Introduction
Information and communication technology (ICT) is a general term that stresses the role of communications (telephone lines and wireless signals) in modern information technology. ICT consists of all technical means used to handle information and aid communication, including both computer and network hardware as well as necessary software.
The emergence of ICT has changed the way businesses work. ICT has provided great convenience (saving time and money) to both consumers and businesses, and has also helped businesses minimize cost and enhance productivity.
Past hotel room reservations
Before the emergence of ICT, an individual can call or write to the hotel directly, engage a travel agent’s services to assist with the hotel booking or book directly at the hotel. Direct interactions with customers boost relationships and allow the hotel to better understand and meet the needs and expectations of the customer.
However, these methods are time consuming and costly. Also, past hotel records are manually written and stored. As the saying goes, to err is human, hence, there is a possibility of incorrectly recorded data, for example, the date of guest’s reservation. When the guest checks in at the hotel and realized that the staff has made a mistake and all rooms are occupied, the service recovery process could be costly (paying for the guest’s stay in another hotel) and affects the hotel’s reputation.
Today’s hotel room reservations
With ICT, the above-mentioned inconveniences are minimized. ICT has provided expediency in our daily lives. Hotel room reservations have also been made easy. Information such as the hotel map and address, room rates, available hotel amenities, pictures of the hotel rooms and vicinity, feedbacks of other customers, etc are simply one click away and easily accessible. After exploring the options available, the individual can then make the hotel reservation online and receive confirmation almost instantly.
Transaction Broker
A transaction broker is a person or firm who/which acts as an intermediary between sellers and buyers of small businesses. A transaction broker represents neither party as an agent, but works to facilitate the transaction and deals with both parties on the same level of trust.
An example of a transaction broker is ZUJI, an online travel agency. ZUJI gives travelers in Asia Pacific online access to real-time travel bookings for thousands of hotels and hundreds of airlines, as well as bringing cruises, car hire, attraction bookings, package tours and other inspirational travel offers, products and tools online. ZUJI is owned by Travelocity®, an international leader in online travel. Sabre Holdings Corporation, a world leader in travel commerce, owns Travelocity.
ZUJI manages their website by consolidating information of their suppliers (hotels) who wish to be listed on their website, organize all the information and present it to the consumers via their website and collects a nominal fee from the suppliers in return.
For hotel bookings in particular, a traveler can start from choose the destination then a desired hotel. After which, the traveler is able to find out the hotel details such as address, facilities available, what is available at its vicinity, view the images of the hotel room, read customer reviews and check the availability. If the traveler is satisfied with the hotel, he/she can proceed to make the booking online, make payment and a confirmation will be received instantly.
ZUJI embrace security and privacy policies and takes them seriously. Their secure server software encrypts travelers’ personal information, including credit card information. The process of encryption takes the information entered and converts it into bits of code that are securely transmitted over the Internet. This scrambled data cannot be read as the information travels over the Internet. Once their secure server receives the encrypted personal information, it is translated back into its original form and stored in their off-line database. Travelers’ credit card information is also encrypted for transmission over the Internet.
In order to gain and maintain travelers’ trust and provide assurance, ZUJI partners TRUSTe, a leading Internet privacy services provider. TRUSTe helps both consumers click with confidence and online companies promote their Web site privacy policies online. Thousands of Web sites rely on TRUSTe's privacy, including top-fifty sites like Yahoo, Facebook, MSN, eBay, AOL, Disney, New York Times, Comcast and Apple.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that the emergence of ICT has benefited businesses and consumers in many ways. It has also made the world smaller, in a sense whereby information are easily obtainable on the Internet.
However, as we enjoy the convenience of making hotel reservations online, we must also be aware of the online threats and traps that affect our safety and security. Consumers must only make payment and perform online transactions on secured and encrypted websites and avoid fraudulent websites to prevent leak in personal information.
For hotels to gain and maintain customers’ trust, they should ensure that their websites adopts updated encrypted security software and its information is constantly updated and easily accessible.
References
1. Definition of ICT: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_and_communication_technologies
2. Definition of Transaction Broker: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_broker
3. ZUJI: www.zuji.com.sg
4. About Truste: http://www.truste.com/about_TRUSTe/
