Benchmarking customer service in the hospitality industry

The Australian economy is competitive, more so when service firms cannot significantly differentiate between competitors by price, location or specific product attributes. Thus, service quality has become a critical component for differentiation, as well as profitability and sustainability. In this exploratory study a snapshot of service quality for the hospitality industry provides a framework for future benchmarking. For a competitive industry such as Queensland hospitality, the establishment of service quality benchmarks, and regular measuring of these benchmarks, could stimulate the State economy and provide competitive comparisons for firms, with financial and social benefits to the population as a whole.