Characteristics of Strategic Management in Innovation in the Field of Hotel Services in Romania

Tourism is an economic and social phenomenon specific to modern civilisation, strongly anchored in the social life and influenced by its evolution. Addressing to large segments, and fully answering their needs, tourism is characterised by high dynamism, both on national and international level. Tourism development, its vast national and international expansion made it become one of the top components of modern economic life, an extremely important phenomenon of the contemporary world, with deep economic, social, political, and cultural implications.

Variety and richness of tourist attractions, natural, cultural, but also historical, bring Romania on one of the top places in Europe. It is a country which amazes and delights at the same time, a unique country. It is a mixture of flavours, tastes, people, and culture.

The hotel industry, considered in most of the countries an autonomous activity, distinct from the tourist field, reunites in a coherent system all the processes developed in the accommodation units generated by the traveller’s reception, stay, and departure. The content of this field evolved along with the development of accommodation structures, and with their involvement in tourist activity, amplifying itself with new functions and forms of services. By the hotel industry, the main services are developed: accommodation and restoration. These services satisfy the tourists’ vital needs, because the hotel industry should also answer other needs or demands, as the recognition of social status, the desire to learn about other cultures or traditions, the pleasantly spending of the leisure time. The hotels sector registered development and modernisation along the time, and by reuniting the tradition of several centuries of hospitality and the restrictions of a performing administration, the hotel activity succeeded to maintain a good position on the market and in front of the competition by: providing services of higher quality, obtaining a good ratio quality/price, a bigger offer for the satisfaction of the most refined demands, improvement of the equipment, and comfort. The necessity to face the multiple challenges characterising nowadays the business environment determines the organisation to practice strategic management. This offers a series of advantages consisting in offering a coherent perspective over the future of the organisation, and a strong decision and action process for all the levels of leadership.

The subject “Characteristics of strategic management in innovation in the field of hotel services in Romania” intends to emphasise the importance of strategic management and of innovative services in hotel industry.

Due to the higher competition from the hotel industry, the providers of tourist products and services are more and more compelled to take into account customers’ needs, demands and expectations. From this reason, specialists in tourist industry should understand and acknowledge the new tendencies in tourism development, and realise that the customers’ greater demands oblige them to use new instruments of strategic management. Furthermore, it is not enough for them to understand and to acknowledge this fact, it is important that all the persons involved in this field apply these ideas, and constantly find innovative solutions in order to efficiently serve their customers.