ICT stands for Information Communications Technology. ICT refers to any device or system that allows the storage, retrieval, manipulation, transmission and receipt of digital information. Basically, it refers to "technology" which includes both the information systems and the technology supporting them but is usually a more general term that stresses the role of communications (telephone lines and wireless signals) in modern information technology. Some examples include the Internet, email, live-chat, blog, video conferencing, mobile phone, personal computers, wireless broadband, and etc.
Hotel room reservation in the past...
In the olden days, before ICT is invented, reservation of hotel rooms can be a quite tedious manual process. People may have to go down physically to the hotels to reserve or through telecommunications which is rather time consuming. They could only rely on hotel informations through newspapers, tour agencies and television. Important information for decision-making such as the rates, classes, the types of hotels, and the availability of rooms are very difficult to obtain as compared to with the help of ICT now.
Moreover, if one has to cancel his/her hotel room reservation, part of the booking fees may be forfeited unfortunately.
Hotel room reservation now
With ICT now, hotel room reservation can be done in a more efficient way through online booking.
In this new information age, it is now a world about communications. ICT has cut across the geographic boundaries of the nation states. Buyers and sellers are able to share information, specifications, production process across the national borders.
Moreover, contemporary information society has allowed Tourism sector to be a highly information-intensive industry. This is because ICT has a great impact on tourism business such as hotel reservation in this case. By networking with trading partners, distribution of product services and providing information to consumers across the globe, ICT tools have enhanced the progress of business transaction in the industry. Consumers now are able to obtain hotel room reservation information in a more accurate and efficient manner than before. One can easily reserve a hotel room in any foreign country online through various hotel websites without going through hassles of making distant-calls to hotels in foreign countries or going down personally to various tour agencies.
The advantage with booking hotel reservations online is that one can literally have a tour of the hotel he/she is planning to stay at, without moving an inch from his/her home. Some hotels offer images of the rooms for the customer to see and they can decide on the best room for them. In this way, customers can see the rooms and the amenities, such as the bar, the restaurants, the shopping arcades, the entertainment areas, etc. This is something that brings back more and more customers each and every year. Essentially, customers can control their booking at any time, no matter if they are doing it during the day or during the night.
Nowadays, most Internet hotel reservation software is tied directly into the hotel reservation system software. This makes any updates that are done on the Internet immediate and minimizes the chances of errors or double booking. The hotel reservation software is governed by hotel management software that ensures that the data on both ends is up to date and that there are no issues with reservations.
With the help of ICT, payment for room reservation can also be done online through e-payment such as credit/debit cards. This is definitely a convenient way of making payment rather than manually paying through tour agencies or at foreign hotels.
In addition, in order to attract customers, many hotels offer heavy discounts when accommodation with them is booked well in advance. In that way, customers can save up on room reservations and have more to spend on travelling.
However, the current ICT system does have certain limitations.
Accessing information through internet is a convenient and smart way of getting the information. However, the information can be highly fragmented at times. One shall arrive at it only after intelligent navigation which can be quite time-consuming and may mislead in the process.
Also, the presentation of information in the web is not intelligent. Search engines for tourism should be developed and facilities to browse according to the topic portals can be made.
Even though payment can be made online for the room reservation by using credit card, your credit card information may expose to being ‘stolen’ or misused which could be akin to giving someone a blank check.
Case study: AsiaRooms.com
AsiaRooms.com is a leading hotel reservations website offering discounted hotel deals. It offers an extensive choice of hotel worldwide. Customers can simply search for hotels at their travel destinations under the hotel search engine, or they can consider going to top destinations featured on the right bar of the home web page.
There are even customer reviews on various worldwide hotels which assist new customers in their room reservations.
Booking can be done in different currencies which serve customers worldwide and easier means of payment.
AsiaRooms.com does not charge any booking, cancellation or modification fee too.
The website also provides useful travel guides to customers for obtaining more information on their travel destinations such as the culture of the country, popular tourist attractions in the country, things to do and where to eat in that particular country.
Customers will need to select their 'check in' date, 'check out' date, number of people, their ideal room type and click the 'book' button to make a reservation. Customers will then have to fill up all other particulars and lastly make payment through credit/debit cards. AsiaRooms uses secure SSL encrypted technology to process customers' booking so it is definitely a safe way of making room reservation through this website.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the role of ICT in today's world cannot be underestimated and it is definitely an essential driving force in the current information driven society. It has provided new tools and enabled new distribution channels, thus creating a new business environment for tourism industry such as hotels to a greater height. Consumers all around the world are now able to make online reservation of hotel rooms more quickly and efficiently and information obtained is definitely more reliable and transparent than before.
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