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KENYATTA UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL : HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM
DEPARTMENT : HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT
UNIT NAME : MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS
UNIT CODE : HTM 505
STUDENTS NAME : JOHN KAMAU
ADM NO. : T129/OL/20638/2011
TASK : ASSIGNMENT
SUBMITTED TO : MR. MOSES N. MIRICHO MHCIMA, M.Sc.
Assignment submitted to the School of Hospitality & Tourism Management in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the award of M.Sc. (Hospitality & Tourism Management) of Kenyatta University.
2011
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.0 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................. 1
2.0 SERVICE QUALITY ........................................................................................................................... 2
3.0 RFID TECHNOLOGY ITS APPLICATION IN TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY
CHALLENGES AND CONCERNS .......................................................................................................... 3
RFID History and Architecture................................................................................................................. 3
RFID Applications in Tourism ................................................................................................................. 4
Challenges and Concerns of Implementing RFID Technology ................................................................ 5
Cost Justification and Feasibility of RFID Technology........................................................................ 5
Privacy and Ethical Issues..................................................................................................................... 5
4.0 BENEFITS AND CONTRIBUTION OF RFID IN THE HOTEL AND TOURISM INDUSTRY 6
5.0 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .............................................................................. 7
Appendix A ................................................................................................................................................ 10
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1.0 INTRODUCTION
High market share, Customer satisfaction, and profitability of service organizations are enhanced
by service quality (Hoffman and Bateson, 1977). As service quality has become more
increasingly important to a service organization. Service Innovation has been found to be one of
the ways to improve service. Innovative use of technology have been found to affect the ability
of tourism organizations such as hotels to support employees, to enhance the quality of service,
improve efficiencies gain competitive advantage, maintain relationships with customers and
improve profitability (Lee and Baker 2003). Therefore, Tourism has always been one of the
principal application areas for technological advancements.
Radio frequency identification (RFID) is an automatic identification method, relying on storing
and remotely retrieving data using devices called RFID tags or transponders. RFID systems use
radio waves to transmit information from an integrated circuit tag through a wireless interchange
to a host computer (Clarke et al., 2006).
While RFID provides promising benefits such as inventory visibility and business process
automation, some significant challenges on information systems and technologies (IS/IT) need to
be overcome before these benefits can be realized. One important issue is how to process and
manage RFID data, which is typically in large volume, noisy and unreliable, time-dependent,
dynamically changing, and of varying ownership. Another issue is how to seamlessly integrate
low-level RFID data into (existing) enterprise information infrastructures (e.g., upper-level
business processes). Finally, given the ability of inexpensively tagging and thus monitoring a
large number of items and/or people, RFID raises some serious security and privacy concerns.
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The paper investigates the possibility of utilizing RFID as a tool for improving service quality in
hospitality industry.A brief review is given on RFID technology; current RFID applications in
tourism industry are illustrated. Opportunities, threats, and costs of the technology are discussed.
Service quality dimensions that can be used in hospitality are identified, and the effects of RFID
implementations are evaluated by a hypothetical case study.
2.0 SERVICE QUALITY
Hoffman and Bateson, (1997) state that high-quality services improve customer satisfaction,
increase market share, and enhance profitability of service organizations. The paper identifies
service innovation as projected by Burrill and Ledolter, (1998) as one of the key strategies that
enhances service quality. Service innovation involves introduction of radical changes to the
existing system with a new system.
Hospitality firms, such as hotels, are shown as an ideal example of a market that could benefit
from service innovation (Victorino et al., 2005). Service innovation would enable the firms to
achieve differentiation by introducing innovative features in their product, attain competitiveness
by using technology to understand and focus more on customer preferences and lastly enhance
brand loyalty which lacks in the travel who are constrained by budgetary concerns.
The service quality model (SERVQUAL) by Parasulaman et al (1988) is measured by perception
minus expectation and that service quality is the determined by the gap between customer
perception and perceived performance. SERVQUAL states five dimensions for service quality:
tangibles, reliability, assurance, responsiveness, and empathy.
