Instructions: After reading the case, write a brief summary of the business problems facing Castle Hotels. Be sure to highlight their current processes, the problems with those processes, and any potential solutions you see. You should focus on ways that information systems could be used to improve the existing managerial processes.

Castle Hotels, a Missouri-based hotel chain, operates 18 different hotels around the United States. These unique hotels are all designed to look like medieval castles! Each hotel features ten deluxe suites. These suites always include two bedrooms, a living room, a bathroom, and a miniature kitchen. Most of the hotels are located on lakes, oceans, or in the mountains; however, a couple are located in heavily-forested areas. The demand for these hotels is fairly high; in fact, many of the hotels stay booked year round. Unfortunately, this demand has created a problem. The original owners hoped to maintain the “old fashioned” flavor of the hotels by avoiding all technology. In the past, reservations and bills were all handled manually. This worked
quite well when reservations were only taken 3 months in advance. However, the incredible demand for the hotels has prompted the owners to accept reservations up to two years in advance. This policy has been somewhat successful; however, on several occasions guests have arrived only to discover that reservation errors had been made—on at least 12 occasions, guests were unable to stay because rooms had been double-booked (one room was triple-booked!). Needless to say, these guests have been quite unhappy and have complained rather loudly to management. The reservation system is based on a simple calendar. When someone calls to make reservations, the manager speaks with them and records the dates of their stay, along
with their contact information, on a calendar. If the manager is unable to come to the phone, the person on duty records the contact information and desired dates so that the manager can contact the potential guests.
Unfortunately, this information seems to get lost sometimes. Other times, the person on duty simply makes the reservations without informing the manager—who may then make conflicting reservations for other guests. Other guests have complained about the need to call each hotel directly, rather than having a single central number. In addition, numerous guests have requested an online reservation system. Other guests have had issues with the hotel billing system as well. Whenever meals or other items are purchased and charged to a guest room, the individual making the sale must call the front desk to have the charge recorded. This works quite will until the individual making the sale gets busy—many of the employees simply record the transaction with the intention of calling it in later.
As a result of these issues, Castle Hotels management has decided to cease further development until the existing problems are resolved. An MIS consultant (you) has been hired to develop an information system to make reservations and handle billing. The first version, designed simply as a proof-of-concept package, will only handle reservations at a single location. If successful, the software will be expanded to allow for reservations at multiple locations. After this, billing will be incorporated into the system.

As the consultant, your first task is to identify the problems facing Castle Hotels. You’ve been asked to write up a brief description of the issues facing the company, with a strong focus on the reservation system. Since the hotel rooms are all identical (and non-smoking), there is no need to deal with various room types.