Report on Information Systems and Technology at Travelodge Hotels

This report provides an in-depth analysis of the information systems and technologies employed by Travelodge Hotels. It begins with an executive summary highlighting the use of various information systems, networking technologies (LAN, MAN, WAN), and the ethical and social implications of technology adoption within the hospitality sector. The report then delves into the background of Travelodge, its services, and competitive strategies, followed by a literature review covering the role of information technology in retail and the different types of networking technologies. The analysis and discussion sections examine the application of different information systems (TPS, MIS, DSS, EIS) within Travelodge, as well as the specific networking types used, including cloud computing and the internet. The report also addresses key ethical and social issues, such as privacy and data security. Overall, the report offers a comprehensive overview of how technology shapes Travelodge's operations and its impact on the hospitality industry.

INDIVIDUAL REPORT

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This assignment has highlighted different types of information system used in an
organization, types of networking technology used and various ethical and social issues
associated with the use of technology. Service sector is a sector which in which service to
customers are given and is also called tertiary sector. It includes hospitality, retail, education,
healthcare etc. Out of all these businesses this assignment will explain use of technology in
hospitality sector. Travelodge Hotels is a private limited organization that operates in hospitality
and hotels industry to serve their customers throughout United Kingdom. Travelodge provides
different facilities and services like: they provide room facilities to their customers or clients,
check-in and check-out facility, parking facility to their staff or customers etc. Increasing use of
information technology has impacted each and every business especially retail sector. It is
changing the way retail business operates. It can be used for different purposes in retail business
like for Price Auditing and can also be used to manage and store customers' data. There are
different types of networking technologies but only three of them are commonly used like LAN,
MAN, WAN. Social and ethical issues of using technology has been continuously increasing
both in business and in individual’s life. Some common ethical and social issues faced by
companies and people are: privacy issues or tax theft. Usage of technology has impacted service
industry in many ways and in some way, it has become one of the most important factors for the
growth of the organizations. In hotel industry also, it is used in wide range for different
operations.

