What are Service Gaps?

In 1985, Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry presented the Service Gaps Model that explains the sources of customer dissatisfaction, negative word-of-mouth (WOM) and less willingness to re-purchase services by customers that use them.

The 4 major gaps, or differences, are between the perception of customers, managers and employees how services should be delivered, whether their current delivery satisfying and what the “quality of a service” means to its customers.

The first gap is the difference between the way management perceives customer expectations and the real perceptions of them. For example, a hotel manager may perceive a fast and punctual check-in service as efficient, qualitative and desirable, but customers seeking a more personal experience view it as “cold-hearted” and unfriendly.

The second gap is the difference between the perception of the management of a qualitative service and the procedures accomplished to achieve it. For example, the daily cleaning routines are not sufficient to assure that public spaces in the hotel are indeed clean as expected.

The third gap is the difference between the work processes defined by management and the way they are carried out by the staff. For example, the reception staff is trained to accept checking-in guests with a warm smile. However, one of the employees fails to do so due to personal issues that she experiences.

The fourth gap is the difference between the presentation of the hotel and its services to customers and the actual quality of them. For example, if the hotel is advertised as a luxury hotel, but has old furniture and shabby carpets, customers would feel misled and dissatisfied despite high quality of every other aspect of the hotel and its services.

The fifth gap is the resulting difference between expectations of customers and the perception of the service by its provider.

Identifying and Eliminating Service Gaps

Identifying service gaps is not an easy task. Some of the gaps (such as the difference between defined work procedures and the way they are carried out) seem relatively easy to address. However, identifying them depend on defining KPIs, measuring, reporting, ongoing control and auditing of performance that are both complex, expensive and time consuming.

Other gaps require identifying what service aspects are the most important for customers, defining measures and measuring the difference between their expectations and the quality of service delivered to them.

Some methods require large investments and operations, such as collecting, processing and distributing customer surveys. Other methods, such as mystery guest reports, are expensive and provide only a momentary and static snapshot of the conditions in the hotel, rather than an ongoing outlook on the preferences of customers at any time.

Sentimantle provides a solution for these problems that identifies service problems from the customer’s perspective 24/7 and helps you to improve RevPAR, ADR, occupancy and online reputation.

For more details, contact us via info@sentimantle.com