Information Technology and Bookings through GDS
Global distribution and reservation systems (GDS) have revolutionized the travel industry over the years. The Four Major GDS Systems Amadeus, Galileo, Sabre, and Worldspan help buyers search for the best deals for their holiday quicker and easier. On the plus side, these systems have helped consolidate the industry and make it easier for travel agents to give out prices to their customers. Travel agents use this system as a backbone for their industry. All this is well and good but with the economic downturn in the last few years plus the rise of other travel, the rise of the internet, also competition amongst GDS systems and other factors the success of global distribution of travel bookings has to be looked into. In this essay, I will discuss some of the issues relating to GDS.
To begin with, we live in times that have seen major banks and companies around the world collapse. Customers want better prices. Airlines, travel agents, hotels are also looking to cut costs while still wanting to maintain their customer base. This is the dilemma for all involved. So as times change within the industry, the advantages of GDS and competition amongst the companies involved should hopefully have the knock on effects to the customer with lower prices. There is also the case as the global slowdown happens that companies will look elsewhere by trying to get customers to book direct with them. This leaves a gap where GDS systems still need to make their money and additional costs may be added. On the other hand, these companies by avoiding using GDS systems risk losing trade with these global players. We are also faced with the concentration of power amongst these travel systems who can monopolize the market and see prices rise as a result of their control of the market through the four GDS systems.
Furthermore, the GDS players have now more to do as competition gets harder. The rise of the internet has to be the main competition for GDS. By avoiding extra cost through GDS companies can make more money. Many low-cost airlines in different countries offer seats at reduced fares by paying direct to their website. One has only got to do a search on the internet to see the array of companies offering booking information to see that competition amongst the smaller travel agents and airlines is there. The internet has also allowed people to go and make their own travel plans instead of leaving it all to a travel agent.
However, we still see that most travellers use travel agents to book their travel arrangements. Travel agents and travel destinations are now faced with what of the four GDS systems to use which highlights the future development of the major players in the GDS system as competition gets more intense to attract interest to their system. For example, travel agents are trying to reduce costs while still maintaining sales so each GDS system has to try and offer the best deals to these people. In reality, the future looks bright as GDS has to create better management and sales plan while becoming more professional to win these contracts. This also could impinge on the GDS industry as it tries to become more competitive by being more aggressive in the market. All this determined effort to be more successful may turn airline/travel agents away. We will have to wait and see
To conclude it is hard to say if any interested party will come up with a system to rival these GDS companies. Millions of dollars are now being pumped into Africa and the Arab region as contracts are signed as these GDS companies try to consolidate their interest in these regions. The only people that can stop their dominance for these distribution and reservation systems are the airline themselves. Companies like Emirates are major players in the world market for travel. Hopefully, the customers feel the benefit for the competition and not the pain as costs are pushed onto them.
Visitor Management
Visitor Management involves getting an idea of the customers that enter any tourist attraction. Management of any of these attractions has to be well thought about so people come all year round in constant numbers while wanting repeat customers. I would like, in his short essay, to highlight theme parks while giving an example in Thailand. I feel over the recent years these kinds of parks have become one the most wanted places to go to. So, with expansion, aspects such as management, marketing, and merchandising of these attractions have to be strategic in their development.
To begin with, I believe that any visit to a theme park has to be a complete experience. Any visitor has to have a range of attractions to ride and see and not only just the thrill-seeking rides. Within this the resort has to be scientific in this approach which may mean taking surveys to analyse customer’s likes and needs. What may work in America may not work in Europe or Asia. It can be easy for any Asian country to try and copy Disneyworld but only see the bigger picture and miss out on looking at the real experience for each individual who has their own idea of a good experience. This means a day where they flow around the park not being kept back and slowed down.
