JP2003030498A - Method for providing information - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information providing method by which a user can negotiate with an accommodations side about a room charge when the room of the accommodations such as a hotel is cancelled. SOLUTION: In this information providing method, a web server 1 whose web site used for this invention is registered, client computers 2 for accommodations, a client computer 3 for a general user and a server computer 4 for a booking center are connected via a network N, respectively.

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information providing method for providing information using a network such as the Internet. In recent years, with the rapid spread of communication networks such as the Internet, electronic commerce using networks has been generally performed. The above-mentioned commercial transactions on the Internet are performed between a side that provides a product or service (hereinafter, referred to as a product, etc.) and a user who receives the product or the like, and the former is performed on a website on the Internet. The detailed information is posted to advertise the product, and the latter receives the information and orders the product to complete the transaction. [0003] Here, the offer price of the above-mentioned products and the like is set in advance by the provider, and the user who receives the offer decides whether or not the price as the price of those products and the like is considerable. Judge and purchase the product. On the other hand, the offer price of the product or the like may fluctuate due to various factors depending on the type of the product or the like. For example, in the case of a product with a best-before date, if the product is not sold within the best-before date, it must be discarded, and the provider of the product wants to sell the product immediately before the best-before date even if it is discounted. In accommodation facilities such as hotels, accommodation expenses are set in advance by accommodation facilities such as hotels.
If a vacant room is created just before the date of accommodation due to a cancellation of a room or the like, the accommodation facility wants to fill the vacant room even if it is lower than a preset fee. However, conventionally, in the case where the cancellation is issued immediately before the accommodation date, the customer who wants to stay cannot obtain such information, and waits until a vacant room is created just before the accommodation date. Despite the disadvantage of the so-called wait-for-cancel, it was not possible to negotiate the accommodation fee with the accommodation facility when staying. The present invention has been made in order to solve the above problems, and provides information for negotiating the accommodation fee with the accommodation facility when the room of the accommodation facility such as a hotel is canceled. The aim is to provide a method. [0006] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a server computer which can be connected to a plurality of client computers via a network. An information providing method configured to be provided to a client computer of each general user, comprising: an information storage procedure for storing price information relating to the provided price in a server computer; An information input procedure for inputting price information related to a desired purchase price by using the information input procedure, a selection procedure for selecting a desired purchase price that satisfies a predetermined standard among the price information input in the above information input procedure, and an information storage processing procedure Price information and the desired purchase price selected in the selection procedure above. Information for providing a matching user with a general user's client computer who has input the desired purchase price selected in the selection procedure, and a matching processing procedure for matching with the price information to be performed. And a provision processing procedure. That is, matching is performed between the price information selected as the desired purchase price that satisfies a predetermined criterion from the desired purchase prices input by the general user and the price information related to the provided price stored in the server computer. And
The matching information in the case where the above matching is achieved is provided to the client computer of the general user who has input the selected desired purchase price. The matching of the selected price information with the price information on the provided price stored in the server computer means that the selected price information meets the requirements of the stored price information on the provided price. Means to judge. An information providing method according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings showing an embodiment of the present invention. In the following description, an information providing method for providing information when an accommodation facility such as a hotel is reserved will be described. FIG. 1 shows a basic configuration of the information providing method of the present invention. In the figure, the information providing method of the present invention includes a web server 1 in which a website used in the present invention is registered, a client computer 2 for accommodation facilities, a client computer 3 for general users, a reservation The center server computers 4 are connected to each other. In the following description, a case where a personal computer is used as the client computer will be described. [0008] Reference numeral 1 denotes a web server managed and operated by a server operator. The storage device of the web server 1 stores a web site used in the present invention. Reference numeral 2 denotes a client computer of an accommodation facility which can be connected to the reservation center server computer 4 via the network N. The client computer 2 transmits and stores the price