The study’s aim was to understand the level of benchmarking adoption, its objectives and limitation among the hotel sector in Petra, Jordan. Through twelve semi-structured interviews with the hotel owners and managers, the study concluded that the hotel sector in Petra adopts the benchmarking concepts moderately. The study also revealed that competitiveness is the most important reason behind the adoption of benchmarking. Hotels benefit from benchmarking in market trends and being competitive. One important result is that the regional political conditions in the Middle East and the consequences of the Arab spring are the most important obstacles that prevent the adoption of benchmarking in the hotel sector in Petra. To the authors’ best knowledge, this study unprecedentedly integrates benchmarking using qualitative methods in researching the hotel sector in Petra.