Exploratory study on the Innovation activities of Saudi Hotel SMEs

The paper investigates various innovation activities adopted by SME hotels in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 16 in-depth interviews with SME hotel managers in Riyadh were carried out. In doing so, this research fills the gap i.e. paucity of research related to the innovation activities of SME hotels in Saudi Arabia. The findings indicate that SME hotels in Saudi Arabia engage in a range of innovation activities and use web applications for marketing and sales. However, their usage of computer systems and applications for managing internal business process is low highlighting lack of knowhow and awareness. They have not recognised the value created by human capital and hence invest less on human capital management. Majority of the organisations witnessed a dip in revenues in the past year highlighting a cause for concern. These findings are consistent with the contemporary literature but calls for further research to investigate the relationship between resource utilisation and innovation outcomes.