information on the provided price to the reservation center server computer 4. Reference numeral 3 denotes a general user client computer connected to the web server 1 via the network N, accesses a web site registered in the web server 1 and purchases via the web site. The price information relating to the desired price is transmitted to the server computer 4 for the reservation center to reserve the accommodation facility. Reference numeral 4 denotes a server computer for the reservation center, which stores the price information on the provided price transmitted from the client computer 2 of each accommodation facility, and the price information on the desired purchase price inputted by the general user using his / her own client computer 3. And matching. In the present embodiment, the website stored in the web server 1 has a hierarchical structure or a link structure composed of a plurality of pages by a website control program written in the main storage device of the web server 1. ing. The website control program of the web server 1 is described by a JAVA (registered trademark) script, a UNIX (registered trademark) CGI script, or the like. In the present embodiment, the pages of the website have a hierarchical structure, and a list page linked to each item on the index page is arranged below the index page, and further below each index page. The detailed information of the list page is arranged as a plain text format, a rich text format, or an HTML format file containing image information. An index page P0 shown in FIG. 2 is first displayed on the desktop of each general user's client computer 3 connected to the website constructed as described above via a network N such as the Internet. This page is programmed so that the title screen of the website is displayed and the banner advertisement B and the icons M1, M2, M3, M4 of the respective headlines are displayed. In the present embodiment, the heading icons M1 to M4 are respectively provided with "mark sheet format reservation", "one-shot search", "area search", and "item search". Have been. Further, icons L1, L2, and L3 for displaying the search contents of the item-based search are respectively displayed immediately below the icon M4 of the "item-based search", and further below the icons L1, L2, and L3. , The contents of specific search conditions are displayed. For the icons L1 to L3, search contents of "accommodation form", "accommodation fee", and "facility conditions" are prepared. As specific search conditions of the search content, first, for the “staying form”, the search condition for the lodging form desired by the general user is “room charge inn”, “one night and two meals”. Also, search conditions for “room rental” are prepared. The “room charge” is for selecting a room charge desired by a general user, and in this embodiment, input items of 10,000 yen or less and 10,000 to 40,000 yen or more are prepared. The “facility conditions” are the desired conditions for accommodation facilities desired by general users, and specifically, “inns with natural hot springs”, “inns with open-air baths”, “inns with pools”, “golf reservations” Hotels, hotels where you can book tennis, hotels where you can stay alone, hotels where you can stay with pets, hotels where you can take test students, hotels with disabled facilities, and Western-style accommodation , "Japanese-style inn"
Each search condition is prepared. For example, in order for a general user to execute “search by item” using his / her own client computer 3, a check box of a search condition arranged immediately below each of the icons L 1 to L 3 is checked. Thus, by inputting the search conditions desired by the user and clicking on the "search" icon N1, it is possible to search for accommodation facilities satisfying the conditions desired by the user. FIG. 3 shows a detailed page of the search result of the "search by item". Details page P of this search result
1 displays a search result corresponding to the search condition of the “search by item”. Specifically, "Prefecture", "Place name", "Onsen", "Membership", "Reserved reservation", "Standard reservation", "Hotel name", "Telephone", "Number of rooms", "Form" , “Price”, “Features”, “Parking”, “Open-air bath”, “Pool”, “Golf”, “Tennis”, “Single stay”, “Pet”, “Examinees”, “Disability”, “Traffic” ,"building",
Each search condition result such as “site” is prepared, and each item is displayed in a table format provided in the item display section C. In the column direction of each item, a symbol, Filled out with letters or numbers. Here, the search is performed by extracting accommodation facilities that match the search conditions from a list of accommodation facilities registered in the server computer 4 for the reservation center connected via the network N, This search result is displayed on the desktop of the client computer 3 of the general user. When a list of accommodation facilities is displayed without executing a search, the icon N2 of “List accommodation facilities” is clicked on the index page P0 to display a list of accommodation facilities on the desktop of the client computer 3. . In the detailed page P1 of the search result,
If you click on the icon of an accommodation facility for which the item C1 of "Malgain Reservation" is checked, a reservation page in the form of a mark sheet in which each general user can make a reservation by entering the desired purchase price is displayed. . As shown in FIG. 4, the reservation page in the mark sheet format is provided with an accommodation data entry section D for entering accommodation data such as the number of applicants and the number of guests, and a desired purchase price display section H. The accommodation data entry section D has items for inputting contact information such as "password", "name of applicant", "age", "sex", and "telephone". , "Number of guests", "number of desired rooms" and the like are provided. The desired purchase price display section H is configured in a table format, and includes "one night and two meals" in the line direction.
