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Exploring backpackers Exploring

backpackers
perceptions of the hostel perceptions
service quality
Ana Brochado and Paulo Rita 1839
Department of Marketing, Operations and General Management,
Received 27 March 2014
Business Research Unit (BRU-IUL), Revised 30 June 2014
Instituto Universitrio de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), Lisbon, Portugal, and 11 October 2014
Accepted 2 November 2014
Carlos Gameiro
Department of Marketing, Operations and General Management,
Instituto Universitrio de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), Lisbon, Portugal

Abstract
Purpose The aim of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of backpackerss evaluation of
service quality provided by hostels by developing a battery of items to assess perceptions of the overall
hostel experience.
Design/methodology/approach Scale development took a mixed approach that combines
qualitative and quantitative research. First, the authors performed a content analysis of reviews
provided by guests in hostel booking web sites, in-depth interviews with hostel managers and focus
groups with guests, to develop a battery of items to assess the hostel experience from the guests
perspective. Then, a quantitative survey (n 222) was conducted, to explore the dimensionality of
service quality in this sector. Lisbon hostels are the target of this study, as they received several awards
based on the online reviews of backpackers.
Findings The results revealed that service quality is a multidimensional concept and includes six
dimensions, namely, social atmosphere, location and city connection, staff, cleanliness, security and
facilities. Regression results revealed that the social atmosphere appears to be a core service dimension
crucial to create a sense of hostel guests overall quality.
Originality/value The findings suggest that service quality scales should incorporate the specific
characteristics of the hotel industry. The quality of the staff and the social atmosphere are of utmost
importance to enhance the hostel backpacker experience.
Keywords Tourism, Perception, Service quality, Backpackers, Guests experience, Hostel industry
Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction
The scientific literature has coined the term backpacker, associating it mostly to
young tourists, aged between 15 and 29 years that look for budget/low-cost
accommodation options (Hecht and Martin, 2006). Backpackers tend to be socially
active, enjoy meeting other travelers and having memorable experiences, have
flexibility and independently arranged travel plans and prefer informal and
participatory recreational activities (Pearce, 1990; Loker-Murphy and Pearce, 1995; International Journal of
Contemporary Hospitality
Thyne et al., 2005; Nash et al., 2006). They are less motivated by the needs for luxury Management
and the needs for relaxation than the mainstream tourists (Larsen et al., 2011). Vol. 27 No. 8, 2015
pp. 1839-1855
Hostels are formed in the popular backpacker market and embody a hybrid Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0959-6119
product that combines accommodation services with an informal and friendly DOI 10.1108/IJCHM-03-2014-0145
IJCHM atmosphere. The multiple bed factor is the key to the financial model, generating
27,8 high cash per square foot. The hostel backpacker market is perceived to have
experienced a rapid growth over the past years. Moreover, it offered additional
benefits complementary to other forms of tourism to the host destination (Leslie and
Wilson, 2006). There is also a new understanding of great opportunity offered by the
hostel backpacker market (Reisinger and Mavondo, 2002). Hostel backpackers are
1840 known to stay longer rather than brief vacation periods, to present a high propensity
to spend on locally owned services and facilities (Scheyvens, 2002; Westerhausen
and Macbeth, 2003; Hecht and Martin, 2006), and their journeys often involve
multiple destinations (Sorensen, 2003). Consequently, backpackers are seen as a
very relevant tourist segment to be subjected to target marketing (Musa and
Thirumoorthi, 2011).
Furthermore, new trends are identified in this niche market (Musa and
Thirumoorthi, 2011). As maintained by Thyne et al. (2005), the backpacker market is
shifting to include more diverse demographics, activities and attractions.
Backpackers book hostels not just because they offer a cheap bed, but because they
want to find new friends and integrate into the city. Although youth and
budget-conscious tourists represent the majority of backpackers staying in hostels,
there is an emergence of the peter pan travelers, who are trying to get a chance to
live a second youth (Loker-Murphy and Pearce, 1995), the baby boomers (Moschis,
2002) and the backpackers-plus market (Musa and Thirumoorthi, 2011).
Simultaneously, some hostels are getting upscale and offer extras as en suite
bathrooms, safe storage facilities, bar offer, a restaurant/dining area, private rooms
and washrooms, a funky communal area and a quirky design feature. Moreover,
backpackers could be segmented according to their attitudes, motivations and
different activities (Ryan and Mohsin, 2001; Thyne et al., 2005), challenging hostel
managers to develop new products and activities. Hence, backpacker hostels are an
example of experienced-based service encounters that offer a few comparative
advantages to their guests (Chitty et al., 2007).
Backpacking is becoming an important component of the hospitality and tourism
industry (Chitty et al., 2007). However, there is limited knowledge regarding service
quality in this type of accommodation (Musa and Thirumoorthi, 2011). The decision to
stay, the likelihood to recommend to others and positive word-of-mouth are expected to
be influenced by the perceived service quality offered by the hostel. Therefore, it is of
utmost importance to understand the main determinants of perceived service quality in
the hostel business to fulfill the needs of backpackers and enhance the overall guest
experience. The present study might fill the conceptual void existing in the hostel
industry by offering an industry-specific measurement instrument.
The goals of this research are as follows:
to identify the underlying dimensions of hostel service quality;
to examine the relative impact of the derived dimensions in influencing the overall
level of service quality;
to investigate the likelihood of backpackers to come back to the same hostel in the
future; and
to investigate their willingness to recommend the hostel to a friend.
The results of this study are expected to provide useful insights into providing a Exploring
delightful experience to hostel backpackers. backpackers
Hostels located in Lisbon are the target of this study. The hostel industry in Portugal
is relatively new, dating back no further than 2005, when the first Hostel was launched
perceptions
in Lisbon. Since then, the hostel business has grown significantly in the city of Lisbon.
Although there are no official records or statistics specifically for hostels in Lisbon, a
simple web search on Hostelbookers, a popular booking web site, with the filters 1841
Portugal, Lisbon and Hostels returned 55 alternatives on January 2014. Lisbon
hostels in particular have received a fair amount of attention due to their continuous
success in the International Hoscar Awards (www.hostelworld.com/hoscars-2014)
awards created by Hostelworld.com, the most trusted hostels web site according to the
2013 Travel Survey. Reviewing the Hoscars for the year of 2013, it is clear the
supremacy of Lisbon. Indeed, the four most rated hostels worldwide are located in
Lisbon.
The structure of the remaining paper is as follows. The next section provides a brief
review of the literature regarding service quality in the hostel business. Then, research
designed to identify the main determinants of service quality is described. Next, the
results are presented, namely, the underlying dimensions of hostel service quality.
Finally, the implications of the research findings are discussed.

