THE READINESS FOR IMPLEMENTING ICTs IN HOTEL INDUSTRY ORGANIZATIONS: EVIDENCE FROM THE REGIONAL LEVEL

Abstract

Purpose – Information and communication technologies (ICTs) usage is one of the key elements in the competitive struggle and achieving a competitive advantage in the hotel industry. The main goal of this paper is to empirically analyse the existence of readiness to implement ICTs in a sight of the potential challenges which hotels face due to the lack of such technology in their business. Methodology – This article, through researching the attitudes of managers at the top, middle and operational management levels, analyses the readiness of the organizations in hotel industry to implement ICTs as well as the main opportunities and advantages of their application. The data were analysed by acting the methods of descriptive and inferential statistics in order to test the significance of the examination attitudes obtained from respondent. Findings – The obtained results indicate the importance of the readiness for companies in the hotel industry to apply ICT and the inclination for digital transformation of business. There is exigency to provide an insight into the state of readiness for the implementation of digital technologies in the hotel industry, as well as a proposal for the values that these actions result. Contribution – The main contributions of this paper are fulfilling the literature gap towards the mentioned research issue for the implementation of ICT in the hotel industry at the regional level and providing insight from the viewpoints of managers rather than from technology experts.