A Study on the Optimazation of the Hotel Room Rate Pricing Policy

호텔 객실가격정책(客室價格政策)의 합리화(合理化)에 관한 연구(硏究)

The optional market segmentation pricing policy for rooms of hotels are investigated under the assumption of a linear demand function, and for four different situations: (1) single price market, (2) optimal segmentation of the unused capacity of a single-price-maeket, (3) optimal segmantation for all rooms, and (4) opimal segmentation for infiltration from higher priced to adjacent lower priced segments. The purpose of tis study is th show that with proper pricing policy, it would be possible to increase profits considerably. Such a profit increase might be achived by market segmentation coupled with product differentiation, where the different market segments are identified, sperated, and in each segment a different price per room is called for. The different prices are determined based on the specific price elasticity typical for each market segment and the relavant costs. The pricing model implied in this study is based on basic economic pricing theory and optimization techniques. While somewhat complex in its mathmatical solution, it can be easily programmed for use by practitioners, avoiding the need to cope with the technical aspects of the solution. In section II-1, the optimal single-market Single-price policy is evaluated. The optimal strategy under the constraint that only the previously unutilized rooms are segmented is analysed in section II-2, while the optimal strategy without this constraint is determined in section II-3. In section II-4, the optimal market-segmentation pricing policy is derived for the case in which market seperation is allowed for all the rooms under the assumption of custtomer infiltration from each market segment to the adjacent lower priced segment Finally, some considerations relating to the practicality of the model as a decision support tool and the requirements for its implementation are discussed in section III.