Volume 5• Number 1 • January - June 2012

PERCEPTIONS OF QUALITY AND EXPECTATIONS OF

HOTEL SERVICES

Domingos Fernandes Campos

Universidade Potiguar
domingos_campos@[Link]

Tatiana Gehlen Marodin

Universidade Potiguar
tatianagehlen@[Link]

ABSTRACT: This work presents the results of a study completed in the Hotel Industry, in the city of
Natal, Brazil. Natal receives more than 2 million visitors per year and is also one of the cities with the
largest numbers of tourist vacancies in the country, approximately 23,000. The objective of this work
is to analyze the level of guest satisfaction from the gaps existing between the expectations and the
per- ception of service received at hotels. Through questionnaires, 1440 guests from 6 hotels of the
hotel net- work, falling into tourist categories, superior and luxury. The sample plan established two
collection phases; the first in which guests were interviewed before checking into the hotel and
secondly at check out. The study revealed that the majority of respondents traveled by airplane and
came with tourism as their objective. The results suggest that there was a slight difference in the
ranking of attributes, whether by category, or by hotel. The Spearman test confirmed that the
expectations of the guests did not change significantly when the category of the hotel was changed.
In the general evaluation by guests, from the gaps calculated, in thirteen of the attributes the
performance of the hotels surpassed customer expectations.

Key words: service management, quality of service, hospitality, hotel.

1. INTRODUCTION In this sector, Brazil presents very significant num-

bers in generating employment and income.
The analysis of services has frequently been stud-
Accord- ing to Cavalcanti (2007), tourism currently
ied by academics. The service industry occupies a
generates around 2 million formal jobs and 6
significant place in the world economy and custom-
million informal jobs. Data from the Central Bank
er satisfaction has been sought out by companies
(CB) indicates that 2006 was a year in which
that want to survive in a field of fierce competition.
foreign spending in the country was particularly
Customer satisfaction is a response to a product or
high, topping the charts at US$4.3 billion dollars,
service offered, where the value of the characteris-
surpassing totals obtained by traditional products,
tics of the product or service received is evaluated.
such as sugar cane, cof- fee, chicken, among
In this sense, consumer satisfaction is seen as the
others. With the hosting of the World Cup, there are
producer of positive or negative consequences that
projections that these values will surpass 6.3 billion
can determine the weakness or the success of or-
in 2010 to 8.9 billion in 2014
ganizations. The tourism sector, formed primarily
(BRAZIL, 2010).
by services, is currently one of the largest growing
sectors. This sector is composed of various inter- This work presents the results of a study completed
dependent sub-sectors, such as transportation, ac- in the Hotel Industry, in the city of Natal, Brazil.
commodation, food, leisure, recreation, among oth- Ac- cording to data from the Secretary of Tourism
ers. The hotel market is considered the ‘back bone’ in Rio Grande do Norte (RIO GRANDE DO
of the tourism system. NORTE, 2010) Natal receives more than 2 million
82 visitors per year and is among the most sought
after destinations in
Campos, D. F., Marodin, T. G.: Perceptions of Quality and Expectations of Hotel
Services 83
ISSN: 1984-3046 • Journal of Operations and Supply Chain Management 5 (1), pp 82 - 99

the Northeast. It has approximately 23,000 beds, 1440 guests from 6 hotels of the hotel network, fall-
representing the fifth largest hotel network in Brazil ing into tourist categories, superior and luxury. The
(ABIH, 2011). Recently, it has sought to attract sample plan established two collection phases; the
small and medium-sized events and was named one first in which guests were interviewed before
of the venues for the 2014 World Cup. The tourist check- ing into the hotel and secondly at check out.
at- traction is strongly based on the combination of
sun and sea, the regional cuisine and particular style Analysis and evaluation of tourism activities - and
of hospitality culture. The characteristics of the more specifically in the hospitality industry - are
hotels, the location, modus operandi, the local not easy due to the large number of attributes
infrastructure and the purpose of the trip have a involved, their subjectivity and intangibility. This
strong influence on guest expectations and research represents an exploratory study conducted
perceptions in relation to hotel service. by one of the basic pillars of the service quality
Consequently, important issues for the industry theory in which it can be measured by the
research are highlighted: difference between expectation (importance) and
the actual service (performance). From the
• What degree of importance do customers attach manager’s perspective, the value of this research is
to different attributes of hotel service? in gaining the knowledge that hotels of a similar or
superior category may of- fer the same service in a
• Do customers in different hotel categories have
different way generating a positive service quality
different expectations in relation to the attributes
gap for the client. Moreover, the external evaluation
of the service?
provides benchmarking to identify best practices in
• Does the service offered by hotels surpass the competing hotels. There- fore, comprehensive
ex- pectations of customers? understanding of customers’ demands on the
service quality of different types hotels would
• Are there significant differences in the level of contribute to operating management improvement
service offered by different hotels concerning of the Natal hotel industry.
the different attributes?

