An alternative of competitiveness

by Antonio Montecinos Torres*

But at the same time there are a large number of independent tourist hotels that do not have the right ICT to carry out e-business (online business), and e-commerce (online transactions). With this work we intend to guide those who know that online distribution is necessary but who do not know how to face it.

Where to start
Once the hotel has been conceptualized and the objects and subjects of the hotel have been defined, the internal planning and management needs will be determined, as well as the human capital, equipment, technology and economic resources required.

The development of logistics and systemic operational flows (lay outs), as well as the equipment and infrastructure of operation, especially the connection points to the intranet, must be defined based on the projections of occupation, financial, number of collaborators and specific places of work required, in the short, medium and long term, considering this no more than 5 years due to the vertiginous expiration of technology, as a result of the high demand for innovation and R& D&I creativity (research plus development plus innovation).

Once the above has been defined, the suppliers specialized in hospitality must be selected to offer the programs (software) modules and tools of present and future management taking care that they are "compatible" with the complementary programs for management and internal communication, as well as with the current and future selected external distribution channels. Similarly, the aspects of geographical location of the provider, training costs, speed of physical or virtual technical assistance and license update must be considered. In this way we will analyze the two most important options for the management of small, medium and large independent hotels.

One step after another
First you have to start with erp (Enterprise Resource Planning): There is a wide variety of ERP's  already on the market, which can also be developed to meet the specific needs of the hotel, although the costs are higher.

Next, we have the Property Management System (Property Management System): It is the most used system for hotel management, although at first they were designed to provide solutions to the needs of the processes of the "front office", that is, those that have a direct relationship with the client such as reservations, room service, telephones, alarm clock, television and video etc.,  but over the years they have been bringing together more and more functionalities of both the "front office" and the "back office", in the internal administrative part of the company.

Within the PMS it is important to consider the construction of the intranet and extranet (internal and external communication networks) with fiber optic materials preferably, and that handle an XML language (its eXtensible Markup Language) that is compatible with a wide range of current and future programs. It is also advisable to have a database program or data warehouse, which facilitates the realization of complex searches and analysis of the stored data and its conversion into useful information such as types of customers based on their consumption and activities carried out, allowing the hotel to make decisions to create specialized products and services and develop communication and promotion campaigns to specific niches with the following data warehouse tools:

• Basic tools for consultation and generation of reports ("Structure Query Languages" language that allows to convert the information in simpler programs like Excel).
• Advanced query and reporting tools.
• Multidimensional analysis tools (OLAP, "On Line-Analitical  Processing").
• "Data mining" (which could be translated as data caving), which allows us to analyze, detect, anticipate or create behaviors of current and future customers.

Once the ICT information and communication technologies for the correct management (PMS and ERP) have been selected,  the hotel is ready to market online.

Facing the challenge of online distribution
The website as we have already seen becomes the online cluster of the hotel, so in the development and design process the demands of the tourist, accessibility,  usability, the best rates, security, updating, immediate interaction and live help (chat) among others must be considered for its productive marketing Online.  

The development and design process focuses on functionality rather than visual design as previously used, so today the vast majority of these Web pages are obsolete because they have no interaction with the various distribution channels. On the contrary, the evolution of a website today allows to generate alliances with other complementary services for the tourist, in order to generate your entire itinerary on the hotel page without having to look for other portals, the hotel can charge commissions for reservations on its website of other services such as car rental, theater reservations, golf course reservations etc. or exchange commercial presence on the pages of its strategic and complementary allies.   

While it is true that the hotel chains have mostly implemented these marketing and marketing strategies, it is also true that the various types of tourists demand increasingly specialized, personalized, professional and authentic products with the best costs-benefits-value. By being able to implement the independent tourist hotels these marketing tools, they will avoid among other negative aspects such as prostitution of their rates, lack of control in the inventory, marginal contribution punished, deterioration of the property or brand, management of obsolete images by the distribution channels, outdated and erroneous hotel information, guest disloyalty when finding cheaper rooms and rates in the GDS, TPI and TPIO and not directly on the hotel website; and that by not controlling inventory, there is no control over market flows that are not always those demanded by the property

Making the channel efficient
The following scheme is a proposal of the strategic flow by priorities and minimization of costs and payment of commissions, to achieve a more productive commercialization, using ICT information and communication technologies, as well as the most convenient distribution channels, all with Web interface:

1. Selection Erp Company Resource Planning

2. Selection of the Administrative System of the PMS             Property

• Intranet          
• Extranet

3. Own CRS reservation center        

• Internal Property        
• External (office in strategic market location)

4. Website with information architecture

5. Presence in online portals specialized in the industry called vertical or general also known as horizontal, (presence at no cost when registering automatically)

6. Presence in regional portals (usually free of charge)

7. Direct contact with Corporate Travel Managers

8. Direct contact with Travel Management Companies

9. Presence with links or keywords in specialized and general  online search engines

10. Presence in strategic allied portals (win-win philosophy)

11. Presence in portals and reservation centers by category, classification, services and specialized activities of the hotel

12. Marketing with retail travel agencies (Off and Online)

13. Marketing with tour operator travel agencies (Off and On line)

14. Marketing with Conglomerates

15. Marketing with TPI

16. Marketing with GDS

17. Marketing with TPIO

The implementation and proper use of ICT increase the skills and competitiveness of the independent tourist hotel, however we must not forget that it is useless to make an investment in technology if it is not supported by a qualified and professional human capital and that together offer an unforgettable experience to the tourist, with the highest quality, speed in response time (no more than 24 hours), updated information and competitive costs-benefits.