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inseeorge

owbarnika 

(II MBA,Gnanamani college of technology)



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cnformation technology is the use of computers and software to manage the

information. This is referred to as Management Information Services (MIS) or as Information
Services in some fields . IT mechanisims stores information, protect information, process the
information, transmit the information and retriev the information. The hospitality industry is a
several billion dollar industry that mostly depends on the availability of leisure time and
disposable income. The hospitality industry consists of broad category of fields within the
service industry that includes lodging, restaurants, event planning, theme parks,
transportation, cruise line, and additional fields within the tourism industry. A hospitality unit
such as a restaurant, hotel, or even an amusement park consists of multiple groups such as
facility maintenance, direct operations (servers, housekeepers, porters, kitchen workers,
bartenders, etc.), management, marketing, and human resources.


 

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nformation technology (c) is the study, design, development, implementation,

support or management of computer-based information systems, particularly software
applications and computer hardware. IT deals with the use of electronic computers and
computer software to securely convert, store, protect, process, transmit, input, output, and
retrieve information

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The hospitality industry covers a wide range of organizations offering food service
and accommodation. The hospitality industry is divided into sectors according to the skill-
sets required for the work involved. Sectors include accommodation, food and beverage,
meeting and events, gaming, entertainment and recreation, tourism services, and visitor
information.

Hospitality management is both a field of work and a field of study. In the work
sense, it refers to management of hotels, restaurants, travel agencies, and other institutions in
the hospitality industry. As a field of study, it refers to the study of the hospitality industry
and its management needs. People who are interested in careers in hospitality management
may opt to pursue it as a field of study so that they can start their careers on solid footing.

The hospitality industry is vast and very diverse. Any time people travel, stay in a hotel, eat
out, go to the movies, and engage in similar activities, they are patronizing establishments in
the hospitality industry. The management of such establishments is very challenging, as
managers need to be flexible enough to anticipate and meet a wide variety of needs. They
must also handle tasks such as training employees, handling staff, setting standards, and so
forth.



 
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he scope is Wide spread like an ocean the main areas are accommodation, the client,
franchising. hospitality industry contributed only 2% of the GDP. However, it is projected to
grow at a rate of 8.8% between 2007-16, which would place India as the second-fastest
growing tourism market in the world. This year the number of tourists visiting India is
estimated to have touched the figure of 4.4 million. With this huge figure, India is becoming
the hottest tourist destination. The arrival of foreign tourists has shown a compounded annual
growth of 6 per cent over the past 10 years. Besides, travel and tourism is the second highest
foreign exchange earner for India. Moreover, it is also estimated that the tourism sector will
account for nearly 5.3 per cent of GDP and 5.4 per cent of total employment.




he hotels, restaurants, resorts, leisure and full range of hospitality provision,
management, and communication are considered, as is Information and Communication
Technologies (ICT) use in hospitality learning, teaching, and training. Hospitality Manag
ement provides a realistic, balanced, and current view of the field by considering the practical
aspects of the strategic manager's role, including the acquisition, development, and
management of internal resources (such as people, knowledge, financial capital, and physical
assets) and relationships with external stakeholders (such as guests, suppliers, owners,
franchisors, venture partners, and governmental agencies). Or simply howcurrent innovations
in IT is benifited for hospatiality industry...VV

Accompanying the technological revolution of the 1990s there are many new
opportunities and challenges for the tourism and hospitality industries. Since tourism, global
industry information is its life-blood and technology has become fundamental to the ability of
the industry to operate effectively and competitively. Poon (1993) suggests that the whole
system of information technologies is being rapidly diffused throughout the tourism industry
and no player will escape information technologies impacts.

The report below gives an insight into the importance of application of information
technologies and the use of Internet in tourism and hospitality industries. Two given strategic
frameworks provide the analysis of the Internet and its impact on these sectors. This paper
also aims to show how technological innovations and information systems can be beneficial
for the hotel companies, by using the example of Hilton Hotels Group.

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Market wisdom today suggests that hospitality companies must embrace technology
to compete against traditional competitors, as well as entrants that build their businesses with
the latest technology. In this changing environment, new models of distribution must be
designed to lead the charge. A strategic information management function should facilitate
the business mission of its enterprise through managed information, managed processes, and
managed Information Technology (IT).

