Distribution Channels and Management in the Swiss Hotel Sector

Roland Schegg (), Brigitte Stangl (), Michael Fux () and Alessandro Inversini ()
Additional contact information
Roland Schegg: Institut de Tourisme (ITO), HES-SO Valais
Brigitte Stangl: Economics and Law University of Surrey
Michael Fux: Institut de Tourisme (ITO), HES-SO Valais
Alessandro Inversini: Bournemouth University

A chapter in Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2013, 2013, pp 554-565 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract This research investigates how the hospitality sector in Switzerland has embraced the new world of (online) distribution. It analyses the role of existing distribution channels, and gives insights into channel management methods used. Data is gathered through an online survey among Swiss hotels resulting in 196 usable questionnaires. Findings show that direct booking channels remain the dominant sales tools in Switzerland, although their proportion in the distribution mix has been decreasing steadily in the last years. The Internet Distribution System channel reaches 16.4 % and thus is the channel with the highest growth rate in 2011. A cluster analysis on multi-channel distribution strategies results in four groups: multi-channel distributors, electronic distributors, real time distributors, and traditional distributors. Further, it is shown that more than half of the hotels manage rates and availabilities manually and only one out of four hotels has implemented a channel manager able to manage different channels.

Keywords: Hotel; Distribution; Channel management; Switzerland; OTA; IDS (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-642-36309-2_47

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9783642363092

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-36309-2_47

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Springer Books from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().