CHAPTER 2

INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY
APPLICATIONS
(GDS) IN TOURISM
AND HOSPITALITY
INDUSTRY
 A. TECHNOLOGY
APPLICATIONS IN TRAVEL
AND TOURISM INDUSTRY
Learning Objectives:

After studying this section, you will be able

to:

• explain what composes the travel

industry;
• enumerate and explain the advantages of
Amadeus MIS;
• differentiate CRS from GDS; and
• explain the functionalities of CRS and
GDS
 The use of MIS in travel and
tourism industry is very significant. As this
industry is big and is challenging, serving to
all types of passengers and travelers will
be difficult to manage without the right Introduction
system that will help the organization
provide the convenience they deserve.
 The travel industry is composed of those
establishments responsible for transporting people
from one place to another based on their desired
The Travel Industr y destination such as the following:

1. Airline companies
2. Shipping lines
3. Bus lines
4. Travel agencies/Tour operators

Below are some airlines operating in the

Philippines:

1. Philippine Airlines
2. Cebu Pacific
3. Air Asia Zest
4. Tiger Air Philippines
5. SEAR AIR International
6. Spirit of Manila Airlines
 Below are the different expectations from the
clients of the travel industry:

1. Schedules of flight
2. Prices of tickets
3. Comfort of seats
4. Quality of meals
5. Treatment by the crew members and ground staff
6. Airport facilities
7. Assistance in travel arrangements
8. Assistance in arranging hotel accommodation
9. Assisting in customers problems immediately in the
airport front office
10.Safe travel
11.Safe aircraft
12.Not delayed flight
13.Immediate response to their needs
Figures of some typical reservation procedures for an airline service:

Customer with the Travel Agency Customer with Online Booking

 The
Amadeus For managers needing relevant information
Management to make informed decisions about the business, this
Information is a powerful business intelligence tool for them.
System Not only the managers but also those corporate
customers and every day users from which they
will take from their Amadeus Agency Manager mid
office. This pertains to a repository of operational
data which was gathered from the Agency Manager
and allows the users to present or analyze them to
make business decisions. With the MIS interface,
travel agencies can offer their corporate customers
an access to their personal data which then provide
them with instantly updateable reports.
 With this MIS, it provides the following
advantages:

1. On customer service and flexibility

The
a. It provides better customer service as it allows the Amadeus
users to have a list of standard reports or create their own Management
standard Information
b. The reports from the system are built fast which can
System Cont..
be sent via email in PDF format

c. It also allows corporate customers to access their

data if they need it for reporting purposes
 2. On data security

a. It offers high security of data as it is hosted in a

The secure environment at the Amadeus Data Center.
Amadeus
Management 3. On accessibility
Information
System Cont.. a. It is accessiblevia the Internet which then
allows easy deployment of the solution not only to
the internal users but to the corporate customers as
well.

b. More importantly, it is available to everybody

anytime, anywhere to retrieve the information and
reports they need.
Central Reservation System vs Global Distribution System

In this world of travel, addressing the needs of various

clients is challenging. Airline companies need to store a lot
of information such as routes, schedules fares, and
reservations where these clients depend from. Can we
imagine how airlines stored, distributed, accessed
information before the innovations of all aspects of its
operations was introduced in this generation?
 1. Central Reservation System

A Central Reservation System

or commonly known as CRS is a
computer-based reservation system in
the travel and tourism industry use to
store and retrieve information and
eventually conduct transaction related
to travel. It was originally designed and
used by airlines but was then extended
to travel agents and hotels for more
convenience in transacting with various
guests and travelers.
 CRS a. It provides information on schedule.
following functions:
b. It provides information on availability.

c. It provides information on fare quotes.

d. It provides information on reservation.

e. It provides information on ticketing.

