Critical Success Factors for Small Hotel Businesses in Turkey: An Exploratory Study

Small-scale businesses play a crucial role in the economies of many developing countries like Turkey. For this reason, it is important to identify critical success factors (CSFs) for successful operation of small-scale businesses in every industry. This study identifies the factors that are critical for success in small hotel businesses. It focuses on CSFs perceived by small hotel managers/owners.The study was undertaken in the Aegean region of Turkey among 155 small hotel businesses.The empirical results indicated that the main critical factors were efficient use of the internet, service quality, financial performance, and marketing. Factor analysis showed that the use of the internet was the most important factor for small hotels. There were some different perceptions among managers/owners as to CSFs, depending on their educational background and work experience. Based on these findings, recommendations for successful small hotel operations are presented.