The Value of Competitor Demand Information: A Field Experiment in the Hotel Industry

Last registered on August 20, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
The Value of Competitor Demand Information: A Field Experiment in the Hotel Industry
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0016436
Initial registration date
August 16, 2025

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
August 18, 2025, 7:00 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated
August 20, 2025, 9:43 AM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country
China
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Jiamei Xu
Affiliation
Washington University in St. Louis Olin Business School
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Hugh Xiaolong Wu
PI Affiliation
Washington University in St. Louis Olin Business School
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Ruobing Han
PI Affiliation
The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2025-08-15
End date
2025-10-31
Keywords
Firms & Productivity
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial is based on or builds upon one or more prior RCTs.
Abstract
This study evaluates whether and how access to competitors’ demand information affects firms’ business performance. In collaboration with a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company that serves the hotel industry in China, we will conduct a six-week field experiment involving approximately 240 hotels.

Participating hotels will be randomly assigned to either a treatment or control group, with about 80 hotels in the treatment group and 160 in the control group. Hotels in the treatment group will receive information about their key competitors and daily update on the sold inventory across a set of designated competitors for the following day. In contrast, control group hotels will be informed only of the identities of their competitors and will not receive any demand data.

The study addresses two key questions:
1. Does access to competitor demand information improve firms’ business outcomes?
2. If so, through what mechanisms do these effects occur?

Theoretically, the impact is ambiguous. On one hand, competitor demand data may help firms better align their business strategies with prevailing market conditions. On the other hand, it may trigger overreactions or herd behavior—disrupting internal pricing logic, distorting sales pacing, or crowding out firm-specific judgment.

The experiment is designed to isolate the causal impact of competitor demand information and to assess how firms respond to it. The findings will contribute to a broader understanding of strategic information use and offer practical guidance on how firms can leverage competitor demand data in competitive markets.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Han, Ruobing, Hugh Xiaolong Wu and Jiamei Xu. 2025. "The Value of Competitor Demand Information: A Field Experiment in the Hotel Industry." AEA RCT Registry. August 20. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.16436-3.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The primary intervention in this study involves providing competitor demand information through a hotel-facing information system operated by a leading SaaS provider in China’s hospitality industry. Participating hotels are randomly assigned to either a treatment or a control group.

Treatment Group: Hotels in the treatment group can view the identities of their designated key competitors and receive daily update (around 1:00 PM) via the system. Each update includes information of the average sold inventory across those competitors for the following day (i.e., the day after the information is provided).

Control Group: Hotels in the control group also access the same system and can view the identities of their key competitors, but they do not receive any demand-related information.

Both groups receive regular reminders to check the system. Apart from the availability of demand estimates, the interface and experience are otherwise identical across groups, allowing us to isolate the causal impact of competitor demand information on hotel behavior and performance.
Intervention (Hidden)
Intervention Start Date
2025-08-20
Intervention End Date
2025-10-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
room sales, hotel revenue
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
the number or proportion of rooms sold by each hotel per day

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
This study uses a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the impact of providing competitor demand information on firm performance. Participating hotels are randomly assigned to either a treatment or a control group.

Treatment Group: Hotels in this group access an information system showing the identities of their key competitors, along with daily update of the average sold inventory across those competitors for the following day.

Control Group: Hotels in this group access the same system and can view the identities of their key competitors, but do not receive demand-related information.

All hotels receive regular reminders to check the system. The interface and system access are otherwise identical across groups.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization will be conducted by the partner firm using a computerized random assignment process.
Randomization Unit
Hotel
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
about 240 hotels
Sample size: planned number of observations
about 240 hotels
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
about 160 hotels control, 80 hotels treatment
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Washington University IRB
IRB Approval Date
2025-06-18
IRB Approval Number
202506043
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Competitor Demand PAP

MD5: 3064e701221f1cccd9f3cb2861ff77d0

SHA1: 8e3ac19ef7a6f05f6ed7f9bc8b9fa6621982e241

Uploaded At: August 13, 2025

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials