Profitability analysis of digitalization tools for small hospitality service providers : a case study

Abstract

The hospitality industry has a great impact on the worldwide economy. In 2017, the hotels and resorts field made a profit of $878 billion and recruited 4.3 million people (Uniting travel). Over recent years development of leading technologies in the industry changed the way services are provided. Digitalization is playing more and more significant role. In this paper, various digitalization tools and their profitability will be examined in the context of a small hotel business. The way adoption of new technologies can ease the leading of business and what kind of benefits small and medium businesses working in the sphere of hospitality can acquire are to be studied in this paper. What is more, it will be researched how digitalization can improve guest experiences.

The research is built upon case study. The author worked at the hotel, got an insight on how the business functions and what kind of problems it is facing. Information received from the owners of the hotel is the basis of the profitability analysis. Results of the research revealed that there are several profitable option to select from for a small hotel business. Combination of a centralized management system without monthly fee with a key door boxes was considered to be the most feasible option.