It is important to note that quality is among the most critical factors enabling the competitiveness of an organization. The quality of service is especially vital in the hospitality industry, such as hotels and restaurants. SERVQUAL is primarily a research instrument developed to assess the perceptions and expectations of consumers within its five categorical dimensions. The five dimensions of the tool include reliability, assurance, tangibles, empathy, and responsiveness, which are directly applicable to the hospitality industry.
Using the SERVQUAL dimensions in the hospitality industry is done as with any other field, which is by asking the 22 questions. In other words, there are 22 questions in the SERVQUAL, which measure the level of quality in all five dimensions (Chatterjee et al., 2022). In the case of restaurants, the reliability dimension can be improved by addressing the waiter response timeframe and dependability (Chatterjee et al., 2022). For assurance, waiters need to have service attributes of trustworthiness and politeness. Waiter clothes, as well as the visual appeal of facilities, are critical for the tangibles dimension (Chatterjee et al., 2022). Empathy can be enhanced through the individualized attention of waiters and understanding of customer needs (Chatterjee et al., 2022). The two attributes of responsiveness are the willingness of the waiter to help and prompt service delivery from the chef.
In conclusion, SERVQUAL has a high degree of applicability to the hospitality industry, where each dimension is measured through the assessment using 22 questions of the instrument. It should be noted that the five dimensions of the tool are reliability, assurance, tangibles, empathy, and responsiveness. Most of the attributes for further improvement of service are related to employees’ conduct and behavior when working with customers.
Reference
Chatterjee, S., Ghatak, A., Nikte, R., Gupta, S., & Kumar, A. (2022). Measuring SERVQUAL dimensions and their importance for customer-satisfaction using online reviews: A text mining approach. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 4, 1-23. Web.