Introduction to Tourism

Tourism is the world's largest civilian industry and accounts for nearly fourteen percent of the world's GDP. Its growth, economic significance and potential are phenomenal across the globe; although yet to be exploited to its maximum capacity. Directly or indirectly, it is all set to change business propositions in manufacturing as well as services sector. As a quasi-manufacturing activity, tourism is contributing immensely in terms of both earnings and employment across nations. Be it domestic or foreign in nature, its largesse to the target destinations helps not only economically but also in the evolution of civilized societies sharing a cosmopolitan ambience of culture. The advancement in Information Technology- particularly the arrival of the Internet - has further expanded the scope of tourism to global markets. Online tourism, as its natural corollary has emerged to occupy a central place in tourism marketing. Due to its sheer potential, online tourism has become a buzzword uttering out from almost every tongue that speaks of tourism. The present form of the Internet; particularly the World Wide Web has only been inexistence since 1992 and there is only a decades time to draw any inferences out. Further, literature which examines internet and tourism has only recently emerged. Although it is rapidly becoming a growing topic of research, the information on the websites seems to be the only rescue for the researchers. At the same time, it forewarns and forearms the marketers of tomorrow about its importance as future mode of acquiring information and purchase of tourism products and services.

Online Tourism
Online Tourism has been defined as a new form of travel product distribution where a supplier/service provider offers products/services mainly through the medium of Internet to a group of customers, irrespective of their physical location (Singh 2003). Online tourism equips a tourist, tour operator or travel agent for convenient exchanges using electronic medium. User groups globally are finding online technologies supportive indecision making for availing tourism products and services. Even in its introductory stage, Tourism Industry has largely been benefited by online tourism in certain countries. It has been found that a strong network of online technologies helps in developing an environment of spontaneity and convenience. Customized websites, value-added services, focused marketing, easy-to-use self-service tools, and sophisticated contact-center solutions attempt to provide higher user-awareness, accessibility and autonomy. This further provides several ways to build loyalty. Online Tourism has caused several changes in the tourism industry out of which the main impact has been on the interrelation between service providers and traditional intermediaries. It has offered Tourists, across the globe, a tool to express their needs, to seek details on destinations, facilities, availabilities, prices, geography, and climate information for diverse tourism products and services. Moreover, it has given an upper hand to travel agents while looking for information or details about tourists, market trends, service providers, destinations, facilities, availabilities, prices, tour packages and also in maintaining direct contacts with their partners. With its virtue, it has become increasingly convenient for tourism offices to search for industry trends, size and nature of tourism flows, policies, and plans for the developmental concerns.

LIST OF TOP 10 HOSPITALITY COMPANIES ACROSS THE GLOBE

1) Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) 2) Wyndham Hotels Group (WHG) 3) Marriott International 4) Hilton Hotels Corporation 5) ACCOR Hotels 6) Choice Hotels International 7) Best Western International 8) Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide 9) Carlson Hotels 10) Global Hyatt Corporation

MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL
Introduction
Marriott International, Incorporations is a leading lodging company with more than 3,000 launched properties in the United States and operates in more than 65 countries in the world. It was formed in 1993 when Marriott Corporation split into two companies, Marriott International and Host Marriott Corporation.. Marriotts hotels include 10 brands. Among them there are brands such as Renaissance Hotels with flagship of Marriott Hotels & Resorts, also brands as Fairfield and Marriott Vacation Club International, Towne Place Suits, JW Marriott Hotels and Resorts, Residence INN and Courtyard. (Marriott International, Inc., 2009). The Ritz-Carlton Company is a luxury chain of hotels that was owned in April 1995, is also under the head of Marriott International (Funding Universe,2009).The Marriott International is headquartered in Bethesda (USA), and has 146,000 employees worldwide. It is ranked as the most admired company in the hospitality industry. The Company has also been recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA, 2007)) with the 2008 Sustained Excellence Award.

Five force Business Model Marriott International

According to the Ibis World database, Marriott International Inc is the leading player in the global hotels and motels industry; employing about 137,000 people in about 69 countries. In order to further understand the nature of competition in this industry one should first examine its external environment; more specifically the forces that drive it. The five forces model that shall be analysed is comprised of buyer power, supplier power, threat of new entrants, threat of substitutes and degree of rivalry.

