| dc.description.abstract | The stiff competition among the Kenyan five star hotels has forced the managers to
look for alternative and cost effective ways of getting extra revenue. One of the
strategies is to use Information and Communication Technology and incorporate ebusiness,
which brings more business at a lower cost. Furthermore, the information
captured on the computer systems is a great source of information that helps the hotel
management to understand their business, their market and, their customers' needs
and thereby come up with innovative products. The ability to anticipate and satisfy
customer needs leads to customer loyalty and hence incremental business and
revenue. The adoption of Internet marketing enables the hotels to reach a global
market at a relatively lower cost compared to any other channel of marketing. The
research was centered on the two concepts; competitive advantage and the virtual
value chain. Literature was gathered on these concepts while paying close attention to
the practice in the hotel industry. Findings from closely related studies were also
considered before embarking on the actual research. The information about the
adoption of Information and Communication Technology and e-business in and the
performance of the five star hotels in Kenya was gathered through a questionnaire.
The questionnaires were sent through both soft and hard copies and responses were
available within three weeks. Data was collected in a suitable manner for ease of
statistical analysis. All the pertinent information relating to the virtual value chain,
competitive advantage and performance of the hotels were analyzed. A comparison
was drawn between the number of computer systems used by the hotels, the number
of online travel agencies, the use of Internet marketing, the rate of use of the hotel
websites and the revenues from the online channels of business. The findings showed
that the five star hotels that participate in Internet marketing and are in partnership
with many online travel agents and make use of their websites received higher
revenues from online sales and had low transaction costs. | en_US |
