Information technologies & competitiveness in hospitality: case stady of greek resort hotels

Abstract

Hospitality businesses need to implement a number of strategies so as to compete successfully in today’s tourism market. Hoteliers can use information technologies in order to improve service quality, deliver exceptional guest satisfaction and increase revenues, as well as market share. This article explores what are the success factors on ICT and examines whether the ICT investments enhance competitiveness in the hospitality sector and to what extent. The survey was conducted in Chalkidiki, Greece and reveals that the top 5 ICT systems considered to be the most critical to success for the hotel managers are: guest security systems; website development with booking engine; on-line guest satisfaction evaluation; highspeed/ WiFi Internet; and, the property management systems. Furthermore, adequate and proper investments in new technology systems enhance the hotel competitiveness in terms of efficiency, effectiveness and profitability. This study was limited to high-class resort hotels in North Greece. Another limitation was the reluctance of some hoteliers to share operating performance and financial data of their lodging. Despite this fact, the sample is considered representative for reliable conclusions, since its size accounts for the 92% of the region’s upper class bed capacity. A competitive analysis in the area of ICT, as well as the application of both benchmarking and empirical analysis for the hotel economic assessment are among the main contributions of this study. The findings and proposed analyses can help hotel managers evaluate and compare their property with the competitive set and utilize the results in order to enhance their competitiveness.