JASTH – Journal of Applied Sciences in Travel and Hospitality Vol. 1, No. 2, June 2018 110 EVALUATION OF TRAVEL AGENT’S RESERVATION CONTRIBUTION ON THE OCCUPANCY IN PELANGI BALI HOTEL AND SPA Ni Luh Putu Sri Artini Artini1, Budi Susanto2, I Ketut Sutama3 123Tourism Department, Politeknik Negeri Bali email: 1putusriartini123@gmail.com, 2budd2id@yahoo.com, 3tomsutama@gmail.com. ABSTRACT Offline and online travel agent has important role to improve the hotel room occupancy in order to fill monthly and yearly budget. The purpose of this study is to determine the evaluation of offline and online travel agent’s reservation contribution on the occupancy in Pelangi Bali Hotel and Spa. This research is a descriptive statistic research which is presented by statistic tables and data collected by interviewing the Sales Executive at Pelangi Bali Hotel and Spa, observation and documentation. The result showed that the contribution of offline and online travel agent in the last 3 years is unstable each month, this is can showed from the average of offline travel agent contribution on 2015 is 24,05%, on 2016 is 29,93%, and on 2017 is 32,95%, while the average of online travel agent contribution on 2015 is 40,24%, on 2016 is 30,54%, and on 2017 is 40,03%. The comparation between contribution of offline and online travel agent in the last 3 years is not significant, however between reservation from offline and online travel agent, contribution from online travel agent is always increasingly every year. That showed online travel agent contribution gives enhance to the room occupancy more than offline travel agent contribution. Keywords: offline and online travel agent, reservation, room occupancy. INTRODUCTION The developing of tourism industry makes every hotel wants to provide the excellent service than their competitors. In addition to improving the service quality, we need to maximize our marketing strategy to be able to win the tight of competition, by cooperate with offline and online travel agencies. Travel agent have an important role to introduce or promote until create of hotel product transaction. Travel agent is one of the company who get the revenue by offering and selling product and service to customers, explained by Yoeti (2003: 58). Travel agent divided into two from its market segment such as: (1) Offline Travel Agent. Local Travel Agent according to the location of the hotel in cooperate with is travel agent that has same location with that hotel. Overseas Travel Agent according to the location of the hotel in cooperate with is travel agent that has location separate with ocean, country and continent from that hotel location (2). Online travel is one of travel agent types that selling their product from online. Because of using online system this mailto:putusriartini123@gmail.com mailto:2budd2id@yahoo.com mailto:3tomsutama@gmail.com JASTH – Journal of Applied Sciences in Travel and Hospitality Vol. 1, No. 2, June 2018 111 travel agent can be used easier to make a room reservation. All of guest need is already on the system like room availability, facilities and etc. Pelangi Bali Hotel and Spa is 4-stars hotel that has been established since 2001. This hotel has some departments in its operational and one of the department is Sales & Marketing Department, this department has responsibility to manage all of sales and marketing activity in hotel. Sales & Marketing Department has two sections are e- commerce and reservation. (Bagyono, 2012:28) explained that reservation is one of the section on front office department that has responsibility to handle the reservation from the guest who will stay on the hotel, but reservation section in Pelangi Bali Hotel and Spa is under the Sales & Marketing Department. One of the responsibility of reservation is handling the reservation from every source including from travel agent. Pelangi Bali Hotel and Spa has cooperated with several travel agents both online and offline. There are approximately ten online travel agents in contract with, consisting of Agoda, Expedia, Booking.com, Traveloka, Tiket.com, Asia Travel etc. while the offline travel agent in contract with approximately about eighty (80) agents that consisting of Asia Escape Holiday, Bali Rescentre, Flight Centre, Helloword, GTA, Hotelbeds, Bali Excursion and etc. The cooperation between hotel and travel agent loaded in a contract rate which contains of the agreement about room rate, payment policy, cancellation policy, special promo and room allotment policy. This hotel only gives room allotment to twelve travel agents, such as House of Travel, Qantas Holidays, Venture Holidays, Bali Tours, Flight Centre, Bali Rescentre, Asia Escape Holidays, Free Style, Asia World Indonesia, Pacto, Destination Asia and Hotelbeds with 65 rooms or 73% allotment from total of 89 rooms. The cooperation with travel agent is one of the strategy to increase