Hotel Ethical Behavior and Tourist Origin as Determinants of Satisfaction

Abstract

The importance of consumer satisfaction has increased in the last decades. This is why its measurement has been considered as the greatest weight indicator for defining consumer preferences and expectations. The objective of this article is to evaluate the relationship among the satisfaction levels of hotel service consumers in Colombia, their gender, place of origin and the connotation of the reviews made online as a result of hotel ethical behaviour. The applied methodology uses the non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test to validate the relations between the variables. A regression model is run to better understand the causal relations. Clusters are analyzed under the biphasic cluster procedure and a previously validated ethical behaviour scale is used to classify negative comments. Messages from 356 consumers on the Booking.com platform were analyzed. The results highlight that the place of origin and the comments made online have a significant impact on customer satisfaction. In addition, the level of ethical behaviour of hotels is affected mainly by the expectations about room, price and service provided by hotel employees.