Final exam Exercice1

Final Exam

01/23/2013

Yacine Sadaoui

MBA 2A

Online Business Development for

Hospitality

Exercice 1: Location-Based Service A Location-Based Service (LBS) is a mobile computing application that provides

services to users based on their geographical location. These can range from simple “find the closest train station” uses to “tell me when my friends are nearby,” and potentially very soon “tell me if there is a sale in a shop when I walk past.” First-generation LBSs were reactive and client-server focused; users would ask an application or a system for information and receive a response. With the advent of push notification mechanisms, improved mobile Internet access and a move to collaboration as part of Web 2.0, the next generation of LBS is more proactive and interactive between users.

For example:

Relevant information can be sent to users based on their location rather than users having to manually search for it.

People can share photos and reviews that are tagged with information in a more peer-to-peer fashion. Data sources are more diverse, coming from various service providers rather than just one.

There is plenty of Location-Based Service applications:

Yelp, foursquare, dismoiou…

Booking Aggregators Sites Booking Aggregators Sites are search engines that search both

airline and travel websites. Instead of booking your tickets at these websites, the site will redirect you to the seller (the travel site or airline site). These sites are very useful. However, it is important to remember that no aggregator website searches every travel and airline website. In addition, these sites must collect data from the other websites therefore they do not always have the most up-to-date airfares. You CANNOT rely on a single search at an aggregator site to find to cheapest ticket every time.

Fare aggregators redirect the users to an airline, cruise, hotel, or car rental site or Online Travel Agent for the final purchase of a ticket.

Example of Booking Aggregators Site :

Cheapflights , Dohop , Kayak. com , Mobissimo , Momondo , SideStep , and Skyscanner .

Online travel agency (OTA) An online travel agency (OTA) specializes in offering

planning sources and booking capabilities in the online field. These kind of travel agency differ from the original travel agency that operates in store with a face- to- face customer relationship.

Major OTAs include:

Expedia, Inc., including Expedia.com, Hotels.com, Hotwire.com, and others - revenue US$2.937 billion (2008)

Expedia is the leading OTA company worldwide, owning several other websites as we can see above.

Last Moment Booking Apps Kayak, Priceline, Orbitz, Travelocity and Expedia all offer apps

that let travelers search for available hotel rooms, often discounted 10 to 50 percent for stays that begin the day you book. The apps have different features — and flaws — but they basically use a device’s GPS to show where you can find a room near you. The information is displayed on a map or a list that you can sort by price, distance or rating.

These applications are more and more use in the booking process when people purchase travel service ( flights, rooms…)

In addition to the OTA’s mobile application, there is new start-up that have created Last Moment Booking Apps such as hoteltonight or theverylastroom (a French company)

Booking Channels Travel distribution is different in each country and consumers prefer to

book different products in different ways. For example, many travellers still book flights through their travel agent, but may book their accommodation online through an online travel seller and their activities direct with the operator once they arrive in a country.

The traditional channels in the distribution process are retail travel agents, wholesalers, inbound tour operators and booking agents. With traditional channels, bookings are usually made in advance and paid for by the agent after the visit. These agents will charge operators a commission for the sale, which should be factored into your pricing.

In addition to other changes, online travel sellers have joined this group of distribution agents. Many consumers are now confident booking through websites such aswww.expedia.com, www.orbitz.com or www.lastminute.com, and perceive these websites as offering good value for money.

SEO: Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization is a multidisciplinary activity

that seeks to generate productive organic traffic from search

engines via technically sound and connected sites by

matching query intent with relevance and value.

SEM: Search Engine Marketing

Short for search engine marketing, SEM is often used to

describe acts associated with researching, submitting and

positioning a Website within search engine to achieve

maximum exposure of your Web site. SEM includes things

such as search engine optimization, paid listings and other

search-engine related services and functions that will increase

exposure and traffic to your Web site.

Customer engagement

Customer engagement basically occurs any time a customer

interacts with your brand. Through social media this can be

"liking" your page, visiting your page, including frequency

and time on site, comments on your content, reposts your

content, follows your brand on twitter, signs up for a

newsletter, signs up for or takes advantage of offers, etc.

Direct bookings

When a passenger purchases a trip with a supplier, especially

a cruise line, without the involvement of a travel agent.

For example in the hospitality industry a guest has the

possibility to book a room directly at the front desk or

through the hotel own website.

What type of booking site is

Skyscanner ?

Skyscanner is a Booking Aggregators Sites, indeed it just

redirect you to online travel agency website. You cannot buy a

product directly through Skyscanner.