Abstract
The resilience of the business cycle and the competitive market structure continues to reshape the landscape of the revenue management concepts and revenue management systems within the hotel industry. Therefore, when the business environment is changing, programmed strategies can be a way to deal with the inhibition of the organisation to adapt to new circumstances. As is often the case with changing economic conditions, two major factors dictate segment performance: the economic conditions themselves and how operators react and anticipate for the future. In order to gain a richer and deeper understanding of how the business cycle and the competitive market structure impact the concepts and principles of RM, a multiple case study approach was adopted. Through qualitative semi-structured interviews of Revenue Managers or Directors of hotel companies an inductive exploratory study was conducted within the London hotel industry. Additionally, secondary data about the economic environment and historical performance of the London hotel industry was also collected and used for analysis. The research findings reveal that RM systems are not sufficient to plan an effective strategic RM within this competitive business era. Findings show that the concepts and principles of RM have changed from a tactical managing process to a strategic planning and managing process. In addition, findings also suggest that the hotel industry should use the analysis of the economic indicators and the business cycle as a fundamental technique for almost any kind of strategic planning. Through this it will be able to scan environmental trends and market dynamics as well as to monitor and gather competitive intelligence in order to forecast and to plan an effective and efficient RM strategy. This research also provide a more comprehensive approach to the planning and development of strategic RM within uncertain or changing economic environments as well as to what skills will be needed by hotel industry managers, practitioners and in studying hospitality management. Finally, the research also offers an empirical contribution to the current insight of strategic RM concepts and to the principles of strategic forecasting within the competitive business environment of the hotel industry.