effect of functional quality, technical quality and mental image on the satisfaction of 3, 4 and 5-star hotels customers in mashhad city

customer satisfaction has been one of the strategic issues in recent two decades. this research is to study and design a model of service quality, and evaluate effective dimensions on customer’ quality perceived services and satisfaction. up to now, multiple factors integrally related to the measurement of services quality and customer satisfaction have not been studied in iran. the present research is objectively applied, and practically causal. by the help of questionnaire, a survey method is used to collect the data. statistical population includes all 3,4 and 5-star hotel customers, and 267 samples selected through cluster- random sampling. the data collected are analyzed by t-test and exploratory factor analysis. for testing the research hypothesizes, structural equations modeling (sem) is used. the findings represent that scientific expectations of researcher including direct, positive and significant effects of functional quality on image and perceived service quality, image on perceived service quality, perceived service quality on customer satisfaction, and technical quality on image are confirmed, but the effect of technical quality on perceived service quality is not significantly confirmed. in addition to analyze the hypothesis, this paper offers applied and managerial recommendation for increasing the productivity and satisfaction of the customers in hotel services.