Much of the guest-satisfaction literature focuses on the mechanisms of error reduction and quality management. Rather than concentrate on reducing errors in all areas, the important matter in customer satisfaction is to determine the attributes that guests consider important and focus on those attributes. Customer satisfaction can be defined as a guest's postconsumption judgment of a product or service that can, in turn, be measured by assessing guests' evaluation of performance on specific attributes. Using a 22-item, Likert-type questionnaire, the researchers gauged Norwegian business travelers' assessments of the tangible and intangible aspects of three hotel departments: front desk, food and beverage, and housekeeping. A statistical analysis showed that this sample of 315 business travelers was most concerned with the tangible aspects of housekeeping (e.g., comfort and amenities of the guest room) and the intangible attributes of the front desk (e.g., receptionists' willingness to provide service and speed at check-in).
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