2. Literature review
2.1 Theoretical perspectives on service quality
Service and quality have been defined as illusive concepts, and several authors have
found difficult to define them separately (Van Hoof, 2002). Services could be defined as
a set of activities which take place in interactions between the customer and the
company staff, goods and other physical resources, systems and/or infrastructures
representing the service provider and possibly involving other customers, which aims at
assisting the customers everyday practices (Grnroos, 2006). Several authors have
convincingly argued that the delivery of service is different from the production of
goods. Services are known to be heterogeneous, intangible, produced and consumed
simultaneously and perishable (Parasuraman et al., 1991).
These specific characteristics influence the way services are managed, delivered and
perceived by the customer. Controlling service quality in the service sector is
particularly challenging also due to the multidimensional nature of the services
provided. Among the services marketing literature, the widely used definition of service
quality is to meet customers expectations (Parasuraman et al., 1991). Customer
expectations are beliefs about service delivery that serve as standards or reference
points against which performance is judged (Zeithaml et al., 2006, p. 49), whereas
customer perceptions are subjective assessments of actual service experiments
through interaction with the providers (Zeithaml et al., 2006, p. 49). One of the most
popular methods to measure service quality, called SERVQUAL, has its theoretical
foundations in this gap model and suggests that the gap between the customers
expectations and their perception of actual performance drives the perception of service
quality (Parasuraman et al., 1988, 1991).
SERVPERF measures service quality from a performance-based standpoint. This
scale was developed to overcome some conceptual as well as operational limitations
(Buttle, 1996) identified in SERVQUAL. SERVPERF, which constitutes an enhancement
IJCHM of SERVQUAL from its perception component, has been shown to have a higher
27,8 explanatory power than the latter regarding the variation of overall service quality
(Cronin and Taylor, 1994). A meta-analysis study has contributed to this debate by
concluding that from a measurement perspective, scales should be targeted to the
specific services context (Carrillat et al., 2007).
It has been claimed that accommodation services are also qualitatively different from
1842 the majority of services (Crick and Spencer, 2011). There is a greater intensity in
providing service for prolonged periods of time in a lodging setting, and in these
extended encounters, the employee becomes a host and the customer his guest. This
means that the operator should maintain interest and excitement over the whole period
of the experience. Dortyol et al. (2014) offered a review of service quality studies in the
tourism and accommodation sector. Studies that have sought to apply generic service
sector models to hospitality, such as SERVQUAL, have found significant differences.
Therefore, several researchers have extended service quality research to the hotel and
tourism sector and have proposed modified versions of SERVQUAL and SERVPERF
with different dimensions. For instance, the LODGSERV (Knutson et al., 1991), the
LOGQUAL (Getty and Thompson, 1994), the HOLSERV (Mei et al., 1999) and the SSQH
(Wu and Ko, 2013) scales assessed service quality in hotels. Mohsin (2007) employed the
importance-performance approach to assess the customer perceptions of service quality
in the context of lodging services and Mohsin and Lockyer (2010) in the context of
luxury hotels. Furthermore, the ECOSERV (Khan, 2003) scale allowed the measurement
of the service quality expectations by eco-tourists, the HISTOQUAL (Frochot and
Hughes, 2000) evaluated customer perceptions of service quality in historic houses and
the RURALQUAL (Loureiro and Kastenholz, 2011) was developed for the rural tourism
sector. These studies (Zeithaml et al., 2006) have pointed out that the nature of service
quality dimensions is in direct relation to the service under analysis. Therefore, it is
important to re-examine the dimensions of service quality within the hostel segment.
In the tourism sector, guest satisfaction should be considered a mere minimum to
deliver on the service promise. Indeed, managers in this sector should be aware that
service quality also encompasses emotional concepts of delight and the creation of a
memorable experience (Ladhari, 2000). Delighted customers are more likely to give
positive word-of-mouth referrals to others (Torres and Kline, 2006). Therefore,
experience has become a key construct in tourism research (Oh et al., 2007). Hemmington
(2007) maintained that hospitality should be redefined as a behavior and as an
experience. According to this new perspective, guests should be provided with
experiences that are personal, memorable and add value to their lives. The author
identified five key dimensions of the hospitality experience that offer memories that
stimulate all five senses, as follows: the host guest relationship, generosity, theater and
performance, lots of little surprises and safety and security. In other words, offerings
just products, services and commodities are no longer enough and should be
accompanied by experiences. However, creating and managing experiences are among
the major challenges for hospitality (Walls et al., 2011). Guest experiences are
multidimensional outcomes that result from the interaction with servicescape, other
guests and service providers. Accordingly, they might engage guests in an emotional
and memorable way that affect satisfaction, loyalty and recommendation behaviors of
consumers (Pine and Gilmore, 1999).
2.2 Service quality measurement in hostels Exploring
Hostelling International, a hostel federation founded in 1932 that has over 4,000 backpackers
affiliated hostels around the world, defines the hostel as a good quality, budget
accommodation that offers a comfortable nights sleep in friendly surroundings at an
perceptions
affordable price. Although they both provide lodging, there are a few differences