Broadly, current applications of computer technology in the hospitality and tourism

industries can be grouped into three main areas,   '    (
  
   
 . The overall functionality of these applications is similar across a
range of different hospitality organisations though the technology used to support them may
vary. Large, city-centre hotels, for instance, tend to use minicomputers for their property
management system (PMS) work. Microcomputers are employed elsewhere.

The diffusion of the system of information technologies in tourism will increase the
efficiency, quality and flexibility with which travel services are supplied. It has already led to
the generation of new services, such as online brochures and interactive videotext.
Technology has the greatest impact on the marketing and distribution of travel but leaves
relatively untouched the human-intensive areas of guest-host relations and supplier-consumer
relationships. Information technologies applied to the tourism system will increase the
efficiency and quality of services provided and leads to new combinations of tourism
services. All this could not be achieved without changing the manifest human high touch
content of travel. It is the systematic use of the system of information technologies by all
tourism suppliers, together with its profound impact on the travel industry, which creates the
foundation for a new tourism best practice and a total system of wealth creation.

Information and communication technology can be used not only for operational
purposes, but also for tactical and strategic management. This empowers tourism and
hospitality enterprises to communicate directly and more efficiently with prospective
customers and suppliers as well as to achieve competitive advantage.

One of the most established ways to analyze and develop complex systems (such as
e-business) is to organize them in a meaningful structure. The four Ps model provided in
Appendix A fully addresses the Internet product in relation to the shifting consumer
expectations.

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With the advent of the Internet, marketers have access to the technology to customize
products and communicate directly with smaller target markets. The Internet is now firmly
established as a marketing tool. It serves as an integral part of the marketing mix, serving as a
digital distribution channel as well as an electronic storefront.

Consumers in the Internet medium are more than just passive recipients in the
marketing process. The Internet is an interactive medium as opposed to traditional marketing
which usually allows only one-way communication from marketer to consumer

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Government policies can have a dramatic effect on the Internet and its potential
development, by introducing new policies and limitations. The privacy and security issues are
also very significant. Therefore, Internet providers have to consider ethical matters and the
usage of personal data stored within the networks. For the full commercial potential of
electronic commerce and Internet to be exploited by the tourism industry and its consumers,
several issues have to be considered, which include an increase of security of transmissions,
copyright issues, reduction of user confusion and dissatisfaction, establishment of pricing
structures for distribution of information and reservations and enhancement of the
standardisation of information and reservation procedures. Credibility and accountability of
the information needs to be secured and equal access for smaller and larger partners should
be developed.
 Tourism organizations deploying IT and Internet for competitive advantage can also
face legal risks due to possible violation of anti-trust laws and violation of privacy. Policies
and procedures should be created to promote the understanding of potential legal risks. This
understanding will encourage organizations to obtain help from legal experts to design
controls to subdue such risks.

Other political changes, for instance increasing unemployment, competition laws and
planning policies, would only have an impact on tourism and hospitality organizations if they
are using technological advances and Internet distribution channels.

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The Internet is not severely sensitive to the economic cycles. However, it is
considered that the tourism or hotel sales from the Internet will be much affected by
economic changes in those countries, from which the customers are booking or reserving the
product. These include changes in economic growth, interest rates, inflation or currency
fluctuations that can eliminate tourism organisation's cost advantage and can have an adverse
affect on the margins.

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Demographic changes and changes in customers' attitudes towards new technology
and Internet, in particular, will have a direct impact on Internet and hospitality and tourism
industries respectfully. Nowadays customers are becoming more skilled and advanced in the
use of technology. The social system dimension must include the larger social and political
processes through which the interests of the different social groups interact with one another
and with the technology.

