Title: Analysis of prices of accommodation establishments in Kiev: determinants, dynamics and parity

Authors: Stanislav Ivanov; Kateryna Piddubna

Addresses: Tourism Economics, Department of Tourism, Varna University of Management, 13A Oborishte Str., 9000 Varna, Bulgaria ' International Hospitality Management Program, Department of Tourism, Varna University of Management, 13A Oborishte Str., 9000 Varna, Bulgaria

Abstract: The paper analyses the determinants of prices of 150 accommodation establishments in Kiev, their price dynamics and rate parity across three distribution channels. Six hedonic pricing models are developed with data for a weekend and a weekday check-in date from hotels' websites, Booking.com and Expedia.com. Location, category, Booking.com rating, chain affiliation, air-conditioning, conference rooms, number of rooms, F&B outlets and number of days before check-in have significant impacts on prices, while parking and swimming pool are not good predictors of prices. Central hotels, 5-star hotels, chain affiliated properties, those with over 100 rooms and with Booking.com rating above 8.0 have larger and positive percentage change in their prices than non-central, low category, independent, small and mid-sized properties with low customer rating. We find lack of rate parity across the distribution channels - prices on accommodation establishments' websites were lower than on the OTAs' websites. Managerial implications, limitations and directions for future research are also discussed.

Keywords: hedonic pricing; dynamic pricing; rate parity; hotel prices; hotels; last minute offers; revenue management; yield management; pricing strategies; Kiev; Ukraine; OTAs; online travel agencies; accommodation prices; pricing models.

DOI: 10.1504/IJRM.2016.079818

International Journal of Revenue Management, 2016 Vol.9 No.4, pp.221 - 251

Received: 27 Aug 2015
Accepted: 17 May 2016
Published online: 16 Oct 2016 *

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