Spatial analytics with hospitality big data: Examining the impact of locational determinants on customer satisfaction in the U.S. hotel market

Although hotel location has been recognized as one of the important factors affecting hotel selection and guest satisfaction, relatively few studies have examined guest satisfaction with hotel location and its locational determinants at a macro level. This study aims to identify the locational determinants of hotel guest satisfaction through big data spatial analytics via a case study of 5,302 hotels in 151 cities in the U.S. Based on the framework of hotel location satisfaction, we classified all location-related factors into three categories: accessibility to points of interest, transport convenience, and surrounding environment. Our findings indicated that hotel property's proximity to city area, landmark, park, shopping center, and highway as well as, attraction-driven tourism industry specialization, and hotel industry agglomeration were significant determinants. Furthermore, the impacts of these factors were spatially heterogeneous. These findings can provide geographical insights that are critical for developing a customer service experience and satisfaction model.