Executive Summary:
This report provides the validation of a model for Network Exploitation Capability (NEC), which is a newly proposed measure of a lodging firm?s level of sophistication in its application of networked information technology (IT). The report also includes a questionnaire and benchmarks that allow management to gauge its own hotel?s NEC and compare that to a pilot set of validation data. Network Exploitation Capability is the ability of hospitality organizations to successfully respond to new technology in three key areas: demand generation, multi-channel digital distribution, and profit optimization?all of which are being constantly reinvented by IT innovations. As IT changes, so must hospitality ventures be able to acquire or develop new capabilities for using the new applications. The NEC Maturity Model describes how the sophistication of hospitality ventures might progress over time in their use of IT. This discussion of the NEC model validation includes empirical results, along with detailed suggestions for how properties, management companies, owners, and chains can assess their own current level of IT sophistication.