TY - JOUR
T1 - Daily deal distribution and local destination characteristics
T2 - Data-driven analysis of upmarket Italian hotel online sales practices
AU - Minor, Katarzyna
AU - Bertocchi, Dario
AU - Fedeli, Giancarlo
AU - Tomat, Luka
AU - Bratec, Miha
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 The Authors
PY - 2025/5/23
Y1 - 2025/5/23
N2 - This paper examines hotels’ use of niche daily deal websites (flash sales) through the lens of external, destination characteristics, aiming to establish relationships between the two. Extant research indicates that both internal and external factors influence the decision-making processes of hotel businesses, yet, to date, this popular practice has been examined only from an internal business perspective. Using web scraping techniques, spatial and census data combined with quantitative analysis, the paper analyses 2741 niche daily deal offerings of 4-and 5-star Italian hotels against destination characteristics. The paper evidences the destination market structure impact on the conduct of hotels related to daily deal use. It shows that destination seasonality, economic tourist reliance, local competition and tourism demand are correlated with the volume and/or depth of discount of hotel offers featured via daily deal websites. This study contributes to the pricing research by empirically evidencing and comprehensively mapping a relationship between localised destination characteristics and hotel discounting behaviour.
AB - This paper examines hotels’ use of niche daily deal websites (flash sales) through the lens of external, destination characteristics, aiming to establish relationships between the two. Extant research indicates that both internal and external factors influence the decision-making processes of hotel businesses, yet, to date, this popular practice has been examined only from an internal business perspective. Using web scraping techniques, spatial and census data combined with quantitative analysis, the paper analyses 2741 niche daily deal offerings of 4-and 5-star Italian hotels against destination characteristics. The paper evidences the destination market structure impact on the conduct of hotels related to daily deal use. It shows that destination seasonality, economic tourist reliance, local competition and tourism demand are correlated with the volume and/or depth of discount of hotel offers featured via daily deal websites. This study contributes to the pricing research by empirically evidencing and comprehensively mapping a relationship between localised destination characteristics and hotel discounting behaviour.
KW - Accommodation online distribution
KW - Daily deals
KW - Data-driven approach
KW - Destination characteristics
KW - Tourism destinations
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=105005804631&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jhtm.2025.03.013
DO - 10.1016/j.jhtm.2025.03.013
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:105005804631
SN - 1447-6770
VL - 63
SP - 290
EP - 300
JO - Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management
JF - Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management
ER -