This paper aims to determine how important cultural events organized by hotels are when guests select the establishment, determine the most influential source to attract customers to the hotels’ cultural events and measure their ability to meet guests’ expectations.
A qualitative exploratory methodology was adopted. Data collection was performed through voluntary and non-probabilistic face-to-face interviews to 2,229 guests and six directors from eight hotels that organize cultural events.
The data revealed that, although cultural events organized by hotels were not a selection factor, these were attended by the majority of guests, who felt valued for being asked for feedback by the hotels and were more influenced by marketing communications within the establishments than by word-of-mouth.
Contrary to cultural events organized by local authorities, cultural events organized by hotels have received little to no academic attention. This research allowed the authors to better understand the factors that may influence hotel selection and guests’ satisfaction.
