Potential of Bulgarian Accommodation Establishments to Join Hotel Chains

Current paper addresses the possibilities of Bulgarian accommodation establishments to join hotel chains. It makes a census of all hotels in Bulgaria that are currently part of a hotel chain (foreign or domestic). Results show that less than 1% of hotels fly a hotel chain flag, which is much lower than the industry average for the USA (70%) and Western Europe (30-35%). It further identifies the number of hotels that could potentially join hotel chains and determines the most appropriate method – managerial contracts for upscale luxury hotels, franchising for mid-range properties and marketing consortia for all hotel categories. The latter are found to be most appropriate for the case of Bulgarian hotel industry