Software Implementation of a Hotel Management Information System (A Case Study of Royal Marble Hotels, Benin)

Introduction

1.1. Background Of The Study

The hospitality industry, which is a major team player towards the economic growth of Nigeria as a nation and Africa as a continent has distinguished itself as a sector with the widest variety of hotel and tourism services.

There are many things in place in Nigeria now, which should encourage the growth of the hospitality business. These include:

1. The existence of opportunities by the democratic dispensation in the country, which influence the size and growth of both foreign and local business travelers.
2. Global expansion of international trade and also increase services of accommodation rendered by our local hotels.
3. Improvement of our tourist centers and zones.
4. Increase in Nigeria’s annual average growth rate of tourist arrivals.
5. Government favorable policy towards foreign investment.

An important feature of the hotel industry in Nigeria is that until the late seventies there was virtually absence of the well-known names in international hotel industry. From the late seventies however, some of these names began to make an appearance. Names like Sheraton Hotel, Hilton Hotel e.t.c.

Hotels are accessed for their standard of cleanliness and provision for visitors on a scale of one to five (1-5) stars. All aspect of hotel stay is accessed with emphasis on the standard of service, level of comfort and provision of equipment.

The assessment of accommodation gives you a clear indication of cleanliness, ambience, service, hospitality and accommodation standard of the hotel and the reassurance a guest needs to distinguish between the quality of the accommodation and the number of facilities on offer. Basically there are four types of hotels, namely:

1. Commercial Hotels:

It is also known as conference hotels, and is usually located in cities or suburban areas. They operate all year round.

2. Resort Hotels:

Resort hotels are usually located primarily in vacation destinations near mountains and seashores. It offers luxurious surroundings with a variety of recreational facilities such as swimming pools, golf courses e.t.c. The business of resort hotels fluctuates with the season.

3. Residential Hotels:

Residential hotel combines the comfort of a permanent living with the convenience of a resort and a resident hotel.

4. Casino Hotels:

Casino hotels provide lodging in hotel facilities with a casino in the premises. They also provide gambling facilities.

There are different occupations in a hotel; a list of these is discussed in chapter two. One of such occupation is the hotel front desk clerk, whose job is to:

1. Process reservation
2. Handles guest registration, check in and check out
3. Monitors arrivals and departures
4. Handles complaints and
5. Receive and forward mails.

The duty of the hotel front desk clerk depends on the size of the hotel. In small hotels, the desk clerk may do everything, while in large hotels the duties are divided among several types of clerks.

Revenue is generated in a hotel through its point of sale. Hotel points of sale are locations where various services are offered. These points include the front desk, the bar, restaurant and the retail shop. At the end of each business day in a hotel, a manifest of guests is presented to the State Security Service (SSS) for security purposes.

1.2. Objective Of Study

Considering the problem of the manual method of reservation faced by the front desk clerk, it is hoped that automating front desk operations will achieve the following:

1. Reduce the cost of hotel services as market success largely depends on the price of a service.
2. Take advantage facilities offered by the computers such as speed, accuracy and efficiency to carry out common task of check in, check out and guest registration. This cannot be compared to using a manual process.
3. 3. Increase the volume of business. That is, more transaction can be made than humanly possible.
4. 4. Supply better management information through reports, which will make information regarding the hotel, better organized and retrieved in the least possible time.
5. 5. For long term forecast and planning.
6. 6. Enables managers and front desk clerks to carry out operations that are otherwise impossible to carry out manually.
7. 7. Security of data, as a result of the design of a database.

1.3. Scope Of Study

This work will attempt to automate front desk operations and these include:

1. Room reservation process
2. Check in and check out operation
3. Report generation from a database for managers as well as customers.

1.4. Definition Of Terms

Check in:

To register as a guest in a hotel.

Check out:

To pay one’s bill and leave a hotel.

Reservation:

A record of rooms reserved for customers.

Front desk:

Where guest makes reservation, check in and check out.

Front desk clerk:

A person in charge of front desk operations and payment.

Ambience:

The character and atmosphere of a hotel.

Database:

A collection of data that are well organized.

Management:

Act of running and controlling a business.

Software:

The program(s) used to operate a computer.

Hotel points of sale:

Locations where sale are made in a hotel.

Ingress:

The act of entering the hotel.

Egress:

The act leaving the hotel.

Lodging:

A temporary accommodation in a room with meals.

Deposit:

Money paid by guest during registration.

Credit Customers:

Customers from companies or organizations that the management of the hotel has credit agreement with.

Outlet Cashier:

The middleman between all points of sale and the accounts department.

ATM:

Automatic teller machine.

1.5. Limitations Of Study

A major limitation to this work is non-availability of a documented report on the hotel operations in most hotels.

There was also time constraint and the proximity of the case study. Finance was also a limitation to this project work.