Competition in the service industries has been intensifying throughout the past two dec
ades and shows little sign of decelerating in the near future. This trend, combined with in
creasing consumer sophistication and unparalleled media focus, has made the interrelated
issues of service quality and customer satisfaction the key marketing weapons in the battle
for competitive differentiation and customer retention. As part of this competition, guest
satisfaction measurement has become common practice; however, the cathartic experi
ence of a mediocre or poor stay in a hotel is not being assessed adequately. Paradoxically,
research reveals that most managers realize that quality customer service is essential for
their organizations' health, leading to the question of why the legacy of seeming incapaci
tation persists. This article offers further evidence of current practice, setting out a check-
list criterion against which U.K. hotels in the mid to luxury categories are assessed as to
their guest comment card design and policy.
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