Do hotels benefit from hosting IIHF world championships? case of Prague and Bratislava hotel market

Abstract

This paper focuses on the impact of hosting of IIHF World Championship on the local hotel market using the case of Prague (IIHF World Championship 2015) and Bratislava (IIHF World Championship 2011). Many previous studies were focused on the impact of hosting mega sports and cultural events on destination perception and visit rate during and after the event, perception of hosting these events by residents or the effect on the local economy. Using unique daily empirical data collected from 95 Prague hotels and 25 Bratislava hotels, key findings of this study show lack of long-run positive impact but a high short-run (immediate) effect. In the case of Prague, the main increase of market performance can be identified during the final stage of the tournament, mainly in selling room rates; for Bratislava, the significant effect was determined during the whole tournament, and the entire market never reached the same level of performance. The study shows the need to examine these effects further, emphasizing more variables like seasonality and market segmentation, revenue management, and destination management.