This research paper explores the conceptual structure of the literature published on "customer satisfaction" and identifies novel research gaps. For the purpose of the study, we create the co-occurrence networks and conduct thematic analysis as well as factorial analysis of the content of the papers published on customer satisfaction in the last two decades (2000-2020) in tourism and hospitality journals. We use 'R' software to conduct the analysis based on the data retrieved from the web of science database. Findings from the network analysis and thematic analysis are discussed to identify novel research gaps to further advance the ever-evolving field of research on "customer satisfaction". Our purpose with this paper is to bring to light the research gaps using a systematic, quantitative and objective technique of drawing the conceptual structure. Findings reveal that research on customer satisfaction in emerging contexts and restaurant research prominently deserve further attention, including work that compares customer expectation and satisfaction pre-and-post COVID in a context such as restaurants, destination tourism, and sharing economy, to name a few.