| dc.description.abstract | Prevailing trends of globalising world markets, along with their Information and Communication Technology (ICT) anchor, pose a critical challenge
to the local hotel industry. In order to maintain competitiveness in the world scene, this industry urgently needs to adopt e-commerce, in its
basic unit of function, the hotel into e-hotels. Good business sense though demands controlled change whose elements are clearly understood, in
order to optimise resources, and maximise the desired positive results. It is crucial therefore to fully understand the relationship of hotel activities
and the related use of ICT. For this reason, attention is spotlighted upon the Catering Information System (CIS) for food, beverages, conferencing,
banqueting, and rooming, products and services. A descriptive field-setting inquiry that relies on the sample cross-sectional survey research design
is used in this study. Cluster, stratified, and simple random sampling procedures are assembled into a complex random sampling design, through
the use of the proportional allocation method. The broad spectrum of hotel strata by star rating and therefore scale and quality of operation is
probed to attain a full understanding of the industry. Credible generalisable scientific theory regarding the use of ICT in e-hotels, results. The
CIS, though seemingly heavily loaded on localised physical operations, is found to be quite dependent on information flows. It is seen to be
distinctly responsive to the use of ICT, which impulse compels variable improvement of performance along the elements of this CIS. Recipe costing
systems, and stock control systems are the recommended most responsive points of intervention. They are followed by rooming, and then
sequentially: conferencing and banqueting, followed by electric points of sale, with automated mini-bars coming in last | en |
