Do ISO 9001-certified hotels get a higher customer rating than non-certified ones?

•We analyze the signaling value of hotels certified for quality management.•186,769 ratings of 828 hotels: 207 certified and 621 non-certified.•Comparison of means, correlation analysis, and Logit analysis are carried out.•Quality certified hotels do not receive better ratings.•Implications for policy makers and for other stakeholders are discussed.

This article analyzes whether customers of hotels that are certified for quality management are more satisfied than the customers of non-certified hotels of similar category and location. An empirical study was carried out with a total sample of 186,769 guest ratings of 828 Spanish and Italian hotels. The findings show that quality certified hotels do not receive a statistically significantly better evaluation or rating from their customers. Indeed, the statistical analysis carried out confirms that certified hotels have a statistically significantly lower rating in terms of value for money than non-certified hotels. The implications for managers, customers and other stakeholders are discussed. The article also discusses the potential dangers in inferring directly that quality certification in the hospitality industry leads to superior customer satisfaction as is frequently suggested in both the practitioner and the scholarly literature in the field.