INTRODUCTION
Purpose
Purpose of this assignment is to understand Travelodge hotel business, their services and
competitive strategies they use. This assignment will also lay emphasis on different types if
information technologies used in service sector, different types of networking technologies
available, various social and ethical issues created by use of technologies in side hospitality
industry and at last different types of information systems used inside hospitality business are
explained like DSS, MIS, TPS and EIS (Viglia, Pelloia and Buhalis, 2018).
Background
Service sector is a sector which in which service to customers are given and is also called
tertiary sector. It includes hospitality, retail, education, etc. Out of all these businesses this
assignment will explain use of technology in hospitality sector.
Hospitality sector is a group of business that provide service to customers. Hotel business
is one of the business which comes under hospitality. This assignment will focus on business of
Travelodge Hotel.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Overview of business
Travelodge Hotels is a private limited organization that operates in hospitality and hotels
industry to serve their customers throughout United Kingdom. It is the second largest brand in
hotel sector and third largest hotel chain in UK. It has more than 500 hotels in UK, 11 hotels in
Ireland and 5 in Spain.
Their products and services
Travelodge provides different facilities and services like: they provide room facilities to
their customers or clients, check-in and check-out facility, parking facility to their staff or
customers, business services like fax, photocopy, printouts, lounge etc., (Del Chiappa, Lorenzo-
Romero and Alarcón-del-Amo, 2018).laundry and dry-cleaning service, concierge services like
fitness centre, hiring car, restaurants, televisions, room services facility, Air conditioning in all
the rooms
Competitive strategies
To give a tough competition to their competitors they use flexible pricing as one of their
strategies i.e. they provide cheaper rooms to the customers with the best quality service, they
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even provide flexible rates with flexible dates to the customers and if a customer’s books their
hotel online then they even get discount on the current online rates. With all these flexibilities
they do not compromise with their quality of services or products they offer to their customers.
Information technology and its role in retail business
Increasing use of information technology has impacted each and every business
especially retail sector. It is changing the way retail business operates. Information technology
has made it compulsory to all the sector including retail business to use these technologies in
order to remain up to date with the continuous change in the market sector. It can be used for
different purposes in retail business like
 Price Auditing is one of the most important, time consuming, costly process especially in
retail business and hospitality business where their focus is on serving the customers. It is
important for organization to ensure that they are not undercharging or overcharging their
customers. Information technology has made it an easy process by automating price
checks of all the products and services they offer by scanning (Taylor, Snipes and Barber,
2018). This helps companies to accurate pricing to the customers which saves lots of time
of employees which helps them to create a trustworthy and healthy relationship with the
customers.
 It can also be used to manage and store customers' data so that they can serve them in a
better manner by using software or systems to manage customer data.
Networking Technology, different types
Technologies that can be used to connect two or more computer systems or devices in
different parts of the world then it is called networking technology. It can also be used for
communication, shared resources, file exchanging etc. there are different types of networking
technologies but only three of them are commonly used, which are:
 LAN (Local area network): It is one of the small, easiest type and most commonly used
of network available. It connects deceives or systems in a small geographical area used to
share information or resources available (Dinesh Thakur, 2019). Ownership of this
network is private either owned by an individual or business and is used in school,
collages, hospitals or small business etc.
 MAN (Metropolitan Area network): This type of network is larger than LAN but
smaller than WAN and used to connect relatively larger region such as cities or towns.
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Ownership of this network can either be public or private. Maintenance and designing of
this network is comparatively difficult compared to LAN (Bairamzadeh, Saidi-Mehrabad
and Pishvaee, 2018). It is most commonly used in small cities or towns to connect them.
 WAN (Wide Area Network): It is the most complex type of network in all the three. It
connects all the devices or computer systems together across longer physical distance or
it can be said that it is used to connect different countries together. Most common
example of this network is internet. Ownership of this network can either be public or
private and can be maintained by multiple administrators. It can be used for countries or
continents.
Ethics and Social issue of using technology
Social and ethical issues of using technology has been continuously increasing both in
business and in individual’s life. Some common ethical and social issues faced by companies and
people are:
 Privacy is one of the major issues that is faced by customers or employees of a company.
One the name of security companies asks way too much information of customers as well
as of employees and not only this they continuously monitor their workers with the help
of surveillance cameras.
 Companies even track their customers data or shopping patterns, collects their personal
information which is completely unethical.
 Tax theft is another issue that is done by organizations or individuals. Many companies
show losses in their records only for one reason that is to pay less tax to the government
which is a major ethical issue.
ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
Role of information technology in selected business
Usage of technology has impacted service industry in many ways and in some way, it has
become one of the most important factors for growth of organizations. In hotel industry also, it is
used in wide range for different operations (Valentine and Fleischman, 2018). There are many
systems that are used by hotel organizations in order to ease their employees work, automate
their systems and various purposes. Different types of systems that can be used are:
 Transaction processing system: These systems are operational level systems used by
workers or front-line staff of an organization used to provide main information or data
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required. It can be used to produce or process information for other systems, for cross
boundaries both internal and external. It is efficiently oriented to give desired output
after processing of data. Common systems used by organizations are: Payroll systems,
reservation system, systems for payment and fund transfer, order processing systems,
stock control system etc.
 Management information system: this type of systems is used by middle management
of the company. It is used for all the management level operations used by middle
managers to ensure smooth running of an organization. Information provided by this
type of systems are highly structured which allows managers to evaluate organizations
performance by comparing their previous and current outputs. It processes internal data
like transactions, internal files etc. to give output like summary reports, detailed reports,
action reports etc. These systems are completely based on the internal information flow.
MIS systems used by organizations are: Sales management system, inventory control
systems, Personnel systems (HRM), management reporting system, budgeting systems
etc.
 Decision support system: These are knowledge-based systems mostly used by senior
managers which is used to facilitate knowledge creation and integration in an
organization. They are mostly used to analyse existing structured information which
allows senior managers to take efficient and required decisions in the future or predict
future based on current data. They are usually interactive systems used to solve problems
created by poor structure. These systems offer analytical tools, database access and
exchange of information within organization. Common DSS systems used by
organizations are: spreadsheet models, logistics systems, group decision support-based
system (GDSS), Computer supported Co-operative work (CSCW).
 Executive information system: These systems are strategic level information system
that are mostly used by the top executives of an organization. These systems help senior
managers and executives to analyse the environment in which they operate in order to
identify long terms trends or to plan appropriate course of actions. Such systems are
weakly structured and comes from both internal and external sources (Resh, Grimes and
Aguirre, 2018). They are designed in such a way that they can be used by executives
without anyone else help. These systems are highly flexible, easy to use and effective.
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These systems are mostly customized and designed according to the customers use.
However, some off-the-shelf EIS systems already exist in the market as well.
Networking types in selected business
It has already been explained above that there are mainly three different types of
networking technologies used. Further there are mainly five types of networking used by
hospitality industry in order to connect with each other such as:
 Networking: In hotel business it can be used to connect all the devices and computers or
the organization, share information resources or communicate with each other either
through text or voice calls or through video calls. It is used to connect all the hotels of
Travelodge together.
 Cloud Computing: Cloud computing in hotel industry plays a vital role and is used more
frequently. It can used for infrastructure related services or for individual purposes. It
also provides security and reliability to the systems like if Travelodge Hotel uses hotel
property management system then they won’t need to store any data on their sites or
systems and need not to worry about the security of the data. It can be used in three ways
i.e. first for software as a service for communication, ERP, CRM, emails, etc. Second for
Platform as a service for database, websites, application development and third for
infrastructure as a service for server, storage, system management, security or network.
 Internet: It is one of the most important things that is used by both individuals and
business. It can be used to share information or resources or data with anyone (Dimitriou
and Ducette, 2018). With the help of internet any data can be downloaded or accessed by
anyone all around the globe. Data and information can also be used to share with others
by uploading it in hotel application or website. It can also be used by customers to book
hotel rooms online or for online shopping.
 Wireless communication: It can be used for various purposes in a hotel and is capable
of doing anything like making calls through mobile or making communication internally
within the hotel. Using this technology run their application on internet for their hotel
promotions.
 Social Media: Using internet promotion for an organization has become an important
part of their business whether it is to promote their brand, services or product. Social
media can be used a platform for promotion especially in hospitality business. It is one of
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the greatest ways to interact and communicate with their customers and to know their
needs and desires in order to fulfil it. Social media can be the best medium to improve the
reputation of any organization and communicate or interact with their customers (Belias
and et.al, 2019).
FINDINGS
Form this assignment it has been found that there are various technologies that can be
used in Hotel business such as information systems like DSS, MIS and networking technologies
like internet, wireless communications etc. But it has also been observed that usage of these
technologies has also created some social and ethical issues.
RECOMMENDATIONS
These social and ethical issues can be resolved, here are few recommendations like a
security department should be present who will monitor all the systems and flow of information
inside the hotel and will ensure that all the operations inside the hotel are working smoothly.
CONCLUSION
From the above assignment it has been summarized that there are different ways' in
which usage of information or network systems inside an organization can be done but
appropriately so that it is not misused and no ethical or social issues are created in an
organization.
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