The Level Of Hotel Reservation Synchronization Processes Using Information Technology Tools

The purpose of this paper is to research hotel reservation synchronization processes if the reservation is made throughout a hotel website or if it is booked through the online travel agency (OTA) distribution channels. The subject of the research will certainly be the individual sales channel whose growth directly affects online booking and has a direct impact on the hotel sales revenue growth. The purpose of this paper is also to try to answer the question whether the real-time booking in the hotel sales is at all possible and which information technology tools hotels in Croatia commonly use to connect to different hotel reservation platforms. Empirical research based on the level of hotel synchronization reservation process was carried out on a sample of 130 hotels in the Republic of Croatia belonging to one of the 11 renowned hotel chains. In the processing and analysis of the data descriptive statistics were applied. The results clearly show that 100% real-time synchronization has not yet been achieved when reservations download to the hotel property management system (PMS), including sending a booking confirmation and special wishes listing information of guests. This research offers an overview of the available modern channel management systems offered in today's hotel market and provide a better link between PMS's with the central reservation system, hotel websites and various online distribution channels such as the global distribution system and OTA partners. The limitations of the conducted research can be seen in the spatial restriction as the research was conducted in Croatia and includes hotel chains, so the obtained results do not refer to the complete Croatian hotel industry but to the best practice in the hotel industry in Croatia. Thus, the previous limitations are of no significance as they can represent guidelines and challenges for future scientific research.