The LODGSERV model has been designed specifically for assessing service quality in Hotels
(Knutson et al., 1990). It asserts that among the five dimensions of SERVQUAL Reliability
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ranked as the most important factor while being followed by assurance, responsiveness,
tangibles, and empathy respectively.
Gronroos (1984) summarizes quality based on the features that consumers receive as a result of
service that is the technical quality and how the consumers receive services or the evaluation
of the service process called the functional quality. Gronroos (1988) later identifies (a)
professionalism and skills, (b) attitudes and behavior, (c) accessibility and flexibility, (d)
reliability and trustworthiness, (e) recovery, and (f) reputation and credibility as the six
dimensions of service quality that would be useful for managerial purposes.
3.0 RFID TECHNOLOGY ITS APPLICATION IN TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY
CHALLENGES AND CONCERNS
RFID are devises and technology that use radio signals to exchange identifying data. It could be
a tag or label that identifies a particular object. Auto-Id is a method of recognizing objects,
getting information about them, and entering that data or feeding it directly into the computer
systems without any human involvement. Current uses of RFID technology include (POS),
automated vehicle identification (AVI) system, access control within buildings, animal
identification, asset tracking, warehouse management and logistics, product tracking in supply
chain, and raw material tracking/ parts movement within factories.
RFID History and Architecture
Radio which is the wireless transmission of signals, by modulation of electromagnetic waves
with frequencies below those of visible light has evolved from military use in the World War II
late 1940s to commercial use in the early 1960s. In this period of the 1960s and 70s the
electronic article surveillance system (EAS), which uses a simple form of RFID was used to
prevent shop lifting other commercial uses later followed including livestock tagging, toll road
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payment systems, and production assembly lines. Advances in information technology and cost
reduction in system components reinforced the increase in the new application areas
(Finkenzeller, 2002).
The RFID system architecture consists of two main components and another auxiliary but
important component. The system consists of:
i. Tags/labelThese are also known as transponders. A transponder is a gadgets that is acombination of transmitters and receiver that is designed to receive specific radio signal
and automatically transmit a reply. Tags come in many types: (i) Read and write (ii)
Read- only or (iii) write-once, read many e.t.c. They can also be categorized according to
their working principle. Passive tags which do not have their own power and can oly be
used in short distances and active tags which are powered and can be used over long
distances.
ii. Readeralso known as transceivers a combination of transmitter and receiver. The mainrole of the reader is to receive data from a tag.
iii. Middleware- is a general type of software that manages the readers andRFID Applications in Tourism
Based on different aims of usage RFID applications can be illustrated in four major groups, these
are:
i. Human tracking and Control systemsexample: E-passports, Customer loyaltymanagement, tracking children, Airport Security e.t.c.
ii. Assets and valuables tracking systemsexample: Luggage tracking, RFID- taggedcasino chips, Food and Beverage management e.t.c.
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iii. Contactless payment systems- example: toll collection system, RFID-tagged publictransport cards, payment in hotel, keyless room entry e.t.c.
iv. RFID-based information- example: Museums, shopping street e.t.c.Challenges and Concerns of Implementing RFID Technology
In the quest to achieving service quality through implementation of RFID technology two major
challenges and concerns have to be considered. Firstly, Cost justification and feasibility of RFID
technology and Secondly, privacy and ethics concerns.
Cost Justification and Feasibility of RFID Technology
There has been extensive research on the cost justification and feasibility of RFID technology
for the conventional applications such as warehousing or retail sector uses .However for
economic analysis of RFID in the tourism sector, one has to differentiate the premises of RFID
in tourism than the acknowledged benefits of RFID in any other area. While much of the existing
analyses are based simply of summing up the cost of eliminated technology as a result of RFID
in the service sector new business opportunities or benefits that spring up as a result of
implementation of RFID technology should also be factored in the measurement. New
approaches and intensified analysis should be applied to help quantify the premise of gained
customer loyalty as a result of RFID technology implementation.
Privacy and Ethical Issues
Westin (1967) defines privacy as the ability of the individual to control the terms under which
personal information is acquired and used. Westin also defines information privacy as the
claim of individuals, groups, or institutions to determine for themselves when, how, and to what
extent information about them is communicated to others.
