Critical Success Factors Providing Competitive Advantage in Hotel Businesses: A Research on 4- and 5-Star Hotels in Trabzon Province

Abstract

In today's world where competition is extremely increasing, businesses need to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage in order to survive. Businesses need to take the necessary steps not only by looking at their own processes, but also by considering the external environment and especially the actions of their competitors. The excessive flexibility of demand, especially due to many features of the tourism industry, increases the factors that tourism businesses should take into account when they take a future-related step, and these factors have critical importance. The aim of the study is to determine the factors that should focus on hotel businesses in Trabzon province in order to achieve success and competitive advantage. Some of the research data were collected by quantitative and some qualitative methods. Quantitative data were collected with a questionnaire for 19 hotel managers, and qualitative data were collected through unstructured interviews with 10 hotel managers. Mean and standard deviation analysis were used in the analysis of quantitative data, while a single case model, two case models and word cloud were used in the analysis of qualitative data. According to the results of the research, some of the Critical Success Factors (KBF) that hotel managers consider to be the most important can be listed as follows: additional services (incomegenerating excluding accommodation income, services that can increase the attractiveness of the business and can be used other than the guests staying in the facilities), excess, communication with guests, design and quality of hotel rooms, guest recommendations, building an international brand and the effectiveness of the business in social media.