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The computerised networks and electronic distribution systems developed in the
1970s led to dramatic structural changes within the tourism industry. According to Klein and
Quelch (1996) A CRS is essentially a database that enables a tourism organisation to manage
its inventory and improve accessibility to information within and between its partners.
Airlines pioneered the CRS technology in the 1980s, by expanding geographical coverage
and integrating horizontally and vertically to embrace the entire range of intermediaries and
principals. Individual product suppliers became aware that systems integration, and the
subsequent creation of a ³shop window´ that allowed products to be displayed and purchased
anywhere in the world, would be a crucial determining factor in the competitiveness and
profitability of operations. As a result, the vast, new all-encompassing GDSs matured from
their original development as airline CRSs. GDSs are one of the major drivers of information
technologies in tourism and hospitality industries, as well as being the backbone of these
industries. GDSs are the single most important facilitator of the globalisation of ITs.

Developments in GDSs were complemented by the introduction and expansion in the

mid-1990s of the Internet. (Peters, 1997) This development facilitated an unprecedented
opportunity for distribution of multimedia information and interactivity between principals
and consumers. This is especially so given the Internet's interlinking structure which enables
the provision and packaging of themed information, products and services. The information
on the Internet, however, is chaotic and loosely structured, mainly due to its immaturity and
the lack of any type of standardisation.

It is anticipated that eventually GDSs will take advantage of the openness of the
World Wide Web (WWW) and develop suitable interfaces for consumers and the industry.
Sabre has already launched Travelocity, an electronic travel agency, while other GDSs have
announced similar actions or cooperations with travel providers on the Internet. These
include Worldspan with Expedia and Amadeus with the Internet Travel Network.

IT and the Internet have transformed distribution of the tourism product to form an
electronic market-place where access to information is instantly achievable. Principals and
consumers continue to experience unprecedented interactivity. The dramatic ongoing
development of the Internet has resulted in the re-engineering of the entire production and
distribution process for tourism products. As a consequence of this technological explosion,
the packaging of tourism is becoming much more individualistic, leading inevitably to a
certain degree of channel disintermediation, a process that will offer new opportunities and
threats to all tourism partners.

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New entrants tend to bring new capacity, the desire to gain market share and
substantial resources. The seriousness of the threat of entry depends on the barriers present
and on the reaction from the existing providers. The Internet as a distribution source has
relatively high entry barriers, constraining all new comers.

Lashley and Rowson (2005) suggest that recent IT developments, offer new
opportunities for tour operators. For instance, several tour operators distribute electronic
brochures and booking forms through the Internet directly to consumers. This approach
provides a number of important benefits to tour operators. This includes concentration on
niche markets by offering customised packages and an ability for tour operators to update
brochures regularly. It also significantly reduces the costs of incentives, bonuses and
educational trips for travel agencies.

Government¶s policies for reducing buyers¶ power and pricing wars can limit entry to this
distribution sector with such controls as license requirements and limits on access to technical
tools.

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In respect of tourism providers, the Internet provides an infrastructure for the global
distribution and inexpensive delivery of tourism-related multimedia information. It also
empowers the consumer though the provision of tailor-made products which meet their
individual needs, so bridging the gap between the consumer and destination/supply in a
flexible and interactive way. The Internet allows organizations to skip over parts of the value
chain. A more successful strategy would be to enter into joint ventures or expand a supplier's
website to offer competitors' products.

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The Internet as a channel of distribution has become one of the most successful
channels used by consumers to research travel options, compare prices and make reservations
for airline tickets, hotel rooms and car rental. Therefore, the provision of online travel
services is the single most successful business-to-consumer (B2C) segment on the Internet.

Collins, Buhalis and Peters (2003) state that the overall percentage of hotel rooms
booked online grows tremendously each year and will be increased by 20 per cent in 2005.
Moreover, the Internet is also having a profound effect on the internal and external operating
procedures within the hospitality industry (Cheng and Piccoli, 2002)

The Internet helps to access new customers on a global basis and enables to
streamline operating procedures. Integrating daily operations such as sales, marketing and
distribution as well as aggregating demand to drive down prices on the procurement side are
some of the major benefits of the Internet. The majority of large tourism and hotel
organizations are currently present in the global distribution systems (GDSs). GDSs serve
more than 50,000 travel agents world-wide (Collins, Buhalis and Peters, 2003). The Internet
is one of the mains distribution channels, which enable tourism and hospitality companies to
overcome their challenge of being globally represented.

