Online Booking, disadvantage to Travel Agencies

In our sales meeting one day, we were talking about the competition against online booking. Most of the hotels, resorts, airline and other travel accommodation services has their own online reservations or booking. In this effect, clients to travel agencies became scarcely and the competition also bacome so stiff. We came across reading columns and articles about advantages of travelers having computers with them.

One of the article which we read from an author named Kathryn Tyler, a Business Woman of the Year 2003 of Pennsylvania. A title ahe acquired after writing several articles for Business Magazines. Let me quote her article: "A Business Center in your Hotel: Curse or Blessing? Your customers asked for it, modern hospitality philosophy required it and now you have one in your Hotel: A Business Center.

Your Guest now has access to the Internet to read and write e-mails, surf the Web for the latest news and they can work in Word, Power Point and Excel. For your Guest's convenience (and maybe according to company standards) you have also added a printer, fax and copier. You are now ready for the 21st Century traveler. Or are you?

Satisfied with your latest implementation one day, on one of your daily rounds, you notice that the Computer has a white piece of paper stuck to the monitor. Curious, you walk up and read: "Computer Out of Order". Checking into it, you find out that this is not the first time the computer has been down, and furthermore, there have been a number of alarming complaints from Guests:

"Computer froze in the middle of my work"
"I walked up to check my e-mail and suddenly looked at obscene pictures on the computer screen"
"I noticed stuff from one of your previous Guests on the computer? Will my info remain on the computer too?"
"I think you have a virus on your computer because this window kept popping up, saying,…"
And the list goes on.

You also find out that your very dedicated manager spends (a very valuable) hour each day trying to fix and clean the computer. And, a couple of times, a computer technician had to solve a problem for $80 / hour.

"It is a mistake to underestimate the process of making computer and internet access available to your Guests ", states Ron Koning, Vice President of SurferQuest, a supplier of Public Internet Computers and Software. "The Hospitality industry is forced to offer this amenity, so they put a computer in their Business Center, without thinking a lot about it. Reality hits when the complaints start piling up, managers get frustrated and the maintenance cost doubles or triples the budget. And that is just the visible problem."

"Running a Business Center Computer is a risk the Hotelier really does not want to take without proper precautions," Mr. Koning continues, "The amount of work involved to keep it up and running is just part of the problem, the liability is the true risk each Hotelier is subject to."

The general opinion is that as long as the Windows System, Virus scanner and Cleaning software is updated, nothing bad can happen. However, these tools do not prevent disk clutter, hacks, identity theft, new viruses or objectionable content showing on your computer. One by one, very serious matters when you consider them, with the definite possibility of a law-suit.

SurferQuest software is developed to take a lot of these risks away. It prevents hacks, disk-clutter, it erases all left-over user content, it is foolproof and is even immune to viruses not yet invented. "And a nice bonus is," continues Mr. Koning, "it reduces normal maintenance by about 97%."

"Each system has the capability to accept Credit Card payments," states Mr. Koning, "The advantage of using this feature is that usage is regulated. Nobody can occupy the computer too long, preventing other Guests from using it, unless he pays for it of course". End of quote.

Jorge Dilag
www.kolobialtravel.com