3) Journal Entry. The Journal function in Interact2 must be used. External journal sites are not permitted. If your country geo-blocks Interact2 website or your circumstance prevents you from accessing the Internet (eg. due to a disability or if you are in a correctional centre), please contact your lecturer immediately. If it is an office/organisation firewall preventing access, you must find an alternative Internet access point to complete this task. Warning: Entering or editing data in this journal entry after 2359 hours on 10 May will result in deduction of marks. Write a business report based on the following: A group of ten hotel chains have decided to merge their business to combat market pressure for low priced hotel accommodation. The new chain called StayTogether has over a thousand hotels from all categories (backpacker, bed & breakfast homes to luxurious suites) around the world. It combats the sale of hotel rooms via popular web sites such as booking.com, hotels.com and so on which reduces their profits and waters down their corporate image. Bookings will be from a single web site only (with a complementary mobile app) and prices are fixed through the year with peak pricing during popular periods. Senior management has finalised on the following decisions: 1. A customer loyalty scheme called StayTogether Loyalty will reward customers with airport transfers, car parking on site and free nights. 2. If a kitchen and standard restaurant is on site, buffet breakfast and dinner is included in the hotel room price. This is to add to the dollar value earned per guest. Exclusive restaurants on site will charge extra. 3. (intentionally left blank) 4. (intentionally left blank) [Points 3 and 4 will be given to you by your lecturer 7 days before date due. This is to allow everyone to work in this timeframe and to prevent unauthorised assistance with your work.] Write a business report outlining the above case, stating assumptions you make at the beginning of your report. Provide critique into the management decisions substantiating with reference to literature. In your report, make the difference between Information Systems (IS) and Information Technology (IT) issues and how it will affect customer choice, continued patronage, brand loyalty, etc. Suggest how to attract new customers (from competitors) and any other new business opportunities that may arise with such a set up (eg. technological services on site, personalised automated tour guide, etc.). All these should be substantiated with references. (hints and tips to write this assignment is available under Assignment tab of Interact2) Rationale This task meets Learning Outcomes 5 & 6: Students will : be able to critique management processes and involvement in planning for Information Systems and Information Technology in an organisation; be able to identify and co-relate emerging technology issues in management and provide a short balanced analysis report. After you "Create Journal Entry", please click "Post Entry" You are given full editing rights even after you post - even the ability to delete that Post. It will also enable the lecturer/marker to provide you assistance prior to deadline. If you "Save Entry as Draft", only you can see it and in the past, many students forget to click on "Post Entry" which means you have not submitted your assignment at all when the deadline has passed. ALERT: Some students prefer to cut-and-paste from a word processor, and depending on their settings, this may cause formatting problems later. Journal Presentation Formatting Requirements: 1. Journal space on Interact2 presentation text width between 85-95 characters including spaces. 2. Font types and sizes consistent (use Arial 12pt) throughout and paragraphs well formed. 3. Submit answers to all work in one journal entry. 4. No attachments to journal entry allowed. Other Presentation Requirements: 1. Avoid using dot points, bulleted points, numbered points in your work. Lists do not display your understanding of the subject matter and may even appear disjointed to the reader/marker. 2. Meet word limits in each question (allowance of +/- 5%). Table of contents are not required and the Reference list are not included in the word count. (Failure to follow all the above rules, eg. if you do not meet word limit for Q3 but meet for the others, this is considered as not meeting word limit for all: no partial mark allocated.) 3. Use either UK spelling or USA spelling but do not mix both. 4. All work presented should be carefully proofed, so that spelling and typographical errors are corrected. 5. All language used should not be sexist. 6. If acronyms and jargon are used, please explain them in the first instance, then use the abbreviated form in the rest of the report. 7. Appendices are not to be used. 8. Use of headings and sub-headings can be used for clarity. 9. It is important to get the balance right between the citing of referenced material and your own interpretation and ideas. When using your own thoughts and ideas, you can signal the reader by using words and phrases such as 'it can be argued that...", "it is evident that..." and "it seems as though..." 10. Writing in the third person is expected in all pieces of work. 11. Do not submit multiple copies (or versions) of your work. If you do, the marker will only pick the one with the lowest mark awarded. You have full editing rights, kindly remove all unnecessary material before date due. 12. All date/time mentioned and used is in Australian Eastern Standard Time (or Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time) or Sydney time.