the room occupancy in Pelangi Bali Hotel and Spa. Sugiarto (2004:55) explained that room occupancy is the amount of room occupied compare to the rooms availability. While the hotel occupancy is the room occupancy from a hotel to another hotel, which the data can be used to be the comparison for the business activity. Aims of this study are to know the evaluation of offline and online travel agent’s reservation contribution on the occupancy in Pelangi Bali Hotel and Spa, and the comparison between both of that contribution sources. JASTH – Journal of Applied Sciences in Travel and Hospitality Vol. 1, No. 2, June 2018 112 This research hopefully will bring some benefits both theoretically and practically. The benefits to be obtained in this study are: (1) Theoretically significance is expected to provide additional information and knowledge in supporting other research and can add the list of bibliography in the academic environment. (2) Practically significance is as an inputs and information to the company to be a reference in cooperation with travel agent. METHODOLOGY Bali Hotel and Spa located in Seminyak area on Jalan Dyana Pura. Built on 7.870 m2 land, this hotel has total 89 rooms, which consist of 78 Superior rooms, 6 Deluxe rooms, 4 Super Deluxe rooms and 1 Suite room. The object of this research focused on travel agent’s reservation contribution and Spa in order to increase the room occupancy in Pelangi Bali Hotel. Operational definition according to in this research are travel agent reservation and room occupancy. Travel agent reservation is step to booking the room which is use third party intermediary’s, that is trough travel agent. Room occupancy is the amount of room occupied compare to the rooms availability. This research using descriptive statistic in order to know the evaluation about the travel agent’s contribution. Sugiono (2011) explained that descriptive statistic to analyze data with describing the original data without purposing to conform any common conclusion to the public or generalization. Descriptive statistic data could be served with table, graphic, pie charts, pictogram, calculation mode, median, mean, deciles, percentile, and percentage. Kusmayadi (2004: 76) explained that there are two statistical data presentations are: Statistic table is the form of data presentation into rows and columns. Based on the grouping of data, statistic table classified into classification tables, frequency tables, and contingency tables. Graph statistic is the form of data presentation into images/visualization, because the images is an effective way to display enough data. In this form, the images can be diagrams and graphic that consist of pie chart, bar chart, stem and plot diagram, frequency polygon graph, ogive and time series graph. JASTH – Journal of Applied Sciences in Travel and Hospitality Vol. 1, No. 2, June 2018 113 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION Descriptive statistic has a function to analyze data about a group and explain or create the conclusions about that group only. Table 1 Descriptive Statistics As it is shown in the table above, the study period was 36 periods or the last three years. The average value of offline travel agent is about 786 room with 1466 room standard deviation value, that means if connected with the average of offline travel agent’s reservation will range between 786 rooms ± 1466 rooms. The average value of online travel agent is about 1001 room with 1782 room standard deviation value, that means if connected with the average online travel agent reservation will range between 1001 rooms ± 1782 rooms. While the average value of room occupancy is about 2039 room with 1141 room standard deviation value, that means if connected with the average room occupancy will range between 2039 rooms ± 1141 rooms. N Mean Std. Deviation Offline Travel Agent Reservation 36 786.1388889 1466.011369 Online Travel Agent Reservation 36 1001.027778 1781.892627 Room Occupancy 36 2039.583333 1140.593267 Valid N (listwise) 36 JASTH – Journal of Applied Sciences in Travel and Hospitality Vol. 1, No. 2, June 2018 114 Table 2 Contribution of offline travel agent’s reservation on the occupancy in Pelangi Bali Hotel and Spa In table 2, it is clearly shown that the contribution of offline travel agent’s reservation is rather extreme throughout the year. The highest contribution in 2015 is in July with 892 rooms and the lowest contribution is in November about 349 rooms. Based on data of table 2, the average of room occupancy in Pelangi Bali Hotel and Spa is 1.952 rooms, while the average of offline travel agent’s reservation is 652 rooms or 24,05%. During 2015 there are 72 types of offline travel agent that give their contribution, and the highest contribution is Qantas Holiday/Helloworld which is Australia/New Zealand agent with contribution about 1.342 rooms, while the lowest contribution