Excursion to Le Meridien

When attending the excursion to Le Meridien in Vienna, we had the pleasure to get to know the grounds on what the hotel truly works on - e.g Reservation Systems, SGR+, TLPE... and much more.

First we got an introduction on the Opera system, which is the Reservation System that Le Meriedien uses in order to collect reservations and information of guests. However Le Meridien is trying to introduce a new system which is called SGR+.

SGR+ allows the hotel management and marketing to see what a guest wishes, due to the collection of data, which was gathered during previous hotel stays (not neccessarily within the Le Meridien Hotel Group).

A SGR+ system is a great possibility to keep the guest profile updated and of high importance to stay up to date with the possibilites that data collaboration allows nowadays.

Another system that Le Meridien uses is TLPE system. It is a Windows based Revenue system, which allows the hotel to make the max. amount of revenue. The collection of historical data, which is shown in a graphical overview, is of importance to make use of a TLPE system. The groups shown in a graphical group are however e.g the forecast of what number of guests the hotel might expect, individual bookings... and so on.

A TLPE system also allows the management to see critical time frames in which overbookings might occur and gives them the chance to take action before problems actually take place. A TLPE system is connected to Opera, the branded Website and a GDS system

POS Systems

POS -Systems and their Importance to Tourism Industries:

An almost irreplaceable part in a hotel or tourism business is the use of POS systems. A POS stands for Point-of-Sale and is referred to as an automated cash register and is one of the most valuable inventions, which contribute to making a business work more efficient and will help employees to handle processes within the organization. 

A POS system might include a Computer, a receipt printer, a lockable cash drawer, a scanner to read the bar code, a magnetic swipe reader and a modern and pole display. However, another part is the software which is needed for a POS system. These softwares allow quick handling and information handling. POS systems have been developing tremendously over the past years and come a long way from earlier versions of a POS system.  

Starting from allowing customers to purchase goods or letting the employees handle several actions within an organization, like generating reports on sales and ordering and purchasing stock. The operation of online selling can also improved with such a system. Video surveillance or other sectors can also profit from a POS system. However, the sales and controlling departments is the most important sector which is highly affected by these systems. 

Social Networks

Creation of user-related content is what shapes our lives more and more. This happens through webpages like Wikipedia, Blogger.com, Facebook and many more Websites that allow collaboration through these channels. Web 2.0 is a term that was firstly triggered by Tim O'Reilly.

The Internet as it was changed and so did the communication amongst people. Facebook has developed to one of the most successful online communication channels worldswide and has shaped our society tremendously.

However, what needs to be understood is that these webpages can be a two-sided page. On the one hand they have serve as great marketing channels and closer contact to customers, and on the other hand the risk of negative eWom arised at the same time.

eWom can be translated as "electronic word of mouth". Due to the tight collaboration and user-generated contant that has been made available on Webpages, tourism organizations face difficulties with unsatisfied guest. This results in bad reputation for the company and due to the trust that users put in user-generated content, it will be harder that hotels like this will be booked more often.

Social Networks are of high importance for tourism organizations, so they have to act accordantly to fit the expectations of todays generation.

Comment on Nikola Hermanns Blog

I think Nicola has found a very valid point in her 7th blog entry. Facebook is of high importance and not only for socialising, but also for collaborating with the clients of a company and spreading information through "facebook-fan" pages. This new technology allows companies to reach the customer in a more private way.

I also thought the comment about, facebook being not very pricey, when used as a marketing tool, more than true and applicable to most companies. The only problem Nicola didn't think of, is the fact that not every age group can be reached through facebook, so the traditional way of marketing and advertising can not be banned fully.

Overall I believe that Nicola did a great job on her Blog-Entry!

More virtual less reality?!

What do people understand under a "Virtual World?" An interactive simulated enivironment which can be accessed by multiple useres through an online interface.