The main objective of this research is to analyze the 2. THEORETICAL BASE

level of service quality, focusing on the gaps
Studies in the field of operation management show
between guest expectations and the actual service
that the production strategies are developed consider-
offered by the hotel network in the city of Natal.
ing the so called competitive criteria, making for bet-
Subsidiarily, to identify the profile of these guests
ter analysis in regard to asset and product positioning
and to assess these gaps in service quality and
within the market /clients demands (KLIPPEL et al,
contrast them with the level of importance attached
2005). Ward et al (1998) demonstrate four
to the investigated attributes.
competitive priority categories used in the
The originality and main contribution of this pa- formulation of strategy development: cost, quality,
per was to investigate the perception among guests service delivery time and flexibility. Each of these
from different hotel categories (tourist, superior and involves multiple items. Indi- vidual surveys measure
luxury) in relation to the attributes that make up the the importance that respon- dents place on each of
mix of service. The study allows managers to estab- these categories. The compa- nies’ ability to
lish competitive strategies in tune with their target articulate in a creative way the differ- ent attributes
audience. related to these priority categories en- hances
competence to deal with client needs. Paiva et al
Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (1985) define ser- (2004) demonstrate that a companies’ competences
vice quality as the result of a comparison between are only those perceivable for the clients and devel-
the customer’s expectations before experiencing the oped from the combination of operation competences
services and their perception of the actual service generated through the creative and innovative use of
experienced. Considering the differences between their different resources.
hotel categories and between hotels of the same cat-
egory, it is important to investigate which service According to Kim and Oh (2004), hotel companies
at- tributes are more important to guests and to what should attempt to build close relationships with
extent they are satisfied with the service they their suppliers. Hotel-supplier cooperative relation-
receive from the hotel network. Through ships in the business-to-business sphere, help
questionnaires, reduce costs and improve quality to the end
Campos, D. F., Marodin, T. G.: Perceptions of Quality and Expectations of Hotel
84 Services
ISSN: 1984-3046 • Journal of Operations and Supply Chain Management 5 (1), pp 82 - 99
customers. Ho-
tel managers need to understand how their compa- the unfolding of service quality has been defined
ny can achieve an advantage over competitors. as the result of a comparison between the expecta-
Crick and Spencer (2011) highlight that customers tion and what is perceived as received. They state
do not respond uniformly to specific service that even service workers and clients of the same
initiatives nor do they respond in the same way to service relate different perceptions on the quality of
service prob- lems. The nature of the incident – that the services rendered. The expectations of the
is whether it is of “low criticality” versus “high clients comprise an important factor that influences
criticality” also appears to make a difference in the the perception of the quality of service offered.
way that the cus- tomers in their study viewed the When a client evaluates the quality of a service, he
response of the ser- vice providers. They argued judges it by some standard previously established
that it is important to consider what kind of rapport that is the base for the formation of his expectation.
the company has with a dissatisfied customer when In case there is no important previous experience,
initiating the guarantee and the recovery process. the client can base his expectations on the
To the authors, the foun- dations of quality service advertising, pam- phlets, communication word-of-
management have primar- ily emanated from two mouth, among oth- ers (LOVELOCK; WRIGHT,
multidimensional models: 2006).
(1) SERVQUAL, a product of the North American
school of thought (Parasuraman et al, 1985); and The classic work of Zeithaml, Berry and Parasura-
(2) the Nordic European model, in which the man (1993) establishes a conceptual model that ar-
studies of Gronroos stand out. Both have provided ticulates the nature and the determining factors of
the genesis for much of the structured debate about client expectations in relation to the service. More-
how service quality must be conceptualized and over, they affirm the concepts of the level of service
managed. desired and the level of adequate service (the mini-
mum acceptable). The region between the two
Grönroos (2004) states that a service is a process levels represents a zone of tolerance that the client
that consists of a series of activities more or less permits as satisfactory for the service received. The
intan- gible, which occurs in the interactions zone of tolerance is fluctuating being able then to
between the client and the service operators. vary ac- cording to the customer and the
Zeithaml and Bit- ner (2003) highlight the circumstances. For the customers, the most
heterogenous character of services and their important attributes of ser- vices has a narrower
perishability - the services cannot be preserved, zone of tolerance. More impor- tant attributes have,
stocked, resold or returned - and they cite also, limits expectations close to the maximum of
intangibility as the main difference between goods the scale used (ZEITHAML; BITNER, 2003). One
and services. Fitzsimmons and Fitzsimmons (2005) of the requirements so that a company can perfect
highlight the aspect of simultaneousness of the the offer of its services, and po- sition itself
service, stating that the services are created and adequately in relation to it competitors
consumed simultaneously. The services are a per- – is to know the degree of importance conferred by
ceivable commodity and not being used in the ap- customers to the attributes that comprise them. The
propriate time frame, are lost forever. For Lovelock majority of studies of services are based on the no-
and Wright (2006), the essence of the services can tion of non-confirmation. This means that the qual-
be represented by two definitions: a) it is an act or ity perceived is measured with in comparison to the
performance offered by one part to another; b) they expectations and the experiences of a series of qual-
are economic activities that create value and bring ity attributes.
benefits to customers at specific times and in
places. The performance is essentially intangible
Customer Satisfaction
and does not result in any form of property.
Unsatisfied customers with a product or service
According to Grönroos (2004), the quality of a
are customers that can opt for another company or
ser- vice perceived by clients would have two
spread negative advertising by ‘word-of-mouth’.
dimen- sions: one technical dimension, or of a
Aside from customer dissatisfaction, there are mar-
result, and one functional dimension, or related to
ginally satisfied or indifferent customers that can
the process. The technical dimension of quality is
be drawn to the competition. Customer satisfaction
not sufficient to explain the service perceived by
performs a fundamental role in highly competitive
the customer. It also will be influenced by the
areas, in which there is an expressive difference
way in which the service was provided. The work
between customers who are just satisfied and cus-
of Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (1985)
represent significant advances in
tomers who are completely satisfied (LOVELOCK; Kandampully (2000), in Australia, analyzes the im-
WRIGHT, 2006). To know the levels of customer pact of the fluctuation of the demand in the quality
sat- isfaction, companies must discover how much of service having in sight that during the high sea-
their current customers are satisfied our unsatisfied. son for hotel occupancies, with the excess in the de-
This can be learned, asking them which factors they mand for services, the quality of those services
con- sider more important for their satisfaction and tends to decline. This study suggests that the
after evaluating the performing of the service companies in the sector must strongly consider the
offered in each of them. With this information, the needs and expectations of the customers in the
companies can evaluate the gas in existing quality elaboration of their strategies in the seasonal
and adopt adequate strategies to increase the levels periods. O’Neill and Charters (2000), also in
of satisfac- tion of their customers. Australia, analyze the qual- ity of the service
offered by links to attract tourists in that region.
Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (1985) offer a de-
The study was done in four companies with the
scription of the process in which the customers cre-
objective of knowing what was the most important
ate their expectations in relation to the performance
to the customer in evaluating the qual- ity of
of their providers. They affirm that dissatisfaction
service. Atilgan, Akinci and Aksoy (2003), in
in services is caused by existing gaps between the
Turkey, suggest a new approach for the research of
ex- pectations and the results perceived and they
evaluation dimensions in the quality of service in
iden- tify five potential gaps in services: among
hotels. The research analyzed two groups of tour-
consumer expectations and management of
ists from different countries. The results suggested
perception of ex- pectations; perceptions of
that the operators must consider, in the elaboration
management of consumer expectations and
of their itineraries and tourist packages, the cultural
specifications of quality in services; between the
characteristics that affect the perception of the qual-
specifications about the quality of ser- vice and the
ity of service received.
service in fact given; between the ser- vice offered
to the client and that which is commu- nicated Juwaheer and Ross (2003) analyzed the
about the service; between the expectations of the perceptions of hotel guests from Mauritius. They
consumer and the perceptions of the service concluded that the quality of services fell short of
received. Bowersox, Closs and Cooper (2006), guests’ expecta- tions citing empathy as the
each, point to the nature of these gaps as being: greatest gap. Nadire and Hussain (2005) analyzed
different perceptions by managers of the true the quality of service in Cyprus, using
expectations of the customers; standards not SERVPERF, applying the instrument to
uniformly distributed throughout the organization; European customers visiting the site. The results
the real performance is not that which was found only two dimensions instead of the tradi-
stipulated by the company; over extending tional five of SERVQUAL and European visitors
commitments or exaggerated promises that generate are very demanding with regard to improving the
high levels of expectations; the percep- tion of qual- ity of service. The study by Eraqui (2006),
performance is lower or higher than the real; and in Egypt, analyzes the tourist services from the
that of satisfaction/quality, added to whatever point of view of internal and external customers.
previous gaps there are. The internal cus- tomer, concludes that there is no
tourism business environment that encourages
Hotel Network Services employee creativity and regarding the external
customers, there were complaints about the
The technical literature presents various empirical improvement of internal trans- portation and
works linked to the quality of services in the ho- security.
tel industry. Luk (1997), on analyzing the culture
of marketing in travel agencies of Hong Kong and Chen et al (2008) evaluated the quality of services
their relation with the quality of service, affirms in the Taiwan hotel industry. The paper divides the
that the culture of marketing must take into account hotels into three types: international commercial
the quality of service, interpersonal relations, the tourism, holiday and motels and general hotels. The
task of selling, organizations, internal study emphasized the degree gap in service quality
communication and innovation; they point out that between the industry and the customers. Data anal-
the high quality in service can be obtained when a ysis shows that service quality gap (perceived gap)
tourist company strongly promotes a culture of of different types of hotels exists in several quality
marketing oriented by the service and interpersonal aspects; what’s more, the perceived gaps, service
relations. quality aspects, and its items of different types of
hotel are also different. The analysis involved 43 Wanderley (2004) studies the perception of the
dif- ferent attributes. Jönsson and Devonish (2011) busi- ness tourist while choosing a hotel in São
ex- amined a typology of competitive strategies, Paulo. It concludes that the daily rate and the
which had not been previously extensively locations are the most important attributes for
researched in the Barbados accommodation sector. business guests.
Their study at- tempted to fill this gap by
comparing and contrast- ing the competitive Robazzi (2006) studies the degree of hospitality
business strategies employed by hotels in Barbados. in diverse graphic elements, of the appearance of
More specifically, the relation- ship between the the installations, at hotels in São Paulo. The
ownership type, the size, the busi- ness structure results en- able the proof of the tangibility of the
and category of any given hotel and also the use of hospitality, and the identification of forms and
various competitive strategies. The results show the colors present in the reading process. Ferreira
perceptions of employees and man- agers for (2004) evaluates the factors that affect the
different attributes of the service within the satisfaction and the fidelity of north- eastern
competitive strategy of the hotels. tourists in Natal who take the bus or car as a
means of transportation. It concludes that cleanli-
In Brazil, Oliveira (2001) can be cited as a work ness, environment, pool maintenance, bar and
that investigates the services that are considered res- taurant service, telephone service, service on
more important in the choice of hotels in Foz do local trips and price were the attributes that
Iguaçu and concludes that for the guests, in this determined satisfaction and loyalty of the guests.
order, the factors of location, speed and efficiency Duarte (2006) studies the influence of the mood
in room service and in the restaurants were of the staff in the quality of services in a hotel
considered the most important. Carvalho (2007) chain in São Paulo. The study concludes that
analyzed the fac- tors that influenced the internal customer satisfaction induces satisfaction
satisfaction of the elderly in Camboriú-SC. He for the external customer.
concluded that cleanliness, good service, security
and location were the factors that most affected Veiga and Farias (2004) evaluate the quality of ser-
customer satisfaction. Barbosa (2007), in a study vices of a bed and breakfast in the Northeast of
completed in hotels in São Paulo, con- cluded that Brazil, through the application of the instrument,
the authenticity in the care of the guests, based on SERVQUAL. They conclude that the mode was
human values, makes possible the creation of shown to be very adequate, permitting the indica-
friendly relationships and positively influences their tion of factors in the improvement of services. Lima
satisfaction. (2008), in research done with hotels in Paraíba,
eval- uates how the managers of the hotels use the
Gonzalez (2005) studies the factors that influence meta- phor of the theatre in the presentation of
the satisfaction and generate the loyalty of visitors services to obtain customer satisfaction. It was
to Natal. This study concludes that the cordiality of concluded that owing to a gap of knowledge of
hotel staff, cleanliness of the establishment, safety, management theory of impressions, the managers
restaurant service and the internet were the most practiced actions in isolated and arbitrary ways.
important attributes in the satisfaction of the guests. Table 1 shows a sum- mary of the study referred to
presenting the main attributes and dimensions
related in the study.