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According to Angeles (2007) The use of RFD poses several privacy and ethical challenges (i) the
RFID tag can be made invisible to consumers who may not bring up the matter of their presence
at all. (ii)Information can be collected without the consumers knowledge or active participation
in surrendering their personal information, and no record of the information gathered is provided
to the consumers.(iii) as tag readers are installed more ubiquitously, firms will be encouraged to
more extensively collect data about tags they attach to products they sell, and share this
information.
4.0 BENEFITS AND CONTRIBUTION OF RFID IN THE HOTEL AND TOURISMINDUSTRY
Using Parasulamans SERVQUAL model and Gronroos theory of service quality the benefits of
rfid technology can thus be summarized as
i. RFID applications support reliability, responsiveness, and empathy declared bySERVQUAL and also supports flexibility and professionalism determinant of service
quality mentioned by Gronroos (1988). With RFID systems integration, smart hotel can
provide all the information about the customer, including the average temperature and
light of the room, the preferred inner hotel activities, and the meal and drinking
preferences. If the same visitors enter the hotel next time, they should find their room
with the lighting and temperature that they prefer; the mini-bar in the room may be filled
according to their past choices.
ii. Access control, cashless payment, and tracking system, present an attachment for thereliability of the organization. RFID also supports professionalism sub-dimension
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mentioned by Gronroos (1988) with the new skills and features it provides to the
organization.
iii. Finally, RFID-integrated systems generate customer data about service usage, priorities,and preferences; these data provide the knowledge hotels need to under- stand the
customer and response in the right way thereby generating brand loyalty.
5.0 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
In light of the potential benefits accrued by use of RFID technology in the hotel and tourism
industry, implementation of such technology could make some of normal standard of operations
in the future. New opportunities and products as a result of RFID technology implementation
will also increase the product offering. Improvement of service quality is another obvious benefit
of this technology.
Implementation of this technology brings with it challenges of cost benefit quantification
analysis and also privacy and ethical concerns. While this paper identifies and acknowledges this
concerns and challenges it has not concentrated on how to tackle them effectively. It is therefore,
recommended that more research on the impacts of RFID technogly implementation is carried
out. For instance how can we measure the potential benefits of RFID based on the expected
results after implementation.
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REFERENCES
Angeles, R., 2007. An emprical study of the anticipated consumer response to RFID product
item taggig. Industrial Management and Data Systems 107/4, 461483.
Besar,O, Sedar, B and Fatma A 2009. Radio Frequency Identification(RFID) in
Hospitality.Technovation (29) 618-624
Burrill, C.W., Ledolter, J., 1998. Achieving Quality Through Continual Improvement.
Wiley, New York.
Clarke, R.H., Tewde, D., Tazelaar, J.R., Boyer, K.K., 2006. Radio frequency identification
(RFID) performance: the effect of tag orientation and package contents. Packaging
Technology and Science 19, 4554
Finkenzeller, K., 2002. The RFID Handbook. Wiley, England.
Gronroos, C., 1984. A service quality model and its marketing implications. European Journal of
Marketing 18, 3644.
Gronroos, C., 1988. Service quality: the six criteria of good perceived service quality. Review of
Business 9, 1013
Hoffman, D., Bateson, J., 1997. Essentials of Service Marketing. Dryden Press, London.
Knutson, B., Stevens, P., Wullaert, C., Yokoyoma, F., 1990. LODGSERV: a service quality
index for the lodging industry. Hospitality Research Journal 14, 227284.
Lee, L.S., Fiedlera, K.D., Smith, J.S., 2008. Radio frequency identification (RFID)
implementation in the service sector: a customer-facing diffusion model. International
Journal of Production Economics 112, 587600.
Victorino, L., Verma, R., Plaschka, G., Dev, C., 2005. Service innovation and customer choices
in the hospitality industry. Managing Service Quality 15 (6), 555576.
Westin, A., 1967. Privacy and Freedom. Antheneum, New York.
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Appendix A