1. Buyer Power: In the global hotel and motel industry a primary strength a player has to
have in order to flourish is strong brand recognition. A strong brand recognition not only

aids in attracting first time customers, but it also entails repeat business since switching costs can be trifling in this industry. Price competition alone is not a good stimulator of this force, yet innovation undeniably is. Companies are always trying new ideas to capture a diversified set of consumers, ranging from the middle class to the premium segment. By utilizing new styles of design to superior facilities, such as gyms, spas, even integrated golf complexes, a vast fragmented group of consumers can be captured through an increase in the value they receive.

2. Supplier power: Due to the fact that this industry is very labour intensive, the players
within it have to take on effective strategies to bargain. The degree of quality and accessibility of the suppliers equipment and services are a primordial part for the success of a company. Hotel managers usually have to rely on technology and advanced systems to manage, analyse, and locate good prospective properties that will complement the hotels profitability. Since most of this technology is acquired through separate suppliers, their bargaining power is considerably strengthened.

3. Threats of new entrants : This industry is very influenced by tourism and travel trends
which create prime opportunities for competitors to enter the market. Even though there has been an economic downturn globally, the expectations for the hotel industry continue to be positive and growth is most likely going to continue throughout the year. The threat of new entrants appears to be stronger in the Asia- Pacific region specially, as the number of tourists continues to grow and new flight pathways are unveiled. In this industry new entrants may surge as small, independent sole proprietors, yet the likelihood of their success is uncertain. In order to sustain revenue growth in the premium market, where the highest profitability is usually found, a large scale of initial capital is required; this can present itself as a strong deterrent to new entrants.

4. Threat of Substitutes: Substitutes for this industry include alternative types of lodging,
such as RVs, camping, even informal visits to friends and family. Even though these substitutes do exist, and switching costs may be low, they usually do not provide the same utility as a hotel does. The basic function of a place to stay may be fulfilled by substitutes, but the added benefits, such as restaurants and spas, are better provided by hotels. The threat of substitutes may exist in this industry, yet it is no match for an entity with a strong brand equity that provides customer satisfaction

5. Degree of Rivalry: The threat of rivalry for this industry can be considered moderate due
to mostly financial and logistical factors. Most of the hotel industrys key players are large branded chains, yet there are a large number of independent companies currently in the industry. The larger chains have a powerful competitive advantage by being able to use their higher level of revenues to diversify into other businesses. On the other hand smaller companies have to struggle to devise strategies of survival and innovation, which can be a complicated task. The capital availability key players have allows for a higher degree of global diversification; insulating them from volatile market conditions.

Information Technology at Marriott International

Marriott transforms key finance processes, XEROX ERP CASE STUDY (The lodging leader develops scalable platform) Snapshot
The Challenge
Inefficient,

redundant processes for Accounts Payable and Claims Management on paper-based workflows

Reliance

Time-consuming paperwork diverted associates from core tasks Transition to a Shared Services Centre and new ERP software The need for optimised processes to sharpen the focus on core competencies and support global grow We wanted to control costs, operate more efficiently and help our associates spend more time enhancing the guest experience. Xerox helped us achieve these goals. Clay Hall, Senior Director Information Resources Marriott Shared Services

The Solution
Strategic partnership with Marriotts Information Resource organisation A single, scalable services platform to support Marriotts growing global needs Solutions that integrate easily with Marriotts ERP and claims processing systems Re-engineered workflows based on digital documents and automation Outsourced mailroom, imaging and content management services with guaranteed turnaround times

We were looking for an innovative Company The Resultsthat could help us compete globally and grow and expand. We found the right partner in Xerox. Its Automated work processes for data and been a beneficial relationship from day information; 4x processing capacity one. Jeff Golding, Senior Director Increased efficiency and productivity Information Resources Marriott Corporate Optimised costs, improved financial reporting
Better cash flow and supplier management

More effective approach to risk management, compliance Delivered to strict Service Level Agreements Enhanced customer and associate satisfaction Improved environmental sustainability

Marriott International Deployed Siebel ebusiness Applications

Marriott International Enhances Customer Loyalty and Boosts Profitability Measuring Customer Value: While customer service has always been associated with
Marriotts brand name, the company has always measured its success by hotel occupancy rates. To achieve higher revenue per customer, Marriott sought to implement an

eBusiness solution that managed customer touch points across all channels, establish a unified set of customer data accessible by all customer-facing employees, and offer customers a highly personalized experience. Based on a rich profile of information. With these goals in mind, Marriott turned to Siebel Systems for its eBusiness solution, deploying Siebel Sales and Siebel Service to approximately 3,000 employees globally.

