INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT

Travel distance and hotel service satisfaction: An inverted U-shaped relationship

Park, Sangwon; Yang, Yang; Wang, Mingshu

Abstract

The existing literature suggests that travel distance is a crucial factor that determines tourism demand and tourist behavior. However, there are limited attempts to understand how tourists’ travel distance shapes their experiences, and more specifically, their satisfaction in a destination. This paper aims to shed light on the distance satisfaction relationship by analyzing a data set of online hotel reviews at four large US cities in a oneyear period. The results show an inverted U-shaped relationship between travel distance and service satisfaction. Inflection points of the quadratic relationship across different cities are also identified. The implications of these findings contribute to literature on tourism geography and allow tourism marketers to develop more effective differential marketing strategies.

Keywords

Travel distance; Service satisfaction; Multi-level ordered logit model; Big data

Research topic

AI and Big Data, Tourist Experience

Research method

Econometrics, Big Data

Geographic area

US

Additional links for this paper

ResearchGate

Publisher Website

Web of Science

HOW TO CITE

Park, S., Yang, Y., & Wang, M. (2019). Travel distance and hotel service satisfaction: An inverted U-shaped relationship. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 76, 261-270.

Additional Reads

2026

When nature nurtures: Unlocking the healing power of soft adventure tourism

JOURNAL OF OUTDOOR RECREATION AND TOURISM

2026

Elevating excellence: Examining the effects of spatial competition on hotel quality

TOURISM ECONOMICS

2026

Taking stock: Lessons for theory and practice from COVID-19 tourism research

ANNALS OF TOURISM RESEARCH