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 stimulusorganism-
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.

Keywords Hospitality, S-O-R theory, Consumer behaviour, Social media, ADANCO, Emotions