Revenue management research in hospitality and tourism: A critical review of current literature and suggestions for future research

Purpose – The purpose of this study was to examine hospitality revenue management (RM) research in the recent decade, to identify emergent issues/topics and suggest directions for future research. Design/methodology/approach – A systematic process of literature review involving content analysis was adopted. The process involved searching for published articles in three major online databases for hospitality and tourism journals, evaluating and selecting the relevant articles, analyzing and synthesizing the findings of the selected papers and organizing the findings to determine what is known and what is yet to be known. Findings – The paper established a broad range of topics that have engaged the attention of hospitality and tourism researchers in contemporary times. These topics were structured into seven major themes constituting the core activities of hospitality RM process and another eight themes covering the factors influencing the practice of RM. Practical implications – The classification of the literature into core activities of RM process and factors influencing RM serves as a useful guide for practitioners and academics to trace relevant literature on various aspects of RM and to visibly notice the gaps in the existing literature. Originality/value – By developing an RM framework and using it to evaluate existing literature, this study brings cohesion into the hospitality and tourism RM literature.