Outrigger Case Summary

Before the days of the Internet, if a family wanted to travel to a far-off, exotic locale, they would have to either find a local travel agent or call a travel agency and plan their getaway. In the 1990’s, the Internet became a staple of everyday life and began entering many homes. As the availability of the Internet increased, so did the services available to clients. With the increasing availability of the World Wide Web the travel industry found itself faced with revolutionizing changes. All of the tools that were once solely available to travel agents now became readily available to anyone with access to the Internet and a search engine. Websites quickly formed around the idea of providing consumers with quick vacation planning ideas at low costs. Getting

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this executive summary is to outline the outsourcing / contracting process for Travel Magazine. This process will ultimately be used to determine which business processes at Travel Magazine will be outsourced and which will remain in-house. In addition, this summary will include various vendor selection considerations, such as evaluation criteria and performance measurements, for those processes that will be outsourced.

Today’s on-line travel market is succeeding because the companies are using a more software-centric, online business model termed “E-commerce.” This has become the popular avenue for businesses as it mirrors the ideas of mobility. The sheer amount of data available, coupled with the advanced operating systems and social media platforms, have created new possibilities for E-commerce organizations. The infrastructure of E-commerce has expanded into platforms such as peer-to-peer networking, crowd-sourcing, social websites, and mobile devices and media. E-commerce trends are findings ways to incorporate every aspect of our daily lives into an online package associated with our everyday needs (Fishbein, 2013).

The ‘Outrigger Hotels and Resorts’ was founded in 1967 with an idea of making the middleman’s dream to paradise a reality. By 2004, this firm had grown to 3600 employees, a wide portfolio of properties in various international locations, and revenues of approximately US 45 million dollars.

Hotels- the most important accommodation subsector which provide the greatest total employment within the tourism industry at the global

This would apply to not only the products themselves but also the support given by their technical staff.

As we discussed in class, every business is faced with these issues and they are important to managers making strategic decisions. One of the first things learned about business is that if there is no demand for a good or service, the firm that provides it will not continue to exist. Over time the hotel industry has continued to change with market conditions and make itself attractive to business

Hilton Hotels is one of the biggest players in the US lodging industry. It contributes to about 9% of the total rooms in US lodging market. It has presence in over 78 countries with more than 2500 hotels. Lodging industry is highly capital intensive industry, so to reduce capital expenditure Hilton Hotels opted for self-owned Hotels as well as franchising model with the real estate owners. One of the key features of lodging industry is low switching costs for customers. There is very little margin to differentiate from the major competitors in the industry which include Marriott international, IHG, Accor etc.

Identify the level and types of IT support needed for the type of devices and applications provided by the organization.

The bargaining power of buyers in the leisure & recreation industry has increased with the use of online travel booking and online customer reviews. Buyers are now able to become better informed with the services that they are purchasing and can

Limoncell, T. A., Hogan, C. J., & Chalup, S. R. (2007). The Practice of System and Network Administration, Second Edition. Addison-Wesley Professional.

àAs a result, the number of user-oriented travel tools on airlines’ direct Web sites increased dramatically in just a few short years. Aggregator Web sites : —  Such as Expedia.com, Orbitz.com, and Priceline.com —  A pseudo-competitive position relative to the airlines' own direct Web sites but also offered services beyond flight purchase, including hotel and vacation packages. —  The airline paid a fee to the

Marriott USA is a leader in the global lodging industry in that area. With numerous properties in USA and countless achievement awards, they are not only a wellknown but also a well-liked brand. The global financial crisis hit the hotel and lodging industry hard because of a sharp drop in business and leisure travel. Regardless of the steep drop in profitability over recent years, Marriott USA has plans to focus on driving incremental revenue by cutting costs at the property level. It also addresses opportunities Marriott USA has to further capitalize on

The buyers of the services of travel agencies are consumers, that is, individuals and businesses. For this industry we are dealing with a small degree of concentration, due to the wide range of services.

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company operates within the upscale & luxury hotel industry. While it could be argued that Ritz-Carlton operates in the more broad and inclusive lodging industry, they offer a highly differentiated product and service and therefore find themselves operating in an exclusive industry alongside very few direct competitors, such as Four Seasons Hotels, HongKong and Shanghai Hotels, and Starwood Hotels & Resorts. Therefore when analyzing this industry I will not be including cheap hotels, motels, lodges, or inns, unless to offer potential substitutes to luxury hotels. In order to assess the attractiveness of the upscale & luxury hotel industry, an analysis of the general environment surrounding the industry must be