Of course, theme parks want to expand and make bigger rides and attractions. They advertise on the internet with polished marketing which gives the potential customer the idea of an amazing holiday. This can only sometimes show the attractions and miss the experience that the customer craves. Customer services have to be vital to the framework of the theme park. Inevitably the workforce are real people and they are doing a job but the customer does not really want to feel that. The theme park experience has to take the customers away from reality. This does not mean sanitising reality and sensitive issues. Customers still can be educated but overly done this can backfire. These decisions can not be made by a few people. It has to be a whole thought out process that involves customers, staff and management. Global issues have to be thought of too so a visit can be a learning and magical experience.
So, thinking about theme parks if I was to look at one park in Thailand and look with the eyes of a visitor manager I would choose Siam Park. This park can be pretty much empty during the week and crammed solid at the weekend and holiday time. The public can be faced with long queues kids running around everywhere and a general chaos. As a visitor manager you would want the public to flow around the site there seems to be the general idea that you pick and choose and you please. There was also the case of the staff, these were people just pressing buttons, not really forthcoming on highlighting the customer’s experience. In many cases, there would only be one person operating the ride so safety had to be thought about which does not expand the experience in a positive way. This is why visitor management has to be thought about.
Travel Agency Complaint
Situation: You are the owner of a small travel agency.
You receive a complaint about a holiday you booked for a client. The problem is that the number of stars of the hotel does not correspond. You promised the customers a four star hotel and when they arrived, they discover the hotel only had 3 stars.
Solution: Accepting the complaint
Usually, any situation of this occurrence has come about by a simple clerical mistake. Mistakes do and will always happen and as a company you have to deal with these kinds of incidents in a professional and positive manner. This means getting the problem resolved as fast as possible without exacerbating the situation. You have to realise that upsetting clients even one person may have a detrimental effect on your business. Any company does not want to be spoken of badly or feel they have let down any customer. So, in this situation with regard to a customer being put into a 3 star hotel instead of a 4 star which he booked, I feel there is only one real option and that is to move quickly to restore the situation to how it previously should have been.
First of all, I would offer our company’s sincere apologies for the mistake and assure the customer that we were holding the client’s problem as precedence. The next priority would be to get the guest to the right 4 star hotel. If this meant having to hire a van or taxi this would have to be the case. I would also send out one of our representatives to the hotel of the customer. The representative could offer the customer a day tour as an apology. This would show that our company has a commitment to upholding the integrity of the business and shows our willingness to get the situation resolved. We would not want the client to feel we have further aggravated the situation by slowing the process. Any claims by the customer and finger-pointing by the staff can be made at a later date. The first priority is to get the customers to the designated hotel that was paid for.
The consequence of the company’s action may result in the additional costs of paying for vans, taxis and reimbursing the client. The price of getting the client to the correct hotel can not really compare with the cost to the company’s image if we were to ignore the client’s obvious wishes.
Looking at various examples, please examine how letter writing
The purpose of this essay is to examine through examples how letter writing has changed over the past 20 years. This essay will start by highlighting letter writing and features about it which were common 20 years ago before the advent of the digital computer revolution. With the remarkable change of communication over the past 20 years comments will also be made on the distinctive features of what letter writing has arrived at which is digitally communicated electronic mail or abbreviated as ‘email’. Further mention of handwritten letters sent by post and emails electronically sent through computer networks will emphasize the differences. Within this transition from the almost archaic written form of letter writing to the innovative typed keyboard form, remarks will also be made to the positive and negative features of this letter writing transformation.
Handwritten letters take a while to write. It is not that common to just write a short note and go all the way to the post office to post it. Letters are not just quick messages. It is a time to collect thoughts on what is needed to be written. The writer has to understand clearly who the recipient is and the type of letter they are going to write. There has to be careful thought to the tone and content of the letter. People are concerned with what they are saying when they write their letters.
