Drivers of Satisfaction with Chinese Hotels

Hotel reviews provide important opportunities for researching the components of hotel experiences and related guest satisfaction. The study presented in this paper explored what factors are generally mentioned in hotel reviews and if and how specific comments could be linked to overall satisfaction ratings and behavioral intentions. Chinese hotels were selected to form the context of the study as insights on experience elements and satisfaction are especially important in an emerging hospitality market. A total of 983 reviews posted by international travelers were content analyzed. Experience components mentioned in the reviews were then linked to satisfaction ratings, review sentiment and behavioral intentions expressed in the reviews. Implications for tourism experience theory, future research, and hospitality management practice are discussed.