between hostels and hotels. Although guests book a single or a double room in a hotel,
they may book an individual bed from a shared room in a hostel. Hostels offer different 1843
types of accommodation, such as shared dormitories or private rooms. Moreover, a
hostel is more informal and adventure-oriented compared to a hotel, attracting a
particular tourist segment commonly known as backpackers (Nash et al., 2006). A hostel
offers more and better opportunities to backpackers socialize and meet new people from
different cultures, both in common areas and dormitories.
Backpacking is perceived to have grown substantially over the past years and have
received an increasing importance in the literature (Leslie and Wilson, 2006; Musa and
Thirumoorthi, 2011). Owing to the specificities of the hostel business, some studies were
conducted to assess the service quality provided by hostels to their guests. For example,
Nash et al. (2006) provided results for hostels offering accommodation in Scotland, Hecht
and Martin (2006) in Canada, Chitty et al. (2007) in Australia and Musa and
Thirumoorthi (2011) in Malaysia.
Nash et al. (2006) conducted a study designed to identify the profile, preferences and
service quality perceptions of budget accommodation users in Scotland. Based on a
sample of 309 respondents, they concluded that backpackers tend to look for active and
participatory activities during their stay and they usually stay longer than the
mainstream tourist. The majority stays for a period between four days and two weeks,
and the most used information sources are maps, travel guidebooks, Internet and
word-of-mouth. Price, location and membership of Scotland Youth Hostel Association
were considered the most important factors for backpackers. The respondents
considered the cleanliness of rooms, value for money and self-catering facilities to be the
most important drivers of service quality.
With the intent of better understanding the characteristics and service preferences of
the backpacker, Hecht and Martin (2006) carried a study in a few hostels in the city of
Toronto, Canada. The questionnaire was developed with the inputs from 20 experienced
backpackers who helped to reach 15 critical backpacker requirements: hostel price,
location, no lockout, hostel safety/security, cleanliness, staff quality, bar/restaurant,
communal kitchen, available beds in room, dormitory mix, hostel recommendation as
well as information access extras, information service and miscellaneous facilities. A
total of 385 questionnaires were completed by guests from 35 different countries. The
authors recommended the use of three age categories: youth tourists, between the ages
of 15 and 25 years, accounting for 63.1 per cent of the respondents; transition
backpackers, age range of 26-29 years, representing 21.6 per cent of the sample;
contemporary backpackers, aging 30 plus years, at 15.3 per cent of the sample.
Regarding service preferences, Hecht and Martin (2006) found that more than half of the
respondents preferred to stay in mixed sex dorms with five or more beds. The dorm
room can be seen by backpackers as an opportunity to meet other people and also an
economical option. Location, security, cleanliness, personal service and hostel services
(e.g. laundry facilities, Internet) were identified as being the five most relevant service
aspects for respondents. Chitty et al. (2007) conducted a study in three hostels located in
IJCHM Australia, aiming at identifying the main determinants of customer satisfaction, and the
27,8 impact that the antecedents of satisfaction had on loyalty based on the European
Customer Satisfaction Index framework. Based on a questionnaire administered to 281
backpackers, the authors concluded that brand image is a strong predictor of
satisfaction with the hostel.
The Red Palm, a hostel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, received the award of the best
1844 backpackers hostel in Asia, in 2006. The research conducted by Musa and
Thirumoorthi (2011) attempted to understand the reasons behind this great
achievement based on an in-depth interview with the hostel manager, 18 in-depth
interviews with participants who stayed in the Red Palm and 192 web site comments
posted on www.hostelworld.com by backpackers. This study used the frequency of item
within SERVQUAL dimensions. The results revealed that the most important tangible
elements were facilities, equipment, central location, atmosphere, welcome and
homeliness and cleanness. The excellent staff elements include their courtesy,
individualized attention, willingness to help and relevant knowledge.
Moreover, the Hostelling International has developed a battery of customer service
Assured Standards as follows: welcome, comfort of the nights sleep and sufficient
washing/shower facilities, cleanliness of the facilities, security for backpackers and their
possessions and privacy in showers, washing areas and toilets. These standards for
comfort in the hostel are assessed through mystery shopper programs.
An overview of previous studies on this matter revealed that they either followed a
descriptive approach (Nash et al., 2006 and Hecht and Martin, 2006) or adapted
traditional scales of service quality (Chitty et al., 2007, Musa and Thirumoorthi, 2011).
Therefore, the present study aims to contribute to the existing literature by developing
a first attempt to capture the overall hostel backpackers overall experience. To achieve
this outcome, we intend to identify the main dimensions of the hostel experience that
comply with the theoretical perspective proposed by Hemmington (2007).
In summary, businesswise, the hostel industry has shown rapid growth as well as
intensifying competition, namely, in top tourist destinations. A key challenge to current
marketers is to manage guest experience via service quality measurement. Studies in
this area have been descriptive and qualitative in nature. Therefore, there is a clear need
of overcoming this research gap through a quantitative study using a measurement
scale developed with the specific purpose of assessing overall service quality of hostels
by backpacker guests based on their experience.

