How Info-Comm. Tech changed hotel room reservations?

Introduction

In the past, hotel reservations were mostly done through telephone where consumers have to make calls to the respective hotels or travel agencies. In addition, telephone was also the main channel to bargaining deals and price comparisons on hotel stays.

Other hotel enquires made through telephone calls and in-house visits include:

• Hotel room rates
• Hotel location
• Hotel facilities
• Hotel amenities
• Nearby attractions (Shopping centers, cinemas, casinos and etc.)
  

Business Process in the Past

Ignoring the partnerships hotels have with travel agencies, the business process of a hotel reservation is basically based on a business to consumer model (B2C) where interested customers will make their enquiries to the call centers of the hotels or make a trip down to the hotel physically. This approach improves the physical contact between the hotel’s staffs and customers which consequently allow the hotel’s management to better understand the needs of customers. It can also be argued that teamwork is improved by minimizing the miscommunications and other errors in the absence of a middle-man. The idea of not having a middle-man in the process (I.e. travel agencies) reduces the profit sharing hotels have to incur to them which is inevitable as the middle-man is required to utilize its own resources in order to generate sales for the hotel by reaching out to potential customers. In terms of the organization structure, information sharing is isolated within the various levels of management in the hotel which gives rise to a taller and more bureaucratic structure providing a more systematic approach of managing the hotel. 

Weaknesses

However, the flip side of the coin tells us that human errors are more likely to creep in with the physical recordings hotel staffs have to make to take a reservation as well as the lower sales these hotels may generate if the middle-man is left out in the transaction. The absence of a flatter structure deprives the concept of a learning organization and allows inefficient knowledge management to take place. For example, a junior staff that requires permission to grant special privileged services to VIP customers may need to obtain approvals from their higher management as these VIP identities would have to be clarified by relationship managers of the hotel. This example highlights the fact to us that the sharing of information is restricted to different levels of management (I.e. Middle level of Management) and hence, reduces the productivity of staffs. It is also worth mentioning the duration of time taken for consumers to make hotel enquiries and the hassles such as price comparison consumers have to go through in order to arrive at her optimal choice. More importantly, not all hotels and especially so for budget hotels to have its reservation hotlines operating around the clock, that is 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.

Introduction of Information Communication Technology

With ICT such as computers and internet services, the concept of e-business evolves and is defined as the work an organization does by using electronic linkages, or any business that takes place by digital processes over a computer rather than in a physical space.

In our discussion of hotel reservations, the process has now been streamlined to a few steps (I.e. from hours to minutes) where the whole procedure now takes an estimated duration of 15-30 minutes before a confirmation is made by the hotel. The customer is only required to print out the confirmation slip and present it on the actual day of visit. At present, many hotels have virtual stores of their own which allows direct purchase of her products (I.e. Room reservations, corporate functions) over the network. In short, hotels now engaged themselves in e-business.

Here are some of the major hotels with their virtual store:

1.        Pan Pacific Hotel (http://www.panpacific.com)

2.        Conrade Hotel & Resort (http://conradhotels1.hilton.com)

3.        Four Seasons Hotel (http://www.fourseasons.com)

4.        Shangri la Hotel (http://shangri-la.com)

5.        The Fullerton Hotel (www.fullertonhotel.com)

6.        Swissotel (www.swissotel.com)

In addition to the reduced hotel reservation procedure which increases the speed of delivery of her products to customers, we also see a reduced supply chain costs in the aspect of the middle-man party. Not only will the hotel management be able to deal directly with customers as before but would also bypass these middle-man parties (I.e. travel agencies), reducing her costs. Due to the structure of an e-business, hotel managements are able to reach out to a wider market around the clock and gain direct access to potential customers through various sources of communication such as e-mails, subscribed newsletters or even advertisement pop-ups.  Both the potential customers as well as the hotel management will be able to enjoy quicker response from each other by cutting down the waiting time, resulting in increased in savings.

In certain periods of the year where demand for hotel accommodations peaks, hotel management will be able to utilize its database for occupancies accordingly by recommending these customers to its affiliated partners or subsidiaries under its group of which allows referral fee to be earned and at the same time satisfying the demand of customers.

In other periods of the year, hotels can tapped into the increased interactivity from data mining and provide promotional packages based on the preferences of hotel guests. Other special requests by VIPs or hotel guests with disabilities can also be met accordingly. This customer interactivity helps hotel management to avoid the problem of a “bull-whip” effect that is to avoid the problem of low hotel occupancy rates.

