E-commerce and Hospitality: A Study on Hilton Hotel's Success

This research project investigates the impact of e-commerce on business success within the hospitality sector, specifically focusing on Hilton Hotel. The project comprises two parts, with the first part including an introduction, literature review, methodology, and timelines. The second part includes an executive summary, methodology, results and findings, discussion, conclusion, and recommendations. The research aims to analyze e-commerce's impact, understand its importance, explore key factors, interrelate e-commerce with business functions, and recommend improvements. The literature review covers the conception of e-commerce, its importance in the hospitality industry, and factors driving business success such as customer service, multichannel marketing, and customer retention. The methodology section outlines the research approach. The findings are expected to highlight the significance of e-commerce in the hospitality industry and provide actionable recommendations for Hilton Hotel to enhance its online presence, customer engagement, and overall business performance. The project also covers the interrelation of e-commerce with various business functions and operations, including registration, payment, product management, and order management.

RESEARCH PROJECT
(PART 1 AND 2)

Table of Contents
TOPIC: E-COMMERCE AND ITS DRIVE FOR BUSINESS SUCCESS....................................1
PART 1............................................................................................................................................1
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Literature review.........................................................................................................................2
Methodology...............................................................................................................................5
Timelines of research activities...................................................................................................6
PART 2............................................................................................................................................7
Executive summary.....................................................................................................................7
Introduction.................................................................................................................................7
Methodology...............................................................................................................................8
Results and findings..................................................................................................................10
Discussion.................................................................................................................................16
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................26
Recommendations.....................................................................................................................27
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................29

TOPIC: E-COMMERCE AND ITS DRIVE FOR BUSINESS SUCCESS
PART 1
Introduction
Background of research
E-commerce play important role with using websites, search engine, social media, etc. In
this regard, effectiveness continuously develops with dramatic effects on marketing. This is
because, it helps to increase competitive advantages in business environment with consider more
activities and tasks. With respect to deal with successful operations, e-commerce also helps to
deal with global environment (Morosan, Hua and Defranco, 2017). Efforts are also been made to
secure business and maintain systematic results in enterprise. E-commerce activities create
numerous opportunities that go ahead with smart planning. It helps an organisation to serve
products or services in international market.
Rationale of research
With respect to conduct research, it can be stated that Hilton Hotel able to attract
maximum number of customers together. It increases opportunities to save cost and ascertained
creative results. Furthermore, this is also helps to produce more profitability outcomes in
business. Internet is more valuable source so that it is important to attract maximum number of
customers (Ting, Chen and Fang, 2017). Increasing internet activities helps to face challenges
and benefits in particular place. Every hospitality industry wants to make sure that user-friendly
website for customer are established which need to consider changes with e-commerce activities.
Furthermore, present research considers E-commerce as a powerful platform that help to make
changes in a way to do business.
Aims and objectives
Aim: “To analysis impact of e-commerce and its drive on business success within hospitality
sector – A Study on Hilton Hotel.”
Objectives
 To understand conception of e-commerce and its importance in hospitality industry.
 To explore factors of e-commerce and its drive in business success of Hospitality
industry.
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 To interrelate e-commerce factors with business functions and operations of chosen
business.
 To recommend ways through which e-commerce activities can be improved so that
maximum benefit and desired results can be achieved in business.
Research questions
 What do you understand by the conception of e-commerce and its importance in
hospitality industry?
 How to explore importance of e-commerce and its drive in business success of
Hospitality industry?
 How to interrelate e-commerce with business functions and operations of chosen
business?
 What are the suitable ways will be recommendation through e-commerce activities
increases to gain desired results in business?
Literature review
To understand conception of e-commerce and its importance in hospitality industry
According to Odunayo, (2014), E-commerce is purchasing and selling of goods and
services through electronic network system specially by the use of internet. It occurs either
business to consumer, consumer to business, business to business or consumer to business. It can
be described as the system which manages transaction of goods and services electronically and
organizes both payments and collections. It only happens between a consumer and a seller. It
seems to have great importance in hospitality sector. Over a decade users of internet has
increased rapidly and hospitality sector is foremost industry to capitalize from new
advancements. Before purchasing customers are always ready to make new choices and book
suitable hotels for their pleasure.
