When Marcia booked a room at the Pleasant Valley Hotel, she expected that her room would be ready when she got there, the swimming pool would be heated, the advertised singer would be able to sing, and the breakfast would be fresh. When she arrived, she had to wait for her room, found the swimming pool to be 50 degrees, realized the singer could not carry a tune, and the free continental breakfast was stale. The Pleasant Valley Hotel was experiencing a severe ___________ gap.

The knowledge gap is defined as the difference between the customer’s expectations of the service provided and the company’s provision of the service. This usually means that managers are not aware or have not interpreted in a correct way the customer’s expectations in relation to the company’s services or products.

In a customer-orientated business (such as hotels) it is important to have a clear understanding of the consumer’s need for service.

In this example, Marcia was expecting her room to be ready when she got to the hotel, the pool to be heated and the singer to be able to sing among other things. However, what the hotel had to offer was a non-ready room, a 50 degrees swimming pool and an untuned singer.

Thus, the difference between the expectations of Marcia and the service provided was very big and therefore, we are talking about a severe knowledge gap.