20 years ago telephone calls were expensive and for people with pen friends, relatives abroad, and business contacts while not forgetting those smitten lovers, this was one of their only ways to express their thoughts and keep in touch. These letters were often detailed and long. Letter writing was a product of school. Students learned certain formal structures for letters. For example, a common formal letter written in the past had the recipient’s address which was in the top left-hand corner of the letter, and the sender’s address in the top right-hand corner while not forgetting the date below. This was followed by a space and then the use of ‘Dear’ on the opposite side of the page with the receiver’s name. Then another line was left which then had the first paragraph which was indented. Salutations were imperative, the use of ‘Dear’ plus the recipient’s name usually with Mr, Miss, Mrs, or Ms was the norm while not forgetting the closing remarks such as ‘yours faithfully’ or ‘yours sincerely’. All these little details were imperative thus sending and receiving letters by post had a positive impact because you knew that that person had taken time out and used their narrative abilities.
Furthermore, in the business world managers would write their letters and have their secretary type them up, then they would re-edit them again. This was a process that could take 2-3 days to get the letter into the post. These business letters also followed a format and were often stilted and too formal with long introductions. Much of the letter was usually filled up with superfluous sentences. Like business letters and in many other cases of letter writing 20 years ago, this way of writing was a literary vehicle that arguments, thoughts, ideas, and plans were laid out cursively on a blank sheet of paper for direct communication.
Nowadays, keeping in touch is far easier. People do not write letters of great length they drop people e-mails which are just short messages. The quickness and urgency to send information is more of an important aspect these days. Emails are extensions in many respects of conversations already had face to face or ongoing started through email messages. Emails are concise and written impromptu without the need to be formally edited. These days, no one wants a lengthy email that takes a while to read, particularly at work. For example, it is actually a courtesy in a business email to get to the point even to the extent of using imperatives such as ‘please send details’ instead of the over-polite ‘would it be possible if you could send’. There is a lack of officialdom of an email message. The sender’s and receiver’s email addresses are already shown which cuts out formal headings. The message usually starts with the salutation ‘Hi’ or ‘Hello’ and a closing of ‘Regards’ which nowadays actually suffices without repercussions. With the broad ignorance of formality, there is not really a chance that there will be a literary resurgence of writing because the swiftness of information through email is the essence. In this regard, a single email can be sent around the world to one or many people at the press of a button, and once on the computer of another person can be forwarded on to other people. The circulation of these letters can rapidly travel the world within the hour. It is no wonder the younger generation has taken to it while do they actually know what letter writing was like many years back?
Of course, major differences can be seen between the two forms of letter writing. Firstly is the instant gratification that email gives. Short messages are sent and received in minutes especially with the advent of the Blackberry mobile phone where handheld emailing can be done. This may well appeal to the younger generation who have no time to sit down and ponder their thoughts but in some cases, an email will not suffice as formal communication such as an official written apology or termination of employment which a handwritten letter is a correct format. There is certainly an emotion that can be taken from reading a handwritten letter. People can read between the lines that can be certainly lost on emails. In this respect, the handwritten letter writer has time to mull over what they have written. In addition, handwritten letters offer that private token that is written by someone to the individual and can be saved for future viewing or reference. Emails on the other hand zip off into cyberspace and are snippets of conversations or messages, that the next day, are pushed down the priority list to be forgotten memories. They can be sent round to many people where even their understanding can be misconstrued. For example, jokes written on emails can be taken the wrong way within the workplace. The older generation would agree both forms of writing are worthwhile but the younger generation would not agree.