coming from Gaya Bali and Nuansa Bali Tour which domestic agent with severally only 1 room contribution. In 2016 the highest contribution is in July with 1.182 rooms and the lowest contribution is in February with about 459 rooms. Based on data of table 2, the average Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Average Offline Travel Agent Reservation (room) 675 538 642 567 678 860 892 725 705 669 349 522 652 Room Occupancy 2154 1835 2208 1799 2056 2217 2318 2344 2046 1926 1104 1304 1952 Percentage 24.47% 21.59% 23.27% 21.24% 24.57% 32.21% 32.33% 26.28% 26.40% 24.25% 13.07% 18.92% 24,05% Offline Travel Agent Reservation (room) 601 459 663 513 680 991 1182 1051 1037 1002 922 662 814 Room Occupancy 1459 1166 1609 1244 2097 2292 2566 2568 2393 2375 1845 1688 1942 Percentage 21.78% 17.78% 24.03% 19.21% 24.65% 37.12% 42.84% 38.09% 38.84% 36.32% 34.53% 23.99% 29,93% Offline Travel Agent Reservation (room) 1068 767 966 679 842 1093 1135 713 1143 920 692 689 892 Room Occupancy 1919 1716 1960 1930 2265 2489 2570 2625 2443 2369 1928 1469 2140 Percentage 38.71% 30.78% 35.01% 25.43% 30.52% 40.94% 41.14% 25.84% 42.81% 33.35% 25.92% 24.97% 32,92% 2015 2016 2017 JASTH – Journal of Applied Sciences in Travel and Hospitality Vol. 1, No. 2, June 2018 115 of room occupancy in Pelangi Bali Hotel and Spa is 1.942 rooms, while the average of offline travel agent’s reservation is 814 rooms or 29,93%. During 2016 there are 72 types of offline travel agent that give their contribution, and the highest contribution from Flight Centre which Australia/New Zealand agent with 3,757 rooms, while the lowest contribution coming from Catur Lintas Wisata, Destination Asia, Indonesia Here, and Panca Sari which is domestic agent and Ctrip which Asia/Japan agent with severally only 1 room contribution. The highest contribution in 2017 is in September with 1.143 rooms and the lowest contribution is in April with about 679 rooms. Based on the data, the average of room occupancy in Pelangi Bali Hotel and Spa is 2.140 rooms, while the average of offline travel agent’s reservation is 892 rooms or 32,95%. During 2017 there are 61 types of offline travel agent that give their contribution to the room occupancy, and the highest contribution coming from Hotelbeds which Europe agent about 4.951 rooms, while the lowest contribution coming from Allindo Dewata/Alliance, Bat Solotour & Travel and Expedition Indonesia which domestic agent with severally only 1 room contribution. The decrease and increase factors of the number tourist visited through offline travel agent because there is an issue in tourist destination region like the threat of natural disasters. On 2015 Raung mountain was erupted that resulted in three airports forced to close. The airports were Blimbingsari airport located on Banyuwangi district, Notohadinegoro airport on Jember and Ngurah Rai International airport, many tourists couldn’t come to Bali and also many reservations are cancelled at that time, this situation have an impact on the decrease of room occupancy in Pelangi Bali Hotel and Spa (Liputan 6.com). Beside Raung mountain, on the last of 2017 actually on 25 September 2017 Agung Mountain was erupted (kompas.com), because of the news was quickly spread then many countries make travel warning to come to Bali, this situation makes many reservations are cancelled and also have an impact to decrease of room occupancy in Pelangi Bali Hotel and Spa JASTH – Journal of Applied Sciences in Travel and Hospitality Vol. 1, No. 2, June 2018 116 Table 3 Contribution of offline travel agent’s reservation on the occupancy in Pelangi Bali Hotel and Spa As the data of table 3 showed the contribution of online travel agent’s reservation is rather extreme throughout the year. The highest contribution in 2015 is in March with 1.497 rooms and the lowest contribution is in November with about 331 rooms. The average of room occupancy in 2015 is 1.952 rooms, while the average of online travel agent’s reservation is 1.089 rooms or 40,24%. During 2015 there are 11 types of offline travel agent that give their contribution, and the highest contribution from Booking.com with contribution 4.604 rooms, while the lowest from Traveloka with 5 room contribution. In 2016 the highest contribution is in August with 1.204 rooms and the lowest contribution is in February with about 437 rooms. Based on the data, the average of room occupancy in Pelangi Bali Hotel and Spa is 1.942 rooms, while the average of online travel agent’s reservation is 830 rooms or 30.54%. During 2016 there are 10 types of online travel agent that give their contribution, and the highest contribution from Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Average Online Travel Agent Reservation (room) 1361 1247 1497 1153 1260 1275 1211 1412 937 864 331 519 1089 Room Occupancy 2154 1835 2208 1799 2056 2217 2318 2344 2046 1926 1104 1304 1952 Percentage 49.33% 