المستخلص: |
Hotel rooms are the major source of hotel revenues and generate about 70% of a hotel’s total revenues. In many hotels, guest rooms represent the only source of revenue. However, due to the vulnerability of the hotel industry and the perishability its products and services, there are many factors, including: political; economic; environmental; etc., that can negatively impact the demand for hotel rooms and lead it to decline. This study investigates the problem of demand downturn for hotel rooms within the context of Cairo hotels. A mixed methods approach was adopted in this study using multiple sources of evidence, including: questionnaire survey; semi-structured interviews; document analysis. The results of this study showed that Cairo hotels had witnessed periods of demand downturn on a regular basis. There were several reasons that had negatively impacted the demand for Cairo hotels and led to these periods of downturn, such as the political events of 2011, the financial crisis of 2008, poor facilities of hotels and low-quality services and products. Research findings also revealed that the performance of both individual hotels and the official bodies in relation to demand downturn management was ineffective for handling serious periods of demand downturn. Although some of the practices were perceived to be effective, the overall performance was ineffective. The study ends by providing some recommendation that could enhance the management of demand downturn.
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