Table 1 - Dimensions and attributes used in empirical studies.

Study Attributes/Dimension

Luk (1997), Hong Kong, China Solving problems, agreeability of the rooms, promotional deals

Kandampully (2000), Austrália Service, cordiality

O´Neill and Charters (2000), Austrália Cordiality, level of knowledge of the staff
Decor, appearance, publicity material, location, natural areas, service,
Juwaheer and Ross (2003), Ilhas Maurícios
solving problems, closing the bill, menu
Solving problems, agreeability of the rooms, promotional material, staff
Atilgan, Akinci and Aksoy (2003), Turquia
service, appearance external
Nadire and Hussain (2005), Chipre Installations, appearance, service, promotional material
Eraqui (2006), Cairo, Egito Cleanliness, accessibility, safety, price
43 attributes in five dimensions: empathy, reactivity aspects, assurance,
Chen et al (2008), Taiwan
reliability and tangibles
Cleanliness, courtesy, complaints, reservation, promptness, comfort,
Jönsson and Devonish (2007), Barbados atmosphere, fixtures, sports, business center, room, price and items
complimentary
Oliveira (2001), Foz Iguaçu, Brasil Installations, service, solving problems, location

Veiga and Farias (2004),Aracaju, Brasil Air conditioning, service, internet, appearance, structure

Ferreira (2004), Natal, Brasil Service, cleanliness, environment, breakfast, location, solving problems

Wanderley (2004), SP, Brasil Price, location, business center

Gonzalez (2005) Natal, Brasil Service, cleanliness, internet, restaurant, bar, breakfast

Duarte (2006), São Paulo, Brasil Service

Robazzi (2006), São Paulo, Brasil External appearance

Barbosa (2007), São Paulo, Brasil Service, solving problems

Carvalho (2007), Camboriú, Brasil Service, agreeability, cleanliness, safety, location, price

Lima (2008), Natal, Brasil decor, restaurant, maintenance, natural environment, business center

Source: Literature.

2. METHODOLOGY ture were selected. With the selection of the set of at-
The construct tributes to be researched, a research instrument was
created through a questionnaire of structured ques-
With the objective of making the search for the an- tions. The application of the questionnaire was done
swers to the basic questions of the research opera- in two stages. In the first the questionnaire was ap-
tional, the methodological schema in Figure 1 was plied before the guests checked into the hotel and
adopted. In the first phase a literature review was the second the respondents gave data regarding their
done on services in general and hotel services. Next, socio-demographic profile and attributed degrees of
the main attributes contained in the specified litera- importance to the 34 attributes of hotel services.

Figure 1 - Methodological schema

Source: author The Attributes
The following phase consisted of applying the The composition of the final set of attributes used
ques- tionnaire after the guest had used the hotel in this research obeyed the criteria of completeness,
services, during or after the check-out procedures. specificity and presence in relevant empirical stud-
The guests were heard after the check in and at ies. Some attributes were excluded for being juxta-
check out they were not the same ones, since the posed or contained in other factors; others for not
period the ques- tionnaires were applied were being compatible with the characteristics of local
different form one phase to another. Finally, a tourism, based on the binomial, sun and sea. The
comparative analysis was done, identifying attributes were then submitted to the analysis of
rankings of importance, ana- lyzing the guests’ management of four hotels involved in the study,
expectations and later the analysis of performance, so that their contributions and adaptations to the
comparing the hotels among them- selves. The gaps characteristics of the local market were taken into
in service were established among the expectations account. Table 2 shows the set of the 34 factors
and performance. The hotels were compared to one used in this research.
another and put into categories.

Table 2 - List of attributes researched.

Reception and check in Pool (cleanliness, safety, agreeability)
Hotel Appearance -- external Offer of Internet wi-fi
Location Offer of business center
Safety of the surroundings Offer of service of bar
Safety in all of the installations Offer of service of restaurant
Availability of promotional material Menu variety
Staff appearance Breakfast
Staff service Ease of problem solving
Pleasant rooms Ease of access to higher management
Air conditioning (temp., noise, control) Execution of service in the allotted time
Cleanliness of the rooms Social responsibility (sexual tourism and minors)
Sheets, towels, pillow cases Reduction, reuse and reclying of resources
Pleasant bathrooms Access infrastructure for physically challenged
Cleanliness and hygene of the bathrooms Front desk service
Pleasant common areas Closing the bill and check out
Cleanliness of common areas Daily rate per room
Manteinance of green areas Price of services and products
Source: Author

Universe and Sample imum of 3 nights in the hotel. In the establishment

of the guest universe the average values from hotel
The universe corresponds to the customers
accom- modated in the hotels for 60 days, occupancy in 2002 to 2007 were considered, the av-
corresponding to the period of the collection of erage number of days stay and the average number
data, throughout the months of July and August of people per room for the hotel chain of the City of
of 2010. The only guests who could respond were Natal according to Table 3.
those that stayed for a min-

Table 3 - Hotel Index for RN - 2001 to 2007.

Indicators 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Average occupancy rate (%) 49.47 46.86 49.05 56.13 60.38 54.02 52.55
Average stay (days) 3.65 3.28 3.39 3.45 3.46 3.30 3.27
Average number of people per room 2.04 1.97 1.91 1.97 2.03 1.98 1.99
Brazilian guests (%) 86.86 88.29 83.21 81.10 80.10 83.49 85.50
Foreign guests (%) 13.14 11.71 16.79 18.90 19.90 16.51 14.50

Source: RIO GRANDE DO NORTE (2010).

The sample is characterized as non-probabilistic. sample error. Table 4 presents the sample error for
The guests were chosen for convenience: in the first the level of significance of 95%. A proportion esti-
phase, before check in; in the second phase during mated, p, of 50%, was taken, corresponding to the
or after check out. In the sample plan, there were worst case scenario variance. The errors were cal-
collected information on 240 guests from each culated by STATDISK - 1998 software.
hotel, 120 in each phase, totaling and eighth of the Considering that the profile of the respondents is
1440 guests. The choice of size was guided by the taken in two phases, the sample error for the profile
balance between the cost of operation and the in the catego- ries is less than 5%.
dimension of

Table 4 –Universe and simple.

Sample size Sample

Hotel N. Apts Universe
Before check in After check out error %
Hotel B – Touristic - 3B 40 749 120 120 8.2
Hotel F – Touristic – 3F 36 674 120 120 8.1
Hotel C – Superior – 4C 136 2.547 120 120 8.7
Hotel D – Superior –4D 215 4.027 120 120 8.8
Hotel A – Luxury – 5A 395 7.398 120 120 8.9
Hotel E – Luxury – 5E 210 3.933 120 120 8.8
Touristic Category - C3 76 1.423 240 240 5.8
Superior Category – C4 351 6.574 240 240 6.2
Luxury Category– C5 605 11.331 240 240 6.3

Source: Author

The hotel was selected, respecting two for each cat- pectations of the degree of importance of each of
egory, among the ranking of sale by a national tour- the 34 attributes presented in Table 2. The
ism operator and found among the twenty hotels respondents attributed, on a scale of Likert of 11
most sold in Natal during 2009 (TREND, 2010). points, values from zero (not important) to ten
For ethical reasons to assure the participation of the (very important).
ho- tels, their names are not being published.
In the questionnaire applied in the second phase, at
the checkout, it was requested of the guests to an-
Research Instrument
swer questions evaluating the quality of the services
Deriving from the main objective of the research - offered at the hotel in which they stayed, related to
to examine the quality of hotel service – two other the 34 attributes presented in Table 2. The respon-
im- portant specific objectives arise: to understand dents manifested their perceptions on a scale of
the perceptions of the guests on the importance of Lik- ert of 11 points, varying from zero (not
the at- tributes and to evaluate the performance of important) to ten (very important). The questions
each ho- tel within the same attributes. Two distinct were elabo- rated using a clear and understandable
question- naires were elaborated for the application: language to avoid any ambiguity. Both
one in the previous to the guests’ entering the hotel; questionnaires referred to the same attributes. We
the other during or after check out. Both contained tried to preserve as much as possible the meaning
two mod- ules, being one of them in common. In of the attribute about the service expectation (first
the common module, the questions searched phase) and the service re- ceived (second phase).
relative information about the socio-demographic
profile of the respon- dents regarding the motives The Data Collection Plan
for travel, the means of transportation used, family
income, age, sex, main occupation, city and state The data collection was accomplished using the re-
from where they come. In the first phase, search instrument, elaborated and tested specifically
corresponding to the questionnaire applied in the for this research. The questionnaires were validated
previous phase, the guests’ entrance, in the second in previous interviews with hotel managers and 30
module, the questions aimed at getting the guests. Some of the questions were changed to elimi-
respondents to give information about their ex- nate any type of ambiguity or incomprehension.
The questionnaires were applied to the guests in the
months of July and August of 2010, 720 after the checkout. From each of the 6 hotels,
uninterruptedly. The researchers were seven 240 interviews were executed, half before the check
students from the Tour- ism class, previously in and half after the checkout. The statistics were
trained. In the first phase, the re- searchers
ac- complished using the Statistical Package for the
addressed the guests from the airport to the hotel,
Social Science – SPSS, version 12.0. The majority
on the tourism reception buses or in the hotel
of the respondents were women. In the first phase
lobby, before the guests checked in. At the
beginning of every week the hotels would report (F1) 60% were female respondents and 40% were
the number of guests coming in and the agencies male respondents. In the second phase (F2), 58%
that would be do- ing the transfers so that the were female respondents and 42% were male
researchers could orga- nize their scales. In the respon- dents. The respondents were salaried
second phase the guests were interviewed during workers with monthly family incomes above 6
or right after their checkout. wages (one wage is equivalent to approximately US
300 dollars), had more than 30 years, traveled by
3. ANALYSIS OF RESULTS plane. The Southeast region was the main source of
tourists. Tables 5 and 6 detail some of this data.
The results presented here reflect 1440 valid an-
swers, 720 of them before the check in and the
other

Table 5 - Profile of the respondents in each phase: age, activity and income.

