Innovative behavior in hotels in Santa Marta, Colombia

The present study aimed to characterize the innovative behavior of hotels. It was carried out in 70 hotel companies in the city of Santa Marta-Colombia, through a survey of the manager or whoever he delegated. For the operationalization of the variables, two phases were taken into account: the generation and implementation of ideas. A non-probabilistic convenience sampling was used. For the analysis of the information, three types of calculations were used: first, a basic description was made using univariate calculations; second, a cluster analysis (multivariate) was carried out in order to identify related subgroups within the companies studied; third, an inferential analysis was performed using the mean difference between the three clusters. As a finding, three clusters were obtained according to the degree of innovation achieved: high, medium and low. The existence of an acceptable innovative behavior in the hotels of Santa Marta was evidenced. The least development was in the implementation, rather than the generation of ideas. According to the results, it is proposed that future research be oriented to study factors, mechanisms and strategies that facilitate innovative behavior to strengthen business groups with lower performance in this field.