ICT APPLICATIONS IN HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM

While hotels have been in existence since ancient times, the modern hotel traces back to the advent of railroad travel.

Chain hotels became prevalent in the decades following World War II. With the advent of chain hotels, travelers came to expect a certain level of consistency within a hotel chain’s properties.

Why do Hotels need IT?

Hilton results: In a two year period, spending by its “most-

valued guests” grew by from 40% to 61%. Increased use of online account management,

by customers, has reduced the number call centers from six to four.

In 2004, the 20 largest hotels – out of over 2000 - had $4 million annual savings due to improved operating efficiencies.

In addition to these quantifiable results, there are the more qualitative measures of increased guest satisfaction and loyalty.

Benefits of Innovative Technology to the Hospitality Industry Differentiation Hotels are under such pressure to

keep up with expectations of guests that they are implementing new technologies to regain their edge.

Tourism & the net

Property Management System (PMS) in Hotels

PMS is the central computer system which handles the core functions of the properties and its information processing in hospitality industry such as hotels, motels, guest house, campsite, condominium and so forth.

The functioning of PMS includes reservation, front-back office operation, and managerial functions

Common objectives to use PMS improving capacity management along with

operation efficiency, facilitating central room inventory control, providing last room availability information, offering yield management capability, providing better database access for

management proposes, supporting extensive marketing, sales and

operational reports, providing travel agency tracking and commission

payment, tracking frequent flyers and repeat hotel guests, direct marketing and personalized service for

repeat hotel guests establishing customer relation-ship management, and

reducing operational costs with the aid of technology.

PMS and Its Function

The functionality of PMS is classified into basic and specialised.

Reservation

The reservation is handled by the PMS at property level. The reservations are received in the form of email, phone calls, faxes, letters, from hotel‟s website, bookings from GDS.

All the reservation received is the subject to be entered into the PMS.

If the hotel is a part of a hotel chain or other CRS the reservation are directly entered into the interfaced PMS from the CRS via internet.

The reservation module of a PMS keeps the record of the guest‟s preferences such as room type, special request, dates of stay, deposit information, details about their booking agent and generates confirmation notices. Reservation module can facilitate single and group reser-vation based on request and requirement of the guest

Check-in and Check-out

PMS facilitates with C-IC-O. The facility differs on the basis of use of level of technology. The C-I process brings the guest‟s reservation file into an active in-house file and a guest folio is opened.

Check out procedure is related to cash payment. Most of the hotels have check out at front desk as check in. But in the hotels automated with self check out machines the guest does not need to visit front desk for check out. Guest can view the total bill and make a payment through the machine and receives a receipt.

In many hotels the check out is facilitated through TV. The guest can use remote and check the bill and pay them online. Such TV is often has a printer which can deliver a receipt of the payment

Guest History

Guest history is an important part of PMS which can be used as a powerful marketing tool.

The PMS facilitate to create such history databases after the guest is checked out. These databases are used for research and marketing purposes.

Guest history helps in understanding the nature and manner of guest in using services of the properties and provides background for improvements.

This database also facilitate the future transaction of the guest the address, credit card number and other data entry is not required to be fed again.

Room Management

This module of PMS helps in tracking the status of room and provides information for housekeeping department in order to support their work.

This module of PMS contains the information regarding room type, its number, and amenities in room, room rates, location, and the status of each room.

The status can be vacant, occupied, dirty, clean, inspected and uninspected. The room status gets changed after each C-IC-O.

Another important function of this module is to provide all the updates regarding the status of the room in order to increase occupancy rate of the room.

Management application of PMS

The database of PMS provides management with real-time information in order to understand the operation of the property.

It provides online statistics of different operations such as occupancy percentage, average room rate, gross operating profit, room sales and so forth.

PMS supports in generating marketing report, arrivals and departure reports, guest behaviour report, feedback report, complaint report, night audit report and so forth

It supports Revenue management or yield Management programs

Back office function

PMS carries out all the back office functions such as processing of

payroll, employee information, accounts payable and receivable, inventory, and purchasing.

Providing reports on revenues, sales, customer relations and commissions paid etc.

