PREPARATION FOR NEGOTIATIONS PROCESS IN HOTEL INDUSTRY OF MONTENEGRO

Abstract

Current trends in the tourism industry considerably affect the hotel business. Their influences are particularly reflected in the sales departments by changing distribution channels, strengthening the role of information technology, increasing power of intermediaries, competition and so on. In order to maintain their place at the market and their market share, hotels must have a stable and efficient retail sector that will generate sufficient funds for profitable operations of the hotel. The main conditions for creating effective sales sector are skilled and trained sales managers who are able to identify high quality sellers and fully exploit their potentials. The effectiveness of sales managers is measured by success of their negotiations, as well as efforts which they invest in the preparation of negotiating process. The aim of this study is to determine in which amount sales managers in Montenegro give importance to the preparation of the process of negotiation, how much effort they invest in it, and at the end, what results are achieved with well-prepared negotiation. A questionnaire with fifteen questions answered by sales managers from 20 Montenegrin hotels was prepared for this research. The results show that sales managers in Montenegro are not yet sufficiently committed to the preparation of the negotiations, but they are aware of the importance of adequately prepared negotiation process.