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With the rush of e-commerce activity that we have witnessed in the hospitality industry over the past year, it is time to take stock of the progress that is being made and to assess what this might mean for the industry going into 2001. During the course of this past year, we have seen a number of e-commerce initiatives announced by various hotel companies, Internet-based organizations and e-commerce service providers. Some of these activities undoubtedly represent well thought through strategies supported by changes in organization, people, process and technology, while others may be little more than wishful thinking or over-reaction. One thing is certain, however, there is clearly some fundamental change occurring within the industry and e-commerce is definitely positioned at the front and center of this change. All of the industry's largest companies are clearly focused on e-commerce. Whether it be e-distribution in the business to consumer ("B2C") context or e-procurement in the business to business ("B2B") context, the topic is hot and getting hotter. Why ? because the growth rates in Internet-based commerce are explosive and hotels need to network with their customers, their suppliers and even in certain contexts with their competitors if they are going to benefit from the Internet revolution now well underway. Industry technology lags As a backdrop to this review, it is worth taking stock of some of the factors that are driving the industry inexorably towards a web-enabled vision of the future. The hospitality industry is of course no newcomer to technology, but it remains far behind other industries in the adoption of well-integrated systems based upon consistent technology standards. This lack of integration comes at a high cost in terms of lost opportunity to enhance revenues and reduce costs. The silos of proprietary custom-designed technologies that are the landscape for the hospitality industry, however, are encouraging some to believe that application services that are hosted and serviced by others in a web-enabled structure may be the solution to an industry in need. In all events, hospitality organizations will need to align their key processes around the Internet if they are to realize the benefits that e-commerce represents... To read the complete article, click here to download the printable pdf file (76 kb).
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