Returns to scale, technical and efficiency changes in the Spanish hotel industry using technological heterogeneity models

This paper analyses returns to scale, productivity growth and its decomposition in the Spanish hotel industry (period 1997–2019). To do so, we consider that hotels can have technological heterogeneity and, therefore, parameters in their production function can differ between them. Also, we use a multiple input and output production function based on an output distance stochastic frontier approach with random parameters in a Bayesian framework. Results indicate that the percentage of hotels working under increasing returns to scale decreased during the period considered. Furthermore, productivity growth was low, indicating signs of stagnation. Efficiency change appears to be the main driving force behind productivity growth, although technical change had a positive effect on productivity after the start of the global financial crisis. Several practical implications are proposed based on these results.