Hotel Location Problem Using Erlang Queuing Model under Uncertainty

Selecting an appropriate location to construct a hotel is one of the most challenging concerns whichhotel industry investors are facing with. In this study, we attempt to find a suitable response to thisresearch/application need by a mathematical model using the queuing theory and fuzzy logic.Therefore, the hotel, the reception system and travelers accommodations are formulated by appropriatequeuing models. Considering the fact that the arrival rate for hotel and the amount of time spent inhotel is not certain, thus a profit function is defined using fuzzy logic and fuzzy queuing models. Usingthe values of this function, candidate locations for constructing a hotel are compared, and the one withmaximum profit for the investors is selected. Due to using fuzzy parameters in the profit function, theamounts of profit obtained for different locations are in the form of fuzzy numbers; thus, we use fuzzyranking techniques to prioritize the candidate locations for constructing the hotel. A number ofnumerical examples are proposed to elaborate the application of proposed methodology. Finally,sensitivity analysis has been applied on model parameters. Our results indicate that unlike previousstudies where hotel locations have only qualitative parameters, the proposed model is able to comparethe candidate sites in terms of quantitative and financial aspects.