Age F1 F2 Activity F1 F2 Income F1 F2

Less than 30 29.9 33.2 Self employed 17.6 9.9 < 2 wages 2.5 0.7
30 to 40 28.8 31.1 Business owner 16.7 19.6 2 to 5 wages 23.8 21.7
40 to 50 23.9 20.0 Employees 47.6 51.4 6 to 10 wages 38.2 38.8
More than 50 17.5 15.7 Others 18.1 19.2 > 10 wages 35.6 38.9

Source: Research

Table 6 - Profile of the respondents in each phase: origin, motive and means of transport.
Origin F1 F2 Motive F1 F2 Transportation F1 F2
North 2.1 2.1 Tourism 88.8 85.8 Car 9.2 6.9
Northeast 15.8 13.6 Business 6.4 4.2 Plane 90.6 88.2
Central West 11.8 17.2 Conferences 3.6 9.0 Bus 0.3 4.9
Southeast 55.5 50.5 Health 0.0 0.0 Ship 0.0 0.0
South 12.1 11.9 Other 1.3 1.0 Other 0.0 0.0
Abroad 2.8 4.7
Source: Research

Importance of Factors (very important). The general nominal averages

obtained varied from 6.70 (offer of business center)
In the reliability analysis of the instrument used to to 9.82, (cleanliness of the bathrooms). A
measure the guests expectations - the importance of preliminary analysis permits the assesment of what
each attribute - the Cronbach’s alpha was 0.841. In the respon- dents consider the attributes that were
the evaluation, when each one of the variables was presented them, from medium importance to very
deleted, the Conbrach’s alpha varied from 0.832 to important. Table 7 presents, in sequence, the
0.840. The figures show a set of variables with high average values ob- tained of the degree of
internal consistency in the measure of expectations. importance of the factors re- searched. The
averages were calculated and ordered in general
The respondents assigned their perception relative (G), by category and by hotel. In category C3
to the importance of the factors presented in Table (touristic) are the hotels 3B e 3F; in category C4
2, attributing a grade of zero (not important) to ten (superior), the hotels 4C e 4D; and, in category C5
(luxury), the hotels 5A and 5E.
In a third of the most important attributes, three and quality and variety of breakfast; this last, a
are directly associated to the dimensión of hygene: marked characteristic of the local hospitality.
cleanliness of the bathroom, bedrooms and common
ar- eas. The safety dimension appears with two On the other hand, in the bottom third, the guests
factors: safety of the installations and the surrounding gave little importance to the offers of availability of
areas. The dimension responsitivity appears with the services such as: the bar, restaurant, internet,
solving of problems and closing the bill. The social business center and promotional material. external
responsibil- ity and environmental responsibility is appearance, maintenance of green areas, access to
noted in the factors of combat sexual tourism, higher man- agement, and pleasant bathrooms also
accomodating unac- companied minors and selling were assigned among the least important. The other
drinks to minors, waste re- duction, reuse and recycle, least impor- tant among relevant factors were, daily
and access infrastructure for physically challenged. rate per room and price for products and services.
Still presented are staff service,

Table 7 - Ranking of importance of attributes: general, by category and by hotel.

Attribute Aver. Ranking by General, Category and Hotel

G G C3 C4 C5 3B 3F 4C 4D 5A 5E
cleanliness of bathrooms 9,82 1 1 5 1 3 2 7 3 1 2
combat sexual tourism 9,81 2 4 1 2 2 4 4 1 2 1
access for physically challenged 9,81 3 3 2 3 1 3 1 2 3 4
cleanliness of bedrooms 9,79 4 2 3 4 4 1 5 4 5 5
staff service 9,69 5 5 6 7 5 5 3 7 4 9
breakfast 9,67 6 6 7 6 6 8 8 8 7 7
safety installations 9,64 7 8 9 5 9 7 11 10 8 3
waste reduction 9,62 8 13 4 8 8 19 2 5 9 8
solving problems 9,56 9 7 8 11 7 10 6 13 15 11
safety surrounding 9,51 10 12 11 10 11 13 9 14 17 6
closing the bill 9,46 11 10 15 12 15 6 23 6 16 12
cleanliness of common areas 9,46 12 14 13 9 21 11 13 18 6 15
service in the allotted time 9,42 13 18 10 14 14 18 14 11 13 16
hotel location 9,35 14 9 16 16 12 9 19 12 20 19
reception and check in 9,35 15 17 14 15 17 15 10 20 14 20
front desk service 9,28 16 16 12 17 19 14 17 9 19 22
sheets, towels, pillow cases 9,18 17 11 20 22 10 12 24 16 25 18
agreeability of bedrooms 9,09 18 15 17 26 13 16 21 19 26 21
hotel pool 9,04 19 28 24 13 32 23 12 30 12 14
staff appearance 8,98 20 25 18 20 29 22 18 23 18 26
menu variety 8,97 21 27 21 19 23 29 15 27 10 31
pleasant common areas 8,95 22 24 19 21 25 25 20 21 21 24
air conditioning 8,94 23 20 23 28 22 20 25 15 23 28
maintenance of green areas 8,89 24 23 22 27 26 21 22 22 24 25
daily rate per room 8,77 25 19 30 23 20 17 30 26 28 13
restaurant service 8,76 26 31 26 18 27 32 16 31 11 30
pleasant bathrooms 8,70 27 21 27 31 16 24 29 17 33 17
access to higher management 8,69 28 26 25 29 24 27 26 24 27 27
external appearance 8,64 29 29 28 25 30 28 27 28 22 29
price for services/products 8,45 30 22 33 24 18 26 33 29 30 10
promotional material 8,14 31 30 31 33 28 30 32 25 29 33
bar service 8,03 32 33 29 30 34 33 28 33 32 23
internet service 7,99 33 32 32 32 33 31 31 32 31 32
offer of business center 6,70 34 34 34 34 31 34 34 34 34 34

Source: research
The numbers of the ranking shown in Table 7 of importance, ws considered last also in all of the
reflect the position of importance that the attribute categories and in five of the six hotels, with the ex-
has ac- cording to the responses of the guests of ception of the set of guests in hotel 3B, who put it
each hotel, in each category and in the general set. in position 31. The positions in the ranking were
Visually, it is possible to verify the most significant considered from the starting point of the average
differences in the ranking of attributes. The nominal values. Depending on the level of signifi-
attributes are listed by the average general ranking cance considered, close positions can be
of responses. Thus, the attribute cleanliness of statistically considered tied. A good statistic to
rooms was the one with the greatest importance in verify in what way the ordering pointed out by the
the general set of answers (ranking 1). This position rankings are correlated is the correlation test by
is maintaned when con- sidering separately guests Spearman. Table 8 shows the correlation values
in categories C3 and C5. The same attribute takes obtained by a signifi- cance level of 1%. The degree
the fifth place in impor- tance for guests in C4. of importance shows the expectations of the
customers. The high correla- tion rates among the
Seen by hotel, the ranking of the attribute changed
columns C3, C4, and C5 reveal that the ranking that
position 1 (5A) to position 7 (4C). The attribute of-
the guests do regarding impor- tance of attributes
fer of business center, the last in the general ranking
does not differ significantly for the three categories
of hotels.

Table 8 - Correlation among rankings by the Spearman test.

