The technology has massively been known as the key driver of development for the

demands and supplies of the business sector. The achiever of a business, to a certain extent,
relies on upon its capacity to gain and utilize upgraded technology to help its administration
and selling operations. Henceforth, technology assists organization to manage information
progressively and influences business competitiveness through helping decision makers to
make appropriate investments and decisions (Law, Leung, & Buhalis, 2007). Technology
helps to meet the demands for timely and accurate information by customers and the
technology diffusion in the business sector has recently increased at an exceptional rate.
Furthermore, the technology is an effective, efficient, and low cost marketing channel.
According to Mihajlovic (2012), technology can bring business change contingent on
attitudes related to technology awareness, for example, competence related to the application
of knowledge in new technologies. Likewise, development of the homestay business is a
response to the increase in tourism. Homestay establishment, as small enterprise, has
nowadays adopted e-marketing strategies, in malice of its superficial level of knowledge
about e-marketing. The homestay, in which local people opened their houses to accommodate
customers to stay. The homestay business gets big implication from the evolution of
technology and it has the specific characteristics of intangibility, variability and
inseparability, making the shaping of brand equity especially pertinent (Shen & Liu, 2015).

The development of technology helps to understand the consumer behaviour and

especially consumer information search behaviour, which can help homestay managers to
develop, optimize search engine, and customize their websites to meet the needs of their
customers (Bakhat & Aziz, 2012). The Internet has become one of the most important
sources of customer information, especially for young and better educated customers.
However, mature and senior customers still prefer printed brochures as their major
information source, and many customers use the Internet in conjunction with offline
information to plan to stay in homestay. Additionally, used an online survey to examine the
perceptions of customers of the homestay.

According to Yiamjanya (2015), consumers of different gender, age, nationality,

educational background and life style display different search patterns. Many people prefer to
book online when they have previously went to the homestay and they feel familiar with the
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homestay. Most of the customers of homestay are tourists. They required different
information from the Internet at different stages of travel. For instance, before departure, the
availability of information can affect travel planning whilst later on they may seek
reassurance from review sites that they have selected the right homestay. The information that
customers receive can influence their venue decisions. For customers searching on the
Internet for the lowest homestay rates and reserve it to be the best choice. In the Internet era,
search engines play an important role in information searching, and the Google search engine
in particular is perceived to be the most important tool (Law, Leung & Buhalis, 2009). More
recently, mobile technologies that provide a new and convenient way for customers to gather
information from any location, and perhaps more significantly at the destination, have been
introduced. Mobile technologies support location based services, interpretation at the
destination and dynamic interaction with homestay owners. The customers can track the
location of Homestay by using Global Positioning System (GPS) a satellite-based navigation
scheme.

Consumers use IT extensively to evaluate the homestay opportunities and to compare

and contrast offerings. Potential customers of homestay can identify and evaluate the
homestays services according to their preferences, and requirements. Customers prefer
information content to vary across different levels on each homestays websites, and that their
information needs and behaviour change at different types of websites that the owner used to
promote their homestay. OConnor and Murphy (2004) stated that online booking motivation
differs according to the complexity of the website, with variation depending on the Internet
skill levels of users. Different types of visitors have different levels of comfort when using
technology to book a homestay. Furthermore, the customers preference and decision of
customers to book a homestay showed by the level of technology that the owner used to
promote the homestay.

More customers now reserve early the homestay through websites, and perceive that a
websites image and usability directly affects their reservation intentions. As such,
understanding customer perceptions is crucial to the development of a successful website.
Additionally, the customers are sophisticated when using homestay services and products,
and that front desk and housekeeping services and size are the most important factors that
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contribute to their perception of homestay standards (Law, Leung, & Buhalis, 2007).
Moreover, customers were found to be less likely to rely on hotel branding when making
online reservations, focusing instead on electronic word-of-mouth information and online
security if they were more experienced Internet users. Business travellers who look for
comprehensive IT services in homestay are willing to pay for certain IT services because they
understand that homestay have to bear the high costs of implementing such technology (Alam
& Noor, 2009). Such guests look forward to homestay adopting e-commerce and IT
applications that meet their needs. By understand different consumers online behaviour
could increase the possibility of online transaction completion.

After utilize the service of homestay, customers often like to share and exchange their
experience. Review sites such as Tripadvisor, Facebook and blogs are popular digital
platforms for customers to express their feelings and to rate their experience. Social network
in the tourism context as a form of conversation and communication among travellers (Apulu
& Latham, 2011). As tourists enjoy sharing their experiences diaries and photo albums, the
creation of a 3D e-tourism environment has been recommended to enhance the playfulness of
the digital environment. This will be possible to attract new customers as some of the
homestay in rural areas. The majority of consumers will book the homestay through the
Internet, and that the digital society will change their purchase behaviour. Social network
themselves have changed the face of communication, and may lead to corporations
potentially losing control of information exposure. If managers do not closely monitor the
digital society, they will not know their customers views and what is being discussed about
their brand online (Apulu & Latham, 2011). Social networks content affects readers
perception of the image of a destination. Different data sources, such as blogs, online travel
magazines, review sites, travel websites, and official tourism websites, project different
destination images, often chaotic and uncoordinated, because they bring content from
different sources and target different customers.

