Research to determine service unit costs and cost management applications on thermal hotels in Turkey

ABSTRACTPeople have certain basic necessities like eating, drinking and sleeping. The next majorconcern for people is to live a healthy life. For this reason, since the beginning of history peoplehave visited and utilized health centers and thermal sources for resting and revitalizing. In thecourse of time, these visits led to a new form of health tourism, and before long the concept of?thermal tourism? was coined. Turkey has almost 1300 thermal sources and they all have differentcharacteristics. Thanks to these rich resources, Turkey has become a major destination for thermaltourism.Costs are as important for thermal hotels as for other businesses. People tend to be moregenerous when for their own bodily comfort and health are at stake.This study examines service unit costs in thermal hotels as well as how to manage these costs.The aim of this study is to research service unit costs, activities and how to determine and controlthe activity costs. We will research how cost management systems can optimise costs and benefitthe quality of the activities organised. At the same time we will establish criteria for benchmarkingcost management systems.According the conclusions of this study, food and beverage department has more costs thanthe others but, accomodation department has more income than the others. In thermal hotels,service unit costs are generally determined by and differ from the level of activities. For this reason,using job order costing system while determining service unit costs, is more suitable for thermalhotels.