Introduction
Cosmos is a family hotel in Australia that offers accommodation and transport facilities to its guest. Its visitors include the local people from other parts of the country and tourist from all over the world. Most of its guest comprises 75% of the visitors from England. The family lounge started as a small lounge that used to host three to five visitors in early 1980. The lounge has now expanded and current is able to accommodate a hundred guests at a go. Its good performance is attributed to its good information system and its good working culture that has enabled it become very popular (Chris2001, 123).
The lounge expansion is attributed to a strategic plan by the family to computerise the hotel services through establishment of a lounge network, website and Internet. These services were aimed at improving the services of the hotel. This is because the hotel network and wireless Internet could allow a good communication within the hotel. The internet enabled the visitors easily communicate with the human resource department in case their are in need of something and through this process they could receive better attendance from in this hotel. This process called for establishment of a computer network at the hotel reception, which the hotel’s guests could use to communicate to the human resource department and other people such as their friends or family members back at home. The hotel website was meant for launching awareness of the hotel. The website was designed such that visitors willing to visit the hotel could get all the details necessary so that to enable them make an informed decision of what to expect once they visit the hotel. The website also offers online booking to facilitate booking in advance. (David 2005, 77).
Problem Statement
The family needed a home website to be used in its lounge by the guest. The family had a challenge of determining the right network and website to use in its lounge. Therefore the compilation of this report is aimed at addressing these issues.
Aims and objective
The aim of the hotel website and Internet is to boost the performances of the hotel through increasing awareness and enhancing the hotel’s services.
Objectives
- To establish a hotel website and Internet.
- To use the Internet and hotel website to enhance the hotel’s services
Hypothesis
- The establishment of the hotel network and website will allow online booking.
- The hotel website will enable tourist make informed decision when booking.
- The wireless network will allow visitors to easily communicate with the hotel human resource department and their friends and family members back home
Literature Review
To inform about this research and findings a literature review was carried out. The literature review discusses in depth the various types of computer networks and website available. It further discuses the different measures that are used to ensure safety of networks in general. Then the discussion moves from generalization and focuses on how wireless network operates and how their safety can be secured and especially the safety of a hotel network that allows online booking. (Chris2001, 122)
Computer network
A computer network is a group of computers that uses a physical medium such as a wire or a wireless medium such as electromagnetic waves for their connection. A computer network enables communication of all the computers in the network. In the network there are two kinds of computers in a network: These are the server and the client. The server is the computer that manages all the computer communications in the network. This computer is usually a more powerful computer than the others. This is because it contains more programs than the other computers in the network. The other computers in a network are referred as client. (Chris2001, 122)
Computer network can be classified according to their size. In this case computer networks are classified according to the area they cover. In this grouping computer networks are categorized in three classes. These are:
Local Area Network (LAN), this is a network that covers a small geographical area. This kind of network can either be found in a home network or an office. In this network, the network enables it’s users to share printers or files in offices. At homes, the network can allow people to share computer games. Computer networks can also be classified as Metropolitan Area Network (MAN). This network covers a bigger geographical area than LAN. This network comprise of a number of LAN network joined together. This is the type of network that is found in campuses or in military stations. Companies that have more than one branch in various towns use this network to enable their communication. (Chris2001, 124)
Computer network that covers a large geographical area such as between two or more counties or continents is referred as Wide Area Network (WAN). This network uses transmission facilities such as telephone lines to enable their communications. They usually function using the three physical layers of OSI that are the physical layer, the data-link layer and the network layer. (Chris2001, 134)
Network Security
The security of a network is the ability of the network to safe guard unauthorized access. There are many methods that are employed in the network to guarantee network safety. These includes:
Use of password and user Name
When buying the network equipments such as computers. They have web pages that enable one to put a password and user name to restrict access. Therefore the passwords and user names used should be chosen carefully to avoid hackers’ attack. The passwords used should comprise of more than six characters and changed regularly after a period of about two weeks to enhance the security of the network. (Chris2001, 150)
Encryption
For safety of the network, networks should be installed with encryption software that will enable encryption of sensitive files. The encrypted files are difficult for people to know their content in case they come across them. This is because encryption program scrambles messages sent and the only people that are allowed access to this kind of information are those that have the right program to decode these messages.
Hacker Monitoring System
The network should be installed with hacker monitoring system. This software monitors the network and detects when unauthorized users access the network. This is very important as it enables the system administrator to log out the unauthorized users and then to employ the right measures to strengthen the security of the network.
The hotel website is allocation of electronic files that reside on a web server. These files offer an opportunity for the user to view the contents of the websites once requested. The websites can either be designed for an organization, a home website or for commercial purposes. Websites have become a major form of advertisement for many companies. These advertisement can range from enhancing and creation of awareness for firms’ products to advertisements for jobs vacancies (David 2005, 74)
Methodology
Primary research
Primary data is original data collected and meant for a specific project. To enable this discussion a research of the performance of the hotel was conducted before and after computerizing the hotel’s services.
Secondary Research
Secondary research is defined by Hood, S. [Ed.] (1999), as “data used for a research project that were originally collected for other purpose.” Secondary research acts as a benchmark for the primary research and gives a good direction for the researcher to undertake in carrying out research work. Reliable secondary data that helped in guiding this discussion was obtained from the Internet, books and Journals.
Presentation and Analysis
The family was successful in setting up the hotel with a hotel network, Internet and website. This was a great and very strategic action for the hotel. This is because the setting of these facilities enabled the lounge to multiply the number of guest who visited. This was because; the hotel website was used to enhance awareness of the lounge to the local visitors and external tourists. The website also offered the tourist an opportunity to book online in advance. The wireless Internet in the hotel provided the visiting tourist an economical means of communicating with their friends and members of families back at home. The Internet also acted as a very convenient means of communicating their problems with the human resource department. The network established was well secured with network security software to allow maximum protection of the information transmitted in the network. The hotel website was installed with encryption programs and hackers monitoring system to enhance its safety from hackers. This was very vital to ensure safe online bookings (Morris2003, 37)
Conclusion
The provision of the Internet, website and hotel network helped greatly to boost the performances of Cosmos hotel. This was because these services greatly enhance the services of this lounge. The website allowed tourist to browse and view the location and facilities offered on the hotel before booking. The website also enabled the tourist to book online so that to enable booking in advance. The Internet in the hotel provided a good means of communication for the guests visiting. Therefore we can conclude by saying that this process of computerising the hotel services greatly boosted Cosmos hotel. Business (Steve 2006, 135).
References
Chris W. (2001) Computer Networking And Its Safety: Oxford University; London. Pgs 121-219.
David B. (2005) How To Design a Commercial Website: Prentice Hall: New York Pgs 67-91.
Hood, S. [Ed.] (1999) How to Carry out a Success Research. Oxford University Press: London.Pgs 123-145.
Morris, Frank C Jr. (2003) “The Electronic Platform: Email and Other Privacy Issues in the Workplace.” Computer and Internet Lawyer. Oklahoma State University Library. Pgs 35-51.
Steve M. (2006). Using information System In Business. Chicago University Press: Chicago. Pgs 27-132.