Expanded Summary

      In the paper as its title indicates are investigated the factors affecting the quality of the  hotel services and the main aspects of their assessment.

      For any company working in the hotel industry ensuring and maintenance the high quality of  the hotel service is a strong lever of its well  development. In addition it is

      closely related to the continues improvement of activities between enterprise representatives and customers.    

      The essence of the peculiarity of hotel service in many cases is associated with its intangible ‘’perception’’ and  indivisibility. When visiting a hotel, guests pay a certain

      amount not only for accommodation , but also for the impressions received during the provided service. Customers ‘‘’perceptions’’ can be caused by the interior of the hotel and exterior, familiarity with the culture and cuisine of the respective country, qualified staff, 

     expressed attention and appreciation towards him/her , cleanness, comfort and other characteristics. The staff who have certain communications with the guests, are perceived by tourists as an integral  part of service package. Therefore it is very important for the qualifies staff to understand the characteristics of the service and on its bases to carry out effective activities, which includes the provision of high quality of services. There are several versions of the hotel service quality definition. Various foreign researchers emphasize the relationship between ‘’quality’’ and ‘’ satisfaction’’ of guests and bases on it determine the essence of service quality. It consists of tangible elements as well as intangible and subjective components, it is a comparison between the expectations of the guests and the quality received from the hotel. Thus, two main factors affecting the quality of hotel service are ‘’ customer’’ and  ‘’staff’’ , specifically  their ‘’ satisfaction’’  characteristics.

    In the modern scientific ‘’ Service quality of the hotel’ is defined as an abstract and Inaccessible construction, taking into account its characteristics: 1. Blurring of production and consumption; 2. Heterogeneity (non-uniformity) and 3. Indivisibility. As foreign authors point out, the quality of service cannot be objectively evaluated ( measured) as similar as industrial goods are measured. Based on this, the subject of research of many scientists were to define the evaluation tools of the service quality. By the beginning of the 1990s, a group of academic researchers even formulated a service quality assessment tool  in the form of a certain ‘’ set’’ of quality determinants.  Marketer Parasuramanis and his co-authors developed a conceptual model of service quality, "SERVQUAL," which represents a breakthrough in the measurement methods used to assess service quality. This tool is used as a research method to collect and analyze guest service expectations and service ‘’perceptions’’ in the hotel business. We have discussed the main theoretical aspects of hotel service quality assessment - guests' "perception" of quality and the determining characteristics of their "satisfaction" - in a practical sense, on the example of the internationally branded 5* hotel "Biltmore Tbilisi" ("The Biltmore Hotel Tbilisi" 5*).  The survey was conducted at the end of December 2023.

I. 102 respondents participated in it. A "self-administered" questionnaire was used as a research tool. The direct survey of the respondents were carried out using reliable and recognized data collection techniques - "quantitative research methods", specifically through "questionnaires". The questionnaire was delivered directly to the guests.

The survey of visitors was carried out using the method of content analysis. As part of the research, it was interesting to analyze the evaluations left by the guests in relation to the "Biltmore Tbilisi" hotel on the website of the international online travel agency BOOKING.COM (fixed on January 31, 2024). Estimates were based on statistical data generated by 2,537 guests over the past three years (2021-22-23). 

   The complex use of quantitative research methods - "questionnaire" and "content analysis" allowed us to compare the obtained results and draw common conclusions.

   As a result of the theoretical-methodological research carried out by us, the following has been established:

1. The complex specificity of hotel service (its immateriality, "empathy" characteristic, the impossibility of prior assessment of the service, etc.  has a great impact on its quality management;
2. Two main factors affect the quality of hotel service: "customer" and "staff", specifically, their "satisfaction" characteristics;
3. SERVQUAL's five-dimensional survey instrument is aimed at gathering guest ‘’expectations’’ and "perceptions" and are likely to reflect service quality;
4. Taking into account the complex set of parameters determining service quality, it remains, despite many criticisms, the most popular measurement tool for conceptualizing and evaluating service quality (guests' "perception");
5. As a result of the research of the theoretical-methodological aspects of hotel service quality assessment, it is revealed that the determining characteristic of guests' "perception" and their "satisfaction" (among other components) is related to qualified staff and their individual skills, and it is named as the best determining factor of the overall quality of service;
6. The same conclusion can be drawn within the framework of the research carried out in the internationally branded 5* hotel "Biltmore Tbilisi" in Tbilisi (using the "questionnaire" and "content analysis" methods). Among the 7 characteristics determining guests' "perception" and their "satisfaction", professional, highly competent staff is named as the most important component. This factor also plays a big role in the process of forming guests into "loyal" parties. Individual approach, small nuances and elements of attention, friendly attitude, attention, respect, service-related communication between employees and hotel management, cleanliness and comfort, timely and effective response to problematic issues - are related to the qualified and innovative vision-oriented work of the staff. From the guests' side, their "credit of trust" is named as the image of the company and its attributes, as well as the reputation of the staff or the existing service. Hotel "Biltmore Tbilisi" needs to carry out certain measures in the direction of perfecting staff management in order to maximize the quality of service;
7. The validity of the following theoretical-methodological hypotheses has been confirmed:

a) The quality of service is positively related to the "satisfaction" of guests in the hotel;

b) Staff has a positive effect on guest "satisfaction’’;

c) Guest "satisfaction" has a positive effect on guest loyalty; 

Keywords: The quality of hotel service; Charachteristics of the hotel services;

‘’ Perception’’ of the quality of service; Guest ‘’satisfaction’’; Guest ‘’loyality’’