50.04% 54.97% 43.18% 45.67% 47.75% 43.89% 51.18% 35.09% 31.32% 12.40% 18.81% 40.24% Online Travel Agent Reservation (room) 568 473 674 582 1086 973 1026 1204 916 971 691 791 830 Room Occupancy 1459 1166 1609 1244 2097 2292 2566 2568 2393 2375 1845 1688 1942 Percentage 20.59% 18.98% 24.43% 21.80% 39.36% 36.44% 37.19% 43.64% 34.31% 35.19% 25.88% 28.67% 30.54% Online Travel Agent Reservation (room) 746 836 871 1042 1178 1194 1305 1724 1130 1311 1043 635 1085 Room Occupancy 1919 1716 1960 1930 2265 2489 2570 2625 2443 2369 1928 1469 2140 Percentage 27.04% 33.55% 31.57% 39.03% 42.70% 44.72% 47.30% 62.49% 42.32% 47.52% 39.06% 23.02% 40.03% 2015 2016 2017 JASTH – Journal of Applied Sciences in Travel and Hospitality Vol. 1, No. 2, June 2018 117 Booking.com with contribution 4.446 rooms, while the lowest from Tiket.com and Asia Travel are with severally only 1 room contribution. In 2017 the highest contribution is in August with 1.724 rooms and the lowest contribution is in December with about 635 rooms. Based on the data, the average of room occupancy in Pelangi Bali Hotel and Spa is 2.140 rooms, while the average of online travel agent’s reservation is 1.085 rooms or 40,03%. During 2017 there are 7 types of online travel agent that give their contribution, and the highest contribution from Booking.com with contribution 7.329 rooms, while the lowest from Hotel Travel.com with 5 room contribution. Table 4 Comparison between contribution of offline and online travel agent’s reservation on the occupancy in Pelangi Bali Hotel and Spa Offline Travel Agent Reservation (room) Online Travel Agent Reservation (room) Room Occupancy 2015 652 1089 1952 2016 814 830 1942 2017 892 1085 2140 The contribution of offline and online travel agent on the room occupancy at Pelangi Bali Hotel and Spa have increased and decreased every month as showed from the table 4 above. Offline travel agent’s reservation on 2015 based on the average of the room occupancy about 652 room (24,05%), while the contribution of online travel agent’s reservation about 1.089 rooms (40,24%). As showed from the comparison, online travel agent contribution is more than offline travel agent contribution on 2015. The contribution of offline travel agent’s reservation on 2016 based on the average of the room occupancy about 814 room (29,93%), while the contribution of online travel agent’s reservation about 830 rooms (30,54%). As showed from the comparison, the result is same like on 2015 that online travel agent contribution is more than offline travel agent contribution on 2016. In 2017, contribution of offline travel agent’s reservation based on the average of the room occupancy about 892 room (32,95%), while the contribution of online travel JASTH – Journal of Applied Sciences in Travel and Hospitality Vol. 1, No. 2, June 2018 118 agent’s reservation about 1.085 rooms (40,03%). As showed from the comparison, the result is same like on 2015 and 2016 that online travel agent contribution is more than offline travel agent contribution on 2017 Based on the discussion about comparison of offline and online travel agent’s reservation, online travel agent contributes the highest contribution, even though offline travel agent has an allotment every day about 65 rooms (73% from 89 rooms total in Pelangi Bali Hotel and Spa. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION Evaluation of offline travel agent contribution on the room occupancy at Pelangi Bali Hotel and Spa have increased and decreased every month in three last years, and the highest contribution is on 2017 and the lowest on 2015. Evaluation of online travel agent contribution on the room occupancy at Pelangi Bali Hotel and Spa have increased and decreased every month in three last years also, and the highest contribution is on 2015 and the lowest on 2016. The comparison between offline and online travel agent contribution on the room occupancy at Pelangi Bali Hotel and Spa is not too high, however the contribution of online travel agent is always increasing every year, it showed that online travel agent has high contribution than offline travel agent on the room occupancy at Pelangi Bali Hotel and Spa. Suggestions which could be considered by the hotel are expanding cooperation network with offline or online travel agent, reduce the room allotment from offline travel agent to maximize the room sales through hotel website and other travel agencies. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bagyono. 2012. Teori dan Praktek Hotel Front Office (Hotel Front Office Theory and Practically). Bandung: Pearson Alfabeta. Budhiana, Nyoman. Gunung Agung Kembali Meletus Semburkan Asap Setinggi 2500 meter. Available from: https://regional.kompas.com/read/ 2017 /12/23 /12052721 /gunung-agung-kembali-meletus-semburkan-asap-setinggi -2500-meter. Date accessed: 08 June 2018. 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