What is ICT?
Information and communications technology (ICT) is often used as a synonym for information technology (IT). It is a more general term that stresses the role of communications (telephone lines and wireless signals) in modern information technology.
ICT consists of all technical means used to handle information and aid communication. These include computer and network hardware as well as necessary software. In other words, ICT consists of IT as well as telephony, broadcast media, and all types of audio and video processing and transmission.
ICT and e-Hospitality
E-Hospitality is a term that incorporates the entire range of ICT applications in the hospitality sector. ICTs penetrate at a fast pace, by integrating the hotel operation; re-shaping marketing function; improving total efficiency; providing tools for marketing research and partnership building; enhancing customer services while providing strategic opportunities.
Without the help of ICT, hotels will be unable to perform their operations profitably. The developing ICTs provide unprecedented opportunities for hospitality organizations as they aid the promotion of properties to a wide range of institutional as well as individual buyers around the world. ICTs are increasingly recognized as a means of achieving competitive advantage for the hospitality industry.
In the past
Before Information Communication Technology (ICT) comes to picture, to get a hotel room, customers are required to either make reservation via phone calls; walk-in, or via tour agency. From the perspective of a tourist, it is very inconvenient and troublesome to do so.
For example, for walk in reservation, whether a tourist can get a room or not depends solely on luck. During the peak seasons, walk-in reservation is impractical, because the possibility of getting a room is near zero. Instead spending time touring the country, much time will be wasted on searching for accommodation.
As for reservation via phone calls, it may be slightly more efficient than walk in reservation, however, it is still inconvenient, because one has to tediously call up the hotels in the foreign country (which will incur extra costs due to overseas calls) to check for availability of rooms and make comparison for the best price available. Making reservation through tour agency may incur processing fees and yet one might not get the best price available.
When calls from all over the world start pouring in at the same time, the hotel hotline may be engaged most of the time, making it difficult for calls to get through. This reflects badly on the hotel’s image and its customer service, and could cause the hotel to lose its customers. In addition, apart from busy serving the existing customers in the hotel, the receptionists will have to deal with never ending phone calls from customers who might just be enquiring information. It is time consuming and meaningless for both the hotel and customers, and the hotel might need to incur extra costs to hire staff to be solely in charge of answering such phone calls.
Present
Today, with the help of ICT, hotel room reservation has definitely become much easier and more convenient for customers. As a tourist, one no longer need to worry about having no accommodation available and resorting to sleeping on the streets when arriving in a foreign country, neither does he need to make tedious phone calls nor make reservation via tour agency, as everything can be done within clicks. Hotels across the globe are also taking efforts to incorporate ICT for the convenience of its customers, striving to make the existence of their offered services known, and also to keep up with the competition from other hotels.
Computer Reservation System (CRS)
Nowadays, CRS are mainly used for inventory management in tourism and hospitality sector such as hotels and airlines. The term central reservation system refers to the CRS developed by hotel chains for centralizing the reservation process of all their affiliated properties and enabling multi-chain management. The major benefits of such systems are operational efficiencies and staff reductions.
The primary reason for using computers in the handling of reservations is to increase yield metrics, however it depends on the level of systems integration. This is because computer reservation systems not only help in processing reservations, they also support decision making in both marketing and sales. Integration between CRSs and distribution channels can improve efficiency, facilitate control, reduce personnel, and enable more rapid response time to both customers and management requests, at the same time enabling personalized service and relationship marketing.
Benefits of CRS
- Immediate availability update
- Complete and detail reservations screen
- Individual and group reservations
- Travel agency information entry
- Guest information enquiry
- Reservations linked to city ledger
- Advance deposit posting and auditing
- Modifications and cancellation confirmations
- System generated confirmation numbers on all reservations
- User identification
- Confirmations printed automatically or on demand
- Forecast reports
- Current and future dates to five years historical information
- No-shows reports and handling
- Customer information – past, present, future –retained in system.
In conclusion, ICT is changing how hotels are running their businesses and surviving individually or institutionally. Quintessentially, communication in today’s world has been necessary and made available. Consumers are able to make hotel reservations by simply accessing the internet, and thus, the task has been made more efficient and information can been readily made available.