So there are many positive and negative aspects with letter writing past and present. Speed has to be number one these days. It would seem odd for someone to take time out to sit down and write a cursively written letter and take it down to the post office for mailing. With respect to day-to-day correspondence people would not hesitate to quickly write an email, send it and get on with the rest of their day. The negative side of this though is that there can be a lack of development of ideas and quality which, in most if not all cases, is not commented on by the email receiver thus instant meaning takes precedence over quality. This was the positive aspect of letter writing that care was taken and events were usually clearly written about. The problem of quality and clear expression is not a real issue as emails are read, sent, and deleted regularly thus creating a very impersonal global communication system. Email writers will without worry send an email that drops punctuation and capitalization while using lots of ellipsis and incomplete sentences. It also seems the use of ‘Dear’ has been left behind by the informal email salutations ‘Hi’ and the more formal ‘Hello’. Often these concise email messages are returned within minutes of the receiver reading them. This of course is a great bonus that it speeds up correspondence where letters would take days and annoy someone if they were hesitantly expecting your reply. People these days are impatient for new information.
Furthermore, for example, if an email message is received and then sent back straight away by a person who got angry by it there can be repercussions because the availability of instant messaging the sender avoids time for contemplation. In addition, these un-proofed emails are sent over cyberspace. No one really knows where they end up. Another example is an employee sending an angry letter about their boss to their friends via internal company emails. This can end up having their message on the boss’ desk and all the staff reading it.
The fact people are sending emails has to be one of the major positive aspects of this generation of letter writers. On any given day any email user can come home and find their inbox full of messages. In most cases, people who usually would not have been one to send handwritten letters do not mind sitting behind a computer and writing an email to their friends. The vast amount of email messages written on the computer and mobile phones each day can not compare with the number of letters sent and received by post 20 years ago.
In the 21st century, an evolution of letter writing has been brought to the world of communication. It has been shown that email has taken over from letter writing. The world now strives for instant gratification from the information. Email writing may not be an example of perfect diction but the point is made by the sender. Have the computer generation got time to complain about someone’s lack of sending a perfect email? Nostalgia does not play a part and from this essay, it has been commented how email has taken precedence whatever style it is has ended up as. This essay’s little snippet of the recent history of letter writing has shown it to be fine art but unlike letter writing there will not be a museum full of famous emails sent. In a throwaway culture there will always be positives and negatives on how communication moves forward but can anyone stop progression?
Guess the Audience using informative and persuasive speech
I was asked to write 5 presentations for various audiences using informative and persuasive speech. Ultimately, these presentations would be delivered or read for everyone to guess what was the target audience, topic, and style of speech.
1 – Persuasive speech about preparing for retirement: 20 College Students in a traditional classroom setting.
2 – Persuasive speech about adopting a regular exercise routine: Audience 16 factory workers.
3 – Informative speech about what constitutes a healthy diet: Audience 50 Kindergarten kids.
4 – informative speech about the benefits of a regular exercise program: audience men and women in their 60s.
5 – informative speech about what constitutes a healthy diet: audience 30 economically stressed women.
Guess the Audience
1 – Persuasive speech about preparing for retirement: 20 College Students in a traditional classroom setting
Good morning everyone today, I must welcome you all to the discussion on retirement. Of course, for the people here this may seem a distant thought, but what I have got to say today may change your thinking and make you realise what your future has instore and how you can plan for a better retirement. As students studying here at university, you are already putting plans in for your career which is a great basis to start. Knowledge is power. I can not emphasize this enough as a solid career path will help you as the world revolves around economic ups and downs. Many companies these days are having layoffs which can not be helped because of the global turndown. It is your job to be one of the valuable members of the staff and safeguard your future. With a good career, you can start to invest money which will see a payback as the years go by. So, keep this in mind as you study each day here at university. It may be hard now but the work you put in now will have a payback as you forge a career. So, with a good career also comes the money, and with being so young you have got to start building a nest egg. This means being a first-time house buyer. Once you are on the property ladder you have made a significant start to build your investments. In this respect, as the years go by you can climb up that property ladder. I must emphasize here that the important piece of advice here is to not think too high. We all want large fancy houses and fast cars but as a first home, you have to be modest. The last thing you want is to be cut down by the huge costs of paying extraordinarily high mortgages and debt. This way of thinking goes along with spending. If you are investing in your future it is not wise to start spending habits that will stop you from climbing the ladder and investing in your future. I would say if you look at a figure of 10% – 20% of your salary should, in reality, be put into your retirement plan each year while also looking at the age of retirement between 50 and 60. It may seem a long way off but through life, situations arise be they marriage, kids, and houses that need a lot of thought and also expense while still contributing to your retirement plan. These situations may upset your plan for retirement but with a level head and forward planning they can be overcome and your retirement plan will stay on track and you are in the best position because you are young and about to start your careers.