Guest room technology

The PMS can be featured as required by the properties. New facilities and features can be added in order to provide tech savvy services to the modern guest. The list of such facilities is given below. Electronic lock Guest information and entertainment services Call accounting system Internet facilities

PMS in Food service sector The food service sector of a hotel has a

Point of sales which is connected to PMS and all the purchases either can be paid at the POS or entered in to the guests’ folio for final billing.

These terminals can be single or multiple and self ordering where guest can place an order pay bill or place an order and transfer the bill to the folio.

Restaurant management

Using the restaurant management system, the hotel can manage the

purchasing and inventory control of food items,

menu and recipe control items on order,

details of suppliers, inventory control systems tracks the

par level so that ordering can be automated

Travel Agent Accounting

Keeping the record of commissions of the travel agents through whom the rooms are booked is done by PMS.

The commission are tracked at the time of reservation and calculated in individual account of travel agents.

The cheque for such commissions is generated automatically by PMS on weekly or monthly basis

Function Room Scheduling The numerous function rooms can be

banquet rooms are used for convention, meeting, seminars and other social event and gathering.

PMS manages the upcoming events and stores information regarding setting of the room, decoration, equipment required for event, man power requirement, food and beverage and other requested entities are recorded in PMS in order to manage a successful event hall

Amenity Management

Managing the record of the sport entities, renting them, scheduling time for the court booking court for guest and their management are scheduled in the PMS

Condominium and Time Share management

It is a different module in PMS which manages accommodation units owned by different par-ties.

This module kept detail information of the owner of the properties, track the payments and provides facilities for overall management of the properties

RESTAURANT TECHNOLOGY

Most restaurants divide their technology into two parts: back and front of the house.

Many systems integrate these so that operators can input and draw on the information from both programs.

BACK-OF-THE-HOUSE TECHNOLOGY

Purchasing and Inventory Control

track product through each stage of the inventory cycle and to automatically reorder

when an item falls below the par stock level. The ingredients for recipes are costed to calculate cost and selling prices.

If the purchase price of an item increases, it is easy to enter this information and get the new selling price.

Software solutions like Chef Tec and Chef Tec Plus include options such as importing purchases from vendors’ online ordering systems and comparing vendors’ pricing from purchases or bills.

Additionally, the software allows restaurants to automate ordering with user-set par levels and generate customized reports detailing purchases, bids, and credits

Inventory Control

Back-office systems aid inventory control by quickly recording the inventory and easily allowing new stock to be added.

Calculations are done rapidly and monetary tools are given for each item, plus a cumulative total.

The software programs prompt when inventory falls below the reorder point.

When new menu items are added to the system, they are costed and priced according to the mark-up.

Food Costing.

When calculating the food (and beverage) cost percentage, a handheld device (PDA) can enter the inventory amounts into the system.

Laser bar-code scanning technology is speeding up the inventory-taking process and making it more accurate.

When the data are entered into the system, a variance report is generated and any significant variances are investigated.

Kitchen Management

Improve food quality, save on labor, and shorten table turns by automating the most critical area of your restaurant—the kitchen.

Menu Management

The menu management function is used to determine what offers work best, so that coupon building may be directed toward those items.

Labor Management Labor management systems interface with both front-

and back-of-the-house employee working hours, plus they handle human resources information.

Labor management systems include a module to monitor applications, recruitment, personnel information, tax status, availability, vacation, and benefit information.

Labor management systems also do the scheduling based on the forecasted volume of business for each meal period, and managers monitor the schedules to control costs.

The actual time worked is recorded, the data on tips are entered and later reported, the pay scale and the calculation of paychecks are made, and the check is in the mail

Financial Reporting

Back- and front-of-the-house systems may interface by transferring data to and from the central server.

Profit (or loss) statements, budgets and variances, daily reports, and balance sheets are prepared with the aid of software programs.

FRONT-OF-THE-HOUSE TECHNOLOGY

POS Systems

Selection of POS Systems

Aloha: Full range of restaurant products including Table Service & Virtual Order Processing.

ASI: Popular Restaurant Manager POS & Write-On Handheld.

Selection POS Systems

IBM: Linux servers & Sure POS 700 series.

