Hotel revenue management – a critical literature review

Abstract

The paper presents a literature review of the main concepts of hotel revenue management (RM) and current state-of-the-art of its theoretical research. The article emphasizes on the different directions of hotel RM research and is structured around the elements of the hotel RM system and the stages of RM process. The elements of the hotel RM system discussed in the paper include hotel RM centers (room division, F&B, function rooms, spa & fitness facilities, golf courses, casino and gambling facilities, and other additional services), data and information, the pricing (price discrimination, dynamic pricing, lowest price guarantee) and non-pricing (over bookings, length of stay control, room availability guarantee) RM tools, the RM software, and the RM team. The stages of RM process have been identify ed as goal setting, collection of data and information, data analysis, forecasting, decision making, implementation and monitoring. Additionally, special attention is paid to ethical considerations in RM practice, the connections between RM and customer relationship management, and the legal aspect of RM. Finally, the article outlines future research perspectives and discloses potential evolution of RM in future.