Hotel typology based on information technology competency

This study aims to group hotels in terms of the level of IT competencies, and to characterize each group according to contingency factors (size, category, type of customer, among others) and the characteristics of the human resources that work in them. The study focuses on Portuguese hotel industry, based on a sample of 163 hotel professionals, across 3, 4 and 5 star hotels categories. The performance of a hierarchical grouping analysis using the Ward aggregation criterion allowed us to define three groups of hotels. The results show statistically significant differences between the groups in the level of IT competencies. The results of the group characterization present contradictions in relation to the literature, mainly in relation to the aspects of the category and the size of the hotels. In addition, the results show that the high level of IT skills can be closely related to the training and maturity of the professionals. This study helps to alert managers to the importance of integration between human resources and available IT.