Introduction – A Historical view
Hotels have existed for a long time, ever since travelers/traders began packing their bags to journey to faraway places, hotels were referred to as inns at that time. Slowly, hotels evolved to modern sky-scalpers with some even towering over a beach. However before the telephone were made widely available, customers all over the world are all facing a similar problem; they have no convenient way of reserving a room!!
In our essay, we shall discuss specifically about how the Hotel industry has evolved from Telephone/Travel Agency booking era to Internet booking .We shall also discuss extensively about Ctrip.com which is a an online travel agent which provides various hotel booking services in China to their customers.
Adaptation of Computer Reservation System
The hotel reservation system originated from the airlines industry, the first Computerize Reservation Systems (CRS) was developed in 1946 by American Airlines. However, the early systems require substantial manpower to operate because there is always a need for somebody behind every process. For example, querying the system for data.
As technology progressed in the next few decades, better and more efficient systems were developed, but it was only in 1976 that the systems were made available to travel agencies and hotels, enabling them to better manage their inventories. i.e Rooms
The systems will marketed/sold even though it allowed agents to book airline tickets from competitors.
However, even up till this point, customers are still relying on travel agencies to book/plan their travels. They could still DIY their own trips, but they would have to rely on travel guides, hotel guides/ratings and do the reservation through telephone.
Evolution of the Industry – Expedia
With the advent of the internet, Bill Gates CEO/Founder of Microsoft saw an opportunity when his staff (Richard Barton) presented the concept of Expedia to him.
Expedia was founded by Microsoft in 1996, an online travel service, as part of the Microsoft Network (MSN). It was the first online travel service to be offered by a major technology company. Expedia allowed consumers to make air, car, and hotel reservations online and to browse a library of multimedia travel guides.
During that time, some people expressed their doubt about the viability of such a service. The American Society of Travel Agents, for example, responded to Expedia's launch with a statement quoted in Travel Weekly: "There may be a small percentage of do-it-yourselfers who want to book electronically, but most people think their time is too valuable." Travel agents in general stressed the personal attention that people wanted when they made their vacation plans.
It turns out that this new service was a big hit and proved successful attracting several competitors. In a survey conducted in the year 2005, Expedia.com garnered the most consumers with over 18.7 million, with Orbtiz.com following in a close second 17.7 million.
In 1997 Expedia upgraded its web site and added several new features, including airline seat selection, real-time flight information, and an expanded directory of hotels and bed-and-breakfast inns. The travel service also added new destinations to its Expedia World Guide, which was the most popular feature of its web site. Other improvements included consolidating the Flight Wizard, Hotel Wizard, and Car Wizard onto a single screen, thus reducing download time.
It was sold off through an Initial Public Offering (IPO) by Microsoft in 1999, because it was "no longer about software intensive technology" and they were "concerned that they would not do their best at this.
All this was new to the customers, hotels realising the potential of such online-reservation website, jumped on the bandwagon and listed their hotels by paying a fee based on bookings (Expedia) .
Ctrips
The hospitality industry is embracing the use of modern technologies to enhance the services they offer and to gain customer loyalty. The objectives are to stay in the forefront of today’s marketplace and to improve service, efficiency, and profitability. The hospitality industry has transformed itself into a global industry, and, as one of the largest industries in the world, it serves as an excellent example of an industry that has transformed itself in response to changes in customer requirements and demands.
Continuous technological developments and their adoption in the hospitality industry have provided numerous opportunities and challenges. Technology is found to have affected the ability of hotels to support employees, enhance the quality of service, improve efficiencies, gain competitive advantage, maintain relationships with customers, and increase profitability.
Ctrip.com is an online travel agent which provides various hotel booking services in China to their customers. However, Ctrip.com is not responsible for the operations and management of the hotels. On the website, it gives descriptions of many hotels in China so that potential customers are able to compare prices and facilities before making decisions. Details of the hotels include; address, contact numbers, number of rooms, infrastructure and facilities of the hotel, distance of the hotel from airport, and the prices of the different types of room. Ctrip.com allows their customers to look for a hotel which best suits their preference by designing a program whereby customer just need to key in information such as city of the hotel located in, check-in/check-out dates, maximum price, hotel type and its star rating. The program will then show the results based on the information and customers are able to choose the one that best suits them in a fast and easy way.
In addition, there are also reviews from past customers that are posted and published in the website to allow others to know more about the standards of the services provided by Ctrip.com.
Ctrip.com also used the Google Map to show customers exactly where the hotels are located. With the latest technology, Google Map is designed for users to easy locate any destination they wish to find. Pictures around the vicinity are also available. Ctrip.com used the technology designed by Google to provide services for its customers. This enables Ctrip.com to save costs if they decide to design its own map.
Technology is so advanced in a way that customers are able to immediately book a reservation online for a room in a hotel. Payments can made available online via credit cards which make the whole transaction completed efficiently without the need for customers to physically travel to the agency to book and pay for the reservation.
Ctrip.com does not require customers to pay a deposit upfront and the prices charged is one of the cheapest amongst its competitors. Good reviews on its services online are also being published on the website. For example, comment like “ctrip.com is a better site to book hotels in China. Price is usually cheaper than US sites” is being posted on complaintsboard.com.