A virtual world can also be known as "digital worlds" or "simulated worlds". There is a wide range of virtual worlds but they all have something in common, which is:

1. Immediacy: Real time 
2. Interactivity: a virutal world allows users to collaborate and work together
3. Persistence: no matter what time in the day the world is there
4. Socialization: Encouragement of in-world social groups like teams, guilds, cliques, housemates, neighborhoods...etc.
5. Space: Many users can access the platform at the same time and use it

MMORPG is a very commonly used term in regard with virtual world - it means "massively multiplayer Online Role Playing Game". and propably the largest form of virtual worlds. However, gaming is not the only purpose of a virtual world - socializing, education, political expression or even military training are areas in which simultated worlds are used as well.

Commercial Gaming

Are games that focus on a singular fictional theme and consistently follow formal conventions! e.g character-focused avatars, progression through an interactive narrative storyline, and a series of competititive events.


Socializing/Online Community Building
What is meant by that is, there are socaial communities that emphasize rather on socializing than gaming and are based on text/based chat rooms. Even though small casual games may be incorporated into a social world the participlants rather focus on socializing with others and decorate a personal space. 

Education:

Education is also the purpose of some virtual worlds. Academic institutions or non profit organizations are usually responsible for such virtual experiences. Educational worlds come in a wide variety of forms, including 3D recreations of museum and gallery spaces, computer programming tutorials, virtual libraries and meeting spaces for online universtiy courses. 

One of the largest networks of educational worlds is "Active Worlds Educational Universe"

Political Expression:

The use of a virtual world is not only based on games or socializing but also to serve as forums for political expression and debate.  Even experiments in various types of self-governing online communities are helping politics in expaning their reach to people. (a great example of a virtual world with a political focus is AgoraXchange)

All these above named areas are only the beginning, since these technologies will develop tremendously over the next years. Virtual worlds will be used in all kinds of areas, as people begin spending more time with them. 

Success Factors in Social Media Marketing

a Lecture held by Clemens Koeltringer and Christoph Berg


Social Media is a topic that regards us all, but how does it effect companys that lay trust on those specific networks/programs in order to promote their company, hotel or organisation. 


In the Lecture held by Mr. Clemes Koeltringer and Mr. Christoph Berg exactly that topic is being discussed and explained.


The first question I want to engage you with is "What are the true motivators to engage in social media for private persons and companys, that actually try to do promotion for their companies??

• direct contact (being able to connect directly with your potential business partners)
• information (easy and simply access to information about an organisation)
• modern image (we all have to adapt to Web 2.0, and so do companies)
• interaction (using letters and emails is not enough, it has to be brought to another level)
• and last but not least feedback (knowing how people feel about you/the comapany that you work in, or you own)

In a case study in which 10 different countries participated, facebook was on place 1, the followers right behind that were twitter, youtube, flickr....etc. When it came to the question on how much time people actually spent with the applications of Web 2.0 the highest number was 40 hours per week. Which is amazingly high. What was interesting to see was, that the most time spent in the WWW was around the middle of the week, during working hours. 

Mr. Koeltringer suggested that 3 levels of SoM expertise could be detected which are:

1. Level 1:  which is basically learning by doing. Sometimes also contracting online marketing agencies to kick of SMM activities
2. Level 2: People who follow a predefined Social Media strategy, contracting online marketing agencies to cover specific predefined target markets, people like this invest up to 10 hours per week in SMM
3. Level 3: SoM stretegy in line with the overal strategy, Contracting online marketing agencies to creat and implement buzz building campaigns or to cover specific predefined target markets.

Another really interesting question was "How does social media really deliver visitors and reveue for city tourist organizations and convention bureaux?" and "What do we truly want from the Social Media Market"

The answer to that was simply to define sucess, the define the indicators for success, and last but not least measure and compare the success. But how can that be done. 


An simply example can be given. e.g on facebook or twitter and other Social Media websites the daily or weekly traffic, the interaction between members, recomendations of a specific website, or what the true PR value or a website is can be measures by tracking the number of visits and what was clicked on. And that right there is the answer to the above asked questions. 