Sharp: UP-5900 system combined with Maitre’D.

NCR: 7454 POS Workstation- MS DOS & Windows certified.

Micros: Eclipse PC Workstation.

GUEST SERVICES AND WEB SITES

Tables may be booked over the Internet at any time by leaving a credit card as a form of deposit to secure the table, especially in the large cities at convention times.

Hosts can use programs to allocate tables, allowing a certain time, say one and a half hours, before that table is booked again.

Guest checks can be split for payment by several people, if need be.

Guest bills even come with suggested tip amounts calculated.

Another form of guest services is offered by some coffeehouses, which provide high-speed Internet access for guests.

Wireless surveys allow guests to give feedback before they leave the restaurant, and tabletop pagers let guests page their server when they need something

Technology enhancement in hotel guestroom

Living Area

As personal devices become better able to enhance the guest’s experiences using RFID technology, systems Keyless Door Entry allow guests to skip long lines at check-in and head straight to their room, using their cell phone as a key.

For many, the guestroom is an office away from the office.

Sleeping Area

As the center of any guestroom, the bed is an important feature.

Designed to support the body in the correct position for sleep, the bed has 20,000 components that move interdependently to contour inch by inch in the natural curves of the moving body.

It also factors hygiene, airflow and adaptability into the design.

Because the bed lacks a traditional mattress, it lasts many times longer than today’s bed does, and is environmentally friendly because after its useful life it does not fill up our landfills.

Bathing Area

Bath uses sound waves to provide a relaxing bath for guests.

Four vibro-acoustic experiences envelop the bather in a multi-sensory environment that synchronizes music, vibration and light with water.

This fully integrated shower incorporates a rejuvenating water stream, music from a personal play list, and lights that move and change colors to help guests improve their mood.

Guests can chose personalized temperature and water delivery options from up to eight shower components.

Top 10 Hotel Technology of the Future

1. Foldable Pods

"'Active' walls and floors will show changeable images, enabling guests to set whatever mood they wish...All waste produced by the hotel will go into a unit at the base...so no blemish will be left on the environment after it has moved on."

2. Biometrics

Biometrics, a security technology that identifies individuals by retina scans, fingerprints or voice prints, is already in use at government and private industry installations.

The lock on your hotel room's safe may soon be triggered by a retina scan.

Guests of future hotels might also forget about room keys and check in to hotels with just a glance.

3. Robots

Food and drinks could be dispensed by machines or robots, rooms could be cleaned by built-in vacuum and disinfecting systems, and a quick back-and-foot massage could be provided by a robotic apparatus.

4. Nanotechnology

Hotel rooms equipped with molecular nanotechnology will deliver. On the more immediate horizon, the technology promises scratch-resistant furniture, self-cleaning coated glass, upholstery that stays clean, and windows that filter UV/IR light.

5. 3-D Holographic Teleconferencing

Business travelers will be able to use 3-D holographic teleconferencing to include far-off members in a meeting, without the use of special glasses. Prototypes have already been developed at NYU and MIT.

6. Room Selection and Personalization

Systems that track a hotel's inventory and add information about what is in each room can be made available to guests wishing to choose just the right location and configuration.

Taken a step farther, guests would be able to specify what they want in a room (i.e., a copy machine), and what they don't want (feather pillows, if the guest has allergies).

7. Undersea Resorts

In Dubai, the Hydropolis openED at the end of 2006; this massive (250,000 square feet) underwater hotel complex encompasses three restaurants, a ballroom for indoor concerts, a Roman-inspired spa, and guest suites with "ocean-view" windows.

8. Floating Hotels

On top of the water, floating hotels are being envisioned. A project by Westin Hotels & Resorts, "America World City," calls for a 250,000-ton ship with three high-rise, 21-story hotels atop it. The "floating city" could accommodate 6,200 passengers and require a crew of 2,400.

On-board amenities planned include virtual reality gaming rooms, multi-story shopping centers, and ice-skating rinks.

9. Space Resorts

On the horizon: a resort in outer space, and an airship hotel.

10. Smart Cards

Perhaps the technology closest to becoming a part of our lives, smart cards are credit cards (or similar pieces of plastic) embedded with microchips.

