Resumen de Digital transformation and revenue management: Evidence from the hotel industry
Ziad Alrawadieh, Zaid Alrawadieh, Gurel Cetin
To maximize their revenues and protect their market share against traditional competitors (e.g.formal lodging businesses) and disruptive business models (e.g. Airbnb), the lodging industryincreasingly relies on technology in various operations. However, the extent to which hotelsadopt technology innovation in their revenue management (RM) operations, as well as thebenefits of and barriers for digitalization, remains unclear. Moreover, the possible impacts ofdigital transformation on the future of revenue managers’ professions have been largely over-looked in previous studies. Drawing on qualitative data collected through 23 semistructuredinterviews with revenue managers in luxury and upscale hotels across Jordan, the findings sug-gest that RM is going through digital transformation with different levels of sophistication. Whileacknowledging the benefits of digital transformation in saving time, supporting the decision-making process, and yielding more revenues, the high cost of RM software emerges as a keybarrier for digital transformation. The findings also reveal that the automation of various manualheuristics in RM is far from being possible, and therefore, digital transformation is unlikely topose a threat to the future of the RM profession.