Weaknesses of ICT

The introduction of ICT does not come without its costs, high initial outlay and constant maintenance costs are incurred by hotels. The constant advancement of technology requires systems to be updated regularly. These would require technological expertise which will incur further costs for the hotels. One of the most important downside of ICT is the security issue which will discourage potential customers to make online reservations and payments caused by hackers prying on sensitive data of customers such as credit card information.

Transaction Broker

A transaction broker (also referred to as a facilitator, coordinator or contract broker) is not a representative or agent for either the buyer or the seller. The job of a transaction broker is to help both the buyer and the seller with the necessary paperwork and formalities involved in transferring ownership of real property. (Extracted from http://www.greatrealtyusa.com)

Asiaroom

In our example of a transaction broker, we will examine Asiaroom.

AsiaRooms acts like an “integrated resort” where all hotels worldwide are consolidated in one location (which is their website), that makes it easier and convenient for customers to purchase their desired product.

Consumers can easily get all the information requires to make a best choice on which hotel to book and how to get there. More importantly, the prices are “transparent”, meaning customers can easily make price comparisons across different hotels.

AsiaRooms.com has been operating since 1994. It is a member of the TUI (Touristik Union International) Travel PLC Group of Companies. TUI Travel PLC is the world's leading international leisure travel group which operates in approximately 180 countries worldwide and serves more than 30 million customers in over 27 source markets and employs about 48,000 people worldwide.

What they do?

AsiaRooms.com specializes in hotels. They have thousands of hotels listed on their website located all over Asia and beyond. Key destinations include Thailand, India, Australia, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, New Zealand, China, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Cambodia and Hong Kong. They also have attractive deals across UK and Europe offering unbeatable rates and guaranteed secure reservation

They provide customers with a comprehensive and up to date travel guide, ensuring customers receive the quality they expect and a value for money product. Her aim is to make travel arrangements free and easy at an attractive price.

Click on the following links to find out more about AsiaRooms and TUI Travel PLC.

AsiaRooms: http://www.asiarooms.com/en/about-us/

TUI Travel PLC: http://www.tuitravelplc.com/tui/pages/aboutus/corporateprofile

Reviews on AsiaRooms.com

AsiaRooms.com is basically engaging in a B2C (Business to Consumer) business. On one hand, AsiaRooms is in a B2C business. On the other side, AsiaRooms would not be able to provide products for their customers if they  are also not simultaneously engaging in the B2B (Business to Business) business. For example, AsiaRooms engages in a B2B business with the respective hotels and even payment companies such as Mastercard, Visa, American Express and etc. While referring customers to the their hotel choices, AsiaRooms is in turn rewarded by a certain percentage of the product sale (I.e. hotel accommodation) by the respective hotels.

Benefits of a Transaction Broker

In addition to the benefits of ICT on hotel reservations as previously mentioned, we see incremental benefits with the presence of a transaction broker (I.e. AsiaRooms). In all the transaction hotel brokers we observed, they include the availability of hotel rooms for all grades of hotels based on the “Hotelstar” grading system. The main criterion lies in the quality management, wellness and sleeping accommodation. Based on this observation, it is important to highlight the fact that transaction hotel brokers targets potential customers not only for reputable hotels but also for less reputable or new and unknown hotels. This significantly increases the number of hotel rooms available for customers to choose from and also allows these less reputable hotels to target a wider range of customers.

Earlier on, we mentioned that most reputable hotels are engaged in e-business and owns their virtual store. It could be argued that having a transaction broker will increase the competition between the reputable and less reputable hotels, not mentioning the costs hotel management has to incur with these transaction brokers. However, the presence of these transaction brokers allows these reputable hotels to increase their range of target audience from all over the world. It allows these hotels to focus on their core business, improve their infrastructure and provide value added services to reduce their costs and consequently transfer these savings to customers. Below are some of the general functions offered by transaction hotel brokers as well as the virtual stores of  hotels.

Transaction Hotel Brokers	Hotel’s own Virtual Stores
Search bar ·      country, city ·      arrival, departure date ·      no. of rooms ·      no. of adults ·      no. of children ·      type of grade (5 or 4 star)	Search bar ·      country, city (limited to the subsidiaries & branches they have) ·      arrival, departure date ·      no. of rooms ·      no. of adults ·      no. of children
Contact us ·      booking enquiry ·      amendments/ cancellations ·      available rooms ·      available promotions	Contact us ·      booking enquiry ·      amendments/ cancellations ·      available rooms ·      available promotions
Registration account ·      name ·      address, city, country ·      email (primary & alternate) ·      birth date ·      newsletter (updates & promotions)	Registration account ·      name ·      address, city, country ·      email (primary & alternate) ·      birth date ·      type of traveller/preferences ·      credit card details (Fairmont) ·      newsletter (updates & promotions)
Promotions ·      tour package ·      loyalty rewards (rebate, points)	Promotions ·      package ·      loyalty rewards (rebate, points)
Reviews/ testimonials of hotels ·       feedback, comments ·       location (google), description, hotel amenities/facilities ·       photo gallery ·       pointing system ·       type of grade (5 or 4 star)	Reviews/ testimonials of hotels ·      location (private maps), description, hotel amenities/facilities ·      photo gallery

Reservation Precedures of AsiaRooms

Now we will look into the strengths of AsiaRooms which provides a good experience to customers in the process of a hotel reservation.