Smart cards can be used by hotels to personalize the guest experience, from checking you into your hotel automatically to remembering your preferences (you always want a king-sized bed, and fresh fruit in your room when you check in).

GUESTROOM SECURITY

Guestroom digital door viewerGuestroom door keysElectronic door lockRFID door lock (Radio Frequency

Identification)Near Field Communication door

securityBiometrics security door lock“Sound” activated security door lock In-room safe

COMMUNICATIONS

Broadband servicesVoice over Internet Protocol

Phone In-room entertainmentFlat panel display (A 40-inch LCD) Internet protocol televisionMirror televisionVirtual games

GUESTROOM AMENITIES

Mini-bar Once the items being removed from the

mini-bar, the sensor will be activated and recorded in the system.

This technology tracks all products and transactions across the entire mini-bar network within the hotel.

The system also analyses inventory status, consumption quantity and expiry date of all items in the minibar.

External multi snack displays in guestroom

Guests also have the options to select snacks placed on the automated tabletop trays or baskets outside the mini-bar.

Once the guest lifts up the snacks from the tray, it will track the inventory levels and automatically add consumed items to the guest’s room bill.

Body-Motion Detection Systems: A motion detection system requires in-

room sensors, and in-hall sensors as well, since the installation should be extended beyond the guest rooms. When the ceiling sensor detects no motion, lights and HVAC equipment are shut down

Empty food tray trackerThe detection system, Tray tracker

installed by some hotels to signal staff in real time the exact location of the used food tray so that they can be cleared in the shortest possible time without having to locate or leaving the smelly food unattended for hours along the corridors.

Guestroom Automation Systems Personal valetIt enables seamless integration with air-

conditioning, lights, door security, and electronic safe, automated curtains operation as well as video and audio systems.

Guests are no longer afraid of getting lost on their first visit to the hotel. The personal valet console placed in the hotel room allows the guest to select images of the hotel at their fingers tip. Just by a few touches on the screen, it allows the guest to place order on a food menu for in-room dining, information and scheduled for a spa service.

ICE Touch – In-room conciergeIt allows hotel guests to arrange all services

within the hotel such as in-room dining, room make-up, dinning reservation and valet or bell-desk services all through a single system. Guests can book a car rental, purchase event tickets and local tours through this system.

All these made possible instantly via a touch screen console, laptop or a mobile device

Microsoft surface technologyGuests can reserve tickets to events, review the

dinning menu from nearby restaurants and book a luxurious spa treatment; putting all the offerings and experiences through the guests’ fingertips with the interactive virtual concierge.

It also enable guests to browse and listen to music, create their own playlists, send photos home, download electronics books, and even order food and drinks.

Guests can view pictures and videos previously taken during the day and insert their own memory cards into the system.

Different generations of guests

For the next 10 years, the three generations, baby boomers, Generation X and Generation Y will bring three different sets of technology requirements into the hotel.

Baby boomers

The baby boomers belong to a group that requires something reliable and consistent.

They are less experimental or adventurous. They would prefer devices and technologies that allow them to “plug and play” without going through the process of reading the operating manuals.

However, they will have more income at their disposal and will be willing to spend it on luxury travel experiences as they enter retirement age.

Generation X

Generation X is now adults between the ages of 29 and 41.

Key characteristics of Generation X include: quest for emotional security, independent, informality, and entrepreneurial

Generation X is already the most free spending of leisure travelers. They outspend baby boomers on trips involving a hotel stay.

Generation Y

The up and coming of Generation Y is also a large population and will be more dependent on the portability and connectivity of their technology devices in the near future.

Gen-Y guests are an emerging market that is unique from Gen-X and the baby boomers.

They execute their tasks, purchase event tickets, movie tickets and book hotel rooms through their mobile devices and not so much through the websites.

The Green generation

The next generation of guests has an inherent awareness of environmental responsibility and expects hotels they stay will somehow engaged in activities that will reflect social responsibilities and have positive impact to the environment.

In view of this, hotels going green are no longer a trend, but rather a necessity so as to be part of the integrated decision made by guests to stay in the hotel.

CALL ACCOUNTING

A Call Accounting System is a telecommunications software or hardware application that captures, records, and costs telephone usage events.

