Emotional, cognitive and behavioural repercussions of hotel guests' experiences

Abstract

Purpose Hotels offer high-quality guest experiences to positively impact their emotions, satisfaction, perceived value, word-of-mouth (WOM) and electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). This study aims to investigate the impacts of the quality perceived by hotel guests on their positive emotions, negative emotions, perceived value and satisfaction; verify the impacts of the price on perceived value and satisfaction; examine the impacts of satisfaction on WOM and eWOM; and test the moderating effect of hotel guests’ behavioural engagement on social networking sites (HGBE-SNS) on the relationship between satisfaction and eWOM. Design/methodology/approach This survey included 371 guests who assessed their experiences at three Brazilian hotels. Structural equation modelling tested the hypothetical model supported by the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) theory (Mehrabian and Russell, 1974). Findings The quality perceived by hotel guests (stimulus) positively impacts perceived value, positive emotions and satisfaction and negatively affects negative emotions (organism). Price (stimulus) negatively impacts perceived value but does not affect satisfaction. Perceived value positively impacts satisfaction. Satisfaction positively impacts WOM and eWOM (responses). The HGBE-SNS moderates the relationship between satisfaction and eWOM. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first that simultaneously demonstrates the relationships between perceived quality, price, perceived value, positive and negative emotions, satisfaction, WOM, eWOM and HGBE-SNS. Hotels must offer their guests high-quality services to positively impact’ perceived value, positive emotions, satisfaction and WOM. Low prices boost the perceived value but do not directly increase guest satisfaction. Satisfied hotel guests share their experiences via WOM, but high HGBE-SNS is crucial to boost eWOM.