Customer Perceptions of Service Quality in Luxury Hotels in Petra and Aqaba, Jordan: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

The aim of the study is to assess customers perception of service quality in luxury hotels, in both, Petra (The iconic tourist attraction), and Aqaba (The commercial capital) on the Red Sea in Jordan and to help the hotel management identify how guest perceive the services and compare their performance against clients expectation. The study used a survey and interviews to accumulate information using SPSS version 20.0 for data analysis. The study sample consists of 271 participants of hotel guests at four- and five-star hotels in Petra and Aqaba. Findings results show that for responses relating to front office, room service, and in-house cafe/restaurant, the importance score is statistically significant to and higher than the performance rating. Overall, the results indicate a significant difference in guest expectations and actual experiences, thus highlighting managerial implications. The current study cannot claim to be wholly conclusive as it is limited to a small sample size from only two cities of Jordan. From a practitioner’s perspective, the study provides an opportunity to recognize, in ranking order, features that are considered important by the guests staying in luxury hotels of Petra and Aqaba, as well as to identify the areas of disparity in service quality. It is observed that this is a significant study regards to its contribution to the literature and hotel managers who plan to improve their performance and competitiveness through guest satisfaction.