Developing a Computational Tool for the Hospitality Industry

Abstract

The importance of databases has been increasing in the hospitality industry and data mining, as one of effective computational tools, is introduced to facilitate what its industry’s needs due to its benefit for managing large and complex buyer behavior in customer databases. Nowadays, hospitality industry is encouraged to adopt Customer relationship management (CRM) to maintain relationship with their targeted customers. This study aimed to understand and explore the application of data mining in CRM in Taiwanese hospitality industry because this business sector is highly competitive market in recent years. A semi-structured and face-to-face interview method was used in order to explore the perceptions of Marketing Director or Service Director. The findings showed that the data mining technology was essential for the development of long-term relationships with customers in the hospitality industry. It also suggested a proposed data mining process for small and medium sized hotels.