f. It provides information on refunds and

cancellations.
 CRS FUNCTIONALITY

Travel Agent

Mainframe Mainframe Mainframe

Connectivity Connectivity Connectivity

Airline
Airline Airline
CRS
CRS CRS
2. Global Distribution System

A Global Distribution System or commonly known as GDS is

another computer-based reservation system in the travel and tourism
industry. It is a network of providers bringing the products and services
together which are geographically spread across the world to the doorstep
of the consumers anywhere worldwide. Its system architectures are largely
based on a mainframe TPF or Transaction Processing Facility .
a. SABRE (Semi-Automatic Business Reservations
Environment – this was created by American
Airlines

b. Amadeus – this was created through the

efforts of four airlines, the Air France, Iberia,
Lufthansa, and SAS

c. Galileo – this was created by the collaborative

efforts of a group of European airlines Four Major
Global Distribution
d. Worldspan – this was formed by Delta Airlines, System
Northwest Airlines, and Trans World Airlines in
early 1990
 a. It provides simplified access to users.

b. It connects to multiple airlines.

GDS
offers the following c. It needs less maintenance
advantages:

d. It offers flexibility.
 Instruction:

Look for the meaning of the following

terms/phrases in a dictionary or other sources. Use
them in a sentence focusing on tourism and
hospitality industry operations. This exercise will help
you enrich your vocabulary necessary for tourism
Vocabulary
and hospitality professionals.
Building Exercise
1. Mainframe 6. Security
2. Multiple 7. Interface
3. Quote 8. Service Class
4. Accessibility 9. Inventory
5. Flexibility 10. Gobal
 Laboratory Activity1 Laboratory Activity 2

Instruction: Instruction:

Visit the websites of the mentioned Download the Hotel PMS &
four main GDSs and see what people Channel Manager in your mobile phone
say about them. Check for historical and see how it works, help the industry.
backgrounds and advantages.
B. Information technology
applications in
Food and Beverage Service
Industry
Learning Objectives:

After studying this section, you will

be able to:

• Explain how F&B industry

operates;

• Discuss the use of MIS in the F&B

service industry; and

• Explain how POS works in the

restaurant business.

021
INTRODUCTION

22
 Service industry refers to those establishment rendering services to their
clients such as airline, hotel, restaurants, and others. As the previous chapter
specifically deals with the use of MIS in travel and tourism industry, this chapter
will focus on how useful is MIS in the restaurant and beverage service industry.
24
 The food and beverage service industry are built of complex systems
for buying, storing, preparing and selling food and beverage. The total look and
feel of this industry depends of its management information systems, which
coordinate everything from scheduling personnel to customer service.
Restaurant management systems can helps to create an ambience and make it
more profitable as well as a better place for customers to eat.

Example and that are known in the food service

industry in the Philippines. Located almost everywhere, these facilities are able
to provide services to their customers. Can we imagine how many branches
are there and yet consistencies of products and services are met? Because of
the complexity of its operations, it is not advisable and will never be helpful to
keep track of its operations via manual activity only.
 MIS in the Ser vice Industr y

 The manager of a F&B

establishment must be able
to determine prices and
The service is schedule, make forecasts,
composed of those perform an ongoing audit of
establishments inventory and other
providing services company assets, and monitor
to various clients or performance. This cannot be
customers. done manually as effective
and efficient as documents
and data needed might not
be prepared and stored
consistently.
 MIS application in the restaurant service industry is supported
by three components. These are the following:

1. People whom the service is to be rendered.

2. Service process as implemented in the organization.

3. Service technology as used in the decision making of

the organization. Restaurant
Service
Industry

People
 Point of Sale in the Restaurant Business

Side Dish Desserts Drinks

Spanish Fruit
French Fries Soda
Cake

Mixed Buttered
Fruit Platter Iced Tea
Veggies

Appetizers Soups Main Dishes

Caesar Salad Sweet Zucchini Beef Teriyaki

Fresh Tuna
Crab & Corn Braised Pork
Bites

Sample POS Interface

 Order - taking

The moment the order was taken and confirmed, it will be entered into the computer or by touching the
screen. The computer then calculates the bill including tax and service charge, if there is. Once the customer
pays, the staff will then enter the receipt number and the amount paid.

F&B preparation
POS Application

After the order was paid, it will then appear on the computer screen back in the food preparation area. The
cook or crew in case of fast food chains prepares the order and keys into the computer once done
preparing. The staff at the counter will then can see on his/her screen that the order is finished and ready to
be served.

