Competitor set identification in the hotel industry: A case study of a full-service hotel in Hong Kong

Despite the importance of competitor identification in the hotel industry, the process of identifying competitors remains unclear to industry practitioners. This study aimed to provide further insights on the frameworks that can be used by industry practitioners to identify competitors. The objectives of this study were to describe the managerial procedure for competitor identification adopted by a full-service hotel in Hong Kong and to evaluate the outcome of this procedure by comparing the competitor set identified by the managers with those independently identified by the hotel's guests. Applying a descriptive research design involving interviews with the top management of the hotel and a survey with the hotel's guests, the findings revealed that the managers followed a three-step process to identify their competitors, namely: (a) defining the corporate identity of the hotel; (b) scanning the market for potential competitors, and (c) matching and choosing hotels with similar corporate identities. Furthermore, a close match was found between the competitors identified by both the managers and the hotel's guests, indicating that the managerial approach to the competitor identification was reflective of the customers’ perspectives. A significant contribution of this study is that it has unveiled an additional framework for competitor identification which suggests the need for corporate marketers and industry practitioners to pay critical attention to corporate identity management.