Internet and the Lodging Industry

Internet and the Lodging Industry

In the recent past, a hotel has been described as a 'home away from home'. This brings out the images of a cozy, comfortable room set in a friendly, hospitable environment. Like many households which have increased the number and sophistication of electronic gadgetry.

Hotels have also adjusted to keep pace with the prevailing and highly dynamic consumer trends. The quality of guestrooms, television sets, entertainment systems, audio/video devices, telephones, comfort provisions and the likes has become critical to the discerning business traveler. In many ways, the role of the guestroom is expanding to mirror the productivity and amenities of the traveler's office environment. Current guestroom designs include efficient workspaces with desktop PC, wireless.

The lodging industry has always prided itself of providing a guest experience that is a combination of tangibles and intangibles. In recent years, with the increased adoption of information technology, the new entrants in any industry tend to introduce new capacity and desire to gain substantive market share and enough resources. In this regard the internet as an interconnectivity source has high entry standards, which all the new entrants into the hotel industry would like to ensure they exploit to the maximum. It has proven over time to be the cheapest yet most effective means of marketing as Nick Nikolos (2011) notes.

Consumers through the internet can access electronic brochures and booking forms distributed by tour operators and the lodging entrepreneurs. This helps in the distant reservations and ease of comparison for would be client without necessarily being in that part of the world as would be the ordinary case. Thus the approach has a number of important benefits to tour operators and the lodging business as a whole. They include among many the concentration on niche markets which offer customized packages and the ability for tour operators to update brochures on a regular basis (Christoph Muller, 2011).

The internet also empowers the consumer in such a manner that there is the provision of tailor-made products which meet their individual needs, this bridges the gap between the consumer and the firm offering consumer services in a flexible and interactive manner which in return improves the relationship between the two parties. Once the client has informed the lodging operator about the needs that he has and the specific requirements, the lodging operator is able to respond accordingly to the client as to what they can be able to tailor-make and those they cannot all via the internet making work easier for the hotel lodging operator.

As a channel of distribution the internet has helped consumers to search for travel agents online, compare prices of the same product offered by different firms and make reservations for hotel rooms, air tickets and so forth without necessarily being physically present at these varying offices.

The Internet has been of great help to lodging operators in that they have access to new customers on a global basis twenty four seven and enables them to streamline operating procedures. The industry also uses the internet to integrate day-to-day activities such as sales, marketing and distribution of their product as well to aggregate demand of the product in order to drive down prices on the procurement side this enables them to maximize on the returns. Apparently all major accommodation service companies have websites where one can get crucial information and details and even the location and all ranges of services that are provided by the particular lodging.

Ethics and security concerns

Despite the fact that the internet is a tool that cannot be outdone by any other when it comes to publicity of any business, there are risks and security threats and breaches that come alongside especially the hotel and accommodation industry.

Various government regulations on the hospitality industry have a dramatic effect on the internet and its usability in the hotel industry. The governments achieve this by introducing new regulations and limitations every other waking day and also highly throttles the exploitation of the internet, some of which work to the good and yet others to the detriment of the industry.

Due to the rampant nature of internet hackers and people out to cause damage to the industry by spying on the hospitality industry players with an aim of causing harm to the clients, there are privacy and security issues that must be observed in order to safeguard both the clients and the players in the trade.

There is also an ever increasing ethical and security concern among the hotel industry players to the internet providers to consider ethical issues and the usage of personal information stored within their networks. There is need increase security of transmissions of information, copyright issues, stability of websites and the efficiency of the internet service provided to the customers.

The other ethical issue is the fact that the Internet is not sensitive to the economic cycles and variations around the globe. The internet tends to treat all consumers the same across the globe with majority adopting the dollar standards for all the consumers. Different customers from different countries will be affected by different economic changes in their countries. These include among others changes in economic growth, interest rates, and inflation or currency fluctuations which have adverse affect on the spending margins of consumers yet are not catered for by the use of internet making it unethical in the business sense.