Embracing the Customer: By using Siebel eBusiness Applications, Marriott is able to embrace
its group customers in new ways. For example, in the past the company had waited for its large corporate accounts to call to reserve rooms and did little to proactively drive sales. Today, however, Siebel eBusiness Applications enable Marriott to collect and consolidate information on all corporate accounts, manage contacts, and record leads and opportunities. Marriotts sales teams now call corporate customers well in advance of trade shows and conferences to book arrangements.

Building Brand Loyalty across Hotel Properties: Marriotts Siebel eBusiness solution
also helps the company build loyalty and awareness across its 13 lodging brands. Before implementing Siebel eBusiness Applications Marriotts sales force logged information in disparate databases based on the hotels or hotel groups to which they were assigned. If a guest wanted to book a room at a hotel that was full, Marriotts salespeople had no way of knowing whether another Marriott hotel in the same city was available. Now, with Siebel eBusiness Applications in place, Marriotts salespeople have visibility of rooms inventory at multiple Marriott properties and can easily book a customer in a different Marriott property.

Cross-selling Additional Products and Service: Using Siebel eBusiness Applications,

Marriott has improved its ability to cross sell additional products and services in other ways as well. For example, seven Marriott leisure hotels now provide the Personal Planning Service, creating personalized vacation itineraries for guests well in advance of their arrival.

Benefits
Improves customer satisfaction Improves profitability Strengthens brand loyalty Increases sales to corporate accounts Increases cross-chain sales

Marriott gains new edge in project transparency, planning

With HP Project and Portfolio Management Centre, executives are better equipped to make strategic decisions on global priorities and resources

Snapshot of Case Objective

Enable global view of corporate projects to foster better strategic planning and resource allocation; leverage automation to drive project management efficiencies

Approach
Replace point project solutions with robust, enterprise solution management full-featured

IT improvements
Automated project management tasks drive efficiencies, free associates time to focus on tasks that drive more business value and take on more projects, which is critical to the companys growth strategy

Business benefits
Executives have information they need to make better decisions about project planning and resource allocation, ensuring the companys projects are aligned with its business goals and focus, and helping to support its overall success as an enterprise Improved governance helps reduce risk of non-compliance or security issues, which could be costly to fix or damaging to the companys brand Time spent by project managers for managing their projects and reporting results reduce. HP PPM has helped us improve our planning, has increased visibility into our portfolio, and has helped us better align our activities with our corporate and IT strategies. And we now have a single source of information on our entire portfolio. Leslie Scott, vice president, Information Resources and Enterprise Project Management Office, Marriott

Project managers can focus on managing

Marriotts first full implementation of HP PPM was within Information Resources (IR), its technology services organization. The project was extremely well received by Marriotts IR project managers. HP PPM made project managers lives at Marriott easier by automating a lot of steps, they no longer have to manually create risk and issue watch lists, or scope statements and work plans because the tool creates them automatically using pre-defined templates. These benefits extend far

beyond convenience: HP PPM frees project managers to focus on tasks that more directly contribute to projects success.

Helping executives make the best possible decisions

HP PPM helps executives at Marriott to make the best possible decisions about what to do with those ideas. They have the information they need to figure out where to best allocate resources. As projects are evaluated, if they dont align with Marriotts overall business strategy, they are tabled. This helps keep the company focused and ensures it isnt misallocating precious budget dollars, while ensur ing that the project can be re-initiated later if the companys priorities change. And as Marriott and the use of HP PPM grows, it will help ensure the company executives have visibility into other lines of businessnot just the activities of their respective direct reports.