Revenue Management and the Use of E-Commerce to Increase Production through Global Distribution System Channels: A Case Study of Puerto Rico Hotels

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent to which optimized GDS distribution practice is being utilized by the hoteliers in Puerto Rico. Performance of 3 hotels was evaluated and return on investment was calculated, followed by semi structured interviews with a sales and marketing directors’ at each property. Also, an interview was carried out with a hospitality expert in e – commerce in order to find out hoteliers’ knowledge, acceptance/resistance towards new, e – marketing concepts available to use within the hotel industry. The results indicate that hotels which participated in GDS media campaigns achieved significantly higher GDS revenues and higher market share, gaining a competitive advantage against its competitive set. However, many financial decision makers within the industry are not necessarily hospitality experts, for example property owners, and because of lack of knowledge and inexperience are resistant towards e - commerce investments such as GDS media campaigns.