Prism positioned the discussion as a holistic look at where e-commerce fits in the strategic planning process as hotels try to recover lost business and revenues. To accomplish that objective the Prism Partnership moderators Carol Walter and Mark Haley, invited four senior travel technology vendors and a hotel management company marketing and technology executive to participate. 

They included: 

• Michael Murray, CEO HubX,(www.hubx.net) the expert in enabling hotel systems with e-commerce capabilities; 
• Greg Pesik, CEO Passkey, Inc., (www.passkey.com) the leading processor of integrated Web-based group housing and travel solutiosn for the $96.4 billion meetings and convention industry; 
• Bruce Mainzer, Sr VP Sales & Mktg., TravelCLICK, (www.travelclick.net) the provider of digital media and data solutions to the worldwide travel industry 
• Tony Aslanian, Corporate Director of Marketing and Sales Technology, Ocean Properties, (www.oceanprop.com) that manages and has an interest in 80 hotels in the US and Canada;
• Steve Giblin, Director, Newmarket International, (www.newmarketinc.com) the leader in delivering enterprise, hotel, casino, visitor bureau, meeting and convention center solutions to the global hospitality marketplace

Addressing the industry's adoption of e-commerce technology in the post-911 economic environment the panelists emphasized that many of the technological improvements were being implemented before the attacks, and are market-driven. The consensus was that the hotel industry should seize the opportunity now, as the recovery starts, to invest in the automation of manual and redundant processes, rather than simply restoring areas cut back in the downturn. The big long term benefit is a more efficient operation with lower labor and operating expenses.

Among the recommendations: 

Bruce Mainzer, TravelCLICK: "You don't need to have to implement a technology infrastructure to take advantage of Internet marketing opportunities and the immediate nature of e-commerce.  It takes a shift in attitude from the traditional way of doing business - e.g. from traditional print advertising channels like newspapers to electronic marketing that allow hotels to have a new message or price point in front of travel agents within 24 hours."

Greg Pesik, Passkey: "Many 'e' companies forgot that they needed to get the process right first. They institutionalized bad processes with good technology. Passkey looked at the group handling process and replaced the manual handling with automation, allowing hotel companies to focus more on their distribution strategy.  E-technology needs, first, to help clients fix their processes and show improvement by automating repetitive, repeatable activities and institutionalizing THAT process in a manner that allows the customer to keep better transaction histories, and do it quickly."

Mike Murray, HubX: "The quicker you can implement, the quicker you streamline the connection to your customers, and the quicker you get the return on investment. Major technology infrastructure takes 6-12 months to implement, an ASP can show payback within 3-5 months. The Internet is the great equalizer in terms of allowing small, independent hotels to compete by embracing e-commerce strategies. But smaller companies must be vigilant:
Learn from what others are doing; don't just replicate and insist that the vendor customize what he does to fit your needs and strategy. The old product model, where the vendor says 'this is what the product does' can't be allowed. 
Tony Aslanian, Ocean Properties: "When a limited service property sees reduced REVPAR, it must reduce costs.  Full service hotels need to work more effectively to generate sales: gathering marketing information from the property management system, interfacing the operations technology, regionalizing sales and sales technology to represent several hotels at the same time. The new e-commerce technologies all help do that."

Steve Giblin, Newmarket International: "Hoteliers need to show ROI to justify spending money on systems when revenues are down. When I hear that Hilton.com has seen a 200% increase in online group bookings and Wyndham Resorts now have 35% of their reservations coming through the web, the commitment to increasing e-commerce initiatives and investment makes sense."

Headquartered in Boston, The Prism Partnership provides consulting services to the global hospitality, travel and tourism industry.