Strategic Entrepreneurship in the Hotel Industry: The Role of Chain Affiliation

The aim of this paper is to identify why independent hotels decide to affiliate and give up their highly valued independence. Based on interviews with 12 independently owned hotels and five affiliations active on the Swedish market, it became evident that independence is important, but factors such as development with technical solutions, internet, the use of smart phones, social media, sales and marketing, central purchasing and loyalty cards are difficult to pursue as an independent hotel. The results also showed that marketing organisations and referral chains are the preferred options, as their offerings are more in line with the view of strategic entrepreneurship that the hoteliers expressed. Even agency-related aspects such as control rights affected the entrepreneurs' aspiration to affiliate, at the same time as the respondents thought their way of running the business was the most efficient. The results from the research add to the knowledge associated with agency theory, strategic entrepreneurship and resource-based view of the firm. More practically, it gives the independent hoteliers a possibility to assess the current situation and decide what options could be valuable, while the affiliations would be able to better align their offerings to attract new hotels.