Introduction
People have always needed some place to live. At the dawn of time, a human being needed some shelter from the wind, frost, rain and, moreover, it should be able to protect him/her from wild animals. With the development of society main function of house has not changed. It still serves as the place where people can shelter from different phenomena of nature and find comfort and relax there. However, sometimes a person needs to go away from his/her home on business.
Having developed from simple taverns or some other establishments, hotels nowadays play an important role in the life of every city suggesting their services to travelers, businessmen or simple tourists. Resting on these facts, special system which main aim was to book a room for a person appeared. Reservation system became an integral part of the functioning of every hotel. The following work is devoted to investigation of some peculiarities of its functioning and some other aspects connected with the work of this system.
It is obvious, that this system did not appear at the same time when the first hotels were created. Nowadays, all establishments of this kind in the world are equipped with complicated electronic system which has a lot of different functions. However, situation was absolutely different may years ago. Very often, people had to travel from one hotel to another hoping to find free room for them to be able to have a rest and find some shelter (Riesselman para. 1).
However, the need in such system was obvious and people started thinking about possible solutions to this problem. It was necessary to inform the owner of a hotel about the existing need. That is why, it is obvious that blistering development of systems of this sort became possible due to the evolution of means of communication and discoveries in the field of digital technologies. Appearance of telegraph promoted development of systems of this sort while telephone made them very efficient. However, there is no use denying the fact that computers and digital technologies brought the most significant changes to hotel reservation systems, adding new functions and making them much more efficient. With this in mind, it is possible to say that modern age is characterized by blistering development of these systems.
Background
That is why, it seems important and interesting to analyze peculiarities of the functioning of these systems nowadays and understand the way in which they obtained new functions. To do it the most efficiently, different sources connected with hotel business were analyzed. Moreover, great attention was given to the needs of clients and their demands for this kind of service. It becomes obvious that different attempts to align efficient functioning of the system of this sort were made by numerous hotels.
That is why, there is a great number of different materials available for analysis. Besides, taking into account high level of cybernation of modern society and different systems, the attempt to analyze the influence of digital technologies on the work of this system was made. With this object in mind, different sources connected with this way of usage of digital technologies were analyzed. The Internet was used as the main tool which helped to find the needed information and understand peculiarities of the issue better. Moreover, with the help of the Internet the attempt to book a room using the online reservation system was made. This attempt can serve as the beet evidence of availability and clearness of this service.
Opposite points of view
However, it also should be said that being very convenient, reservation service, though, is often criticized. There are several points of view on this question. The first obvious remark of the opponents of this service is the lack of the firsthand experience about the hotel. Using the Internet to book a room, a person does not have much information about the hotel as the only data he/she can obtain can be found at the same site and very often it can turn out to be false.
Another drawback of the given system is connected with the issue of security. The thing is that booking a room online, a person pays with the help of his/her credit card. It is obvious, that every self-respecting hotel has its own security system which should protect payments of this kind, however, there is no ideal protection in the world and it can be overcame. Under these conditions, a person has a risk to have his credit card number stolen.
Findings
However, in spite of all these drawbacks, hotel reservation systems are widely used nowadays in almost all hotels of the world. Modern hotel reservation systems allow a person to book a room from any place in the world where the Internet is available (“Features of the Online Booking System and Reservation Software” para. 5). Moreover, potential client is able not just to note that he/she needs a room. Besides, there is a wide range of options for him/her to choose.
He/she can state what kind of room is needed, its price, the view from the window, the menu and the level of service (Niemann, Mochol and Tolksdorf 88). Additionally, it is not so difficult to do as the interface of systems of this sort is rather clear and understandable for the common user of the Internet be able to book a room. Additionally, all modern systems are connected with the service of online payments. It is a great advantage of this tool.
There are several main modules in hotel reservation system. Users accounts and ordering system play the most important part of its functioning. Usually, all these modules are created in a very simple way for users to understand it easily. The interface is very convenient and understandable. All registered users are included in the database. It helps system to function more efficiently and take into account preferences of people who use this system not for the first time. Moreover, such kind of a database is secured to protect some private information.
In general, the whole process of booking a room with the help of this service can be described with the help of the following flowchart.
Clearness and understandness of the given flowchart can show that the whole process of regestration and reserving a room is very simple and can be easlity understood by a common user. Usually, web sites which suggest servives of this sort are organised according to the same pattern. Person should create an account adn than chose the room and servcie. Payments are made with the help of credit card. The sustme is very simple though efficient. However, it is possible to suggest certain steps which can help to evaluate its efficiency and usability. The given plan can be used to test all modules of the system.
- Registration of a great number of users.
- Great number of reservations at the same time.
- Analysis of the users feedback about the functioning of the system.
- Analysis of the system load and its functioning under extreme conditions.
Conclusion
Having analyzed peculiarities of the functioning and development of hotel reservation systems, it is possible to make certain conclusion. The issue of hotel reservation system is very important nowadays. The thing is, that all hotels are equipped with systems of this kind and it provides their efficient functioning. Moreover, there are obvious advantages connected with the usage of this system. People are able to book a room being far from a hotel.
Additionally, they are able to choose some additional options which are needed for them. However, there are also some disadvantages of this system connected with the impossibility to obtain credible information about a hotel. Nevertheless, there are still some risks of losing money. Besides, in spite of all these disadvantages, hotel reservation systems are widely used nowadays and this fact can serve as the best evidence of their efficiency.
Works Cited
Features of the Online Booking System and Reservation Software. n.d.. Web.
Niemann, Magnus, Malgorzata Mochol and Robert Tolksdorf. “Enhancing Hotel Search with Semantic Web Technologies“. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research. 3.2. (2007): 82-96. Web.
Riesselman, Jenifer. Hotel booking history shapes future planning. 2011. Web.