As per the view of Neelankavil, (2015), it has been pointed out that E-commerce has
been considered as lowest cost hotel-booking channel. Many tourists browse websites for
reservations of hotels. Online hotel reviews and social media are increasingly becoming essential
factor for decision making of customers. Hoteliers make complete use of internet and tries to be
in contact with visitors. Thus, hospitality sector is facing extremely competitive environment and
many applications are offering customers related schemes and accommodations with discounted
flights. According to the research conducted travel plans are being made and different types of
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online booking are done so that customers can enjoy hotel amenities and ambience, destinations,
possible excursions etc. Similarly, Hilton hotel is taking advantage of E-commerce and planning
smartly to serve international customers and using right travel translation and making
partnerships with other similar companies by offering competitive prices. Therefore many
companies are planning for growth and partnership through E-commerce. Customers keep
engaged on their sites which make hoteliers more helpful to understand their options and like this
they attract them by offering low prices as compared to other companies. It technical elements
are front end, back end and firewall. To be more competitive Hilton follows Internet trend and
does all transactions and interactions with customers online. Hilton must understand the
importance of E-commerce and generate various ideas and so that it can attract customers from
all over the world. Online payments, marketing through social sites should be done quickly and
safely so that customers feel safe while doing transaction and billing, they should freely interact
with higher authorities related to products and services.
Top management should directly link with them know their choices through social
networking sites and updating them from time to time. They should know their choices as well
and should know what they want in future so that there should be no confusion. They must
discuss about customer service online so that there can be improvement made in this field. There
should be up gradation of employees educational level because they should know how to
evaluate mobile apps and receive correct information from customer's side. Proper connection
and messaging must be made between customer and employees through cells. E-marketing is
another major aspect of e-commerce which must be focussed upon. Companies build their own
pages in a very bright manner and update them at regular manner. Hilton should take proper use
of E-commerce to create new customer base line and also to retain customers. From online
marketing it should would show its presence in the market as well. Teenagers, youngsters are
more attracted towards hotels and resorts. They are regularly engaged on websites so they are
more aware of current market trends. Thus, hospitality sector, can make use of engagement of
youth and increase its business and thus profitability.
To explore importance of e-commerce and its drive in business success of Hospitality
industry.
For management and marketing new technologies are offering various channels that
improve various capabilities. According to Amaya and et.al., (2015), there are certain successful
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factors that help e-commerce businesses in its success which help owners should consider
properly. Firstly, customer service is very essential no matter whatever the size of company is.
Hospitality sector always aims at providing perfect customer service to retain its visitors and
therefore an excellent customer service enhance their trust in company's business. This increases
popularity of business in the way they appreciate its service to others which further increases
customer's crush in their business. People talk about business and its environment when the best
customer service is provided to them. In this regard, social media sites help in promoting their
business by posting their comments and pictures.
Another important factor is applying multichannel marketing through Email marketing,
referral marketing, offline campaigns and social media. Other online retailer will gain
opportunities if possible distribution of products haven't been done. Then, conversion rate also
defines success of any business which can be measured by the percentage of tourists on any e-
commerce website. In the contrary to Henwood, (2014), it is stated that this rate can become low
if there is lack of information about the products posted on E-commerce website. Customers
don't like to book rooms if its pricing is high. On an average 2% to 3% tourists visit on these
sites and place their order. This means that mostly customers just make visit on websites and
then exit. They do not make any purchase. In hospitality sector, visitors just browse numerous
sites and compare with each other, they do not book rooms or order anything on regular basis.
Another most important factor of E-commerce is retention of customers that affect operations of
hospitality sector. This measures the position and ability of organisation to survive in the market
for long run. This could be maintained by following up e-mails, reward system for loyal
customers and offering discounts and announcing special menus for them.
To interrelate e-commerce with business functions and operations of chosen business.