2 – Persuasive speech about adopting a regular exercise routine: Audience 16 factory workers
Welcome everyone to our company-sponsored program for improving health and fitness for all our employees. I will try today to give an overview of what the program is about and also to initiate a healthy kind of lifestyle that will not only benefit you as people but also you as our employees here at the factory. Of course, you have each had a health check, you know and I have seen some of the final health reports of some of our employees. We feel it is the company’s obligation to help our employees to succeed in their work which will be helped by a healthy workplace program. We acknowledge that many of our workers are middle-aged and programs like these are not easily jumped into. We will certainly not be pushing people into aggressive workouts. We recognise that programs will be run to fit the needs of employees. We have seen that some employees will need advice on how to start a fitness program but we do not see this as a problem more as a challenge. Again, this does not mean strenuous workouts and targets will not be the order of the day. So, although some reports were not as favourable as an employer would like we see this as our challenge to our employees and with everyone’s help, we feel we could have lasting results. For this program, each employee will have to sign up for the program. We feel with a contract, you are obligating to succeed in your work and health. One of the reasons for the program is to highlight is the growing cost of health care. We not only feel it here in the company but I am sure you feel it too. We feel by implementing the program we can cut down costs across the spectrum. We would like to adopt a culture in the factory where our workers feel healthier. We will make exercise a work goal. The company will also offer £1000 bonus for workers who go on the program. We will offer nutritional advice which follows onto the canteen.
3 – Informative speech about what constitutes a healthy diet: Audience 50 Kindergarten kids.
Good morning everyone. How are you today? Who is feeling healthy? Today, we are going to talk about eating. Let’s start, I want to ask you some quick questions and I want to see hands. First question, who likes McDonald? Good. Who likes KFC? And drinks, who likes Pepsi? And who likes cola? Now I would like to know if you think this food is healthy. Good. If I was to give you lunch today with a salad and orange juice, and an apple to finish who would like it? Okay, now I don’t see many hands. Why do you there are not many hands? The reason I asked you is that today we are going to talk about nutrition. Who knows about nutrition or knows what the word means? Well, the word nutrition talks about eating and giving your body the right food so you are strong and healthy. It is also about the right choices for choosing food when you go into the canteen at school and what you eat outside of school. I know we all watch television these days and you all watch cartoons so we see lots of adverts on television. There are so many adverts telling what to do and what to eat. But do we see any adverts for vegetables or fruit? That’s why I am here today to show that healthy eating is separate to what you see on the television. Let’s see I have two bottles here, one is water the other is Pepsi. Who wants Pepsi? Wow, you all want Pepsi. I also have here a pizza and a salad. Who wants the pizza? Ok from all the hands I see here many of you would like the pizza and the Pepsi. Pizza is nice but it contains a lot of fat and grease. And what does fat do to our bodies? Yes, it makes us fat. And the Pepsi has a lot of sugar. This is not just bad for our teeth it is also bad for our bodies. So, kids with the help from your teachers, from next week I want you to start writing a health diary. I want you to ask your mum about healthy food and ask her if every meal is healthy. I want to see everyone eating a range of food because they all offer different nutritional benefits. Fruits and vegetables are low in fat while low-fat dairy products and lean meat helps. Again, ask your mother to check. This does not mean you have to give up your KFC or Pepsi as long as your diet is full of nutrients and fibre and above all exercise too.
