Developing Better Relations and Enhancing Customer Satisfaction

The assignment content highlights the importance of online portals in improving efficiency for hotels and travel agencies. It discusses the differences between e-commerce, mobile applications, and travel portals, highlighting their unique features and benefits. The study also analyzes the market trends and future developments, including personalization, cross-channel integration, and customization. Overall, it emphasizes the need for hotels to leverage online portals to reach a wider audience, improve customer satisfaction, and retain customers through efficient services.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................1
Range of information about the intermediary/portal solutions currently available for
medium sized hotel chain.......................................................................................................1
An evaluation of the benefits to an medium sized hotel chain from intermediary/portal
solutions.................................................................................................................................5
Critical commentary of the differences between the different systems.................................7
Analysis of the whole market for these systems and the possible future developments and
the benefits these would give.................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES...........................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Information technology is becoming one of the major key aspects nowadays through
which companies can attain higher competitive advantage. There are various IT solutions
which are providing wide range of services as well as offerings to company. In this regard,
the present study is developed on the basis of travel and tourism industry which is one of the
fastest growing industries. There are several internet portals available nowadays which are
offering consumers the opportunity to plan their holidays (Dhillon, 2007). For this, a medium
sized hotel chain is taking into consideration which was a domestic hotel chain in Germany
until 2009 and mainly serves the home market. With the changing perspective and time
company has expanded through targeted strategic acquisition in order to be an EU-wide chain
in past 5 years. It has the aspiration through which they can attract worldwide tourists across
the EU as well as USA and Asia. Further, this study analysed the intermediary/portal
solutions and also includes a critical review of the major systems in use in the travel industry
noting the differences and providing a critique of the main benefits of each.
Moreover, this study is highly focused with the methods of constructing information
systems relevant to the given hotel chain in the travel and tourism industry (Laudon and
Traver, 2007). It also describes that how it helps in improving efficiency in resource use and
profitability within the same industry.
Range of information about the intermediary/portal solutions currently available for medium
sized hotel chain
In today’s globalized world there are various IT solutions available for different firms
through which they can attract huge base of customers. As per given case scenario, the hotel
has expanded through strategic acquisition. With this, they require to adopt most effective
intermediary portal solutions through which they can reach out to the worldwide consumers
(Brooke, 2009). In this way, there are different types of portals used by companies for
different purpose such as:
E-commerce Portal (Enterprise information portal): It is one of the most effective
portal solutions which help the hotel chain in providing worldwide information to all the
consumers. It is a best gateway to access large volume of information via the internet
network. It is an advanced e-service which helps the senior management team of given
company to develop their existence in different countries including USA, Asia as well as
across the EU. It facilitates the sharing of information to external partners as well as
customers and suppliers (Yang and et.al., 2005). Moreover, consumers can get different
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information about the hotel services as well as make their booking online also. It is the most
attractive way through which large number of customers can be attracted towards the hotel.
They can easily avail different services and manage their booking portals via internet only.
The main aim of this portal is to increase the value of relationship whilst lowering the cost
(Chaffely, 2008). Customer’s today expects everything to deliver via a portal and they want
seamless, effortless and real time relevant information. Such e-commerce portals are having a
reputation for their attractive and creative design. With the help of this, medium size hotel
chain can make their presence worldwide and attract huge base of customers as well. In
addition to this, it is also known as enterprise portals which mainly include the development,
marketing, creative and technology. It provides customers a seamless hotel booking
experience across multiple devices. In this way, all their guests can online book their hotel
rooms and take an appropriate map of the hotel. It is the most effective portal which provides
total customer satisfaction, retention as well as improved sales to the company (Shingo and
Chong, 2007).
With this portal, they can set the various features within their portal such as search
friendly website design with all the fast and integrated options. They can avail the option of
paid search for fast and reliable services.
Travel portal: This is another most effective portal through which hotel can connect
with. It also provides online booking facility but does not leads to single e-commerce entity
for given. This is different from e-commerce portal as it constitutes of several important
features for different companies such as: Air ticket booking for domestic and international
airline, hotel booking for domestic and international hotel, taxi booking i.e. car, bus, charter
plan etc. Under this portal, users can avail the services of different holiday packages and
easily book the services in an effective way (Porter, 2010). Different holiday packages help
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users to select the desire the suiting package as per the requirements. In addition to this, there
are various companies which allow developing such type of portals which provides end to
end solution in the travel segment and does not confined to only flight booking, hotel booking
as well as car booking. It also focuses on offering various other important services like travel
and recharge portal development along with travel consultancy (Dhillon, 2007). The senior
management team of a medium size hotel can purchase the services of such travel portals and
make their existence within the same. Through this, customers can directly book the hotel
from such travel portals and avail their services at the same time. For example: Thomas Cook
Plc is a largest travel group which provides an option to register the hotel within the same
domain. Hers, customers can book such services and make their overall holiday package with
all other exclusive services as well. There are many offline travel agencies also with beautiful
setup and infrastructure with large team of employees (Pokorny and et.al., 2011). Here, cited
hotel can more likely to contact with the travel agents and take their services.
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Mobile application: This is another most effective portal/intermediary solution
through which companies can easily reach out to the targeted and intended audience. In this
way, it can be determine that there are several options which companies may avail at the time
of mobile application. Nowadays, there are most of the companies which are developing their
mobile applications in order to target maximum number of customers. In this application,
user can review all the latest discount and offers and they can get instant notification at the
time of available services (Hermida and Thurman, 2008). Moreover, it is also known as a
one-device portal and here user can make easily browse, download and make use of such
application. Further, in this portal user need to login with their personal user id and password.
It helps them in making all their information secure and private as well. With the help of this
portal, senior management team of cited hotel can provide a consistent and branded on-device
experience to their customers. In this regard, this is effective solution which help cited hotel
in improving efficiency and maintaining their target market as well. It helps them in
enhancing competitive advantage.
An evaluation of the benefits to an medium sized hotel chain from intermediary/portal
solutions
From the above description it has been founded that these are the different portals
which allows customized services for all the organization as well as their customers. Senior
management team of company can avail the best portal option in order to avail different
benefits. By making their website presence cited hotel will able to reach out to the large
number of customers worldwide. They can attract worldwide tourists, including those from
USA and Asia as well as across the EU. It is the best way to enhance the customer
satisfaction by providing them 24 hour services and providing several solutions for their
queries. This portal is identified as a quick and very convenient way to access any type of
information (McCallum and et.al, 2000). A consumer must have a good internet connection
to avail such services. A customer support services can also be provided by cited hotel and
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they can make their visitors experience far better by availing several latest options. Further, it
can be stated that information system is the most effective solution and key concepts for
travel and tourism organizations. It is the best way to improve efficiency in resource use and
profitability in the travel and tourism industry (Katerin and et.al, 2009). In addition to this, it
can be stated that with the help of such portals companies can easily enhance the level of
customer satisfaction, rate of retention.
By availing the services through travel portals also companies can enhance their
firm’s visibility and make their services avail to all the customers. Convenience, reliability,
easy accessibility, online customer support are some of the major advantages through which
customers can easily attain higher class servicer. This is the most effective way to attract
huge base of customers towards the online services. One of the main advantages of using
travelling portals is that companies are not require to any recruit any personal employees for
this.
In addition to this, there are several benefits of using mobile application such as it
provides facility for offline portals which allows the user to browse any type of content
categories and preview content free of charge (Kovacich, 2013). Further, they can also avail
different types of information at any time as mobile are the personal gadget of every
individual. They can use it whenever they requires. All the customized features allow visitors
to enhance their visiting experience far better all the times.
In all the above given portals one of the most common advantage company can attain
is appropriate communication with their customers. They can keep connected with their
guests and avail them required services 24/7. In this way, there are various options such as
customer support, live chat etc. through which company can make contact with their
customers. It helps them in developing better relations with their customers and enhances
their level of satisfaction. It is the best way through which they can retain their customers and
motivates them to use their services regularly (Laudon and Traver, 2007). They can promote
their services with social media sites as it most of the people are using these sites on regular
basis. It is the most effective way to promote all the services. Moreover, interactive product
display is another common benefit where cited hotel can keep their hotel room, lounge,
restaurants etc. pictures online. A customer feels free to go through this picture and make a
common idea about these services.
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Critical commentary of the differences between the different systems
According to Brooke (2009) Information systems are increasing their visibility on a
rapid pace. There are some of the most common and effective information portal through
which companies can make proper communication with their customers. The major
difference between e-commerce portal, mobile application and travel portals are as follows:
As per the study of Danet (2001) e-commerce portals are self-application of a single
company which they can update as per their requirements at any time. For instance, they can
update their hotel services options as well as payment options at any time. On the other hand,
while availing the services of travelling agents they are not allowed to do any type of changes
for better and smoothing their operations. In addition to this, mobile applications are those
services which can be accessed at anytime and anywhere. Company can update all the
features of mobile app according to the mobile software’s such as android etc.
Moreover, it is being stated that, travel portals provides all the specialized features to
different firms where they can login and make their account (Porter, 2010). They can enjoy
the paid services of such travelling agencies and make their experience more effective. Whole
responsibilities of handling their hotel name and all their details are in the hands of travelling
portal companies. Once a company has registered with that travelling portal they are able to
utilize all their services and free for any type of extra efforts.
On the other hand, at the time of using e-commerce portals and mobile applications
companies are responsible for total maintenance of the site as well as any type of updation.
Proper technical staffs are required for the same.
Analysis of the whole market for these systems and the possible future developments and the
benefits these would give
The whole market of these systems is very developed for the lodging industry. In the
year of 2010, there was a fast recovery of this market as people are highly attracted towards
the online services. One of the major shifts in 2010 was the significant gain in popularity of
social media channels and several other online portals. The smart hoteliers are keeping a
sharper focus on the fundamental shift in ways customers are seeking information (Kovacich,
2013).
There are various possible future developments such as personalization, cross channel
integration, shipping differentiation, adding a human element that sells etc. Another major
future predication for such portals is that they can custom everything. Company can provide a
option for custom design where customers represent themselves through custom design. It
provides better customer satisfaction and security as well. Several personalized benefits are
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also going to be presented in the pace of future development. In this regard, it can be
determine that there is a huge and vast expansion in the field of IT. Today's customers are
experiencing different services across platforms from mobile, Web, physical, media and
referral sources. Such cross-platform, pre-purchase experience requires a 360-degree view of
the customer to ultimately complete the sale. This is another future development which helps
the companies in retaining and engaging their customers online.
CONCLUSION
From the above study, it has been articulated that different online portals such as e-
commerce, mobile application as well as travel portals helps the cited hotel in improving their
level of efficiency. With the help of this, they are able to reach through their target audience
and easily attract worldwide tourists, including those from USA and Asia as well as across
the EU.
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REFERENCES
Brooke, C., 2009. Critical Management Perspectives on Information Systems. Routledge.
Chaffely, 2008. Internet Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice. Pearson
Education India.
Danet, B., 2001. Cyberpl@ y: Communicating online. Bloomsbury Academic.
Dhillon, G., 2007. Principles of information systems security: text and cases. John Wiley &
Sons.
Hermida, A., & Thurman, N., 2008. A clash of cultures: The integration of user-generated
content within professional journalistic frameworks at British newspaper websites.
Journalism practice. 2(3). pp.343-356.
Katerina D. and et.al., 2009. Measuring e‐commerce‐quality: an exploratory review.
International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences. 1 (3). PP.271 – 279.
Kovacich, L. G., 2013. The Information Systems Security Officer's Guide: Establishing and
Managing an Information Protection Program. Springer.
Laudon, K. C. and Traver, C. G., 2007. E-commerce. Pearson/Addison Wesley.
McCallum, A. K. and et.al., 2000. Automating the construction of internet portals with
machine learning. Information Retrieval. 3(2). pp.127-163.
Pokorny, J. and et.al., 2011. Information Systems Development: Business Systems and
Services: Modeling and Development. Springer Science & Business Media.
Porter, M. E. 2010. Strategy and the Internet. Harvard business review. 79(3). 62-79.
Shingo, A. and Chong, S. H., 2007. Managing Next Generation Networks and Services.
Springer Science & Business Media.
Yang, Z. and et.al., 2005. Development and validation of an instrument to measure user
perceived service quality of information presenting web portals. Information &
Management. 42(4). pp.575-589.
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