E-commerce is interrelated with the different business functions and operations. These
include registration, basket, payment, product management, orders management and VAT and
shipping costs. Users do registration on site to make purchases and for online booking of hotels.
Hilton provides all kinds of information required for billing, booking of rooms, menus, etc. all
data gets restored on database and then it is used by back office staff. Like this, customers make
good use of websites and companies also know their the entry and exit of customers. Another
important tool that which is useful for customers is basket such as shopping basket through
which they can easily select their products and make checkout payment. According to Jetnikoff,
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(2015), basket can be organised by summarising user requests and offering catalogues, initiating
payment process for selected menus. Payment of E-commerce is facilitated by dialogue delivery
between parties which include financial transactions. This operation takes few moments and
transaction is performed by bank which transfers payment into the account.
Major part of E-commerce which is related to business function is product management
that provides all types of features needed for fulfilment of order, product placement and is key to
online sales. Every product has its own code and category. Its description is provided on
website. Customer is more interested in knowing the price and looks at the pictures of current
products. Hilton manages its delicacies and beverages looking at market trends and then decides
its prices. This stimulates online purchase by customers which is very useful for the growth and
development of Hilton. According to Feng and et.al., (2017), order management is very
important which requires details of delivery place, lists of products, payment information and
user information. It means on the basis of registration database there is proper crossing of
information, data in the basket which is ultimately verified. System also helps in managing
shipping charges and VAT. E-commerce module successfully organises VAT rates outside and
within EU.
To recommend ways through e-commerce activities increases to develop desired results in
business.
There are many E-commerce activities which can develop hospitality sector and helps in
the growth and development. As per the view of Anwar and runi Kusumawarni, (2018), it has
been pointed out that websites should remain updated. Customers must watch everything from
home page to product availability information to blog. They like to search for current prices and
market trends, changes can be smaller and simpler. Company can announce something new to
audience by rotating banner weekly or publishing a new blog. Particular tasks must be scheduled
for each day and working regularly on sites make authority aware about new things and
availability of customers.
Another way of ensuring business to run smoothly is by observing its performance. This
can be done by monitoring KPI (Key Performance indicators) on regular basis. It ensures
problems arriving with websites. Quicker consideration of problems leads to better solutions.
According to Bassily and et.al., (2016), customers give huge amount of time on social media
websites like Facebook, Twitter etc. thus, company should be active to know what their
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competitors are promoting on these websites as these are cheap and faster mode of promotion of
brands. This creates impression of what is operated on daily basis and improves customer
engagement. Executives must answer the queries of customers properly so that they maintain
relationship with them and it helps in improving customer retention. This also helps customers
to prevent them from purchasing products which are out of stock.
Methodology
Research methodology important part to make successful results. In this consideration,
several tools and techniques are included in order to find desirable outcomes. Therefore, it covers
following aspects in research: Research approach: Research approach is most important part which assists in
formulation of plan and helps in execution of research on specific topic. Basically two
types of approaches such as inductive and deductive. In present report inductive approach
is selected which is used in a form of hypothesis and theories for e-commerce
implementation (Law, Buhalis and Cobanoglu, 2014). Research design: Another element of research methodology is design in which abstract
elaborated in order to define whole study. There are different kinds of research design
included such as descriptive, exploratory, experimental, etc. In the present research
descriptive research design has been used which assists to find in-depth information
About research topic (Bilgihan, Nusair and Cobanoglu, 2015). Research philosophy: Research philosophy consider ways in which investigator collect
data related to particular topic and investigate successful. There are two kinds of
philosophies such as interpretivism and positivism. From the both philosophies,
researcher has selected interpretivism research philosophy. Research strategy: Research strategy plays important role in whole investigation process.
This is because, it assists to conduct research analysis on the basis of qualitative or
quantitative research strategy (Wen, Tsai and Bai, 2016). In the present report, qualitative
research strategy has been selected that helps to find more creative work performance in
systematic manner. This kind of data has been collected on the basis of respondents
opinion, views, impression, etc.
 Methods for collecting data: There are several ways to collect data and conduct research.
