Romanian Hotel Managers' Perspective on Revenue Management

• Author: Tierean O.
• Position: Transilvania University of Brasov
• Pages: 57-70

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşo v

Series V: Economic Sciences • Vol. 11 (60) No. 2 – 2018

ROMANIAN HOTEL MANAGERS’ PERSPECTIVE

ON REVENUE MANAGEMENT

Ovidiu ȚIEREAN1

Abstract: This research paper investigates the revenue management

practices of Romanian classified hotels through a survey of 85 managers. The

information found shows that the focus is on the pricing policy and not

necessarily on their dynamics, on the optimization of the inventory sales and

less on forecasting. The over-represented hotels are the four-star hotels. Most

of the respondents are non-affiliated hotels without an employed manager.

The revenue management activities are the general manager’s responsibilities

in most of the cases. The answers received show a balance in the choice of

customer perception or profitability as factors in price setting. The most

important distribution channels are other websites, not the hotel’s or OTA.

Key words: quantitative research, revenue management, affiliated vs. non-

affiliated hotels, price setting

1. Introduction

Tourism is evolving and, for a hotel to stay competitive, it is imperative for it to

constantly update its sales and communication strategies. The revenue management

concept, commonly found in literature, is about techniques and strategies to increase

competitiveness and revenue, opinion stated by aut hors such as Cross (1997), Legoherel,

Poutier and Fyall (2013) and Ivanov (2014).

In the past years, hotel revenue management has grown as a research field, but its

application by the hotel industries in Romania has not received attention at all in the

specialized academic literature. This research aims to fill this gap by analysing the revenue

management te chniques used by the classifi ed accommodation establi shments in Romania.

After the 2008 crisis and with the increase of the online visibility and the power gained

by the online travel agencies, hoteliers have had to adapt to the online environment. In

this respect, the use of new parameters and techniques has been necessary in order to

balance the supply and demand and to maximize revenues. Revenue management has

been widely recognized as a key technique for matching supply and demand in touri sm

and hospitality (Ivanov, 2017), and, considering this aspect, this paper aims to determine

whether the revenue management concept is used by the Romanian hotel managers.

1 Transilvania University of Braşov, ovidiu.tierean@unitbv.ro