Given the harmful consequences of customer unethical behavior, the study's goal is to investigate the function of customer loyalty in moderating the association between recession and unethical customer behavior.  Research Methods – In this study, quantitative research methodology was used. in addition to semi structured interview with hotels managers and team members who witnessed the recession in addition to customers accommodated in the study destination. The research data was analyzed using Smart PLS 3.
 
Findings – It was revealed that hotels in question have experienced severe recession during the last decade that caused unethical behavior such as receiving an illegitimate complaint, problem fabrication, dictating the hotels and illegitimately fraudulent returning payment. Unlike the previous studies, customer loyalty was not able to alleviate the effect of the recession on customer unethical behavior, this calls for conducting more research to address this gap.
 
Research value – This study investigation results adds value to better understanding of the tourist recession and the emerged customer unethical behavior. Hotels can benefit from this study by developing more effective inhibitors and training programs to manage customer unethical behavior.