Implementation of yield management practices in service organisations: Empirical findings from a major hotel group

Abstract

This article presents findings on the development and implementation of a centralised yield management project by an international hotel group in its over 160 hotel units. Data were collected over two years from the participant hotel group's three management levels through semi-structured interviews, observations and document analysis. The research findings reveal that developing and implementing a centralised yield management project is contextually a very complex and challenging task. Major problems and difficulties appear to have originated from the participant company's organisational structure and culture. In addition, a high labour turnover, poor HRM practices, ongoing developments and changes across the company seem to have had an impact on the implementation of yield practices. The existing literature on yield management seems to view yield implementation as a tactical activity and therefore fails to explain the strategic implications of deploying yield practices in service organisations. The overall recommendation of this article are that scholars and practitioners working in this area should view yield implementation more from the perspectives of strategic management and change management fields.