3. Research method
In this study, both qualitative and quantitative studies were performed (Churchill, 1979)
to derive a battery of items to assess perceptions of the overall hostel experience. Indeed,
the literature review was first combined with qualitative studies to gain an
understanding of the dimensions of consumers service quality and to generate a
preliminary item pool for the construction of a related measurement instrument.
Different qualitative studies were conducted to generate and purify the initial pool of
items. First, to get a better understanding of the most important aspects for hostel
backpackers when evaluating a hostel, a content analysis of the most popular hostel web
sites (Hostelworld.com, Hostelbookers.com, Hostels.com and Booking.com) was
conducted on October 2012. The number of items that each web site displays varies from
six to seven items. Location, cleanliness and staff are the only items common to all web
sites. Other items provided to guests are atmosphere, facilities, value, safety, comfort, Exploring
service and character. backpackers
Two focus groups with eight backpackers staying in Lisbon were performed. Focus
groups have already been used to design a questionnaire to measure service quality (Wu
perceptions
and Ko, 2013). The study participants were heterogeneous in terms of age, gender and
nationality. The meeting took place in the communal room of two different hostels and
lasted 90 minutes. The guests were encouraged to list factors that influence their service 1845
quality evaluations according to their experience. The critical backpacker requirements
provided by Hecht and Martin (2006) served has interview guide to the moderator.
Based on the focus group results, the researchers obtained a first battery of 29 items.
Then, a hostel manager and a tourism researcher served as judges to evaluate the face
validity of the items. They were asked to assess the relevance, clarity and
representativeness of each item. Only three items were dropped from this list. These
items were related to price issues. This option is also supported by the literature, as price
generally was not seen as a determinant of service quality (Wu and Ko, 2013).
A pilot study with five backpackers was also performed to ensure that the composed
items were relevant and representative of the overall hotel experience. None of the initial
list of items was removed. However, the wording of five items was modified according
to backpackers suggestions.
Then, a quantitative study was used to develop a self-report scale to measure hostel
service quality and to identify the underlying dimensions of the overall service quality.
Each of the 26 items was evaluated with a seven-point scale ranging from strongly
disagree (1) to strongly agree (7). The questionnaire was conducted with only one
English version. For the purpose of examining the predictive validity, three additional
items were included, measuring the overall service quality, the likelihood to come back
in the future and the willingness to recommend this hostel to a friend/family. Within the
tourism literature, recommend to others have been one of the most frequently adopted
constructs used to measure behavioral intentions (Crick and Spencer, 2011).
The first part of the questionnaire encompassed introductory questions regarding
the trip profile. Four demographic variables were also added to the questionnaire: age,
gender, marital status and nationality.
Data were gathered with 220 personal interviews to backpackers staying in two of
the top ten hostels located in Lisbon (according to the Hostelworld Awards), who
accepted to take part in this survey. A convenience sampling procedure was used.
Backpackers who accepted to answer the survey were interviewed at the communal area
of the hostel. First, we analyzed the received responses using SPSS to compute their
mean scores and standard deviation. Next, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used
in the study to identify the dimensions underlying the consumers perception to evaluate
the hostel experience. Factors with eigenvalue higher than one were retained. Items with
low-item correlations, low factor loadings or high cross-leadings were eliminated.
Cronbachs alpha for each dimension was also obtained to assess reliability.

