Comparing Chinese and American attitudes towards complaining Erdogan H. Ekiz School of Hospitality and Tourism, Taylor’s University College, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Norman Au School of Hotel and Tourism Management, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong Abstract Purpose – The current research aims to explore the possible effects of attitude towards complaining (ATC) on intention to remain loyal to hotels and to compare Chinese and American ATC in this perspective. Design/methodology/approach – The sample of the study consisted of Chinese and American graduate students, who were selected through the non-probability convenience sampling technique. A total of 1,822 questionnaires were found to be useful and data from these questionnaires were tested through SPSS and LISREL statistical software. Findings – Findings indicate that culture clearly affects ATC and general intention to stay loyal which suggests that practitioners should consider the cultural background of their customers while designing and implementing their service recovery systems. Results show that Chinese respondents tend to forgive and forget failures, whereas Americans seek a remedy from third parties. Research limitations/implications – Only relationships between ATC and loyalty were investigated in this research; thus inclusion of other dimensions would provide further insights. Although the use of student sample and scenario is well-justified and a common practice, future studies may consider collecting data from actual tourists. Data analyzed in this research were cross-sectional and collected using convenience sampling; future studies may use random sampling and consider conducting longitudinal research. Originality/value – There is a paucity of cross-cultural research investigating ATC. China and America’s current and potential significance in global tourism is undeniable. Moreover, they are ideal examples of their respective culture clusters; thus studying Chinese and American ATC provides significant insights for both industry practitioners and academics. Keywords Complaints, Customer loyalty, Culture, China, United States of America Paper type Research paper Introduction Emotions and attitudes form the basis for most, if not all, of daily human activities (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975). Attitudes influence how people consume in general, and evaluate purchased goods and services in particular (Ajzen, 2005). For this reason, marketing divisions of countless companies investigate their consumers’ attitudes towards their products and/or services (Kotler et al., 2010). This investigation includes the basic understanding of how members of their target market think, behave and act when they face a problem, in other words, what are their attitudes towards complaining (ATC) (Blodgett and Tax, 1993; Oh, 2006). If companies can learn this, they can offer effective and efficient solutions that are more likely to be welcomed by The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/0959-6119.htm Attitudes towards complaining 327 Received 9 July 2009 Revised 30 November 2009 31 March 2010 30 May 2010 Accepted 5 July 2010 International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management Vol. 23 No. 3, 2011 pp. 327-343 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0959-6119 DOI 10.1108/09596111111122514