Tourists’ expectation of service quality in four and five star hotel accomodation in Sliema and St Julians, Malta

Abstract

Providing quality service that meets or exceeds customer’ expectations is a very important achievement for the hotel industry. Understanding customers’ wants and needs is a guarantee for business competitiveness and growth. The purpose of this study was to investigate the tourists’ expectation of service quality offered in four and five star hotel accommodation in Sliema and St Julians, Malta. The expectations were studied through a SERVQUAL questionnaires model, which aimed to gather information of the tourists’ profile as well as the tourists’ expectations and perceptions of the service quality offered in four and five star hotel accommodation in Sliema and St Julians. The researcher also set a number of hypotheses, which aimed to test whether the tourists’ expectation of service quality varies by nationality, age or gender groups. From this research one will be able to see that the tourists visiting the four and five star hotels in Sliema and St Julians during the period December 2014- Febuary 2015, were not fully satisfied with the service quality offered. Moreover, the set of hypotheses were rejected, which means that tourists’ expectations of service quality does not vary by nationality, age or gender groups. The number of tourist arrivals to Malta has been increasing in the recent years, therefore the service quality need to be a priority in all aspects ranging from the four to five star hotel accommodation in Malta.