Inventory management
Once the order is completed, the POS automatically tells the inventory system that the ingredients in
making the orders have been used. The inventory system will then subtracts the ingredients used from the
available items. The items subtracted from the total available ingredients on hand are placed then at the
purchasing system.
Reports generation
The POS can track employee productivity, average sales per employee, what menu items are the most
popular, what items are less popular, and how quickly orders are served from time of input. The number of
customers served on an hourly and daily basis and the number of times the tables turn – new customers
are seated, can also be tracked or generated.
 Instruction:

Tell something about the following based

on what you have learned from this topic.
Elaborate your ideas by giving example.
Vocabulary
Building Exercise 1. POS
2. Restaurant MIS
3. Service Industry
Laboratory Activity 3
C. MIS
APPLICATION IN
THE HOTEL
INDUSTRY
Learning Objectives:

After studying this section, you will be

able to:

• explain further what hospitality industry is;

• provide examples of establishments in the
hospitality industry;
• explain how MIS is implemented in hotel
industry; and
• enumerate and discuss the features of some
information systems used in the hotel
industry.
INTRODUCTION

Hotel industry also utilizes MIS to help them manage effectively

its day to day operations. With the competition nowadays, the
management needs an effective and efficient system to address the
needs of various guests. This chapter will deal on how the hospitality
industry uses MIS as an aid in the management decisions.
 The Hospitality Industry

Composed of those establishments responsible for providing guests

with bed and food at a certain cost.

Planning for a guest stay in this industry would be challenging as it

includes managing accommodations, aggressive pricing and marketing,
forecasting, and implementing reporting controls.

A flexible system that provides information in order to achieve optimal

standard is needed.The system that provides information and feedback
to measure financial impact and quality is also important to ensure its
success especially that various hotels are located anywhere so
competition becomes complex in all aspects.
Hospitality or lodging industry can be composed of the following:

1. Hotels
2. Motels

3. Apartels
4. Condotels

5. Inns
 The following are common hotel classifications which, in the
complexity of its services offered, needs a complete hotel management
system.

1. Airport Hotels – these are hotels located near airports and are conveniently
located to provide any level of service from just a clean room to room service. They may be
provide bus or limousine service to the airlines when needed to address guests needs.

2. Commercial Hotels – these hotels cater mainly to business clients. They usually
offers room service, coffee shop, dining room, cocktail lounge, laundry and valet service as
well as access to computers and fax services.

3. Economy Hotels – as the name suggest, this hotel classification provide a limited
service and are known for clean rooms at low prices, meeting just the basic needs of a
traveler.
4. Suite/All-Suite Hotels – these are hotels which offer spacious layout and design.
Most business people like the setting which provides space to work and entertain separate
from the bedroom.
Cont….

5. Residential Hotels – these are hotels that used to be popular. The typical
residential hotel offers long term accommodations. These are mostly seen in the business
centers and areas where access to main cities can be found.

6. Casino Hotels – these are hotels that are often quite luxurious. Their main
purpose is actually in support of the gambling operation. In the country, casino hotel often
offer top name entertainment and excellent restaurants.

7. Resort Hotels – these are hotels that are planned destination of guests, usually
vacationers. Hotels of this classification are located at the ocean (for some countries), near
the ocean, or in the mountains away from the cities. These may offer any form of
entertainment to keep their guests happy and busy.
Cont….

These type of hotels need to be able to have an improved guest service,

efficient internal operations, and control over financial data integrity. The
following are hotels’ tasks that need careful planning and execution, thus, a
system is required to fully meet their guests expectations as well as
organization’s goals and objective:

1. Handling of reservations
2. Checking of guests in and out
3.Assigning of rooms
4. Managing of room inventory
5.Accommodating the needs of in-house guests
6. Handling accounting and billing
 MIS application in the hospitality industry is very vital. Without a proper system
in all aspects and its operation, reaching to guests needs, adapting to trends and other
changes in the industry, maximization of profit, and all others will be difficult and
challenging. Consistency might be overlooked and information needed might not be
enough to make decisions. This will then result to mismanaged business, which, in the
long run, may cause to bankruptcy.

