| Summary: | Micro tourism accommodation businesses face increasing challenges to attract and keep customers. Literature suggests that developing a strong relationship with customers and a strategic approach to managing customer relationships provides opportunities for businesses to both increase loyalty and generate new business.
This research explores the currently applied methods as well as barriers for implementation of a structured approach to Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in small accommodation enterprises located in the province of Drenthe, the Netherlands. This sector and region have been selected as overnight tourism constitutes a large percentage of the region’s income and this type of accommodation dominates the market.
In depth interviews were conducted with a random sample of companies, followed by a panel discussion and survey to investigate the presence and motivation for current strategic, operational, analytical and collaborative initiatives. Findings show that the companies studied lack a structured approach to customer management and are facing considerable barriers to implement Customer Relationship Management (CRM) initiatives effectively or efficiently.
Keywords: Relationship Marketing, Customer Relationship Management, CRM, tourism, accommodation, micro-firm, loyalty.
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