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In the hospitality industry, co-operative relationships among organisations are increasingly referred to as a crucial factor for organisational performance and survival. Within this framework, hotels are increasingly forming permanent alliances with other organisations such as airlines, car rental agencies, suppliers, other hotels, and travel agencies. The main aim of this study is to describe the relationship that hotels have with travel agencies, which is currently considered the most effective way for a hotel to extend its sales and marketing efforts. The authors first reviewed existing hospitality literature with a view to presenting a framework for understanding the business relationship between hotels and travel agencies. An empirical survey was then carried out to analyse United States hotel companies' relationships with travel agencies. Significant differences were found between hotel companies of different Sizes, service strategies, price levels, and clientele, based upon the percentage of reservations received from travel agencies, and the number and diversity of travel agencies with which hotel companies relate.
INTRODUCTION
An important and unique feature of the tourism industry concerns the interrelationship of the various different types of organisations comprising the industry (see Figure 1): travel organisers (i.e. tour operators, retail travel agencies, wholesale travel agencies, tour organisers, and organisers of congresses, conferences, and seminars), transport companies (i.e. airlines, ground transport companies, and shipping companies), accommodation companies (e.g. hotels, motels, apartments, bungalows, camp sites), food and beverage companies (e.g. restaurants, cafeterias, pubs, catering), recreational and leisure companies (e.g. theme parks, casinos, theatres, museums, art galleries), and co-ordinators of the tourism industry (e.g. government tourist agencies, associations of tourist organisations). Although these companies operate independently and frequently compete with each other, they all form part of an overall system, in which all organisations interacting with a traveller must work appropriately in order to provide the traveller with a pleasant overall experience [Gee, Makens and Choy, 1989; Howell, 1993; Angelo and Vladimir, 1994; Middleton, 1994].
Owners and managers of hospitality companies often underestimate the importance of the aforementioned interrelationship when considering how their company is going to attract customers, as it depends not only on how effective its marketing efforts are, but also on other tourist companies' strategies and actions [e.g. Angelo and Vladimir, 1994]. For this reason, the establishment of co-operative relationships with...