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No matter how much effort is placed into producing quality service, the true test lies in the perception of customers. To assess this perception, lodging executives have only a few quantitative instruments available from which to choose, since the development of such scales is still in its infancy. This study takes the reader through the step‐by‐step development of a reliable and valid quantitative measuring tool that lodging practitioners can implement to measure their customers’ perception of delivered quality. The procedures followed begin with the same original dimensions that were used to develop SERVQUAL. The resulting lodging quality index (LQI) emphasizes five clearly defined dimensions of service quality.

The purposes of this study are: to examine the reliability and validity of the lodging quality index (LQI); and to assess the relative importance of the five dimensions of the LQI in the Canadian hotel context. The LQI was developed by Getty and Getty and published in 2003 in the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.

Data are collected from 200 Canadian respondents who had stayed in a hotel in Canada within the preceding three months. Data are examined using confirmatory factor analysis and regression analysis.

The findings support the reliability and the validity of the LQI's structure of five dimensions. The scale is shown to be a reliable instrument for measuring overall service quality and for predicting the satisfaction and behavioral intentions of hotel guests. In terms of the importance of the five dimensions, the study finds that “tangibility” and “communication” are the most important.

This is the first independent assessment of the reliability and validity of the LQI scale. The research provides valuable insights for hotel managers in Canada. Hoteliers should focus their efforts on the provision of good service quality on “tangibility” and “communication”.

Increased competition amongst the hotel industry players has challenged managers not to focus their attention exclusively on ways to attract and satisfy their customers, but to invest in customer retention strategies with the potential to ensure superior performance of their hotels. This study aims to determine strategies to retain customers in hotels in Ghana, an emerging market. A cross-sectional survey was employed to collect data from 677 hotel employees in 56 Ghanaian licensed hotels. Based on SmartPLS, study findings indicate that customer satisfaction, loyalty and retention embedded in the tangibility and reliability dimensions of the lodging quality index are important for customer retention among hotels in Ghana.

This paper aims to investigate customers’ perceptions of the service quality facets of Airbnb accommodation using social exchange theory as a suitable conceptual framework to explain aspects of interactivity between guests and hosts.

A self-administered questionnaire consisting of 25 accommodation-specific service quality attributes, structured according to Akbaba’s (2006) measurement scale and based on the service quality hierarchical conceptualization described by Brady and Cronin (2001) and Cronin and Taylor (1992), was distributed to Airbnb international guests visiting Phuket, Thailand. The sample was chosen through a two-stage sampling process and the PLS-SEM technique was used for data analysis.

The results showed that convenience and assurance are critical contributors to the measurement of service quality in remote Airbnb lodgings. The findings further revealed that Airbnb guests are mainly interested in lodgings which have access to certain tourist sights, and in easily accessible information and efficient resolution of problems during their stay. The authors also found that guests greatly value the convenience and flexibility offered by Airbnb, and that they particularly appreciate the warm hospitality provided by the hosts. Finally, Airbnb guests have very low expectations of the amenities and services available at the lodgings.

Airbnb is one of the most well-known examples of hospitality in the sharing economy, and results cannot be generalized to similar accommodation providers in sharing economies. Despite the appropriateness of using the measurement tool provided by Akbaba (2006), it is only one option among others for measuring service quality.

The current study can assist hosts in gaining better knowledge of guests’ decision-making processes and in designing effective marketing strategies by focusing on guests’ requirements in terms of service quality. The effective use of competitive strengths and the prioritization of business resources would potentially enhance guests’ positive experiences at the accommodation and at the destination.

Limited numbers of studies have focused on the sharing economy and hospitality and in particular on Airbnb, and this is the first study with a focus on service quality issues in terms of Airbnb accommodation.

The competitive nature of the hotel industry has given the impetus to practitioners and researchers to invest in Customer Retention strategies and research. Although numerous studies have investigated Customer Retention in the hotel industry, there is still uncertainty regarding Customer Retention in emerging markets. This study, therefore, adds to the existing knowledge by exploring Customer Retention in Ghana, an emerging market. The study adopted a cross-sectional survey of 873 customers of 56 hotels in four regional capitals located in the southern part of Ghana. Findings indicate that service Tangible and Reliability indirectly relates hotel Customer Retention in Ghana, an emerging market.

This paper develops a generalizable, machine-learning-based method for measuring established marketing constructs using passive analysis of consumer-generated textual data from service reviews. The method is demonstrated using topic and sentiment analysis along dimensions of an existing scale: lodging quality index (LQI).

The method induces numerical scale ratings from text-based data such as consumer reviews. This is accomplished by automatically developing a dictionary from words within a set of existing scale items, rather a more manual process. This dictionary is used to analyze textual consumer review data, inducing topic and sentiment along various dimensions. Data produced is equivalent with Likert scores.

Paired t-tests reveal that the text analysis technique the authors develop produces data that is equivalent to Likert data from the same individual. Results from the authors’ second study apply the method to real-world consumer hotel reviews.

Results demonstrate a novel means of using natural language processing in a way to complement or replace traditional survey methods. The approach the authors outline unlocks the ability to rapidly and efficiently analyze text in terms of any existing scale without the need to first manually develop a dictionary.

The technique makes a methodological contribution by outlining a new means of generating scale-equivalent data from text alone. The method has the potential to both unlock entirely new sources of data and potentially change how service satisfaction is assessed and opens the door for analysis of text in terms of a wider range of constructs.

The purpose of this study is to identify an appropriate factor structure that may be utilized to effectively measure a hotel’s performance relative to service quality in a mid-scale setting. Customer perceptions of service quality in mid-scale hotels have largely been ignored; the focus of researchers has been the upscale (4-star) and luxury (5-star) segments.

A 27-item questionnaire is utilized to measure service quality with an initial sample size of over 2,500 respondents. Principle component analysis is utilized to determine the factor structure and regression analysis to determine which factors may serve as predictors of a hotel’s ability to meet customers’ expectations and to provide value.

A three-dimensional model emerged from the data, consistent with the theorizing of Rust and Oliver (1994), which includes the service product, service delivery and service environment. The service environment is the strongest predictor of a hotel’s ability to meet guests’ expectations and to provide guests with value within this context, which is inconsistent with findings in upscale and luxury hotels.

The generalizability of this research may be challenged, as the study was conducted within the context of an oceanfront resort destination dominated by leisure travelers; however, the study may be replicated in additional settings to determine if a similar bundling of service quality attributes occurs in other mid-scale settings including business hotels, as well as economy hotels.

A three-factor model may be more appropriate for assessing service quality in a mid-scale (3-star) environment. In this setting, the service environment and service product may be more important measures of service quality than service delivery. This is an important finding, as many mid-scale and select-service, as well as new mid-scale, lifestyle hotel concepts, attempt to drive profitability by deemphasizing service delivery or by utilizing technology to facilitate service delivery. These findings may also assist operators of mid-scale hotels in improving guests’ perceptions of quality, which has been found to increase perceived value and may positively influence purchase or revisit intentions (Kashyap and Bojanic, 2000).

Service quality research has been conducted, almost exclusively, in first-class (4-star) and luxury (5-star) hotels, while the majority of hotels do not fall into these categories. Although guest expectations relative to service quality may be lower in more moderately priced, mid-scale hotels, service quality remains a critical variable that influences a guest’s decision to return or recommend a hotel to others. Many travelers now utilize online reviews to minimize purchase risk by seeking information relative to service quality when selecting a hotel. Consequently, it is more important than ever that service quality is understood in hotels at all service levels. The present research contributes to filling this gap in the literature.