Customer satisfaction in four star Isfahan hotels: anapplication of SERVQUAL model

Abstract: Rsearch findings show that tourist industries have turned into one of the most profitable sources of income throughout the world especially in the last decade of the seconde millennium.Interestingly, this phenomenon holds clear promises for many countries which have suffered from the dwindling and erratic functioning of the oil market. As such, hotel industry-as one of the vital infrastructures of tourism is playing a very significant role in the economy of countries in themodern era. Consequently, the present research aims to investigate the customer satisfaction, in application of SERVQUAL model among the two, four star hotels in Isfahan, (Aseman as type A and Aliqapoo as type B) which were chosen as the two sample hotels, among all the four star hotels.To achieve this end, this study has enlisted a field-descriptive survey design. The instrument for collecting the data was a resercher-developed questionnaire containing fifty questions. Form 195 questionnaires distributed among the guests in different hotels of Isfahan, a sample of 170was returened. SPSS software was utilized for analyzing the obtained data at both descrivptive and inferential statistical levels. The findings revealed that hotel guests' perceptions of the offered services was below the expected average level-an index indicating that none of these hotels in Isfahan has an optimal service quality. The results differentiated between hotel A and B. In fact, the quality of services at Aseman hotel (A) was to some extent slightly better than that of the Aliqapoo hotel (B). Unfortunately, the overall quality of these hotels did not match the optimal standards expectd by the guests at all.