Design And Implementation Of A Hotel Management Information System (A Case Study Of Royal Marble Hotels, Benin)

Computer Science Project Material with Source Code Included

Abstract

This project research work is a construction of hotel management software (front desk operations) for Royal Marble Hotels in Benin, Edo State. Considering the problem of the manual method of reservation faced by the front desk clerk, it is hoped that automating front desk operations will help to reduce the cost of hotel services as market success largely depends on the price of a service. The first chapter is concerned with the background of the study, objective of the study, scope of the study definition of terms. The second chapter examines the literature review, under which the researcher examine some things such as: the meaning of hotel, what is management, what is software, the meaning of hotel management software, the benefits of computerizing a system, a brief history of Royal Marble Hotels Benin, Royal Marble Hotels organizational chart, job description and occupation of hotel staff, basic functions of the front desk clerk, computer in hotels e.t.c. The third chapter laid emphasis on the computer processes that can be associated with hotel entity, types of system, types of information systems, what is a database, types of database, system analysis and design e.t.c. The fourth chapter is on system implementation, testing, documentation and maintenance, source codes e.t.c while chapter five is on summary, conclusion and recommendation.

Chapter One

Introduction

1.1. Background of the Study

The hospitality industry, which is a major team player towards the economic growth of Nigeria as a nation and Africa as a continent has distinguished itself as a sector with the widest variety of hotel and tourism services.

There are many things in place in Nigeria now, which should encourage the growth of the hospitality business. These include:

The existence of opportunities by the democratic dispensation in the country, which influence the size and growth of both foreign and local business travelers.
Global expansion of international trade and also increase services of accommodation rendered by our local hotels.
Improvement of our tourist centers and zones.
Increase in Nigeria’s annual average growth rate of tourist arrivals.
Government favorable policy towards foreign investment.

An important feature of the hotel industry in Nigeria is that until the late seventies there was virtually absence of the well-known names in international hotel industry. From the late seventies however, some of these names began to make an appearance. Names like Sheraton Hotel, Hilton Hotel e.t.c.

Hotels are accessed for their standard of cleanliness and provision for visitors on a scale of one to five (1-5) stars. All aspect of hotel stay is accessed with emphasis on the standard of service, level of comfort and provision of equipment.

The assessment of accommodation gives you a clear indication of cleanliness, ambience, service, hospitality and accommodation standard of the hotel and the reassurance a guest needs to distinguish between the quality of the accommodation and the number of facilities on offer. Basically there are four types of hotels, namely:

1. Commercial Hotels:

It is also known as conference hotels, and is usually located in cities or suburban areas. They operate all year round.

2. Resort Hotels:

Resort hotels are usually located primarily in vacation destinations near mountains and seashores. It offers luxurious surroundings with a variety of recreational facilities such as swimming pools, golf courses e.t.c. The business of resort hotels fluctuates with the season.

3. Residential Hotels:

Residential hotel combines the comfort of a permanent living with the convenience of a resort and a resident hotel.

4. Casino Hotels:

Casino hotels provide lodging in hotel facilities with a casino in the premises. They also provide gambling facilities.

There are different occupations in a hotel; a list of these is discussed in chapter two. One of such occupation is the hotel front desk clerk, whose job is to:

Process reservation
Handles guest registration, check in and check out
Monitors arrivals and departures
Handles complaints and
Receive and forward mails.

The duty of the hotel front desk clerk depends on the size of the hotel. In small hotels, the desk clerk may do everything, while in large hotels the duties are divided among several types of clerks.

Revenue is generated in a hotel through its point of sale. Hotel points of sale are locations where various services are offered. These points include the front desk, the bar, restaurant and the retail shop. At the end of each business day in a hotel, a manifest of guests is presented to the State Security Service (SSS) for security purposes.