4 -informative speech about the benefits of a regular exercise program: audience men and women in their 60s.
Welcome, today I am going to give a speech about the benefits of regular exercise. Some of you may think about exercise and get a little scared. I am not talking about going to the gym three nights a week or strenuous workouts. I think we are all a little old for this. I am talking about getting yourself mobile and not spending your days at home. Regular exercise has many benefits for every aspect of your life. Being unfit does not mean you can not get fit. The important factor here is there it may reduce the risk of some problems occurring. We want people to feel healthy and feel positive. We need to emphasize that it is a known fact that healthy exercise reduces the risk of heart disease. I would like you to keep that in mind. The first piece of advice with exercise would be to do 20 – 40 minutes of aerobic exercise 3- 5 days a week. This might sound extreme but again we do not mean excessive workouts. Locally, these kinds of workouts are held at the local sports centre and are expertly done to help older age retired persons here in the town. They are not only about exercise too. I went down there the other week and there were about 20 older people, male and female. After having a good time exercising they all went for lunch together. I joined them and it was very interesting and fun. By the way, they are also planning a coastal walk at the weekend. They plan to go to the beach and walk for 2 miles along the coast. I think this will be a great outing. There is also a guide to taking them so it will be informative as well. Of course, we are not just talking about your body this outing will see the benefits in your brain. This may seem a little strange talking about your brain but as you know as we get older our memory starts to fade a little so these little trips are ways to get around your local town and keep everyone active. So, you see I am here today not just to promote healthy living but a more enjoyable way of getting healthy where you can meet new friends and spend your time having a fun time. Another important aspect is your mood if we will feel healthy we feel good inside which shows when people see you happy. Moreover, with a little bit of exercise every day you can sleep better. Again, this is what we are here today to promote. I have all the phone numbers and websites for the sports centre, the coastal walk, and the senior citizens social club. Please see me after and I will let you have them.
5 – informative speech about what constitutes a healthy diet: audience 30 economically stressed women.
Today, we are going to talk about eating healthily on a budget. Yes, the global downturn has pushed the price of food up that even middle-class people are feeling the pinch but what we are here today to talk about is what constitutes a healthy diet for less well-off families. Firstly, you and your children, if you are looking for a cheaper option, then fruit and vegetables and other whole foods are the best way. This is healthy and can be cheap. A quick walk around your local market and your local supermarket will help you compare prices to see how you can budget your shopping costs. But you should be careful there is a lot of marketing and merchandising done to make you buy certain foods and brands. I am should you walk into a supermarket and all the packages and adverts look appealing but we are telling you to look past this. Also when you watch TV you see adverts for Fast Food, one example is junk food, McDonald’s looks good in the adverts but basically, it is junk food which is not healthy and expensive if you add up a monthly outing to this fast-food restaurant. This fast food and other convenience foods like this just increase your shopping bill. We are asking you to see past this and realise they just want you to buy their food. That’s why you never see the price in the advert. We need you to recognise that fruit and vegetables are the basic building blocks of healthy and nutritious eating and much cheaper than processed foods. I can not stress enough that poor diet leads to chronic diseases like cancer or heart disease. This is why today we have come here to highlight the problem and help economically challenged families think more about how they spend their money on food. Let me give you an example on how to cut down costs. Pre-packaged foods are usually more expensive and not good for you. For example, cheap oatmeal for breakfast can be purchased in large bags. For breakfast, you can add fruit to give flavour. All this gives you a cheap meal and does away with large packaging. Also when buying it is sometimes better to buy big boxes of whole wheat pasta and rice. This saves on trips to the supermarket and packaging. Another option is potatoes and eggs which can be used in many ways to create a lovely cheap meal. Eggs contain a lot of protein and vitamin C. Another important point to remember is that supermarkets have schemes to reduce prices. So, you should check with them how you can join this. Also, you should go down to the market or farmers’ markets this could be a valuable trip to check prices out.
