PATTERNS OF GUEST PREFERENCES AND STAY CHARACTERISTICS IN THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53555/th.v1i2.2578Keywords:
hospitality industry, guest preferences, hotel booking behaviour, stay characteristics, reservation analyticsAbstract
Understanding guest preferences and stay characteristics is essential for improving service quality, operational efficiency, and customer-oriented decision-making in the hospitality industry. This study analysed booking behaviour using the publicly available Hotel Booking Demand dataset comprising 119,390 reservation records from city and resort hotels. A quantitative cross-sectional design based on secondary data analysis was employed. Data preprocessing included cleaning, variable standardisation, and preparation for statistical analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to summarise guest profiles, accommodation preferences, stay duration, and booking outcomes. The findings indicated that city hotels accounted for the majority of reservations, while first-time and transient guests represented the largest customer segments. Bed-and-breakfast was the most preferred meal plan, and guests generally exhibited short stay durations with weekday nights exceeding weekend stays. Approximately one-third of reservations were cancelled before arrival, highlighting the operational significance of reservation management and demand forecasting. The results demonstrate that guest preferences, stay characteristics, and booking behaviour are closely interconnected and provide valuable information for understanding customer travel patterns. The study contributes to hospitality analytics by illustrating how large-scale reservation data can support customer segmentation, service personalisation, pricing strategies, and resource planning. These findings offer practical evidence for hotel managers seeking to improve decision-making and enhance guest experiences through data-informed operational strategies.
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