Empirical Analysis of Service Quality Dimensions and Guest Loyalty in Luxury Hotels in Lagos, South West Nigeria

This study empirically examines the relationship between service quality dimensions and guest loyalty in luxury hotels in Lagos, South West Nigeria. While SERVQUAL-based research has been extensively applied in Western hotel contexts, its explanatory power within the Nigerian luxury hotel segment remains inadequately tested, particularly in relation to loyalty behavioural intentions. A quantitative research design is adopted with structured questionnaires administered to 320 guests across eight five-star and upper-upscale hotels in Victoria Island and Ikeja. Structural equation modelling is applied to test the proposed relationships between five SERVQUAL dimensions and two loyalty constructs comprising attitudinal loyalty and behavioural loyalty. Findings reveal that assurance and empathy are the strongest predictors of attitudinal loyalty among luxury hotel guests, while tangibility has a stronger association with behavioural loyalty outcomes such as repeat booking and positive word-of-mouth referral. Reliability demonstrates a significant but weaker loyalty effect compared to the interpersonal service dimensions. The model explains 61 percent of variance in guest loyalty, confirming service quality as a robust predictor. The study contributes to the gap in luxury hospitality research within sub-Saharan African markets and recommends that luxury hotels in Lagos prioritise investment in staff empathy training and personalised service protocols as the highest-return loyalty drivers. Revenue implications of a one-unit improvement in empathy score are also quantified. Keywords: service quality, guest loyalty, SERVQUAL, luxury hotels, Lagos