1.2. Objective of Study

Considering the problem of the manual method of reservation faced by the front desk clerk, it is hoped that automating front desk operations will achieve the following:

Reduce the cost of hotel services as market success largely depends on the price of a service.
Take advantage facilities offered by the computers such as speed, accuracy and efficiency to carry out common task of check in, check out and guest registration. This cannot be compared to using a manual process.
3. Increase the volume of business. That is, more transaction can be made than humanly possible.
4. Supply better management information through reports, which will make information regarding the hotel, better organized and retrieved in the least possible time.
5. For long term forecast and planning.
6. Enables managers and front desk clerks to carry out operations that are otherwise impossible to carry out manually.
7. Security of data, as a result of the design of a database.

1.3. Scope of Study

This work will attempt to automate front desk operations and these include:

Room reservation process
Check in and check out operation
Report generation from a database for managers as well as customers.

1.4. Definition of Terms

Check in:

To register as a guest in a hotel.

Check out:

To pay one’s bill and leave a hotel.

Reservation:

A record of rooms reserved for customers.

Front desk:

Where guest makes reservation, check in and check out.

Front desk clerk:

A person in charge of front desk operations and payment.

Ambience:

The character and atmosphere of a hotel.

Database:

A collection of data that are well organized.

Management:

Act of running and controlling a business.

Software:

The program(s) used to operate a computer.

Hotel points of sale:

Locations where sale are made in a hotel.

Ingress:

The act of entering the hotel.

Egress:

The act leaving the hotel.

Lodging:

A temporary accommodation in a room with meals.

Deposit:

Money paid by guest during registration.

Credit Customers:

Customers from companies or organizations that the management of the hotel has credit agreement with.

Outlet Cashier:

The middleman between all points of sale and the accounts department.

ATM:

Automatic teller machine.

1.5. Limitations of Study

A major limitation to this work is non-availability of a documented report on the hotel operations in most hotels.

There was also time constraint and the proximity of the case study. Finance was also a limitation to this project work.

Chapter Five

Summary, Conclusion and Recommendations

5.1 Summary

Having studied the project topic critically, it can be summarized that design and implementation of customer services system is an easy way and convenient way of registering customers in a Hotel as it has a great advantages over the manual system of attending to customers in the Hotel. The protection of files from unauthorized access is made possible with the design of this project.

This will relieve the front desk operator of monotonous task of registering customers that comes to the Hotel.
This project has been design considering such advantages as reduction in cost, respect of time, materials, improve control over data storage and timely retrieval of information.

5.2 Recommendation

In the light of this study and findings, the researcher recommends that all modern Hotels that wish to achieve maximum and better turn up of people to their Hotel should engage or look forward to use this system to improve their business and also administrative efficiency should adopt this computerized system.

The researcher herby draws a mediate inference that if:

Hotel’s wants to be fast with customer’s registration and attending to more customers at a time this system should be put in place, the management should endeavor to welcome this research work and implement it in total with its welcoming measures termed at the safety of data.

This project work was achieving using visual basic programming language. Hence the researchers recommend that similar study be carried out with other programming languages such as QBASIC, GLO – BASIC, C- PROGRAMMING etc.

5.3 Conclusion

Hotel Management Information System is used to keep track of hotel guests. Have facilities for booking, making registrations and posting of bills and entering room hotel rates. A web interphase with access options for selected users.

Hotel Management System is an ideal software solution for Hospitality Industry that can be used at hotels, motels, inns, resorts, lodges, hostel, military guest houses, ranch, suites, apartments, breakfast operations. Hotel Management System is a comprehensive software suite consisting of integrated modules for various aspects of hotel management. The software is often referred to as Property Management System in the Hotel industry. It includes all the features required in a Hotel Management Software, Hotel Reservation Software, Hotel Reception Software (Front Desk), Call Accounting, Hotel Point of Sales (Restaurant, Bar, Room Service, House Keeping or any other outlet), Inventory Management System and Hotel accounting software. In our lodging software all modules are tightly integrated and all hotel programs are included in one price, meaning all modules are included at no additional cost regardless of your hotel size. Our Motel management software is developed for Microsoft Windows operating system using latest software developing techniques.

Hotel management system is hospitality software designed for full service luxury inns, bed, breakfasts, and resorts. It emphasizes the highest level of individual guest services through the comprehensive features seamlessly integrating rooms, dining, and retail, with information contained in reservations till back office general ledger.

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