WEB-BASED GUEST TRACKING INFORMATION SYSTEM (A CASE STUDY OF KEVINO WHITE GUEST HOUSE, IKOT EKPENE)

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.0 Introduction

This chapter presents the introduction to web based guest tracking information system. It presents the introduction, background of the study, statement of the problem, aim and objectives of the study, significance of the study, scope of the study, organization of the research and definition of terms.

1.1 Background of the Study

A web based guest tracking information system is an online system that can enable the front desk office of the hotel manage and track guest information reports when needed. Guests check in and check-out details are registered to enable tracking of guests that come and go. Guests interact with the hotel for the first time by interacting with the staff of the front office. The front office gives the first impression about the hotel based on the efficiency, competency and behaviour of the front office staff. The reception desk performs the functions like the sale of rooms, guest registration, room assignments, handling of guest requests, maintenance of the guest accounts, cashiering along with handling mail and providing information.

The financial tasks usually handled by the front desk personnel include receiving cash payments, handling guest folios, verifying cheques and handling foreign currency and credit cards. In this research work, you will be familiarized with all these aspects of the front office management (Fan & Ku, 2017).

Information technologies offer companies alternative applications of improving customer relationships. Customer Relationship Management systems (CRM) are the most popular systems among these applications these days. Because of the timeliness and relevance of data provided by CRM, many hotels in lodging industry are using CRM to improve their service quality. However, it is rare in literature for researchers to document the processes and the value of CRM applications in lodging industry. A guest tracking information system is one of such systems that aid in management of a hotel. The transaction information, check-in and check-out of guests in the hotel is captured through a user interface which is the front end and saved to a database which is the back end. The information of guests can be presented when needed by querying the database based on date of visit or surname of guest. This will enable management to get needed information of their customers when needed (Jain and Singh, 2012).

1.2 Statement of Problem

Most hotels do not have a system that will enable them track guest records. For instance, a report may be demanded for all the guests that checked out from the hotel on a particular date, a system may also be needed to look for clients with a particular surname. Having an automated system that will perform this aids administrative effectiveness. However, when this is not in place it is difficult to track guest records. The identified problems include:

1. Absence of an effective guest information tracking system
2. The hotel does not operate professionally.
3. It is time consuming to manually track guest information.

1.3 Aim and Objectives of the Study

The aim of this research work is to develop a web based guest tracking information system for hotel with the following objectives:

1. To design a web based software solution for guest information management that maintains a database of guest records.
2. To design an automated system that will eliminate conflicts in room booking and reservation.
3. To implement a web based system that will provide reports about the check-in, check-out information of guest thereby aiding in guest information tracking.