Small hotel survival—an inductive approach

Abstract

The U.K. hotels industry is heterogeneous and small businesses are the most typical operational unit. Despite their numerical predominance these small often family run hotels have been neglected by researchers and rarely form a significant part of formal undergraduate study of hotel-keeping. This paper will: (a) explain why there has been a reluctance to carry out research in this area in the past; (b) describe a research strategy which has recently been successfully completed in remotely located small hotels in Scotland and present some preliminary findings; and (c) indicate why future research strategies in the hotels industry should be carried out by multidisciplinary teams rather than individuals working in isolation.