Browsing by Author "Germeyan, Umut"

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Küçük ve orta ölçekli otellerin dijitalleşme uygulamalarındaki zorluklar
(2024) Germeyan, Umut; Umutlu, Gökçe Özdemir
Digitalization and digital transformation shape world economies and create disruptive innovations. The development of global digitalization has an impact on every sector, including tourism. Although these megatrend changes transform many industries, they bring opportunities and challenges unique to the tourism industry. Digitalization is expected to radically transform the tourism industry. However, due to the complexity and cost of digitalization, especially small and medium-sized enterprises experience problems in the implementation process. Despite its practical importance, the concept of digitalization is not yet fully understood by small and medium-sized hotels. Many small and medium-sized hotels are not profitable due to their inability to implement digitalization correctly. The purpose of this study is to create an understanding of how digital technologies are applied in the context of small and medium-sized hotels and the present state of digital transformation in the tourism industry. For this purpose, through a qualitative methodology, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 8 small and medium-sized hotel managers in order to understand the effects of digitalization on the tourism sector, and the factors affecting the digitalization process were determined. A significant improvement in operational efficiency and guest experience has been observed within small and medium-sized hotels as a result of digitalisation, according to the research findings. In integrating digital technologies into existing business models, improving guest experiences was not given as much priority as operational efficiency due to cost factors, specifically resource limitations and expertise constraints. Small and medium-sized hotels are not maximizing the potential of digital technologies. However, they can address this issue by investing in digital solutions that can reduce costs and improve guest experiences. Studies addressing the digitalization process in the context of small and medium-sized hotels are limited in the literature. Therefore, this study can provide an understanding of the factors affecting digitalization practices. The research contributes to small and medium-sized hotel managers and practitioners by providing various theoretical and practical implications. The research findings are aimed to guide small and medium-sized hotel managers to create sustainable digital strategies in a practical context.