Ng, FredrickDemydyuk, GannaCui, Claire M2025-09-122025-09-122025-09-11Tourism Economics, ISSN: 1354-8166 (Print). doi: 10.1177/135481662513722011354-8166http://hdl.handle.net/10292/19789This study integrates customer satisfaction with cost and revenue data in upscale chain hotels using a two-stage Network Data Envelopment Analysis approach. Stage 1 assesses Cost-to-Satisfaction (C-S) efficiency; Stage 2 measures Satisfaction-to-Revenue (S-R) efficiency. By comparing two-stage results to traditional one-stage accounting-only DEA, the study exposes limitations in current accounting systems that overlook customer feedback. Findings reveal consistently high C–S but declining and fluctuating S–R efficiency, indicating untapped revenue potential. We advance hotel efficiency research by integrating customer metrics with accounting data in DEA and propose practical guidance in setting priorities in either cost or revenue management.© The Author(s) 2025. Creative Commons License (CC BY 4.0). This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/1402 Applied Economics1503 Business and Management1506 TourismSport, Leisure & Tourism3508 Tourism3801 Applied economicsJournal ArticleOpenAccess10.1177/13548166251372201