1 (Search Engine)

They have their own search engine in their homepage for customers to find and book hotels quick and easy.

Step 1:   Key in the destination

Step 2:   Key in the date preferred

Step 3:   Key in number of pax

Step 4:   Click Search Hotel

2 (Sorting Option)

After clicking on search button, all the results will be out as shown below. AsiaRooms allow customers to sort against the name of the hotel, star ratings, guest ratings, price and discount. There is even a “show map” button for the customer to locate the hotels easily. This map is powered by Google Map.

3 (Google Map)

Google Map provides AsiaRooms a competitive edge in providing their customers with greater in-death of the locations of the hotels, how to get there, how far is it, nearby attractions and etc.

4 (Filtration Option)

Besides sorting of hotels, AsiaRooms even provide hotel selection based on the preference of customers. Below shows how AsiaRooms provide this value added service.

Customers can filter the existing search result using the filter options provided by AsiaRooms.

At the Top of the screenshot, we can see options where customers can sort hotels based on their budget, preferred currency type to allow easier calculation.

My personal favorite filter option is the filter based on the facilities preferred. Customers can check on the respective boxes to narrow down the results based on the desired facilities.

Lastly is the location filter where hotels can be filtered according to the location that customers prefer.

5 (Guest Reviews)
On the homepage, customers can click on the Guest Review section allowing customers to post, comment and rate AsiaRooms. 

Good comments will likely bring more revenue for both AsiaRooms and the respective hotel. Other benefits gained would probably be trust and goodwill from future customers.

As for the Bad comments, it will provide AsiaRooms with a need to look into the matter to see whether they could provide better services for their future customers and make sure it will not be repeated.

Click on the following links for some examples of the guest reviews.

http://www.asiarooms.com/en/world-hotel-reviews.html

6 (Travel Guide)

AsiaRooms provide their customers with comprehensive and up to date travel guides. These guides will give in-sights of the countries the customers are traveling to.  

The below example shows how detail AsiaRooms can provide for their customers. This will allow and prepare hotel guests who are planning vacations and business meetings in the following countries. 

For more information please visit the following website:

http://www.asiarooms.com/en/travel-guide/index.html

8 (Easy Cancellation)

AsiaRooms provide quick & easy cancellation of a previous booking. Moreover they do not charge customers for any cancellation or modification fees. Thus, if the customer wishes to cancel the room, full refund will be made. 

To do the cancellation, customers will just need to enter Booking Reference Number as well as their Email address for confirmation. This would only take a few minutes.

Conclusion of ICT's impact to hotel room reservation services
 

Past	Current
1) Customers need to call various hotels/travel agencies one by one to get information about their prices and rooms availability. They have to search  for their numbers through physical book (yellow pages) This is very time consuming as well as cost inefficient.	1) Customers now just need to enter into AsiaRooms websites and all information will be stated there and customers will be able to print it out and get the information almost instantly. They even have their very own search engine to help customers to get information within seconds.
2) Hotels goodwill is spread through words of mouth and advertisements on televisions. Some of this information that reached the customers is biased and inaccurate.	2) There are forums/guest reviews available in AsiaRooms. This provides over view of hotels from different aspect of customers as well as hotel raters, thus making it more accurate and precise.
3) Customers are only able to do their reservation during the hotline operation hours.	3) With info-communication, customers are able to do reservation 24/7 regardless of their location as long as they have access to internet connection.
4) When all information acquired, customers need to sort all information to make a suitable choice. This is time consuming if the customer has lots of information to sort against.	4) Customers just need to click on the sort button after doing the search and the software would generate the desire outcome almost instantly.
5) After doing the confirmation, customers need to go down physically to the hotels/ travel agencies to fill up their personal particulars or fax them over within certain working days. This is very troublesome and time consuming.	5) AsiaRooms provide online forms for customers to fill up and after completing the forms, customers just need to click submit and the hotels will have all information required and keyed into their system.
6) Cancellation is a very tedious process. Customers have to call the hotels for cancellation and might even need to pay a certain penalties for that.	6) Cancellation of booking just takes only a few minutes when customers engaged in AsiaRooms and no penalties for cancellation.