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Travel agencies are the main substitute to the Internet sales, when it comes to buying
hotel bedrooms or tourism packages. Direct advertising and other sources of media also serve
as a promotional or informative mean, which can be used instead of the Internet. With the
Internet it is possible to gain permission to discuss the products, as opposed to interruption
marketing, such as television commercials.

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The competitive environment of Internet and its impact on the hospitality and tourism
industries is widely recognized as being complex, dynamic, and highly segmented.
Increasingly hotel chains are competing directly with one another in the same locations. This
is a notable change for an industry reliant on specific locations to limit the threat of
competition. All major hotel chains are currently entering the Internet market of sales and
communications. As organizations are dependent on their environments for resources, they
will attempt to manage their dependency by developing and maintaining strategies. Hotel
groups are being forced to follow other sectors by implementing marketing strategies, often
based on product differentiation, growth in new markets, high value for money, or emerging
brands. Such strategies are formulated and implemented within the context of environmental
uncertainty and require an understanding of industry structure and environmental change.

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Whichever major city you find yourself in; you have a big chance to come across a
Hilton Hotel. Hilton International Group is a leading global hotel brand and the Company,
with an expanding portfolio of hotels, mainly Hilton Brand (own the rights to the trademark),
Scandic, Conrad and Vernon Hotels. The company operates 380 hotels worldwide and is
represented in 66 countries. Its 80,000 strong workforce looks after an average of 8 million
guests every year. (Annual Report, 2003).

The ability of computers to store, process, manipulate and distribute information has
greatly improved the efficiency of Hilton hotels. By releasing staff time from the ordinary
paper-pushing functions within the hotel, computers can greatly enhance the opportunities for
staff utilisation in the quality of service that hotels offer their guests can be greatly improved.

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Hilton International use computers in their core-information processing centres of

marketing and distribution, front-office, back-office and food and beverage control.
Information technologies are diffusing in eight key areas of hotel operations:

1.V marketing, distribution, reservations and sales;

2.V telecommunications;
3.V guest accounting;
4.V room management;
5.V back office;
6.V food and beverage control;
7.V energy management; and
8.V safety and security.

Product distribution is a critically important function of Hilton International. Information

technologies, such as computerised reservations systems and video brochures, assist hotels in
marketing and distributing their bed-nights. For Hilton, the employment of information
technologies to link together their front-office, back-office and off and beverage departments
may be necessary for the efficient and cost-effective delivery of their services. However, it
will not be sufficient to guarantee the sale of hotel bed-nights. Without links to international
marketing and distribution networks, hotel bed-nights cannot be sold.

Reservations are a key to the sale of hotel bed-nights. Reservation systems, depending on
the software and sophistication, contain information and generate various reports on rooms
availability, cancellations, etc. In addition, the database can generate forecasts on expected
arrivals, departures and rooms sold. Information contained in, and generated by, hotel
reservation systems is an invaluable source of marketing information and can generate
mailing lists, client profiles and preferences. It can also monitor hotel performance through
the development and processing of guest questionnaires. Reservation systems also allow
hotels to carry out travel-agency and tour-operator analyses in order to determine which
agencies and operators consistently generate business for the hotels.
There are two principal areas in which information technologies are helping hotels to
improve their communications in their internal inter-departmental communications and in
their external links with agents, suppliers, reservation systems and data networks. The
internal inter-departmental links of the hotel are facilitated by computers and
communications technologies, which serve to integrate the front-office, back office and food-
beverage operations. This is facilitated through computer-to-computer communications.
Cooper and et al. (1999) believe that the external hotel communication links are necessary
between hotel and head office, between hotels and their national environment, such as stock
market information.

Communications technologies used by Hilton International include digital telephone

systems, teleconferencing, satellite broadcasting, videotext and audiovisual information tools,
image communication and various communication networks for reservations and
communications.

Telephone systems used at Hilton Hotels have been substantially improved to incorporate
features such as call accounting systems. Automatic call-accounting systems now help to
transform their telephone calls into important profit centres of the hotels. As marketing
technique, for instance, hotels can offer long-distance telephone calls at discount rates to their
guests and still find it profitable. (Cooper and et al., 1999; Lockwood and Medlik, 2001)
 Room-management systems can give updated information on room occupancy and status
and they assist in scheduling housekeeper duties for maximum efficiency. Rooming lists,
arrivals, stay-overs, extended stays, departures and room preferences can all be handled by
room-management systems.