4. Results
4.1 Demographics and trip profile
Of the 220 respondents, 50.9 per cent were male and 49.1 per cent female (Table I).
Regarding the marital status, the majority of respondents are currently single,
representing 83.8 per cent of the sample. The remaining part of the sample is married or
IJCHM Variable Categories n (%)
27,8
Gender Male 109 49.1
Female 113 50.9
Group age (years) 15-25 139 62.6
26-29 52 23.4
1846 29 31 14.0
Marital status Single 186 83.8
Married/live together 33 14.9
Divorced/widowed 3 1.4
Nationality US/Canada 47 22.4
Table I. Latin America 17 8.1
Characteristics of Europe 121 57.6
respondents Australia 25 11.9

is living together with a partner (14.9 per cent). Concerning age, the majority of
backpackers was between 15 and 25 years old (62.6 per cent). Hostels are becoming more
diversified in terms of the age of guests (Ryan and Mohsin, 2001; Ross, 1997; Hecht and
Martin, 2006), and this is visible through the analysis of the sample, with roughly 14 per
cent of the respondents being 30 or more years old. Guests from Europe represent the
majority of the sample (57.6 per cent), followed by European Union/Canada (22.4 per
cent), Australia (11.9 per cent) and Latin America (8.1 per cent).
Of the total sample, 70.7 per cent of the respondents were in Lisbon for the first time
(Table II). Around 18.9 per cent of the backpackers (42) were in a hostel for the first time.
From the remaining 180 backpackers, 20 per cent have already stayed in one to three
hostels, 36.7 per cent in four to seven and 43.3 per cent in seven or more hostels. A high
percentage of backpackers (62.2 per cent) were traveling through more countries than
Portugal. The findings in Table II also revealed that the booking was mainly done
through the internet; Hostelworld was the most used web site, with 55.5 per cent of the
respondents booking through it, confirming the leadership of this Web site in the
business. The remaining tourists booked through Hostelbookers (25.2 per cent) and
from the web site of the hostel they were in (10.8 per cent).

4.2 Service quality dimensions

To identify the underlying dimensions that explained the variance in the attributes,
principal component analysis with orthogonal varimax rotation was performed.
Regarding the adequacy and global significance, the Bartlett test of sphericity (2
3,874.25; p 0.00) and the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin were significant (0.91). Six factors with
24 items were defined by the original 26 items that loaded most heavily (loading 0.40) on
them. Therefore, six factors representing 51 per cent of the explained variance were
extracted, with eigenvalue greater than one. The varimax process produced a clear
factor structure with relatively high loadings on the appropriate factors. Table III shows
the results of the factor analysis that reveals the following: items loading in each factor,
factor name, factor loadings, eigenvalues and variance explained by each factor.
After carefully analyzing each factor and what it was representing, the following labels
were attributed to each factor: Factor 1 atmosphere; Factor 2 location; Factor 3 staff;
Factor 4 cleanliness; Factor 5 security; Factor 6 facilities. Factor 1 (atmosphere)
 n (%)
Exploring
backpackers
Is this your first time in Lisbon? Yes 157 70.7 perceptions
No 65 29.3
Are you traveling alone? Yes 93 41.9
No 129 58.1
Is this your first time in a hostel? Yes 42 18.9
No 180 81.1
1847
How did you arrive in Lisbon? By car 28 12.6
By train 40 18.0
With a low cost airline 56 25.2
With a major airline 73 32.9
By bus 25 11.3
Are you Traveling through more 138 62.2
countries
Just visiting Lisbon and then go 84 37.8
back home
How many hostels have you stayed 1-3 36 20.0
in before? 4-7 66 36.7
7 or more 78 43.3
How did you book this hostel? www.hostelworld.com 122 55.0
www.hostelbookers.com 56 25.2
Other booking web site 9 4.1
Directly from this hostels web 24 10.8
site Table II.
I usually dont book 11 5.0 Trip characteristics

