MEASURING SERVICE QUALITY, BRAND IMAGE, PERCEIVED VALUE, CUSTOMERS' SATISFACTION AND BEHAVIOURAL INTENTIONS IN THE HOTEL INDUSTRY: A STUDY OF THE HOTELS IN THE NORTH OF PORTUGAL

Nowadays one of the biggest challenges for managers in the hotel industry is to provide and sustain customer satisfaction. While the reasons for the initial visit to a hotel may be due to factors partly outside of the control of hotel managers, the ability to create a satisfactory experience for the guest remains, to a considerable degree, in the hands of both the management and the hotel staff. It is vital for managers of hotels to have a good and clear understanding of exactly what the guests want. The crucial point of customer satisfaction is to identify the important attributes, considered by customers as their needs and expectations. The main objective of this work is to propose the application of SERVQUAL in evaluating the perceived quality of service offered by hotels in the North of Portugal. The proposed conceptual model aims to analyze if: (1) the perceived service quality (five dimensions of SERVQUAL) directly contribute to customer satisfaction, customer-perceived value and brand image; (2) the brand image and customer-perceived value directly contribute to customer satisfaction (3) the brand image directly contribute to customer-perceived value; (4) the customer satisfaction directly influences the intention to return and WOM recommendation (Word-of-Mouth communication intention) and (5) the intention to return has a direct impact on WOM recommendation. This research is of particular interest to the literature on the hotel industry and to the practitioners, since there are no studies in this field which apply to the Portuguese hotel industry.