouraging
employment, infrastructure development and maintaining local culture (Kant and Jaiswal, 2017).
Further the hotels, restaurants, theme parks and many come under the hospitality industry.
Tourism is another segment of the service industry and offers services for people who
want to travel to explore places for business or any other purposes. The sector is bifurcated into
further industry groups including food and beverage services, travel services, accommodation
and lodging etc. Hospitality and Tourism sector focuses on generating local economies which
ultimately stimulate the development of infrastructure and public amenities. This report
examines literature review in respect of service quality and customer satisfaction in the
hospitality industry. Also discusses how service quality can be measured through online services.
Ledbury Company is selected to effectively assess service quality and customer satisfaction.
MAIN BODY
(1) Literature Review of Service Quality
During the past year service quality has become a major goal which needs to be attained
in order to meet organisational objectives. As the pandemic year caused phenomenal changes in
the service industry. Numerous researchers analysed the term service quality and many formed
the instrument to measure service quality (Palese and Usai, 2018). There are multiple factors
affecting the service industry such as the mind-set of customers, demands, increased
competition.
The Objectives of Review are, firstly the key dimensions of service quality, secondly is
the service quality amid pandemic situation and lastly the importance of service quality in the
service industry of hospitality including restaurant services.
Gronoroos (1982) referred service quality as the perception of the customer in relation to
the expected service and service attained. On the other hand, Gefan (2002) addressed service
quality as the difference between what quality customers expect and what they actually receives.
High quality of services can be achieved by possessing proper knowledge of operational process

along with the effective way of addressing issues. Sometimes dissatisfied customers blame
themselves for attaining bad services. The organisation is required to identify and resolve the
issue which are not complaining so as to achieve customer satisfaction. Perceptions and
exception of customers play a vital role in the service industry. These two components help the
organisation to derive comparison between what they expect and what they actually provide.
Further help to make their actual service quality, effective by taking appropriate measure.
According to Lovelock and Wirtz (2011) the service industry derives a lot of employment
opportunities for new jobs. The competitive spirit among the companies led service quality as a
strategic tool and tactic to meet their objectives.
The review further specifies the dimensions which are required to understand in order to
achieve service qualification. The key dimensions are, Reliability refers as the expected result
derived by the firm. Responsiveness is the effective services offered by the employees.
Competence for service quality means key skills and knowledge to provide services.
Accessibility is another dimension which requires easy approach. Further communication skills
are required to properly understand and listen the customers (Lee and Cheng, 2018). Credibility
is also to be involved in order to gain customer loyalty and trust. Understanding is the customer
need is the base to prove high quality services. Also the tangible refers to the physical evidence
of the services offered.
The service quality was adversely affected during the course of COVID-19. The services
industry, especially the hospitality industry faced major challenges amid pandemic situations.
Despite the hindrances the industry is now maintaining its resources and devising its ways to a
board back efficiently. The Service quality needs to be determined keeping in view the changing
environment. Nowadays, e-quality services are becoming trendy. Maintaining e-services became
impatient with the pace of technology. The review addresses the challenges faced by the industry
in former years. Further describes what lessons are taken from the current scenario. The
continuous effect of pandemic is becoming a serious problem on tourism and hospitality in
United Kingdom (Prentice and Kadan, 2019). It is essential for the industry to develop
confidence among the travellers by addressing their needs in a pandemic situation. Hygiene and
cleanliness are considered as important in attaining high quality of services. Service Quality led
to customer satisfaction and thus, lack of quality influences the customer behaviour.