As MIS represent the approach a company takes to gather information used to

make business decisions, this is also the same with the hospitality industry. It need a
system to gather and disseminate information pertinent to running the organization.
Computerized system shorten the lead time for information transfer. It allows hotels to
send information in near real-time capacity to individuals who need it.
Cont….

Because hotel administration includes several different responsibilities, MIS can

help them track both financial and operational information at one point, allowing
managers to measure the hotel’s effectiveness and efficiency all the way from sales and
marketing to room rentals, housekeeping, food service maintenance and facilities
management. This then allows hotel managers to the following important things to
consider:

1. Determine how well they sell room

2. Know the profit from each night
3. Determine the cost of ancillary services
4. Identify the staff needed to run the company
MIS application in hotels can then be summarized below:

1. Guest profile

2. Occupancy rate

3. Future projections

4. Monitoring expectations

5. Needs for communication

6. Guest database
Information Systems Used in the Industry

To manage hotel’s occupancy rate, reservation system, room availability,

guests records, and other aspect pertaining to selling of hotel facilities,
information systems are available for their use. These systems are available in the
market in which a hotel needs to purchase a license to use them.
Cont…

1. Gatessoft’s Genesis Hotel PMS

This is a property management system that handles hotel information from

reservation, sales, marketing, housekeeping, and all other pertinent information that
helps provides easy hotel and guests transactions.
Cont…

2. Lodging Touch Property Management System

This information system as used by some hotels is divided into various modules.
It can interact with the travel front office, group sales, guest history, accounts
receivables, as well as travel agencies and yield management. Users can reach and
retrieve information of guests as needed through various fields such as their name,
address, and confirmation number.
Cont…

3. ParagonAS/400 Front office system

This claims a flexible system that provides information in order to achieve

optimal standards. It provides information and feedback to measure financial impact and
quality. It helps users improve their guest service, make their internal operations
efficient, as well as provide control over their financial data integrity.
Cont…

It has the following features where users can benefit from:

a. Reservation
b. Flexible rate configuration and maximum room occupancy resulting to
optimal return on rooms
c. Access on room availability by type
d. Provision of confirmation letters and pre-printed registration cards
e. With hotel configurable fields to capture additional guest information
f. Able to maintain wait list
g. With flexible package configurations
Cont…

4. CLS Software Property Management System

This type of information system can support properties at all sizes from 50 to
1,000 rooms. It has a comprehensive integrated modular system that links together all
aspects of the hotel function which comes in domestic and international versions.
Cont…

4. CLS Software Property Management System

This type of information system can support properties at all sizes from 50 to
1,000 rooms. It has a comprehensive integrated modular system that links together all
aspects of the hotel function which comes in domestic and international versions.
Cont…

5. Opera Property Management System

Commonly used by hotel operations, this was designed to meet the varied
requirements of any size hotel or hotel chain. It provides users with all the tools they
need for doing their day-to-day tasks easy. It is configurable to each hotels specific
requirements. It also operates in either in single-property or multi-property mode, with
all properties in an enterprise sharing a single database.
Cont…

The system has the following key features:

a. Reservations
b. Rate management
c. Profiles
It supports multi-currency and multi-
d. Front desk
language features to meet global
e. Back office interface operations requirements.
f. Rooms management
g. Cashiering
h. Accounts receivable a. Hospitality System Interface
i. Commissions b. OPERA Xpress
j. Reporting
k. Fully configurable
l. Global perspective
 Instruction:

Look for the meaning of the following

terms/phrases in a dictionary or other sources. Use
them in a sentence focusing on tourism and
hospitality industry operations. This exercise will
help you enrich your vocabulary necessary for
Vocabulary tourism and hospitality professionals.
Building Exercise
1. Occupancy rate
2. Room availability
3. Apartel
4. Condotel
5. Inn
6. Flexible rate
7. Multi-currency
8. Multi-language
9. Single-property
10. Multi-property
Laboratory Activity 4
THANK
YOU!