Scenario

You work in a junior role for the Bournemouth Computer Repair and Maintenance which has been commissioned by the Ringwood Arms Hotel to provide a report on their computer system and the options available to them. Obviously, the business is coping in the current market but there is always scope for improvement. Part of the improvement can be achieved through the better management and processing of the information both at their fingertips but also external to the hotel

CASE STUDY

ASSIGNMENT CASE STUDY: THE RINGWOOD ARMS HOTEL

Overview

The Ringwood Arms is a medium-sized hotel which has 50 bedrooms. It is privately owned and located in the countryside near the town of Bournemouth in the South West of England. The Ringwood Arms has a restaurant and a bar, which are open to non-residents. There are also function and conference facilities which can be booked by individuals and companies.

Publicity

The hotel's main method of advertising is via the internet and in Town and Country magazine (published monthly). It also places advertisements in the local, weekly, free Advertiser newspaper. It does have an entry in www.thomsonlocal.net. It also has links from tourist board websites, magazines, etc.

However, Sally Chester, the owner, is always looking for ways to attract guests to the hotel. Sally’s son, James, runs the reception area and is able to use the guest database to analyse the type of guests, using the lengths of stay, home regions, etc., thus allowing Sally to target promotions.

To attract local people to use the hotel restaurant, a number of special events are organised, such as Murder Mystery weekends. James uses a desktop publishing package to produce posters that are displayed in the hotel and in the local area. A smaller version is also sent as an advertisement to the local, free Advertiser newspaper.