Posted on: Saturday, October 10, 2009
Posted at: 2:40 AM
BackgroundThis research is carried out as part of our project to evaluate the operations of an e-commence transaction broker. A transaction broker refers to a facilitator or coordinator handling the transaction between buyers and sellers, and earning only the commission after each successful transaction. As such, transaction brokers do not own any of the product or services rendered. One such example is AsiaRooms.com which uses a B2C approach.
Founded in 1994, AsiaRooms.com is listed as one of the many brands of TUI Travel PLC Group. This group is the leading international leisure travel group, with an estimate of 50,000 employees worldwide. Currently, it has operations in approximately 180 countries, serving more than 30 million customers in over 25 source markets.
In this respect, Asiarooms as a transaction broker, is not confined to promoting only one hotelier's product or services but rather represent a wide range of hoteliers. This provides the prospective buyer with benefits such as a wider choice, reducing information asymmetry, lesser transaction cost (search, contract and regulation) and even re-engineered market processes. As a middleman, Asiarooms canot be held responsible for the service quality (of the hoteliers) and cannot be sued for this. The principal are also represented in the websites of other transaction brokers such a Octopus, Asiatravels, and Hotelclub,com. Like all transaction brokers, Asiarooms can be held responsible for not providing correct documentation, information or poorly coordinated services between the sellers (i.e. the hoteliers) and the buyers.
PurposeAsiaRooms.com aims to make travel arrangement easy at attractive price for travelers. Great deals offered by their accommodation partners can be found from their website. By offering other value-added services such as Travel Guides and Travel Insurance, it is definitely a one-stop shop for most travelers.
In addition, AsiaRooms.com offers a platform for hotels to sell their rooms online. By working directly with the hotels, it allows hotels to have complete control over their rates and availability, as well as managing their own information.
Features & Designs(a) Search Function AsiaRooms.com uses a 'DIY' design approach. The destination, arrival and the number of nights are input into the search function from the left navigation bar. After which, you will be brought to a page that displays the hotel rates, availability, etc. to make your bookings. Travelers can then manage their bookings through the 'My Booking' tab to view their booking status or cancel any bookings.
(b) Hotel Reviews This added feature allows travelers to read the comments and ratings left behind by customers who have used their service. For ease of navigation, the reviews are sorted according to regions.
(c) ForumAsiarooms Community is a forum that allows travelers with similar interests to come together to share their travel and vacation experiences. Travelers are also able to obtain personal tips and information from fellow travelers.
(d) Travel GuideThe online travel guide is especially useful for travelers visiting for their first time as it offers a full list of relevant information, ranging from an overview of the country to the places of interest. It also entails useful information for travelers' easy reference. With AsiaRoom.com, travelers can save time on research yet obtain sufficient information before their trip.
(e) Travel Insurance In partnership with Mondial Assistance, AsiaRooms.com provides a platform for them to advertise and sell travel insurance online. Travelers can get quotes, study the details of the policy, make payment and purchase it online in just a few simple steps.
(f) Commissional ModelAsiaRooms.com works in a commissional model through contracting directly with the hotels. Interested accommodation providers can get themselves listed by simply filling up their online form to join. Listed hotels get complete control and manage their own information, for example the room rates and availability details. Also, the hotels will receive payment directly from the customer.
Strengths(a) Hotel ReviewsAs mentioned above, travelers are able to search for the reviews according to regions. Alternatively, they are able to view the ratings at the hotel page. This enhances the search function as one is able to quickly gain access to the relevant details. However, only its customers are able to leave their comments as booking number and email address are required when one post their comments. This provides a control system as travelers can be assured that the reviews left behind are valid based on real-life experiences. One is then able to make better decision when selecting a hotel of their choice through these reviews provided.
(b) Currency ConverterWith customers from all around the world, it is wise to provide a currency converter for travelers to convert the prices into their own currency. Travelers can select from a list of currencies from the drop-down list in alphabetical order, with the commonly used currencies at the top for which the prices will be displayed. The currency rates are obtained from various resources which are updated on a daily basis. Hence, it serves only as a guideline as the actual rates may vary.
(c) Detailed InformationDetailed information about the hotels are readily available. On top of the rates given, users are able to know more about the service provided by the respective hotels.
As shown above, it features the facilities, location, image gallery, as well as video gallery of the hotel. So instead of going to the homepage of the hotels directly, users are able to gain all the necessary information through AsiaRooms.com.
(d) User-Friendly Travelers can find relevant information about the different hotels in various countries with just a click. All these are made possible by the easy-to-use search functions. Search results can be sorted by different categories according to the travelers' needs. For example: star ratings, price or hotel name. This makes navigation easier.
Search results are clearly displayed in table format, side by side to allow easy comparison. This helps travelers to make more accurate decisions by comparing the differences of various hotels.
Weakness(a) Language SelectionOne drawback of AsiaRooms.com is that it does not offer language selection. Although English is considered an International language, there may still be instances whereby visitors are illegible in English. Hence, it is helpful to have a list of other languages for visitors to choose from.
SecurityThe site utilities Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology to encrypt sensitive information such as your name, address and credit card details. This ensures that the exchange of information between the server and client will not be tampered with while it is being sent.
PrivacyAt AsiaRooms.com, the responsibility of retaining their customers' trust is taken very seriously. Hence, only personal information permitted by the user is collected. In other words, personal information will not be collected when you browse the site.
(a) Protection of Personal DataIn accordance with legislation such as the Personal Data Protection Regulation and European Directives 95/46 and 2002/58, personal information shall be obtained, processed and transmitted through the United Kingdom server. This ensures that information is stored in secure databases at secure addresses to protect against unauthorised access.
For transactions to take place successfully, Asiarooms.com requires certain information to be disclosed to relevant parties e.g. credit card companies or accommodation and/or service providers. Nonetheless, appropriate security measures will be applied to protect these data.
ConclusionInformation system has made our daily processes more efficient and effective. Just like the case of an e-commence transaction broker, AsiaRooms.com has served a lot travelers, making hotel search and booking easier than before, and at the same time helps hotels in clinching deals.
