Improvement of Service Quality by using Ubiquitous Computing in Hospitality

Economies of developed countries are primarily based on the services sector, where the hospitality industry plays an important role. As such, new service design and service innovation are vital for maintaining competitive advantage. Recently, ubiquitous computing has emerged as a key enabler in various industries in support of service innovation by facilitating the design of new services. This study aims to investigate the benefits provided by ubiquitous computing in the hospitality domain for improved service quality, customer satisfaction, and profitability. First, the literature on service quality is presented, and important quality dimensions are selected accordingly. After providing a brief review of related technologies and existing applications, a ubiquitous computing framework is proposed in support of innovative services for the hotel industry. Via the analysis of the framework, changes in business processes are exposed and the contributions of ubiquitous computing are discussed according to the identified service quality dimensions.