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!