The conditions of each stay, such as "with breakfast overnight", "without breakfast", and "lunch &break" are described. Further, in the column direction, charge setting items for each of the above items are prepared. To be more specific, in the column direction of “with half board”, “Accommodation fee”
If the price is 23,000 yen, 6
The lower and upper levels are displayed for every 500 yen in the range from 26000 yen to 13000 yen in 20 steps. Similarly, in the column direction of "with breakfast overnight",
"Accommodation fee" for accommodation facilities for 3 people per room is 10,000
If it is a yen, it will be up 6 levels and down 1
In the range of 13,000 yen to 3000 yen in four stages,
In the row direction of "Lunch &Break", if the "room charge" for the accommodation facility using 3 people per room is 7000 yen, 6 levels above and 10 levels below 10,000 yen based on this price. 200
The room charge is displayed within the range of 0 yen. A check box for checking the desired purchase price is provided on each charge side, and a general user simply checks the check box for the charge according to his / her budget and sends it to the reservation center. It is possible to negotiate the fee with the customer. In the present embodiment,
Although the set fee is reduced every 500 yen,
How to set the range of the reduction and the stage of the reduction is up to the website administrator or the accommodation facility. Next, each procedure of the information providing method of the present invention using the website configured as described above will be described in detail. First, a description will be given of an information storage processing procedure for storing price information on a provided price provided by each accommodation facility in the server computer 4 for the reservation center. In this information storage processing procedure, each accommodation facility uses its own client computer 2 to transmit, to the server computer 4 of the reservation center, the vacant room information for each scheduled accommodation date and the price information regarding the offered price at which the vacant room can be provided. The data is transmitted and stored in the main storage device of the server computer 4.
Here, in the present embodiment, the price information relating to the provided price is the minimum price at which the room can be provided when a vacant room is created immediately before the accommodation date due to cancellation or the like (hereinafter referred to as the provided maximum amount). Say. Each time an accommodation facility becomes vacant due to cancellation or the like, the provision limit is transmitted to the server computer 4 and updated by itself by transmitting the vacancy information and the provision limit required to provide the vacancy. It has a configuration. Here, the provision limit transmitted by the accommodation facility to the server computer 4 varies depending on various factors.
For example, if a room is canceled one month prior to the scheduled stay date, it is relatively easy to fill the canceled room, and it is not necessary to set the room rate so low. On the other hand, for example, when the cancellation is made three days before the scheduled accommodation date, the vacant rooms are less likely to be filled and the accommodation fee is set lower than in the case where the cancellation occurs one month before the scheduled accommodation date. There is a need. [0023] Further, the case where the planned staying date is a weekend such as Friday and Saturday, or the end of the year, the beginning of the year, a large holiday, etc.
The needs change on weekdays, and the latter needs to set a lower price compared to the former. In other words, there is a case where the fee setting may be changed depending on the time allowance until the scheduled stay date, the date of the scheduled stay date or the day of the week, and the accommodation facility sets the maximum amount of provision by considering these various factors. The information is transmitted to the server computer 4 of the reservation center. Next, a description will be given of an information input procedure in which each general user inputs price information relating to a desired purchase price using his / her own client computer. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, the general user uses his / her own client computer 3 to execute the web server 1
The user enters the desired purchase price by accessing the website stored in the Web site, and can make a reservation for an accommodation facility. First, in step S1, a general user uses his or her client computer 3 to
And displays an index page P0 of the website shown in FIG. 2 on its own desktop. Next, in step S2, it is selected whether to search for accommodation. Specifically, each general user executes a search by clicking an icon for each search arranged on the index page P0, or does not execute a search by clicking an icon N2 of a list of accommodation facilities. Select your accommodation from the list. When the search is executed, a detailed page of the automatically generated search result that matches the search condition is displayed on the desktop of the general user in step S3. If the accommodation is selected from the list without executing the search, a list of accommodations is displayed in step S13. In step S 4, the general user selects “Maru profit reservation” from the detailed page of the search result or the list of accommodations.
