Information on costs to support service marketing activities: a competitive advantage in the hotel industry

Abstract

This article aims at analyzing the relations between marketing in the hotel industry and the use of information regarding costs for strategic purposes in this segment, and the support seen in activities of services as to their specific demand in the hotel industry. This is due to the fact that to develop a product or service, it is necessary to assign a price to it, distribute it to the consumer market and stimulate market demand, acknowledging the importance of these strategies for the development of the business. Given the importance of the hotel business services sector in the Brazilian economy, it is necessary to identify the strategies adopted by managers of the businesses in this segment to remain competitive on the market. The survey is also justified by the lack of specific studies about the strategic use of information on costs in the process of strategic management of markets in the hotel business. Considering this situation, the purpose of the study was to verify empirically whether the managers of hotel businesses in Curitiba and in the metropolitan area apply the concepts of services marketing to develop managerial strategies for decision making. As regards the strategic positioning of medium and large hotels it was found that what predominates is the strategy of differentiation for activities-end as a whole. As to providing information on strategic costs, the data show that the managers of the hotels surveyed receive more information on operational costs than on costs involving the links of the value and market chains which are the focus of attention in strategic management.