combines the social and atmosphere aspects, namely, the right environment to meet people,
the existence of a large communal space, the interaction with other guests and the fun
experienced during the stay at the hostel. Factor 2 (location) relates to aspects regarding the
convenient location of the hostel, close to attractions, bars and restaurants, close to the city
center and to public transportation. It also includes one item relative to the activities the
hostel promotes to enhance a connection with the city of Lisbon. Factor 3 (staff) combines
staff qualities such as efficiency, appearance and quickness in the service delivery,
friendliness and the ambiance comfort. Factor 4 (cleanliness) is mainly associated with
cleanings of the hostel areas, as rooms and dorms, the bathrooms, the kitchen and the social
area. Factor 5 (security) encompasses security issues, as the location in a safe neighborhood
and the existence of a 24-hour front desk. Finally, Factor 6 (facilities) includes items related to
the available facilities and the servicescape, as Internet and computer facilities, and the
interior design.
As the proposed measurement is multi-item scale, it requires assessing its reliability
and evaluating its applicability and accuracy. To be a reliable measurement, instrument
needs to produce results in a consistent way whenever repeated measurements are
executed (Malhotra, 2009). Measuring scale reliability in which a total score is obtained
by summating several items is often performed via internal consistency. In our study,
Cronbachs alpha coefficient met the recommended cut-off point of 0.60 for exploratory
research (Malhotra, 2009), as it varied between 0.92 (atmosphere) and 0.77 (tangibles).
Thus, in terms of reliability, the scale shows good results because these present high
IJCHM Items M SD F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6
27,8
This hostel has the right environment to meet
new people 6.31 0.95 0.85
I generally liked the people I met here during
my stay 6.38 0.95 0.60
1848 I had fun at this hostel 6.55 1.02 0.64
There is a large communal room/space 6.32 0.90 0.72
This hostel is to attractions, bars and
restaurants 6.05 1.15 0.77
This hostel is close to transportation: metro,
bus, tram 6.30 0.95 0.69
This hostel is close to the city center 6.09 1.04 0.74
This hostel promotes group activities
(pub-crawl, city tours) 5.73 1.06 0.75
The staff was friendly and polite 6.50 0.70 0.62
The staff knows Lisbon well and are helpful 6.53 0.66 0.64
The staff made my stay a better experience here 6.39 0.83 0.83
The staff provides an efficient service 6.45 0.76 0.89
The rooms/dorms are clean 6.27 0.86 0.89
The bathrooms are clean 6.18 0.94 0.64
The kitchen is clean 6.18 0.92 0.74
The social area/communal room is clean 6.18 0.88 0.87
The hostel is located in a safe neighborhood 5.79 1.12 0.90
There is a 24-hour front desk 6.63 0.92 0.69
I felt safe in the hostel 6.24 0.86 0.79
The hostel has private showers and toilets 5.86 1.41 0.59
The hostel provides good Internet and computer
facilities 6.31 1.05 0.70
The hostel provides a comfortable ambiance 6.41 0.81 0.65
The kitchen is well equipped for cooking 6.29 0.93 0.69
The hostel has an appealing decorative design 6.47 0.91 0.89
The interior design of the rooms is good 6.38 0.94 0.86
Eigenvalues 9.22 2.59 1.68 1.52 1.44 1.37
Variance explained (%) 26.35 7.41 4.79 4.35 4.12 3.92
Table III.
Factor analysis Notes: M mean; SD standard deviation; F1 atmosphere; F2 location and city connection;
results F3 staff; F4 cleanliness; F5 security; F6 facilities

internal consistency among items within each of the six dimensions that were
considered (Table IV).
Table IV also reports the correlation between each pair of service quality dimensions.
The strongest correlations were between staff quality and tangibles (r 0.67),
atmosphere and tangibles (r 0.65). Next came atmosphere and staff (r 0.60),
cleanliness and tangibles (r 0.60). Therefore, although the dimensions are correlated,
they are able to capture particular features of service quality.
All the six dimensions scored very high (more than 6.0). The staff quality, tangibles and
atmosphere were the dimensions receiving the highest scores and location the lowest.
Table III allows the identification of the individual items that could be taken for quality
improvement. Accordingly, as location and city connection received the lowest average
 Descriptive statistics Correlations
Cronbachs alpha Minimum Maximum M SD Atmosphere Location Staff quality Cleanliness Security Tangibles

Atmosphere 0.92 1.00 7.00 6.34 0.76 0.38 0.60 0.46 0.35 0.65
Location and city
connection 0.88 2.75 7.00 6.03 0.70 0.42 0.31 0.28 0.47
Staff Quality 0.89 2.50 7.00 6.46 0.61 0.43 0.51 0.67
Cleanliness 0.90 2.25 7.00 6.09 0.76 0.34 0.60
Security 0.86 3.00 7.00 6.22 0.64 0.52
Tangibles 0.77 3.20 7.00 6.37 0.62

Table IV.
1849

or each dimension
correlations and
Cronbachs alpha,
perceptions
Exploring
backpackers

descriptive statistics
IJCHM score (M 6.03; SD 0.70), hostels could be more proactive in promoting group activities
27,8 (pub-crawl, city tours) that reinforce the city connection during the stay in Lisbon.

