This article examines the effect on price of different characteristics of holiday hotels in the sun-and-beach segment. The effect on price is estimated under the hedonic function perspective by means of random effect models, known also as mixed or panel models. Some 82,000 prices were gathered between 1991 and 1998 from tour operator catalogues. The study reveals huge price differences between 4-star hotels and the rest, coupled with practically no difference between 1-star and 2-star hotels. Other attributes with a significant effect on price are town, hotel size, distance to the beach and availability of parking place. The results can assist hotel managers in shaping pricing and investment strategies.Keywords: pricing; hedonic functions; hotels; random effect models; hierarchical models.This article studies the effect on prices of the different characteristics or attributes of a holiday hotel in the sun-and-beach segment. Such attributes include, among others, the town in which the hotel is located, star category, size, and the services available to guests. Prices are examined from the supply perspective, assuming that the hotel market is in a monopolistic competition situation in which the hotel manager can differentiate its offer. We consider tour operators' prices, which coincide with what most tourists pay as tour operators constitute the most frequent distribution channel for tourist hotels in the sun-and-beach market segment (Espinet, 1999).

This article examines the effect on price of different characteristics of holiday hotels in the sun-andbeach segment, under the hedonic function perspective. Monthly prices of the majority of hotels in the five major tourist regions in the Spanish continental Mediterranean coast were gathered from May to October 1999, from the tour operator catalogues. Hedonic functions are specified as random-effect models and parameterized as structural equation models with two latent variables, a random peak season price and a random width of seasonal fluctuations. This model can be considered to be a latent growth curve model applied to seasonality rather than growth. Characteristics of the hotels were used as predictors of both latent variables in models fitted for each region separately. Hotel category, region, distance to the beach, availability of parking place, and room equipment have an effect on both peak price and seasonality. Three-star hotels have the highest seasonality and hotels located in the southern regions the lowest. This can be explained by a warmer climate in autumn in the southern regions. The model is fitted to the pooled data of all regions and expanded to include the effect of climate on prices. Hedonic functionsHotel pricing Seasonality Latent growth curve models Random-effect models the country such as culture, history, gastronomy, landscape, and monuments.The relevant attributes of holiday hotels include, among others, category, services and facilities available to guests (e.g. swimming pool, garden, television in the room), attributes of the region in which they are located and, given the particular segment aimed at, likely climate.The aim of this article is to study the effect on prices of the different characteristics or attributes of a holiday hotel in the sun-and-beach segment in Spain. This country constitutes the second tourist destination worldwide (Departament d'Indústria, 1999) and nowadays attracts mostly sun-seeking tourists, though the latest policies of both the industry and the government tend to foster other assets of

Diferentes estudios han descompuesto los precios de los productos turísticos en los precios implícitos de sus atributos (categoría y servicios ofrecidos), localización y período del año. En estos estudios habitualmente la localización se considera como un indicador residual del entorno del producto turístico, esto es, un indicador no explicado por el modelo y que incluye varios elementos. Este artículo profundiza en el análisis de aquellos factores que, de acuerdo con estudios previos, pueden estar incluidos dentro de la variable “localización” como, por ejemplo, activos naturales; oferta cultural, gastronómica y deportiva; o bienes y servicios públicos.

The cruise industry is a segment within the tourism and hospitality sector, with special characteristics as the accommodation moves from one place to another. The aim of this study is to rank cruise companies' prices by means of some of their characteristics and attributes. To carry out this research a set of updated databases were created. The methodology applied is the hedonic approach. The results obtained using several specifications allow us to set a stable ranking of cruise companies' prices that are useful for academics, practitioners and customers, which is a novelty in the academic cruise industry.

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