Evaluation and prioritization of service quality dimensions based on gap analysis with analytic network process

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify customers’ critical demands through evaluating and prioritizing service quality dimensions (SQDs) based on service quality (SQ) gaps. Design/methodology/approach The customers of four-star hotels were asked to report on their expectations and perceptions about the service they were receiving. Afterwards, the gap between the customers’ expectations and perceptions was calculated. Eventually, the three sets of data were exploited to prioritize SQDs through analytic network process (ANP). Findings Findings suggest that security and confidentiality, price, and tangibles are the most crucial factors. Practical implications The results can provide hotel managers with insightful hints about those aspects of service that form their customers’ perception of SQ in order to assign their invaluable, but restricted, resources appropriately to offer a more competitive service to the customers through paying attention to those dimensions. Originality/value The innovativeness of the methodology was in that the authors proposed a noble method in filling out the difficult-to-complete ANP matrix. The authors also managed to consider the mutual relationship between SQD criteria, which is difficult to do in ordinary methods.