Daily deals usage in the pandemic context of the Slovenian hotel industry: A holistic technology adoption perspective capable of addressing the volatile tourism market conditions

This study explores the adoption of Daily Deals (DD) in Slovenian hotels during the pandemic. We frame DD use as a pricing decision under changing demand conditions and show how staycation voucher-driven demand altered managers’ discounting behavior. Combining a focus group and interviews, we integrate diverse technology adoption frameworks to reveal that DDs relevance declined as staycation vouchers drove domestic demand. Organizational constraints further reduced DD use despite their perceived utility. We propose a holistic framework situating individual-level variables within the organizational contexts, emphasizing the interplay of technological, organizational, and economic factors impacted by the altered market structure and industry conduct. It challenges reliance on psychological technology adoption models by incorporating organizational and economic perspectives, offering novel insights into e-commerce adoption in volatile conditions. Our findings highlight the relevance of tourism market dynamics, government policies, and organizational constraints impacting firms’ conduct in modelling e-distribution adoption in hotels.