Design And Implementation Of Online Hotel Reservation System A Case Study Of Modotels Hotel Enugu

CHAPTER ONE/INTRODUCTION

Hotel is a building that provides lodging, meal and other services to the traveling public, provided they are in a position to pay and is in a fit condition to be received. Hence, the hotel provides foods, beverages and lodging to travelers and other paying guest.
The hotel industry is perhaps, one of the oldest commercial endeavors in the world. The first inns have existed since ancient time (e.g. along the Roman road system during the Roman Empire) to serve merchants and other travelers. Medieval European monasteries operated inns to guarantee haven for travelers in dangerous regions. The spread of traveling by stage coach in the 18th century stimulated the development of inns, as did the industrial revolution. The modern hotel was largely the result of railroads, when traveling for pleasure became widely popular, large hotels were often built near railroads stations.
The real growth of the modern hotel industry took place in the United State of America in 1794. The real boom in hotel building came in the early twentieth century. This period also saw the beginning of chain operations under the guidance of E.M.(European Monasteries), who started by involving in investments, big profits and trained professional to manage the business. The management of the hotel system was virtually left in the hand of the front offices. The office in a hotel is the department responsible for sales of hotel rooms, through systematic method of reservation followed by registration and assurance of the rooms to the customers, this was done manually. This was boring and cumbersome, and has remained boring and cumbersome in hotels that still operate manually today.
The development in hotel management continued gradually until recently when computer was invented as an electronic device that accepts input, manipulate data and produces information which is the output as required. Therefore a hotel which operates a computerized system will ensure that the program carries provisions for different tariffs, location and individual guest reference.

1.1 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

Sales and services are the fundamental tools in any business organization the profit and loss of any business depends on detailed information on sales and services made to aid in decision making and implementation, if accountability is not checked, then the business is sure to collapse, as a result in an any retail and hospitality business there is a need for a system that gives feedback to the management to aid decision making, this is where computerized hotel management system comes handy. We have too many problems associated with the manual system used which include:
• It takes more time to reserve room. So performance of the current system is slow.
• Difficulty in handling data accurately, security of data, data lost and viewing by unauthorized person.
• Retrieving information like reports and queries is very time consuming and almost impossible practicably if time is considered.
• Searching records of individual guest or customer takes time. (Update, Delete, and Edit), these types of method are not accessible using the manual method.

1.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

This project focuses mainly in computerization of hotel reservation management consequent upon numerous problem faced by manual handling of hotel information. The objective of this study is thus to design and develop an online hotel reservation management system that will:
• To provide an easy way to automate information about the day to day activities of hotel such as record of attendance, computing of bill, tariff plan, as well as online facility for checking availability of rooms, ordering of food and also booking of the room and event hall.
• Facilitate increase in productivity, decrease paperwork, and ability to analyze trouble spot.
• To maintain security and secrecy of the hotel details.
• To provide accurate data when it is required.

1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The study is primarily aimed at increasing efficiency in operation, reducing time and running cost, monitoring and the recording of the activities and total administration in hotel by introducing a web-based Hotel reservation system
Besides, this study is significance because its conclusions would be useful to:
1. Human Resources Managers in the hotel and restaurants business
2. The Federal, State and Local Government
3. Scholars in the field of hotel and restaurant management