HOSPITALITY INFORMATION SYSTEMS - 2023/4

Module Overview

This module is designed to offer students a critical overview of current hospitality technology systems, their interfaces and integration into functional operations. It informs students about issues, benefits, and problems related to the use and management of information systems in the hospitality business. The module demonstrates how systems support information management, and how the technologies that facilitate the acquisition, storage, processing, analysis, and use of information are valuable business resources. It introduces contemporary and innovative information technologies that will revolutionise hospitality and create new business value

Module provider

Surrey Hospitality & Tourism Management

Module Leader

LING Erin (Hosp & Tour)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 7

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None

Module content

Indicative content includes:

• Achieving competitive advantage with information systems


• Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems 


• IT infrastructure: hardware and software  


• Foundations of business intelligence


• Achieving operational excellence  


• Improving decision making and managing artificial intelligence


• Introducing, building, adopting and using information systems  


• Designing agile information systems 


• Securing information systems: data privacy, risk, and cybersecurity  


• Assessment of emerging technologies 

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

Individual report (1000 words max)

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to enable students to demonstrate their ability to identify the important roles of information systems in the business success of hospitality organisations. Students will be required to demonstrate understanding and critical thinking capabilities to analyse the advantages and disadvantages of relying on information systems to manage people, organisations, and technology in the hospitality industry. In addition, the assessment strategy will enable students to prove that they are building up their knowledge and understanding about developments in the market due to opportunities technology provides and to become aware of the broad range of contemporary practices in digital innovation.

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

Synthesis Papers (Individual) -  x 4

Students will be required to produce four synthesis papers (500 word each) on a given topic in management information systems for the hospitality industry. Students will draw from many sources together, including assigned readings and class activities, organise information relevant to the topic, and present the information to support their argument. Synthesis papers should be a result of an integration of what the students learn and their ability to use this learning to develop and support a key thesis/argument.

Peer-Evaluated Video Presentation (in group) 

Students will be required to work in group to select two hospitality companies and research each company's usage of information systems (guest systems, CRM systems, knowledge management systems, etc.). Students will deliver a video presentation of 10 minutes max addressing the following: history of the companies and services they offer, information systems employed by the companies, similarities and differences between the companies in terms of information systems use, roles of information systems in establishing a competitive advantage, lessons learned and recommendations to develop robust hospitality information systems.

Formative assessment

Students will be required to contribute to moderated discussion forums and seminars to demonstrate the development of their knowledge and mastery of the academic research as well as demonstrate awareness of current industry trends. Formative feedback will be provided as outlined below.

Feedback

• The assignments and the feedback process is explained during the first seminar/tutorial session; 


• Feedback is also provided during and after discussions/guided activities; as the activities are built around topic-specific exercises in a group setting, students do not only benefit from lecturer feedback but also receive peer evaluations.


• A pre-assignment feedback session is an integral part of this module. During this session, Students work on a task which reflects the requirements of the assignments and receive feedback on their work;


• Once marking is completed, students are provided with feedback, which contains detailed generic feedback as well as a breakdown of marks. This enables students to assess their own performance compared to their peers.

Module aims

• This module aims to provide students with an in-depth understanding of the fundamentals of information management and the impacts of information technologies on hospitality business. Specifically, it will provide students with skills to best manage information for operational, tactical, and strategic benefits.

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to provide students with an overview of the theories covering the key areas of information management and decision support systems in the hospitality industry. This theoretical overview will be supplemented by providing students with practical programmes so that they can identify, analyse, and evaluate various information systems in hospitality organisations to achieve competitive advantage. The module will focus on providing students with a combination of the necessary conceptual knowledge and practical skills to build and manage information systems in hospitality.

The learning and teaching methods include:

• theoretical lectures with supporting materials from a range of perspectives within management information systems to provide students with a holistic framework of knowledge


• online exercises, practical examples, and topical case studies to critically discuss and apply theoretical knowledge to contemporary industry practices


• a project in which students critically analyse and evaluate the use of information systems in leading hospitality companies and provide lessons/recommend improvements to current practices


• supporting guest lecture sessions


• formative feedback sessions


• independent learning through reading, collaborative activities, and independent research to prepare for and complete module assessments 

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: MANM502

Other information

This module adopts the University curriculum framework, which aims to develop learners with strong capabilities in Digital Capabilities, Employability, Global and Cultural Capabilities, Sustainability, and Resourcefulness and Resilience. This module contributes to the development of the following capabilities:

Digital Capabilities: Understanding the critical roles of information systems and technologies in business success is the key aspect of learning in this module. Students will develop the capacity to manage information, databases, and platforms for various hospitality operations and management processes. Students will learn to navigate the virtual learning environment (VLE), SurreyLearn, as well as video conferencing platforms such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams in order to access teaching and learning materials as well as to engage with their instructors and peers through discussion boards and other synchronous and asynchronous communication platforms (such as Padlet). Module assessments require students to use a wide range of digital platforms and resources, including video recording and/or streaming platforms for video presentation. Students are encouraged to communicate with one another and to work collaboratively for their group presentations using SurreyLearn, Microsoft Teams, and other project management and document sharing platforms.  

Employability: Students will be introduced to various state-of-the-art information systems and databases utilised in the hospitality industry, ranging from enterprise system to customer relationship management system to property management system (PMS). Students will need to focus on a particular company for their second assessment, which will expose them to real-life issues in information systems. This will prepare them for the world of work, not only because they will be familiar with how hospitality information systems operate, but also because they will  know how to integrate the system into management strategies.  

Resourcefulness and Resilience: Students will be required to use a range of sources, conduct independent research, network with hospitality companies, and work collaboratively with peers to synthesise their learning and critically analyse the implementation of information systems in the hospitality industry as part of their assessments in the module.    

Sustainability: Students will learn how to utilise information systems to achieve sustainability in hospitality operations and management, which include economic, social, and environmental sustainability. Students will learn issues of information privacy, ethics, and cybersecurity in the context of hospitality operations and management.

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2023/4 academic year.