Hospitality Solutions: Advantages And Challenges Of M-Commerce

Social media is different from more traditional marketing tactics as it offers a free platform that is easily accessible to anyone with internet access. This allows for the increase communication for organizations to foster brand awareness and often, and

Incremental cash flow of 11 million in 2013 id web based booking increases (Appendix 5)

Before the days of the Internet, if a family wanted to travel to a far-off, exotic locale, they would have to either find a local travel agent or call a travel agency and plan their getaway. In the 1990’s, the Internet became a staple of everyday life and began entering many homes. As the availability of the Internet increased, so did the services available to clients. With the increasing availability of the World Wide Web the travel industry found itself faced with revolutionizing changes. All of the tools that were once solely available to travel agents now became readily available to anyone with access to the Internet and a search engine. Websites quickly formed around the idea of providing consumers with quick vacation planning ideas at low costs. Getting

Today’s on-line travel market is succeeding because the companies are using a more software-centric, online business model termed “E-commerce.” This has become the popular avenue for businesses as it mirrors the ideas of mobility. The sheer amount of data available, coupled with the advanced operating systems and social media platforms, have created new possibilities for E-commerce organizations. The infrastructure of E-commerce has expanded into platforms such as peer-to-peer networking, crowd-sourcing, social websites, and mobile devices and media. E-commerce trends are findings ways to incorporate every aspect of our daily lives into an online package associated with our everyday needs (Fishbein, 2013).

Online ticketing can unlock powerful data insights. Because of the advances in technology you can now gather more information about your event attendees before the event even happens. You can now make better decisions about staffing, you can get a better idea of what to expect for attendee flow, and how to avoid shortfalls in planning and logistics. Online ticketing also helps cut back the amount of time people have to stand in lines. The information you receive from online ticketing can tell you how effective your marketing strategy is. For example, if you use one of the previous trends, social media, you can directly link the ticket transaction with the source of social media. This can help the organizers make smarter marketing decisions as they plan for the event. After the event, online ticketing provides historical date that you can use to evaluate your successes, see what needs improved, and altogether be more informed about the event. Also, through online ticketing, you can provide a survey for your attendee to take after the event to help better your event in the future. At our event The Grape Divide: Beer and Wine Festival, all tickets will be sold online before the event and at the door the day of the event. We plan to use online ticketing to help us better our event for in the

Social media is not new. Facebook has been around since 2004, YouTube since 2005, and Twitter in 2006. What is new is how social media sites like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are affecting the way businesses market their products and services. Never before in our history have consumers been able to communicate so effortlessly with each other and with the businesses they frequent. Never before have businesses been able to interact and react to customer feedback so quickly and efficiently. However, just because businesses have the ability to use social media for their marketing and advertising efforts, does not necessarily mean they should. This paper intends to

This gives restaurants an opportunity to advertise specials they have so people will be more willing to book a reservation with them, and enabling restaurants to suggest upsells to provide profit increases through use of the application. High demand and increased reliance on applications will ensure this unique and distinct application will give customers the opportunity to make their dinner plans quickly and easily.

Mobile e commerce is e-commerce done in a wireless environment, especially via the internet. It can also be stated as e –commerce performed using portable terminal and all location related commercial activities (generally referred as location commerce). The location based activities are unique feature of mobile e-commerce because they make much sense for mobile terminals rather than static terminals. Information can be sent in the form of e-mail, data files, video, multimedia and other information through a mobile phone ( or

Digital Advertising is a top three marketing tool. Everyone is now utilizing the internet and social media for to research information and for entertainment. Individuals and businesses to stay connected, market products and services, and communicate now use social media. I feel this is a great marketing tool, since everyone now relies on information found online to help support many of their decisions. Medical facilities are able to promote their businesses with advertisements on Twitter, Facebook Event Pages, Instagram, etc. Businesses are able to utilize social media to show customers why they feel their facility is the best. Additionally, they are able to offer patients special promotions and discounts. They can also utilize social sites to identify their target customers, understand their geographic area and understand the prospects that live there. This will allow them to create marketing campaigns catering to those individuals and other events happening in the community.

It permits anyone to book, order & procure their lunch at native restaurants before arrival. The app will save diners up to half-hour of your time that's typically spent expecting a table, food & check.

targeted those people who would recognize and appreciate quality lodging and not those who were seeking “cheap sleep”.  Inviting potential guests or individuals who might influence visitor hotel selection to launch parties, swim parties, cocktail parties and other planned events.  Targeting supportive hospitality businesses.  Packages that supported local businesses were developed.

Hospitality establishments are continually trying to improve customer service and new innovations are being created every day. “Customer participation is an important component of the service production process” (Wattanakamolchai, 2008, p. 1). One concept to improve the customer service delivery system is to have guests become participants in the actual production and this term is called the “co-production”. Since new technologies encourage a new genre of experience, the concept designed for a new co-production strategy for Portofino Bay Hotel is a mobile app. A mobile app is a software program guests can download and have access by directly using their phone or any other mobile device. This mobile app will provide guests a platform to be used from their mobile device by using their tablet, mobile phone or laptop. The mobile app will allow guests to book their rooms, check-in, use as a room key, check-out, make reservations at any of the restaurants or at the spa, purchase tickets for Universal Orlando theme parks, and provide immediate guest feedback on all services rendered. This, in turn, will allow the guests to play an active role in guest participation in creating their own memorial experience.

The advances in mobile technology while not revolutionary, will nonetheless have an impact on revenue management (Latest Trends in Reservation Systems 2011). The emergence of social media and Generation Y being mostly associated with these technologies would mean that hoteliers would need to be aware that customers also seek validation from third parties such as from bloggers and reviews given from these parties do influence customers. Fuggle (2016) states that it is important for any hotel or travel firm to establish and nurture an online presence and also to note that it would become part of a daily day to day activity to maintain that presence. According to Fuggle (2016), a survey undertaken by TrustYou states that 95% of respondents would read reviews online before booking. Maintaining an online presence would require a fair amount of effort, however the word of mouth advertising which is what the business gets in return can be beneficial for the business (Fuggle 2016).

M-commerce offers benefits such as quick access to time sensitive information and instant connectivity to the internet. It also enables businesses to offer personalized and localized content as mobile devices enable them to have access to consumer’s preferences, status and location. M-commerce plays a key role in expanding the audience of a business on a massive scale, especially in developing countries where most people access the internet on mobile devices because they cannot afford a PC.

Mobile commerce, or m-commerce is defined as "any electronic transaction or information interaction conducted using a mobile device and mobile networks (wireless or switched public network) that leads to transfer of real or perceived value in exchange for information, services or goods" (Abbott 2012: What is m-commerce). On one hand, m-commerce seems to offer the ability for consumers to engage in transactions with greater ease and convenience. On the other hand, there is great concern that this convenience comes at a high price and is highly invasive in terms of its impingement upon consumer privacy. "New breed mobile commerce vendors, eager to send customers targeted ads and marketing offers based on the exact whereabouts of their cell phones," may tout the value of their services to consumers, but some users find this frighteningly intrusive in terms of the knowledge that can be accumulated on their whereabouts (M-commerce vendors attack privacy concerns, 2000, CNN). Despite the benefits of m-commerce, these serious concerns have not been fully answered [Thesis].