4.3 Overall quality, likelihood to return to the same hostel in the future and willingness
to recommend the hostel
The ability of a scale to explain the variation in the overall service quality, the likeliness to
1850 return to the same hostel in the future and the willingness to recommend
the hostel (both measured directly through a single-item scale) was assessed by
regressing respondents overall evaluations on the five service quality dimensions.
Standard model testing was applied, and standard assumptions of the multiple
regression model were verified. Moreover, the correlation between the dimensions, as
shown in Table IV, was not strong enough to jeopardize multicollinearity. The first
model accounted for 46 per cent of the explained variance, the second model for 49.3 per
cent and the third for 46.8 per cent.
As shown in Table V, all the dimensions revealed to be statistically significative to
explain the overall service quality evaluations. As the estimated regression coefficients are
non-standardized, the value of the constant term, while meaningless, is also presented. The
atmosphere appears to be a core service dimension crucial to enhance a sense of hostel
guests overall quality ( 0.20). This is in accordance with the informal concept of the
hostel experience. The facilities ( 0.18), the security ( 0.15) and the staff ( 0.14)
have also been essential in contributing to the hostel backpackers rating of overall service
quality. Finally, the location ( 0.12) and the cleanliness ( 0.12) were also statistically
significant.
The staff is shown to be the most important dimension in explaining both the likelihood
to come back in the future ( 0.32) and the willingness to recommend
the hostel ( 0.31). This result is in accordance with previous studies that stressed the
importance of human resource management to enhance the overall experience (Musa and
Thirumoorthi, 2011). The cleanliness ( 0.21), the atmosphere ( 0.19), the facilities (
0.17) and the security ( 0.11) were also statistically significant in explaining the likelihood
to come back to the same hostel in the future. With regard to the willingness to recommend

Willingness to
Overall service Likelihood to come recommend the
quality back in the future hostel
t t t

Intercept 1.38 3.43** 0.49 1.25 0.96 2.48*

Atmosphere 0.20 2.25* 0.19 3.36** 0.17 3.12**
Location 0.12 2.36* 0.02 0.42 0.04 0.83
Staff 0.14 2.86* 0.32 4.34** 0.31 4.25*
Cleanliness 0.12 2.21* 0.21 4.11** 0.18 3.53*
Security 0.15 2.47* 0.11 1.96* 0.03 0.06
Facilities 0.18 2.11* 0.17 2.04* 0.21 2.52*
R2 (%) 47.0 49.30 46.80
Table V. F 45.28* 49.60* 44.94*
Relative importance
of individual Notes: ** Statistically significant at the 1%; * 5% level; b coefficient estimates; t t-statistic; F
dimensions F-statistic
the hostel, four factors revealed to be statistically significant: the staff ( 0.31), the facilities Exploring
( 0.21), the cleanliness ( 0.18) and the atmosphere ( 0.17). backpackers
perceptions
5. Conclusion
Considering the rapid growth experienced by this sector and the increasing competition,
hostels are facing new challenges in managing the guests experience. Hostels need to be
able to provide high standards of service quality while maintaining the authenticity of 1851
the hostel environment to achieve and sustain a competitive advantage. Given the
complexity of the hostel backpacking phenomenon, it is a challenge to assess service
quality with a completely objective measurement scale.

