National culture as a factor in visitors’ evaluations of hotel services

This study investigates cross-cultural variations in perceptions of hotel services by analyzing online reviews of 3-, 4-, and 5-star hotels in Warsaw, drawing from a dataset of 11,089 reviews posted on Hotels.com. It adopts a mixed-methods approach, encompassing 32 nations characterized by diverse Hofstede's cultural dimensions. The study identifies key factors influencing guest satisfaction, including room quality, breakfast, location, cleanliness, and staff performance. These factors exert varying impacts on customer attitudes depending on power distance, individualism, masculinity, and independence in each culture. This research addresses a gap in the literature due to limited publications on cultural disparities in online hotel reviews. Moreover, this study is unique in its geographical focus on Warsaw, with no comparable research identified. Practical implications include aiding hotel management in tailoring quality policies and enhancing customer experience for specific national cultures based on critical satisfaction drivers. • Identification of the main elements of the offerings of hotel companies that customers pay the most attention. • Room quality, breakfast, location, cleanliness, and staff are the most important satisfaction determinants. • There are relationships between national culture dimensions and the average hotel satisfaction score. • national culture of hotel guests’ countries differentiate satisfaction scores in online reviews. • National culture of hotel guests’ countries differentiate the importance of satisfaction factors in evaluation of hotel services.