G C3 C4 C5 3B 3F 4C 4D 5A 5E
G 1.00 0.93 0.97 0.95 0.88 0.92 0.90 0.90 0.87 0.83
C3 0.93 1.00 0.87 0.83 0.95 0.97 0.73 0.92 0.69 0.85
C4 0.97 0.87 1.00 0.90 0.84 0.86 0.92 0.91 0.85 0.75
C5 0.95 0.83 0.90 1.00 0.77 0.83 0.91 0.78 0.94 0.84
3B 0.88 0.95 0.84 0.77 1.00 0.88 0.71 0.90 0.64 0.84
3F 0.92 0.97 0.86 0.83 0.88 1.00 0.71 0.89 0.70 0.82
4C 0.90 0.73 0.92 0.91 0.71 0.71 1.00 0.72 0.92 0.69
4D 0.90 0.92 0.91 0.78 0.90 0.89 0.72 1.00 0.69 0.75
5A 0.87 0.69 0.85 0.94 0.64 0.70 0.92 0.69 1.00 0.64
5E 0.83 0.85 0.75 0.84 0.84 0.82 0.69 0.75 0.64 1.00
All of the correlations were significant to the alfa level = 0.01.

Source: Research

It is possible to compare the findings of this work In this study, the attributes, hotel location and daily
with others previously published in the same field of rate per room were ranked of medium importance
re- search. In this study, the variables, quality of staff and least important respectively. It is worth
ser- vice, safety installations, service in the allotted time, highlighting that the respondents were basically
problem solving and cleanliness, were considered to tourist guests in Natal. Wanderley’ study (2004)
be amongst the most important attributes by the concentrated on busi- ness travelers in São Paulo city
guests. This was repeated in the studies of Hussain hotels aimed to inden- tify their primary reasons for
and Nadiri (2005) concentrated in the north of choosing a particular business hotel. The findings
Cyprus, also in the studies of Juwaheer and Ross were: hotel location and daily rate per room. It is
(2003) of guests on the Mauri- tius Islands and in the important to highlight the dif- ference in the results
studies of Jönsson and Devon- ish concerning the according to the profile of the guests interviewed.
guests of luxury hotels in Barbados. The attributes, When grouped according to di- mensions, using the
promotional material and external appear- ance, were SERVQUAL model, tangibility and security were
ranked as the least important in this study and this the most important attributes. Sim- ilar findings were
result was repeated in both the studies of Ju- waheer obtained by Veiga and Farias (2005) in research with
a particular inn´s guests in Aracaju.
and Ross (2003) and Hussain and Nadiri (2005)
respectively. It demonstrates that, despite the studies
were carried out in different countries, with different Hotel Performance by Attribute
samples and guests, the level of what was considered The data presented, which follows, speaks to the av-
important for them was very similar. erage general performance, by category and by hotel.
Tabel 9 presents the averages of performance of the 34 physically challenged. The attribute availability of
attributes evaluated by the respondents. The averages pro- motional material occupies the thirty first place
vary from 1.56 (promotional material) to 10.00 in the ranking of importance, therefore, it is one of the
(breakfast, closing the bill and the business center). at- tributes considered least important by the guests of
Some items, such as offer of business center, bar, the hotels in this study. However, the attribute ac-
restaurant, menu variety and access to higher cess infrastructure for physically challenged occupies
management, were not evaluated in two situations: the third place in the ranking of importance and the
when the hotel does not have these services, in the case general average of performance was 6.28, reaching the
of hotel 3B and 3F, or when the guest did not use these rate of 3.85 for hotel 3F.
services, as is the case of the access to higher
The offer of structure of accessibility is not just that
management in hotel 5A.
provided for the physically challenged, but also
Some aspects deserv highlighting, bye the rates of for easy access for the elderly. In Brazil, the data of
performance considered excellent, such as the attri- the 2000 census indicates that 14.5% of the Brazil-
butes cleanliness of bathrooms, cleanliness of bedrooms, ian population has some type of deficiency,
totalling approximately 24.5 million people. The
staff appearance, quality of staff service, and closing
same census informs that 8.6% of the Brazilian
the bill. However, some attribute deserve highlighting
population is com- prised of elderly, and that this
for worst performance, such as the attributes avail-
number could reach 15% by the year 2025
ability of promotional material, access infrastructure (BRASIL, 2006).
for

Table 9 – Averages of general performance, by category and by hotel.

ATTRIBUTES G C3 C4 C5 3B 3F 4C 4D 5A 5E
staff appearance 9.51 9.35 9.51 9.68 9.47 9.22 9.62 9.40 9.90 9.46
closing the bill 9.49 9.71 9.71 9.32 9.75 9.66 10.00 9.68 9.43 9.16
staff service 9.44 9.38 9.32 9.61 9.38 9.39 9.62 9.03 9.90 9.31
cleanliness of common areas 9.44 9.45 9.43 9.45 9.49 9.40 9.57 9.29 9.50 9.40
maintenance of green areas 9.44 9.35 9.57 9.37 9.00 9.35 9.75 9.37 9.29 9.44
restaurant service 9.44 - 9.18 9.65 - - 9.35 9.02 9.95 9.33
cleanliness of bathrooms 9.42 9.42 9.17 9.67 9.60 9.25 9.29 9.05 9.87 9.46
cleanliness of bedrooms 9.39 9.47 9.05 9.64 9.46 9.49 9.20 8.91 9.88 9.40
bar service 9.39 - 9.37 9.41 - - 9.56 9.01 9.83 8.87
safety installations 9.28 9.11 9.36 9.36 9.53 8.70 9.48 9.25 9.42 9.29
front desk service 9.28 9.20 9.27 9.36 9.46 8.96 9.23 9.30 9.68 9.01
pleasant common areas 9.26 8.95 9.40 9.44 9.40 8.50 9.57 9.24 9.71 9.16
hotel location 9.20 9.40 9.35 8.85 9.50 9.30 9.44 9.27 9.41 8.30
sheets, towels, pillow cases 9.09 9.18 8.86 9.22 9.32 9.05 9.03 8.69 9.70 8.75
safety surrounding 9.08 9.07 9.11 9.06 9.27 8.87 9.07 9.16 8.70 9.41
reception and check in 9.05 9.26 8.56 9.32 9.19 9.34 9.13 7.99 9.80 8.85
hotel pool 9.04 8.39 9.09 9.58 8.92 7.82 9.17 8.98 9.75 9.44
agreeability of bedrooms 9.02 9.11 8.89 9.06 8.94 9.28 9.02 8.76 9.80 8.32
air conditioning 8.99 9.18 9.13 8.66 8.70 9.64 9.18 9.09 9.60 7.71
external appearance 8.96 8.32 9.33 9.23 8.89 7.74 9.58 9.09 9.83 8.63
breakfast 8.96 8.14 9.21 9.53 7.41 8.89 9.24 9.17 10.00 9.06
pleasant bathrooms 8.81 8.69 8.74 8.99 9.20 8.19 8.87 8.61 9.41 8.57
service in the allotted time 8.80 8.46 8.84 8.95 7.66 8.52 9.08 8.25 9.54 8.38
combat sexual tourism 8.80 8.20 9.74 8.64 9.72 6.67 9.77 9.72 8.50 8.83
daily rate per room 8.80 8.95 9.09 8.37 9.54 8.35 9.14 9.04 9.03 7.70
menu variety 8.70 - 8.66 8.73 - - 8.64 8.68 9.02 8.42
waste reduction 8.57 8.17 9.21 8.46 9.52 6.81 8.68 9.59 8.49 8.41
solving problems 8.10 8.32 8.10 7.88 6.83 8.52 8.38 7.93 9.80 7.05
price for services/products 7.82 7.94 8.14 7.41 9.49 6.52 8.11 8.16 7.34 7.48
internet service 7.77 8.42 6.47 8.17 7.76 8.87 5.69 7.30 7.96 8.61
access for physically challenged 7.70 6.57 8.30 8.25 9.30 3.85 8.91 7.70 9.62 6.82
offer of business center 7.62 - 9.50 6.68 - - 10.00 9.33 6.64 7.00
promotional material 7.22 9.17 8.21 4.45 9.00 9.33 7.77 8.45 1.55 7.64
access to higher management 6.70 9.16 8.18 2.28 7.00 9.60 8.66 8.00 - 2.28