In this regard, researcher must acquire information from primary and secondary data.
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This is because, focusing on both methods helps to find relevant results at workplace
(Marcoz, Mauri and Cantù, 2016). There are different techniques to collect primary data.
In present research primary data has been gather from questionnaire and secondary
collected from books, journals, online articles, etc.
Timelines of research activities
In the research, there are several activities included with appropriate time that assists to
find relevant information. On the basis of above activities and time, researcher able to conduct
study (Rivera and Pizam, 2015). Following activities are being executed as per time ascertained
to develop effective outcomes:
Key Activities
Week
1
Week
2 & 3
Week
4
Week
5
Week
6
Week
7
Week
8 & 9
Week 10 Week 11
Introduction of
research
Review of
Literature
Collection of
Secondary
Information
Examination of the
Collected Data
Design of
Research
Research
Methodology
Acquiring Primary
Data
Analysing Primary
and Secondary
Data
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Conclusion and
Recommendations
Completion of
Leftover Work
Revision and Draft
of research
Final Submission
PART 2
Executive summary
In the report, impact of e-commerce activities has been identified successfully to focus
and maintain more creative results. In this regard, researcher conduct study from 20 respondents
those are employees of Hilton hotel. Furthermore, there are different factors included that assists
to maintain creative work performances in the business with using Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Introduction
In order to generate systematic results, can be stated that e-commerce activities have
more significant advantages. This is because, it helps to reduce cost and attract maximum
number of customers as well. On the basis of factors such as Facebook, Instagram etc. it can be
depict that conversation and usability also increases successfully (Mwangi and Kagiri, 2016). It
helps to create new promotional activities to increases opportunities with relevant information.
Mobile is most important element that signify with e-commerce activities.
Methodology
Research methodology plays important role in execution of research in systematic
manner. It helps in drawing an effective outcome. In this consideration, there are different
elements of research that helps to gather more effective work performances (Bilgin, Kuzey and
Uyar, 2015). Following elements included in research to improve work: Research approach: Research approach consist in two kinds of methods such as
inductive and deductive. From the both, main difference is that deductive approach is
mainly focuses to generate and create new theory with accumulated data. Beside this,
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inductive approach consist effective results to analysis qualitative data (Buhalis and
Amaranggana, 2015). In the present research, inductive approach has been used to gather
relevant information. Research design: Research design consider focuses on three aspects such as descriptive,
experimental and exploratory. In order to analysis impact of e-commerce to drive success
in business descriptive research design has been used. This is because, descriptive
research design helps to gain in-depth information for present topic (Jauhari and
Bharwani, 2017). Research philosophy: In respect to consider effective research, research philosophy also
play important role in it. In this regard, it is important to gain in-depth information and
knowledge from qualitative data. There are two types of research philosophies such as
interpretivism and positivism (Molina-Azorín, Tarí and Pertusa-Ortega, 2015). In the
present research, interpretivism research philosophy has been selected that help to gather
more effective results at workplace. Sampling: In the research, there are two kinds of sampling techniques such as
probabilistic and non-probabilistic. In the present research, probabilistic technique
selected in which simple random sampling has been selected because each individual get
equal chance in sample (Jung and Yoon, 2016). There are 20 employees of Hilton Hotel
has been selected to find relevant work performances in whole program. Data collection: With respect to consider data collection, it can be stated that in present
research two types of data required such as primary and secondary. Primary data
collected from questionnaire which design to conduct survey in present business
regarding e-commerce implementation. Furthermore, secondary data also collected from
previous research, books, journals, articles, etc. (Kong, Jiang and Zhou, 2018). Data analysis: Moreover, data analysis is important tool that helps to attain more
significant results in the research. With the help of thematic analysis, present research
consider important perspective in whole program. Furthermore, it also assists to gather
proper and effective information regarding present research (Kim, Park and Yun, 2017).
 Research strategy: There are to kinds of research strategies such as qualitative and
quantitative. In the present research, qualitative research strategy has been considered to
gather relevant information for business development (Eid and Abdelkader, 2017).
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