Revealing cooperative behaviour arrangements within hotel marketing consortia

The purpose of this paper is to examine how hotel marketing consortia (HMC) manage cooperation among their members. This research aims to uncover processes of HMC networking. To achieve the research goals, an exploratory interview was addressed. After this, a questionnaire was applied to four- and five-star hotel managers in Portugal. Data was subsequently analysed for social network analysis. The results show that direct contact among HMC members occurs annually, during specific events. In consortia, cooperative behaviour relates to sharing experiences and market trends among members are similar in national and international consortia. The original contribution of the study is twofold: firstly, by identifying cooperative behaviours in HMC, and secondly, by focusing on the role of HMC in networking as an important business model in the hotel sector. Results will contribute to an understanding of the management perspective on HMC, which could be useful for assisting managers' decisions and strategies.