EDI and the Internet in the E-Business Era

This article presents cost effective guidelines to assist hotels of all sizes with the usage of electronic data interchange (EDI) in the Internet e-business era. The evolution of web-based EDI makes it easier for hotels of all sizes to support their business processes with traditional EDI technology, but without the extensive capital outlay in computer hardware and software. This is an attempt to encourage investment in basic EDI technologies before implementing more sophisticated applications. The focus is to allow hotels of all sizes to improve their competitive advantage with successive EDI technological advances.