Assessing the challenges of service quality in the Terra Quente Transmontana, Portugal

Service quality is a major issue because is the result of a judgmental value that involves both the expectations as well as the perceptions of the customers. Despite its tremendous growth in Portugal, little is known about service quality neither in rural areas nor how it is perceived in the Terra Quente Transmontana. This article has two main purposes. Firstly, to compare the service provided by rural lodging units to entertainment services in rural areas and, secondly, to pave the way for the analysis of the services that influence the satisfaction of the Terra Quente Transmontana as tourist destination. The methodology is based on a Principal Components Analysis to both rural lodging units and entertainment services. The main conclusion is that both services are perceived differently by their customers. Consequently, it is mandatory to develop a cluster of services tuned to the different segments in order to develop the Terra Quente Transmontana as tourist destination

Qualidade nos Serviços de Alojamento Rural: O Agroturismo em Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal

This article has two main objectives: firstly, through a principal components analysis, to identify the most important service quality dimensions of rural lodging units in farms with agricultural activities. Secondly, to assess how those dimensions influence the customer satisfaction of the agro-tourist. During the study the main purpose was to assess the service provided to agro-tourists using the SERVQUAL scale in Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro in the North of Portugal. There are two main conclusions: on the one hand, three main dimensions to explain the perceived quality were found: Institutional and Personnel Attitude, Informational and Promotional Contacts and Physical Evidence, though the first one is the most important one as it accounts for 65% of the explained variance of the sample. On the other hand, Institutional and Personnel Attitude was found as the most important dimension influencing the agro-tourist satisfaction when staying in rural farms. Nevertheless, the three dimensions found help explain 80% of the customer satisfactionO artigo tem dois objectivos distintos. Em primeiro lugar, pretende identificar, a partir de uma análise de componentes principais, as dimensões mais relevantes que ajudam a explicar a percepção da qualidade do cliente que procura alojamento em quintas com actividades agrícolas. Em segundo lugar, procura medir como estas dimensões ajudam a explicar a satisfação do serviço prestado ao cliente deste tipo de agroturismo. Aquando do estudo pretendeu avaliar-se a prestação de serviço de alojamento em agroturismo, em Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, recorrendo à escala SERVQUAL. Há duas conclusões principais. Por um lado, foram identificadas três dimensões que ajudam a explicar a percepção da qualidade: atitude institucional e do pessoal de atendimento, conteúdos informativos e promocionais e evidência física do serviço, sendo a primeira a mais importante, dado explicar perto de 65% da variância explicada. Por outro lado, a atitude institucional e do pessoal de atendimento é a dimensão mais importante que influencia a satisfação do cliente agroturístico, sendo que as três dimensões encontradas explicam perto de 80% da satisfação do cliente que ficou alojado em quintas com actividades turística