The ultimate focus of a business is performance and the maximization of profit.

Computerized yield management systems can help managers increase their revenue and
yields to improve profitability and financial performance. Adopting IT has helped hotels
lower their operations-related transaction costs, and the perceived performance of homestay
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managers has been shown to be positively associated with their interaction with IT and
budgetary participation. The customer booking decision confirmed that knowledge of demand
influences willingness to book. In the Internet era, online inquiries are normally the first form
of communication between homestay and customers, and customers thus have a high
expectation of receiving an online response as more people began to make reservation from
the Internet. Customer satisfaction and loyalty intention are strongly related service quality
(Mohammed, Rashid, & Tahir, 2014). The information quality, security, website functionality,
customer relationships, and responsiveness to measure service quality. Technologies have a
high level of technical skills but need to further develop their business and communication
knowledge. There is also a positive relationship between innovation rate and homestay size,
with homestays with more experience tending to be more innovative. Technologies can be
outsourced, but there are many factors that affect technologies outsourcing considerations.
Many homestay managers consider technology outsourcing not purely because of cost
savings but also for strategic reasons. When implementing a new mobile project, the initial
starting stage is the most critical, and trials among customers can be used to test the
feasibility of new business models.

With the heavy dependency on IT in the hospitality industries, system failure can have
catastrophic consequences. Knowledge-based systems can help managers to handle such
crises more effectively. Making use of websites as a crisis communication channel also helps
prevent the spread of diseases, and acts as a tool for stakeholders to share information during
crises. Risk management also involves the management of customer data. With more
homestay introducing loyalty programs and promotional campaigns, customers are required
to register online through specific websites. However, a few companies display third-party
privacy certificates to ensure that guests data are protected from inappropriate use. Homestay
can use cookie technology to implicitly collect information about the personal identity of
browsers. One of the most important components of e-commerce is payment (Yiamjanya,
2015). To make online payment safe, the websites should provide secure transactions to
protect consumers data. The major determinants of consumer trust on a travel website. In
addition to payment, another legal component in reservations is the terms and conditions, and
many reservation transactions can be completed without customers having to state their
acceptance of the companys terms and conditions. Homestay IT managers should not only
consider external security, but should also concern themselves with internal network security.
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Last but not least, the physical facility and modern looking fitting attributes have high
impact on the customer satisfaction if we compare it with other attributes. If, we improve
these attributes definitely, it will affect more on the level of customer satisfaction. The
equipments, interiors, furniture and fixtures, signages, menu boards are included in these
attributes. The furniture of homestays should be up to date if we compare it with the hotel.
The management needs to improve these attributes which positively affect the customer it
will gradually improve the satisfaction level of the customer. The implementation of
technology on homestays facilities also play an important role. The basic and foremost thing
which attracts the customer is the theme which demonstration of homestay and its quality
automatically in the mind of customer. The cool and pleasant environment produced by the
air conditions gives a customer much more relaxation that helps to enjoy service in a great
atmosphere (Bhuiyan, Siwar, Ismail, & Islam, 2011). Customer satisfaction can be highly
achieved by the surroundings and the facilities which we can give them through air condition,
Equipment, well decorated interiors, and others. Up to date fixture means that the sitting
sofas or chairs were up to the customer standards and also very much comfortable so that the
customers enjoys the whole atmosphere and it will increase his satisfaction level too. And this
is one of the factors which can be very helpful in retaining the customer. The implementation
of technology in facilities plays also a vital role in the relaxation of the customer and also
gets the attraction as well as high level of satisfaction.

Well-known scientific standpoints test the endurance of homestay through the

function of intermediation, while transformed intermediation reflects the changes in ICT. This
is apparent in a homestay through changes in different line segments with the objective to
improve efficiency with the interactive influence of technology on the way services are
catered. It can be concluded that technological innovations can be a beginning of competitive
advantage for those homestay that take advantage of technological advance in their business
strategy. There are various steps may be required to develop the homestays. They are as
follows to improve the quality of the houses which participating in the homestay program, to
preserve an integrated approach towards training, managing and marketing the homestay
program, and to require the key stakeholders in the overall activities of homestay program.
Home stays operation can be create an alternative accommodation system. This will ensure
employment and income opportunity for local people as well as economic enhancement of
the country.
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