Data-driven Online Decision Support for Hotel Site Selection

Location is one of the fundamental factors that determine hotel success. The location, once selected, cannot be changed without a significant investment. This research aims to identify the location-specific factors that affect Sri Lankan coastal hotels. The factors that affect the location rating have been assessed under location attraction, accessibility, and popularity. An ensemble learning model has been trained to predict the location score of a hypothetical location, assess the manner accessibility affects hotel performance, and predict location popularity based on the surrounding competition. The results show that this method can assess hotel location and performance, with significant accuracy and the identified location-related factors that contribute to a hotel's success can be used by hoteliers and investors to improve decision making.