Innovative practices in the Spanish hotel industry

Spain's hotel supply has grown continuously since the birth of the industry, always been highly profitable. In recent years, however, growth has sometimes been greater than demand, especially in large cities. Between 2001 and 2004, average hotel prices started to show signs of dropping. During this period, average occupancy failed to compensate for the lower prices, and profits fell as a result. In this context, hotel owners have turned to innovation as one of the best possible strategies for escaping from this situation. In 2005 we began a study on the best innovation practices in the Spanish hotel sector. Our goal was to share our findings with the entire industry and help hotels learn from the best. This paper does not focus on analysing results. It presents, in an exploratory fashion, the results of the first phases of our study: a survey of leading Spanish hotel chains and a sample of the best innovation practices which feature unique and inimitable characteristics.