Internationally call accounting systems may be referred to as call logging systems.

Call accounting systems detect outbound and inbound calls, call ring outs, call routings, abandoned calls, and other activities..

Common Applications of Call Accounting

1. Service Billing and Provisioning

Call accounting systems may provide packaging, pricing, provisioning, billing, and posting or presentment of telephone services for purposes of revenue generation.

The hospitality industry uses call accounting to resell phone services to visiting guests and groups.

2. Departmental and Employee Chargeback

The original purpose of call accounting systems was within corporate entities for purposes of cost allocations within the enterprise.

Enterprises use call accounting to allocate costs back to divisions, departments, and even individual employees. Such systems may also provide data directly to corporate accounting and human resource systems.

3. Cost and Revenue Optimization

Call accounting software can reconcile multiple telecom carrier's billing reports by integrating telecom invoices, wireless billing, long distance charges and calling cards into a single platform, allowing your business to use the convergent expense software to provide management reports, analytic reports, alerts and robust presentations

4. Staff Productivity

Call accounting systems provide visibility into the calling patterns and activity of employees and can be used to minimize productivity losses through non-business calling activity.

They can also be used to evaluate the effectiveness of revenue-generating staff and sales processes, and manage the responsiveness of customer service staff

5. Network Optimization

Companies also use call accounting systems to determine whether their voice and data networks are being utilized efficiently, in a cost effective manner, or to capacity.

Call accounting applications are used to monitor network activity and bandwidth, identify over- and under-used trunks to optimize trunking configurations.

Call accounting can help companies more efficiently allocate telecom resources and make better planning decisions affecting a telecommunications network

6. Security and Compliance Call accounting applications enable IT

departments to shield companies from a variety of internal and external security threats by monitoring for network attacks, intrusion attempts and telecom activity that exceeds acceptable or established thresholds.

IP TELEPHONY

VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol, is a method for taking analog audio signals, like the kind you hear when you talk on the phone, and turning them into digital data that can be transmitted over the Internet.

Voice over IP (VoIP) commonly refers to the communication protocols, technologies, methodologies, and transmission techniques involved in the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet.

Traditional Phones

When you place a "regular" phone call using the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), also known as Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) you use what's called circuit-switched telephony. This system works by setting up a dedicated channel (or circuit) between two points for the duration of the call. These telephony systems are based on copper wires carrying analog voice data over the dedicated circuits.

VoIP method

VoIP, in contrast to PSTN, uses what is called packet-switched telephony.

Using this system, the voice information travels to its destination in countless individual network packets across the Internet. This type of communication presents special TCP/IP challenges

Individual packets take different paths to the same place. It's not enough to simply get VoIP packets to their destination. They must arrive through a fairly narrow time window and be assembled in the correct order to be intelligible to the recipient.

VoIP and IP telephony. What's the difference?

It is a way of making a phone system digital in a way to take advantage of the Internet and of any hardware and applications attached to.

The main aim of IP Telephony is to increase productivity, which suggests that the technology is better referenced in business environments.

On the other hand, VoIP is simply a digital transport vehicle for phone calls.

Methods of IP Telephony

ATA (analog telephone adaptor)

The simplest and most common way is through the use of a device called an ATA (analog telephone adaptor).

The ATA allows you to connect a standard phone to your computer or your Internet connection for use with VoIP. The ATA is an analog-to-digital converter.

It takes the analog signal from your traditional phone and converts it into digital data for transmission over the Internet.

Providers like Vonage and AT&T CallVantage are bundling ATAs free with their service.

IP Phones

These specialized phones look just like normal phones with a handset, cradle and buttons.

IP phones connect directly to your router and have all the hardware and software necessary right onboard to handle the IP call.

Wi-Fi phones allow subscribing callers to make VoIP calls from any Wi-Fi.

Computer-to-computer

This is certainly the easiest way to use VoIP. There are several companies offering free

or very low-cost software that you can use for this type of VoIP.

All you need is the software, a microphone, speakers, a sound card and an Internet connection.

Except for your normal monthly ISP fee, there is usually no charge for computer-to-computer calls, no matter the distance