Technological Innovation in Hotels: Open the “Black Box” using a Systematic Literature Review

Abstract:

The goal of this paper is to perform a systematic literature review (SLR) on technological innovation research in hotels. Based on 47 papers published in refereed journals indexed to the Scopus database, it was possible to identify, explore and systematize the main themes of the topic technological innovation: 1) Information and communication technologies (ICT) in general; 2) Internet usage (clients vs managers/hoteliers); 3) Mobile technologies (e.g., mobile apps and mobile devices); 4) Automation/self-service technologies (SST); 5) Mix of technological innovations; 6) In roomtechnologies (e.g., music system, video gaming console and satellite TV); 7) Radio frequency identification (RFID); 8) Biometric technologies; 9) Sustainable management technologies (efficient technologies); 10) Intelligent agent technology (IAT); 11) Teleconferencing and 12) Technology revenue management system (TRM). The analysis shows a significant lack of scientific papers on biometric technologies and green/ sustainable technologies, which represent important opportunities for further research.