Click on the accommodation facility checked in item C1.
It should be noted that the accommodation facility checked in the item C1 of the “margain reservation” indicates that mark sheet reservation is possible. When an accommodation facility is clicked in step S4, a guidance page (not shown) for the accommodation facility is displayed in step S5, and a reservation page in a mark sheet format shown in FIG. 4 is further displayed. Then, a mark sheet reservation is made in step S6. Specifically, on the mark sheet reservation page, the purchase price desired by the general user is checked in the check box of the charge prepared in advance on the mark sheet reservation page. Note that since only the member can execute the mark sheet reservation, it is determined whether or not the member is a member in step S7, and if not, the mark sheet reservation is executed after completing the enrollment procedure in step S14. Here, the input of the desired purchase price is performed by each general user judging by checking the availability of accommodation facilities. That is, the accommodation fee of each accommodation facility varies greatly depending on whether it is during the season or not, and each general user determines, at his own discretion, the balance between the demand and supply of the accommodation facility and determines the desired purchase price. Check in mark sheet format. The above is the information input procedure. Next, a description will be given of a selection procedure for selecting a desired purchase price that satisfies a predetermined criterion from the price information input in the information input procedure. The desired purchase price input in the above information input procedure is stored in the web server 1 for a predetermined period, and is executed in step S9.
Then, an auction can be conducted with the desired purchase price entered by another general user in the same information input procedure as described above. In addition,
In the present embodiment, the predetermined period is a period from the day when the cancellation occurs to the day before the scheduled staying date,
This period can be arbitrarily set by the website administrator. Then, after the elapse of the predetermined period, in step S10, the purchase price of the general user who sets the highest price among the purchase prices auctioned in the above-described procedure satisfies the predetermined standard. The price is selected and transmitted to the reservation center server computer 4 via the network N. In step S11, the server computer 4 for the reservation center that has received the desired purchase price selected in the above selection procedure performs matching between the price information on the desired purchase price and the price information stored in the information storage processing procedure. Execute the matching processing procedure. Here, the matching is performed by comparing the offer limit provided by the accommodation facility with the purchase price of the general user who has given the highest price in the auction, and when the purchase price is equal to or more than the offer limit. Judgment that the condition is met. Then, in the information provision processing procedure in step S12, the matching information in the case where the matching is achieved in the above-described matching processing procedure is provided to the client computer 3 of the general user who has checked the desired purchase price selected in the selection procedure. I do. That is, the matching information in the case where the above-mentioned matching is achieved is notified to the general user who has input the desired purchase price with the highest price in the auction, and the processing ends. The above-described selection procedure, matching processing procedure, and information providing processing procedure are all web server 1
And a control program stored in a storage device or the like of the server computer 4 for the reservation center. According to the information providing method of the present invention, the accommodation facility provides the vacant room to the user with the highest price selected in the selection procedure among the desired purchase prices input by the general user in the information input procedure. Can be. In addition, for general users, when a room in each accommodation facility is canceled, the information input procedure checks the desired purchase price according to their own budget according to their own budget. Can be negotiated. This allows
In contrast to the one-sided set fee of the conventional accommodation facility, there is a possibility that the user will stay at the desired purchase price, thereby enjoying the negotiation of the fee itself. In addition, there is a feeling of satisfaction when the user can stay at the desired rate, and the traveler can enjoy the trip more comfortably. Each general user can apply for accommodation at a lower rate than usual based on the matching information obtained by the matching, and the website administrator can mediate these accommodation reservations. As a result, a predetermined fee can be obtained from an accommodation facility, a reservation center, or the like. When a reservation is made in a mark sheet format by the information providing method of the present invention, a general user cannot know the desired purchase price entered by another general user. For this reason, even if a general user negotiates at a low price in order to stay at a low price, the purchase desired price of another general user who negotiated at a high price may be selected and the general user may not be able to stay. Further, if negotiating the day before the predetermined period, there is a possibility that the accommodation may be cheaper, while the accommodation may be full during that time. In other words, when the general user reliably reserves the accommodation facility, the accommodation date is 30 days to 60 days.