Source: Research

Table 10 presents the gaps in the perception between

bute occupies seventh place. Other attributes that
the guests’ expectations and the performance of the
at- tribute evaluated. Parasuraman, Zeithmal and presented negatie gaps in all of the hotel were:
menu variety, combat sexual tourism, waste
Bitner (1985) affirm that the quality of service has
been de- fined as the result of a comparison between reduction, access infrastructure for physically
the expec- tations (degree of importance) of a service challenged; highlighted is the last where the gap
and what is perceived as received (degree of presented was -5.73 at hotel 3F. It is posible to
performance). The positive gap indicates that the observe that the greatest negative gap occured at
performance surpassed expectations. Negative gaps hotel 5E with the attribute access to the higher
would indicate that the quality of service received is management. This attribute occupies the 27th place
below expectations. in importance in the ranking of this hotel, therfore
making it a part of the least important attri- butes.
The attribute safety installations presented negative The greatest positive gap occurred in the ho- tel 4C
gaps in all of the hotels. The greates was in hotel with the attribute offer of business center, where
3F, with -0.71. In the ranking of importance, this this attribute occupies the last place in the ranking
attri- of importance of the hotel.

Table 10 - Gaps between the performance and expectations.

ATTRIBUTES G C3 C4 C5 3B 3F 4C 4D 5A 5E
recption and check in -0.29 0.07 -0.89 -0.07 -0.11 0.25 -0.52 -1.26 0.33 -0.47
external appearance 0.32 -0.03 0.52 0.47 0.37 -0.46 0.75 0.30 1.04 -0.08
hotel location -0.15 -0.01 -0.08 -0.35 -0.00 -0.02 0.05 -0.21 0.37 -1.08
safety surrounding -0.42 -0.31 -0.44 -0.52 -0.30 -0.32 -0.60 -0.27 -0.60 -0.44
safety installations -0.36 -0.40 -0.24 -0.43 -0.08 -0.71 -0.17 -0.32 -0.26 -0.61
promotional material -0.91 0.94 0.05 -3.58 0.35 1.53 0.53 -0.61 -6.45 -0.41
staff appearance 0.53 0.69 0.19 0.71 0.81 0.56 0.20 0.17 0.76 0.65
staff service -0.25 -0.20 -0.40 -0.14 -0.33 -0.07 -0.21 -0.60 0.10 -0.39
agreeability of bedrooms -0.07 -0.11 -0.45 0.34 -0.49 0.25 -0.30 -0.59 1.55 -0.86
air conditioning 0.04 0.15 -0.04 0.03 -0.49 0.79 0.26 -0.34 1.07 -1.01
cleanliness of bedrooms -0.40 -0.27 -0.75 -0.17 -0.30 -0.24 -0.63 -0.88 0.13 -0.48
sheets, towels, pillow -0.09 -0.22 -0.43 0.37 -0.27 -0.16 -0.15 -0.71 1.39 -0.64
pleasant bathrooms 0.10 -0.25 -0.25 0.84 -0.17 -0.34 0.26 -0.78 2.55 -0.86
cleanliness of bathrooms -0.40 -0.34 -0.61 -0.24 -0.20 -0.48 -0.47 -0.75 -0.02 -0.45
pleasant common areas 0.31 0.26 0.09 0.58 0.52 0.00 0.20 -0.01 0.81 0.34
cleanliness common areas -0.02 0.18 -0.07 -0.16 0.22 0.14 -0.05 -0.10 -0.24 -0.08
maintenance green areas 0.54 0.58 0.29 0.71 0.15 0.66 0.45 0.13 0.81 0.62
hotel pool 0.00 -0.10 -0.01 0.06 0.48 -0.73 -0.46 0.40 0.24 -0.08
internet service -0.21 0.48 -1.40 0.02 -0.40 1.15 -1.69 -1.06 0.01 0.25
offer of business center 0.92 - 3.32 -0.12 - - 5.19 1.79 0.92 -0.90
bar service 1.36 - 0.97 1.00 - - 0.86 0.91 1.98 -0.09
restaurant service 0.68 - 0.17 0.55 - - -0.14 0.47 0.41 0.68
menu variety -0.26 - -0.63 -0.35 - - -0.90 -0.36 -0.52 -0.20
breakfast -0.71 -1.41 -0.47 -0.22 -2.29 -0.52 -0.49 -0.45 0.25 -0.73
solving problems -1.46 -1.19 -1.52 -1.67 -2.87 -0.81 -1.38 -1.54 0.34 -2.59
access high management -1.98 0.57 -0.86 -6.16 -1.94 1.36 -0.25 -1.15 - -6.50
service in the allotted time -0.61 -0.73 -0.72 -0.53 -1.71 -0.48 -0.53 -1.27 0.03 -1.09
combat sexual tourism -1.01 -1.49 -0.10 -1.26 -0.10 -2.88 -0.06 -0.13 -1.37 -1.10
waste reduction -1.04 -1.17 -0.58 -1.26 -0.17 -2.16 -1.16 -0.15 -1.17 -1.35
access physical. challenged -2.11 -3.14 -1.54 -1.62 -0.55 -5.73 -0.97 -2.11 -0.22 -3.08
front desk service -0.00 -0.00 -0.27 0.25 0.17 -0.17 -0.22 -0.32 0.63 -0.14
closing the bill 0.02 0.29 0.26 -0.23 0.37 0.21 0.79 0.00 -0.01 -0.48
daily rate per room 0.02 -0.20 0.78 -0.48 0.25 -0.67 1.57 -0.01 0.96 -1.93
price for services/products -0.62 -0.95 0.50 -1.40 0.19 -1.97 1.62 -0.60 -0.63 -2.18

Source: Research

Table 11 presents the greatest negative gaps, the de- guests confront the same problems in different
gree of importance and the hotel in question. The at- hotels. The greatest negative gap occurred in the
tributes, access infrastructure for physically challenged attribute ac- cess to the higher management in hotel
and ease in solving problems – present in a third of 5E, with -6.50, followed by availiability of
the most important attributes—appeared five times promotional material in the hotel 5A with -6.45. In
among the greatest gaps which can denote that the this set of attributes one can af- firm that the quality
of service was less than expected.

