Benchmarking i hotellsektorn

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this thesis is to study and analyze how benchmarking as a tool is being practiced in the Swedish hotel sector, and also to study what potentials and abilities for learning and development there are. In order to fulfill the purpose we have compared how selected hotels apply benchmarking in practice. We applied a qualitative method with a deductive approach in terms of a multiple case study. This was done in order to enable a comparative analysis. Semi-structured interviews were used to gather information. The empirical foundation is based on eight qualitative interviews with four different hotels. The interviews were conducted with the person responsible for benchmarking at each hotel and with an employee of this person’s choice. The respondents state that they are working with benchmarking, however they are not using the tools full potential. This has been noticed since they in reality only use comparative numbers and overrides the learning aspect. The interviews indicate that awareness exists concerning the risk of being blinded by numbers and not seeing what is beyond them. Despite this existing awareness, the problem still arises and the learning aspect is largely omitted. The benchmarking is therefore rather a ratio analysis.