Week 3 Task 6

In the hospitality industry, e-commerce software is extremely important to allow customers the option to make room reservations right from the hotels website. "Most hospitality customers, nowadays, make their bookings on the internet." [1] The hospitality company that I work for is in the niche market of conference centers and we hold a lot of group business. The first thing that Meetings Planners look at when choosing to work with my company is our website. One of the features that they usually find appealing is our electronic RFP process. “Online distribution channels are revolutionizing the hospitality industry, providing new avenues for both professional and casual event planners to submit inquiries and RFP’s over the Internet.” [2] The various channels that RFP’s can come through makes it extremely hard to track leads and respond quickly to these RFP’s. Our SpeedRFP software allows meeting planners to choose the hotel they would like to have their meeting at and submit an RFP (request for proposal) right from our Website. This software routes RFP’s directly to the appropriate Sales Manager which cuts down on response time and duplicate communications and efforts.

One of the top complaints by meeting planners is “that RFP’s are not responded to in a timely and thorough manner.” [3] Technology and e-business has definitely changed the way the RFP response process happens. Once an RFP has been reviewed, we use another e-commerce software called eProposal. This software allows our Sales Managers to respond to RFP’s in minutes. Most meeting planners choose their meeting site based on the first 3-5 proposals they receive.

E-commerce software like SpeedRFP and e-Proposal have allowed my company to be one of those first five proposals, increasing our sales by approximately 20 percent. According to Website Design Services, “any business that intends on having a direct marketing and sales channel with its customers will need ecommerce software.” [4] This is true because E-commerce software supports functions such as product configuration that allows customers to select the necessary options, shopping cart facilities to see what has been selected for purchase, transaction processing, and product management. Without e-commerce software, the hospitality industry would not be able to market or sell any of its services electronically.


[1] “ Hotel reservation software-importance and management.” Articlebase. 17 Nov 2009. Web. 25 July 2011. http://www.articlesbase.com/software-articles/hotel-reservation-softwareimportance-and-management-1468975.html.
[2] “Meeting Broker.” Newmarket International Meeting Broker. Web 24 July 2011. http://newmarketinc.com/products/meetingbroker.aspx.
[3] “ Top Ten Ways to Increase Your Proposal Win Rate.” Newmarket International. 2009 Sept 23. Web 25 July 2011. http://www.newmarketinc.com/top10handout.aspx.
[4] “Importance of E-commerce Software.” Website Design Services. 5 July 2009. Web. 25 July 2011. < http://ingeniouswebsitesolution.com/definition-of-e-commerce-site-importance-of-e-commerce-software/>.