Resumen

On a global basis, it has been recognized that advances in Information Technologies (IT) have revolutionized business world, since they represent opportunities for organizations by providing tools that facilitate, among others, their internal activities. The accommodation sector is also permeated by this phenomenon, in fact, it has been observed how it has grown hand in hand with technology, which greatest effects are mainly reflected in travel planning and communication with external actors. However, little has been studied about the IT integration level into the required logistics operations for providing accommodation services. Considering the above, the following dissertation was oriented to analyze the IT integration level within logistics operations carried out by accommodation sector in Tolima, a region considered as productive bet for tourism in central Colombia. Once the study object was identified and information was collected, this document presents the results of the query made to 41 three to five-star system rating hotels in the region. Statistical analyzes were approached considering the differentiating effect of identification variables such as hotels’ star category, membership to a hotel chain and geographical location. The results of the study show several aspects to highlight. First, the IT integration level within consulted Tolima’s hotels is low. Secondly, the results reveal that digital environments are mostly used to facilitate customer-hotel interaction during the planning of accommodation. Third, the accommodation activity is the one that is especially leveraged by IT; while special services and maintenance, although they require logistics operations, are those that have the lowest levels. Given the technological lag presented by the analyzed sector, from the author’s point of view, its improvement can be undertaken from two perspectives. First, Tolima’s hotels should increase the use and knowledge they have about the IT tools available in cloud services, since many of these can be integrated into operational tasks associated with the provision of accommodation services without excessive costs. Secondly, managers of Tolima’s hotels need to keep up with global trends in IT in order to identify those emerging tools that could be creatively integrated into business operations, and even leverage them, to differentiate the value offer in the service portfolio.