5.1 Theoretical implications

This paper provided a first attempt to identify the underlying dimensions of the overall
service quality in the hostel business. Indeed, previous studies in this sector were either
descriptive or based on traditional service quality scales. Therefore, despite the
exploratory nature of this research, the proposed battery of items and similar
dimensions can fill the gap existing in the hostel literature. The proposed battery of
items and dimensions offers researchers an understanding of the overall experience
perceived by hostel backpackers, thus providing a more conceptual sound approach for
assessing service quality in the hostel sector.
Indeed, this research has highlighted a number of interesting points regarding the
underlying dimensions of the perceptions of service quality. According to the findings,
hostel service quality is a multidimensional concept, comprising six underlying
components: social atmosphere, location issues, staff, cleanliness, security and facilities.
We believe that the proposed battery of items and corresponding dimensions
adequately describe the concept of service quality in the hostel business. Moreover, this
factor structure supports the view that the dimensionality of the service quality
construct depends on the service industry under investigation and supports the claims
that specific measures should be developed. Hostel managers could rely on guests
service quality perceptions of these six dimensions to identify their strengths and
weaknesses, and prescribe appropriate corrective strategies.
Although location issues, cleanliness, staff, security and facilities are dimensions pointed
out by previous studies and included into the Hostelling International Quality Management
System standards, the social atmosphere emerged as a new dimension specific of the hostel
business. The social atmosphere dimension is in accordance with the sociability concept by
Clemes et al. (2009) and Wu and Ko (2013) and with the concept of service experience by
Hemmington (2007). Hostels could be regarded as a lifestyle choice, targeting backpackers
who want to find new friends, explore other cultures, broadening knowledge and integrate
into the city (Hecht and Martin, 2006). The backpackers strongly emphasize on meeting
people and socializing either with the hosts and other guests (Loker-Murphy and Pearce,
1995). Therefore, both the social experiences and the communal areas could enhance a
unique social atmosphere. Hostels could be considered as a lifestyle choice, targeting
backpackers who want to find new friends, explore other cultures, broadening knowledge
and integrate into the city (Hecht and Martin, 2006). Therefore, the items included in the
social atmosphere dimension include both the social experiences and the layout and
architecture of the communal areas. Hecht and Martin (2006) also associated the social aspect
to the hostel communal areas, and according to Musa and Thirumoorthi (2011), the hostel
IJCHM operations should extend the definition of servicescape that reflects only the physical aspect
27,8 of the establishment. Previous studies (Walls et al., 2011) have indicated that the physical
environment and social interactions might be used to generate a structured set of
experiences. A hostel can differentiate itself through its experience, hence focusing the
investment in a conscious design of the common areas and activities, instead of
differentiating the bed product.
1852
5.2 Practical implications
We believe that the findings of this study also offer practical implications to contribute
to the hostel managers. The proposed battery of items offers hostel managers a
diagnostic tool to access service quality and to identify areas for further improvement in
such a niche market that has experienced strong growth during the past decade.
The results also provide an empirical reinforcement for the impacts of the overall
service quality perceptions in each dimension on consumer behavior. The results also
showed the relative intensity of different dimensions in strengthening customer loyalty
and word-of-mouth recommendations. Although all the six dimensions were
statistically significant, the overall service quality was mainly explained by the social
atmosphere. One of the major push factor for backpacking is the opportunity to meet
other like-minded individuals and to make new friends (Leslie and Wilson, 2006).
The willingness to recommend the hostel and the overall service quality was mainly
explained by the staff evaluation. Therefore, the human resource aspects should be
emphasized through recruitment and continuous training. Hostel staff is expected to deliver
services with courtesy, provide individualized attention and willingness to help
backpackers. They are the frontlines and can have an important role in satisfying guests
requests. This result is in accordance with the findings by Musa and Thirumoorthi (2011)
who concluded that the quality of the staff is a critical factor of success of the best hostel in
Asia. Therefore, the importance of the staff to enhance the overall hostel experience seems to
be a robust result for hostels, independently of their geographical location.
Backpacking is growing up, and the manner in which backpackers picked hostels is
changing. Hostels should be aware that they are no longer offering only an affordable
bed. Although hostels can take a range of likely directions, to provide service quality to
their guests they should match the service demands of their key market segments.
Lisbon was considered a convenient location to conduct this study, due to the high
number of available hotels receiving an award by the quality of the services provided.
Regarding the service quality offered by the hostels under analysis, the results revealed
that all the six dimensions scored very high. Therefore, the findings of this study overall
indicate that the hostels under analysis are performing well and have a position in the
marketplace on which to build. As the location and city connection received the lowest
average score, hostel managers could be more proactive in promoting group activities
that reinforce the city connection during the stay in Lisbon. According to Thyne et al.
(2005), backpackers could be segmented according to their lifestyles and exhibit
different attitudes, interests and motivations, as outdoor experiences, having a
learning experience, learning new things, to visit places their family have been.
Therefore, hostel managers could increase their performance in this dimension by
offering activities to improve city connection by targeting different backpackers.
Furthermore, as reported by Barreda and Bilgihan (2013), guests are more likely to write
positive online reviews about accommodations with convenient locations.
5.3 Recommendations and future research Exploring
Although this research provides contributions to hostel managers, there are several backpackers
characteristics of the study that may limit overall generalizability. The first weakness of perceptions
this study is related to the data being collected in only two hostels located in the same
city. Furthermore, those visiting Lisbon perceived it as a good place for backpacker
hostels, but they might have different expectations to those visiting a destination which
may attract its own specific tourists. Therefore, continued refinement of the proposed 1853
scale in this study could be addressed by future projects that might include a greater
number of hostels and different locations to increase the external validity and the
reliability of the results. The EFA provided a first attempt to reduce data dimensionality
and create appropriate factors for future research. With a larger data set, confirmatory
factor analysis techniques and structural confirmatory models should also be
considered in the scale development process.

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About the authors

Ana Brochado holds a BS in Economics, an MS in Quantitative Methods and a PhD in
Management from the University of Porto, Portugal. She is Assistant Professor at ISCTE
Business School and coordinator of the PhD program in Tourism Management. Before joining
ISCTE, in 2012, she worked as a Senior Economist at the Portuguese Competition Authority where
she conducted several market inquires and studies. Her main research interests are hospitality
and tourism management and service quality assessment.
Paulo Rita holds a PhD in Marketing from Cardiff Business School, UK, and has a
Post-Doctorate in E-Marketing from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, United States. Dr Rita
is Professor of Marketing at IBS ISCTE Business School, Lisbon Portugal where he is Director
of the PhD in Marketing, Director of the PhD in Tourism Management in partnership with the
European University and Director of the Master in Hospitality and Tourism Management which
is a double degree with University of Central Florida, Orlando, United States. Paulo Rita is
currently a member of the Executive Committee of EMAC (European Marketing Academy) and
Vice President of EDAMBA (European Doctoral Programmes Association in Management and
Business Administration). His areas of scientific research interest and expertise are in consumer
behavior, e-marketing, business intelligence/analytics and tourism marketing.
Carlos Gameiro holds a BS in Economics from Universidade Nova de Lisboa and an MS in
Marketing from ISCTE-IUL. He worked as manager in the tourism industry.

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