Guidelines for Digital Platform Development to Create Competitive Advantage for Hotel Business in Thailand
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Abstract
This research aims 1) to study the situation of the use of the digital platform in the hotel business in Thailand and 2) to propose a digital platform development approach to create a competitive advantage in the hotel business in Thailand. This research conducts a phenomenological qualitative research method using a semi-structured in-depth interviews with 9 key informants who are purposively selected from tourism, hotel and online professionals in both public and private sectors. The data is analyzed by content analysis.
The results of the study found that 1. the dependence on foreign online travel agency platforms by hoteliers in Thailand, especially small hotels, can help them reach their customers easily, but they have to pay a high fee to the online travel agency and are bound by a contract that must disclose the price making it impossible to sell rooms at a lower price than online travel agencies. The government has lost a huge amount of tax revenue because the income of online travel agencies is taken out of the country. Online travel agencies have not yet invested in the development of infrastructure and basic tourism facilities in Thailand. 2. As for the approaches to developing digital platforms to create a competitive advantage in the hotel business in Thailand, there are six aspects 1) Service quality via online channels 2) Privileges for customers 3) Driving business by using big data 4) Experience from using the services via online channels 5) Building international awareness 6) Benefits between alliances.
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