Year
2021
Authors
BARTHELEMY Jérôme, GRAF Nicolas, KARABURUN Richie
Abstract
Chain affiliation is widespread in the hotel industry. It has also attracted a lot of academic attention. While a large number of studies have examined whether affiliated hotels outperform independent hotels in terms of occupancy, ADR and RevPAR, research on the chain affiliation – guest satisfaction relationship is scarce. In this study, we explore the impact of chain affiliation on guest satisfaction and guest satisfaction extremeness, which is defined as the extent to which a hotel’s guest satisfaction deviates from the industry average. We also examine whether the relationships between chain affiliation, guest satisfaction and guest satisfaction extremeness are contingent on market segments. Using a large sample of 35.000 hotels and 1.5 million bookings provided by a leading online travel agency (OTA), we find evidence that chain affiliation increases guest satisfaction, but decreases guest satisfaction extremeness. In addition, the positive chain affiliation – guest satisfaction relationship and the negative chain affiliation – guest satisfaction relationship are stronger in higher quality market segments. Taken together, our findings suggest that chain affiliation is a double-edged sword for hotels, particularly in higher quality market segments.
BARTHELEMY, J., GRAF, N. et KARABURUN, R. (2021). Good but not so great: The impact of chain affiliation on guest satisfaction and guest satisfaction extremeness. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 94.