Smaller hotels urged to avail use E-commerce

Smaller hotels urged to avail use E-commerce

Rita A. Widiadana, The Jakarta Post, Sanur, Bali

The rapid changes in the global tourism industry have left most
small- and medium-sized hotels in Indonesia behind as they are
not equipped for "E-Commerce", which has become one of the most
popular methods of finding and booking hotels for international
travelers.

"Most smaller hotels in Indonesia still have no access to the
Internet/E-Commerce due to various handicaps, be they social,
economic and technological," said Al Purwa, chairman of the
Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA)'s Bali Chapter, on
Wednesday.

"Without E-Commerce, we will be left behind by other countries
in the Southeast Asian region," he said during a one-day workshop
and fair on building E-Commerce awareness for hotels.

The event was organized by the International Finance
Corporation, under its Program for Eastern Indonesia's Small and
Medium Enterprise Assistance (IFC-PENSA), Australia Aid (AusAID),
under its Bali Rehabilitation Fund and the Bali Tourism Board.
The workshops are also held in Mataram (on Lombok), Sanur, Ubud
and Singaraja on Bali.

"The workshops are aimed at helping smaller hotels to
understand the potential of E-Commerce and how to attract
customers via the Internet," said Evan Marshall, IFC-PENSA's
Program Manager of the Denpasar-based Sustainable Supply Chain
Linkages Program.

The workshops are expected to help hotel owners make strategic
decisions on how to efficiently use the Internet as a sales tool.
"In particular, it should help them target the independent
traveler market," said Marshall.

Independent travelers are a lucrative target for hotels on
Bali and Lombok. But only between 20 percent and 30 percent of
the 1,300 hotels on Bali have access to the Internet, with most
of those at four- and five-star hotels.

A recent survey by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) showed
that almost 80 percent of travelers to the Mekong region
(Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos) do not travel in groups.

Marshall said the workshops were designated as the first stage
of E-Commerce programs for the local hotels.

"This is a way to inform hotel operators and owners on the
potential of the Internet and E-Commerce," said Ida Adji,
Business Development Analyst of IFC-PENSA.

The workshop's second stage would be an introduction to the
international market, Marshall said. "We will establish close
cooperation with Worldhotel-link.com, which is currently working
to help small- and medium-sized hotels in the Mekong region."

World Hotel Link (WHL) is currently supporting e-marketplaces
for smaller hotels and guest houses in developing countries.

Len Cordiner, CEO of the company, said they had developed a
model in which WHL worked with local partners in the Mekong
region. "The model, in operation for the last three years, has
been successful."

The company provides participating hotel associations or local
partners such as tour agencies or IT companies with a complete
package to get their members online and selling rooms.

Each locally owned and operated e-marketplace is linked up to
a global network of e-marketplaces and provides back office
services by the WHL.

"Developing your own websites and portals will be very costly.
By using this model, small hotels can join and work together with
our local partners. Of all online-transactions, the participating
hotels will only have to pay a commission to our partners,"
Cordiner said.