The Perception Gaps of Ryokan Service Between Managers and Staff

Abstract

While the number of overnight guests in Japan is on the rise, the number of ryokan guests is decreasing. This trend signifies a shift away from ryokan. One of the reasons behind this shift is the failure of ryokans to upgrade their services, even though the traditional services they have offered are no longer in demand among their guests. This study focused on the factors that prevent ryokan operators from recognizing the need for service improvement and other initiatives within their organizations. In view of this, the Gap Model, as presented by Parasuraman et al（. 1985）, is applied to derive hypotheses for the occurrence of gaps within ryokans. As a result of interviews conducted with ryokan establishments which were working on improvements, three counterfactual hypotheses were derived, indicating the relationships between each hypothesis. By validating these hypotheses in the future, ryokan managers will be able to understand where and why gaps occur within the ryokan operations and accordingly improve their services.