Identification of the Quality Gaps in the Services Offered in Accommodation Facilities in Rural Areas: The Case of the Lublin Region

The quality of services offered in accommodation facilities is one of the factors determining the development of this business activity. Therefore, it is necessary to constantly examine the level of customer satisfaction, their expectations and needs. The systematic collection and analysis of the opinions of tourists make it possible to learn about their changing expectations and allows the service providers to adapt to them. The purpose of the research that constituted the basis of this article was to identify the quality gaps in the services provided in the accommodation facilities in rural areas of the region of Lublin. The Servqual method was used in the study, thanks to which it was possible to assess the quality criteria and the validity of the provided service. A total of 699 respondents took part in the research. According to the study, the reliability and timeliness of the service, the adherence to the terms and conditions of the service, as well as the willingness to solve customers' problems, were of the greatest importance for the clients, while the completeness and reliability of the advertising materials turned out to be the least important. With the obtained results, it can be concluded that the expectations of the customers in the accommodation facilities in rural areas exceed the actual state of the offered services. The areas that need to be improved, such as reliability and empathy, were identified.