And exactly those "User Behavior Matters" help understand how a company works and how compatible it is. The online world is transparent and leaves traces everywhere. 

Traffic Sources Bounce Rate

• Useful segments
• acquisition (where do they come from)
• Behavior (what do they look at, what topics are most interesting)
• Outcome (are they just interested in information or what are they really looking for)

A very interesting point Mr. Koeltringer also suggested was the fact that quantitative data has limitations in understanding  the WHY. What is meant by that I believe is, that primary data can not "understand" the data it gets. Which means, why are people visiting the website and what is the primary purpose behind it.  Another question would be weather the visit was successfull, did the visitor find what he/she was looking for and if not, why? And last but not least, was there a good site experience and did it satisfy the customer.

Besides twitter, facebook, myspace and all these social networks another Web 2.0 application is emerging more and more - blogging. But on what does the success of a blog depend on - I guess the number of unique blogs that link to your blog and how many people forward your blog and make puplicity for it, is a good start i believe.

When making a website, what are the most important things you should consider?

• whats the purpose of the websites
• what are the business objectives
• set specific goals for your website
• and last but not least, focus on measureing your macro (overall) conversations, but identify and measure your micro conversions well.

Possible tools that show a company how it does, in comparison to its competitors:

• Benchmarking
• Google trends (compare different websites on how they perform)

Podcast - changing the world mind by mind

Podcasting, or also referred to as non-streamed webcast, is one of the great evolutions of Web 2.0. What is a podcast and how does it work it the question I want to answer along todays blog. Podcast. (2010, November 6). Retrieved 16:50, November 7, 2010, from http://blog.podcast.com/podcastcom-faq/what-is-a-podcast/

A "podcast" is either a video or audio file that is availabe on the World Wide Web for people to download - an easy example would be, as we discussed in our Tourism and Hospitality Business Applications Lecture, the possibility to listen to a podcast about a specific city, their sights, important history and information - avoiding the necessity of a tourist guide. Podcast. (2010, November 6). Retrieved 16:50, November 7, 2010, from http://blog.podcast.com/podcastcom-faq/what-is-a-podcast/

You can simply download an audio file, put it on your Ipod or MP3 player and listen to it while your stay at the destination of your choice - easy and for free. Which is of course questionable which regard to the tourist industry, since a very common problem appears which is the replacement of manpower by a machine, or atleast in this case by a datafile. When using the word "podcast" it is usually refered to the entire series and not just one audio/video file. Another question is, we all are well aware of the fact that video, just as audio files have been made available on the internet for a long amount of time - so WHY are podcasts different? Podcast. (2010, November 6). Retrieved 16:50, November 7, 2010, from http://blog.podcast.com/podcastcom-faq/what-is-a-podcast/

To understand the word Podcast I will break it down into two words, which are: 

• Pod: a podcast can either be listened to on a computer or transfer the date on to your portable audio/video device - which therefor means that file is Portable and On-Demand because it is available at any time and any place.

• Cast: means file is sent out to people oer the internet, in the way of broadcasting comes to you over the radio or TV airwaves. But instead of using TV or radio, the Internet is used. 

Podcast. (2010, November 6). Retrieved 16:50, November 7, 2010, from http://blog.podcast.com/podcastcom-faq/what-is-a-podcast/

The history of podcasting:

"podcasting began to catch hold with the public in late 2004, though during the 1998–2001 dot-com- erathere were multiple "podcasts" done by major companies, such as Real Networks and ESPN.com. Many individuals and groups contributed to the emergence and popularity of podcasts. Adam Curry is credited with coming up with the idea to automate the delivery and syncing of textual content to portable audio players, and the first application to make this process feasible was iPodderX, developed by August Trometer and Ray Slakinski. Since the 1930's there have been radio talk shows and news programs. Today, through the evolution of the internet TCP capabilities, along with cheaper hardware and software, audio podcasts are doing what was historically done through radio broadcast stations." Podcast. (2010, November 6). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 16:50, November 7, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Podcast&oldid=395104189