The attractiveness of service employees can have a significant impact on customer attitudes and behaviors. While frontline employees can reduce the risk of the COVID-19 transmission and infection by wearing facemasks, doing so can also influence customers’ perceptions of employees’ attractiveness and thus affect customer satisfaction. Based on the Gestalt theory, this study explores the impact of hotel employees’ facemask-wearing on customer satisfaction through two experimental studies. The results indicate that average-looking frontline employees who wear facemasks induce high levels of customer satisfaction. However, while the impact of wearing facemasks on customer satisfaction is not significant for attractive-looking male frontline employees, attractive-looking female frontline employees who wear facemasks induce lower customer satisfaction. Customers’ perception of employees’ physical attractiveness fully mediates the effects of wearing facemasks on customer satisfaction in the case of average-looking employees. Customers’ self-perceived physical attractiveness moderates the mediated effects. Implications that can help hotel managers improve customers’ service evaluations during the COVID-19 pandemic are provided.

服务人员的吸引力会对客户的态度和行为产生重大影响。虽然一线员工可以通过戴口罩降低 COVID-19 传播和感染的风险，但这样做也会影响客户对员工吸引力的看法，从而影响客户满意度。本研究基于格式塔理论，通过两项实验研究探讨酒店员工佩戴口罩对顾客满意度的影响。结果表明，戴口罩的普通前线员工会产生很高的客户满意度。然而，虽然戴口罩对顾客满意度的影响对于外貌迷人的男性一线员工并不显着，但戴口罩的外貌迷人的女性一线员工会降低顾客满意度。就长相普通的员工而言，顾客对员工外貌吸引力的看法完全调节了戴口罩对顾客满意度的影响。顾客自我感知的身体吸引力会调节中介效应。提供了可以帮助酒店经理在 COVID-19 大流行期间改善客户服务评估的启示。