Table 11 - Greatest negative gaps.

Attribute Gap Hotel Importance Range
Easy access to higher management - 6.50 5E low
Availability of promotional material - 6.45 5A low
Access infrastructure for physically challenged -5.73 3F high
Access infrastructure for physically challenged - 3.08 5E high
Combat sexual tourism - 2.88 3F high
Easy in solving problems - 2.87 3B high
Easy in solving problems - 2.59 5E high
Breakfast - 2.29 3B high
Waste reduction -2.16 3F high
Access infrastructure for physically challenged - 2.11 4D high
Price for services and products -1.97 3F low
Easy Access to higher management - 1.94 3B low
Daily rate per room - 1.93 5E low
Source: Research

Table 12 presents the greatest positive gaps, the degree of importance and the respective hotels. The greatest
positive gap was the attribute offer of business center in hotel 4C, followed by pleasant bathrooms in hotel
5A. The positive gaps reveal that the service was performed beyond the guests’ expectations.

Table 12 - Greatest positive gaps.

Attribute Gap Hotel Importance Range
Offer of business center 5.19 4C low
Pleasant bathrooms 2.55 5A low
Bar service 1.98 5A low
Offer of business center 1.79 4D low
Price for services and products 1.62 4C low
Daily rate per room 1.57 4C low
Agreeability of bedrooms 1.55 5A medium
Availability of promotional material 1.53 3F low
Sheets, towels, pillow cases 1.39 5A medium
Easy access to higher management 1.36 3F low
Internet service 1.15 3F low
Functioning of air conditioning 1.07 5A medium
External appearance of the hotel 1.04 5A low
Source: Research
In the presentation of the greatest negative gaps, Analyzing the gaps in quality at each hotel, it is clear
that is, the attributes with the greatest deficiencies that the evaluations of guests vary considerably from
in quality, there are eight instances of attributes hotel to hotel. Tabel 13 shows the gaps in quality in
with the high range of importance. In the greatest each category of importance of the attributes. The
posi- tive gaps, in which the quality goes beyond clas- sification “superior”, indicates that the
guest expectations, none of the attributes are found performance of the hotel exceeded or equaled the
on the high range of importance. The results show guests’ expectations. The classification of “inferior”,
that si- multaneously there are situations in which means that, in the eyes of the guests, the performance
hotels err for lack of service and err for excess. The of the hotel was below expectations. The table shows
resources that are being spent in excess for some the global performance of hotel 5A as being superior
activities can be spared and used on other attributes to all of the others. Hotel 5A exceeded the
that are more highly valued by guests. expectations of customers in 22 of the 34 attributes,
against just 5 of their competitor (5E).

Tabel 13 - Gaps in quality by hotel and by importance of attribute.

High importance Medium importance Low importance Total

Hotel
superior* inferior superior* inferior superior* inferior superior* inferior
3B 2 10 5 5 5 3 12 18
3F 2 10 5 5 4 4 11 19
4C 1 11 4 7 8 3 13 21
4D 1 11 2 9 5 6 8 26
5A 4 8 10 1 8 2 22 11
5E 0 12 2 9 3 8 5 29
 performance that was greater ore equal to the expectations of guests.

Source: Research

Table 14 shows the best practices in each attribute perior”, 4C obtained best practices in 27 attributes.
when confronted in all of the hotels. Hotel 5A was In direct confrontation, in the touristic category, ho-
the best in performance in 19 of the 34 attributes re-
searched. In direct confrontation, within the same tel 3B attained best practices in 18 of the 30
category, hotel 5A had the best practices in 26 attri- attributes evaluated. Table 12 presents the results of
butes and hotel 5E, in just eight. In the category, best prac- tices in the general confrontation and by
“su- category.

Table 14—Number of attributes with best practices.

General comparison Comparison within the same category
Hotel Importance Range Importance Range
Total Total
high medium low high medium low
3B 1 1 2 4 8 6 4 18
3F 0 1 3 4 4 4 4 12
4C 3 0 2 5 10 9 8 27
4D 1 0 0 1 2 2 3 7
5A 6 9 4 19 10 11 5 26
5E 1 0 0 1 2 0 6 8
Source: Research
4. CONCLUSION a study of this nature can contribute significantly to
The hotel market in the city of Natal is highly com- the improvement of local hotel services and give
petitive as tourism contributed with 51% to the val- ue to this touristic hub as one of the most
GDP of this municipality in 2009 (RIO GRANDE important in the country. As an initial objective, it
DO NORTE, 2010). Moreover, the World Cup in was possible to outline a profile of respondents. As
2014, of which Natal will host, looms large. The a highlight, the study revealed that the majority of
results of respondents
traveled by airplane and came with tourism as their set of information that revealed the factors most
objective. The origin of respondents, a very impor- important to customers, the gaps in services offered
tant factor for the “commercialization of the hotel”, by the hotels in each attribute and a baseline of best
was mostly centralized in the Southeastern States practices in the hotel market. It is fitting, nonethe-
(50.5% to 55%), with São Paulo featured, as well less, to investigate more deeply to what measure
as, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro. The Northern these gaps are significant and through the elabo-
region with 2.1% presented the lowest number of ration of matrixes of opportunities, importance
guests. Foreign tourists represented a contingency vs performance and importance vs gaps, position
of less than 5%. each hotel in relation to best practices be they gen-
eral or within each category. It is important that the
The second objective was to evaluate the impor-
companies have an evaluation by their guests and
tance of different attributes from the perspective of
evaluate the services of their competitors, looking
the guests. Analyzing the results obtained, it is clear
for best practices, adjusting conduct and reposi-
that there was a slight difference in the ranking of
tioning themselves in the market.
attributes, whether by category, or by hotel. How-
ever, those that repeat on the highest level of
impor- tance, in the six hotels, were: cleanliness of REFERENCES
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solving problems; safety within the hotel and in 05 dez de 2011.
surrounding areas. In general, the Spearman Test
ALTIGAN, Eda; AKINCI, Serkan; AKSOY, Safak. Mapping ser-
confirmed that the expectations of the guests did vice quality in the tourism industry. Managing Service Qual-
not change significantly when the category of the ity, v.13, n.5, p.412-422, 2003.
hotel was changed.
BARBOSA, Gustavo E. A cultura da hospitalidade como fun-
The nominal values of the performance measured damento do bom relacionamento na hotelaria. Disserta-
ção (Mestrado em Administração). Pontifícia Universidade
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AUTHOR’S BIOGRAPHY

Domingos Fernandes Campos is Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Management at the UnP - Po-
tiguar University, Natal, Brazil. He earned his Ph.D. degree in Production Engineering from the
Polithecnical University of Madrid, Spain (1989). He is a Senior Consultant with a large experience in
works for Manufac- turing and Logistics companies. His main research interests are Distribution, Logistics.

Tatiana Gehlen Marodin is Professor of Tourism Operations at the UnP - Potiguar University, Natal,
Brazil. He earned his MSc. degree in Administration from the Universidade Potiguar, Brasil (2010).