Electronic data interchange (EDI) is an open and essentially cooperative technological

infrastructure. While it is possible to gain short-term competitive advantage from embracing
EDI ahead of competing organisations, it is now generally accepted that there is no scope
within the inter-organisational system for the kinds of barriers to competition suggested by
the work of Porter and other. (Porter, 1980).

Large hotel chains, as Hilton Hotels Group, have considerably more ability to control the
way in which they implement EDI. Cooper (1989) points that EDI¶s ability to support inter-
organisational processes forming part of a multi-organisational value chain as part of business
process redesign. Many companies tend to view EDI merely as a way of transmitting
formatted data across organisational boundaries.

The integration of computers and communication technologies allows hotels to control

their internal operations and external operations from a single integrated management system.
(Kandampully and Duddy, 1999; Allen and Fjermestad, 2001) This comprehensive system of
information management can become a very powerful toll for wealth creation for the hotel
industry. With a comprehensive system in place all levels of management are supposed to be
involved in it and to depend on it to inform most decision-making.

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0 
 is an Indian online travel agency that holds a major market share,
with one-out-of-every-twelve domestic flights in India booked via it . [1][2]. MakeMyTrip.com
offers its customers a variety of travel services and products, with international and domestic
airline tickets, Indian Railways tickets, domestic bus tickets, international and domestic hotel
reservations, car rentals, international and domestic holiday packages, MICE (Meetings,
Incentives, Conferencing, Exhibitions), visa services, B2B services, and more. Founded in
April, 2000, MakeMyTrip.com today has offices in 20 cities across India and 2 international
offices in New York and San Francisco, in addition to several franchise locations.


 
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MakeMyTrip.com has expanded its footprint in India by adopting a Hybrid OTA

Model, with 20 regional offices across the country, apart from several franchise offices. This
is intended to help the company serve those customers who prefer making their travel and
holiday plans directly in person with the travel expert, rather than through the telephone, real-
time chat, or e-mail channels also offered by the company

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Sixth Sense Technology is a mini-projector coupled with a camera and a

cellphoneâ¼ šwhich acts as the computer and connected to the Cloud, all the information
stored on the web. Sixth Sense can also obey hand gestures. The camera recognizes objects
around a person instantly, with the micro-projector overlaying the information on any
surface, including the object itself or hand. Also can access or manipulate the information
using fingers. make a call by Extend hand on front of the projector and numbers will appear
for to click. know the time by Draw a circle on wrist and a watch will appear. take a photo by
Just make a square with fingers, highlighting what want to frame, and the system will make
the photo⼚which can later organize with the others using own hands over the air.and The
device has a huge number of applications , it is portable and easily to carry as can wear it in
neck. The drawing application lets user draw on any surface by observing the movement of
index finger. Mapping can also be done anywhere with the features of zooming in or zooming
out. The camera also helps user to take pictures of the scene is viewing and later can arrange
them on any surface. Some of the more practical uses are reading a newspaper. reading a
newspaper and viewing videos instead of the photos in the paper. Or live sports updates while
reading the newspaper. The device can also tell arrival, departure or delay time of air plane
on tickets. For book lovers it is nothing less than a blessing. Open any book and find the
Amazon ratings of the book. To add to it, pick any page and the device gives additional
information on the text, comments and lot more add on feature


It is beneficial for a hospatialityindustry to integrate appropriate new IT into their
entire operation. It is generally accepted that IT and Internet should be treated as strategic
tools than tactical issues, and as concerns of general management. Senior must drive the
process which determines the extent and direction of business re-engineering and take
responsibility for the implementation of the plan.

Additionally, technology cannot be considered as acting alone. It is a product of

society; it is also part of a larger environment in which other forces are at work. We rely on
information itself, not necessarily its facilitating mechanisms, to assist decision making and
guide actions. It is important to be knowledge base, so that to find a use of information.

Internet provides unprecedented and affordable opportunities for the global

representation and marketing for both large and small players