It is necessary to make a reservation one day in advance, and if you want to stay cheap, you may make a reservation one or two days in advance, but in this case, you may not be able to stay. This selection is made by the general user himself, and there is room for negotiation here. The embodiment of the information providing method of the present invention has been described in detail above. The information providing method of the present invention can be variously modified within the scope of the claims. In the above embodiment, the general user has accessed the website of the present invention using a personal computer as his / her own client computer. Instead, the general user may use a mobile phone such as a mobile phone shown in FIGS. 6 (a) to 6 (d). It is also possible to access the above website using a terminal or a PDA to reserve accommodation facilities. In this case, since the mark sheet reservation page in the tabular form described above is displayed on the portable terminal of the general user, the user checks his / her desired purchase price on the tabular reservation page, and sends it to the reservation center server computer 4. It is possible to transmit, and there is no need to bother to input the desired purchase price with the mobile terminal, which has the effect of making the input operation easier. In the above embodiment, only the negotiation of the accommodation fee with the accommodation facility has been described.
The information providing method of the present invention can be used for an application for an overseas or domestic tour, an application for ticket purchase, an application for article purchase (regardless of mail order or direct sales), and the like. According to the present invention, a server computer which can be connected to a plurality of client computers via a network can provide price information on a provision price of goods or services to client computers of general users. A configured information providing method,
An information storage procedure for storing price information relating to the offer price in a server computer, an information input procedure in which each general user inputs price information relating to a desired purchase price using his / her own client computer, and an input procedure using the information input procedure A selection procedure of selecting a desired purchase price that satisfies a predetermined criterion from the obtained price information, matching of the price information stored in the information storage processing procedure with the price information on the desired purchase price selected in the above selection procedure And an information providing procedure for providing matching information obtained when matching is performed in the matching procedure to the client computer of a general user who has input the desired purchase price selected in the selection procedure. It is characterized by having. That is, the matching between the price information selected as the desired purchase price that satisfies the predetermined criterion among the desired purchase prices input by the general user and the price information related to the provided price stored in the server computer is achieved. Therefore, each general user can at least input his / her desired purchase price and can negotiate price information on the offer price of the product or service. As a result, the conventional accommodation rate was set unilaterally by the accommodation facility side, but the effect that ordinary users can freely negotiate with the accommodation facility side at the desired accommodation rate according to their own budget. is there. Further, since the matching information in the case where the matching has been achieved is provided to the client computer of the general user who has input the selected desired purchase price, each general user provided with the matching information also obtains the matching information. In addition, there is an effect that goods or services can be provided. [0040]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a basic configuration of an information providing method of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a screen configuration diagram showing an index page of a website used in the present invention. FIG. 3 is a screen configuration diagram of a detailed page of a search result of a website used in the present invention. FIG. 4 is a screen configuration diagram of a reservation page in a mark sheet format of a website used in the present invention. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a procedure of the information providing method of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a screen configuration diagram showing a case where the information providing method of the present invention is displayed on a mobile phone screen of a website. [Description of Signs] 1 Web server 2 Client computer for accommodation facility 3 Client computer for general user 4 Server computer for reservation center

Claims (1)

Claims 1. A server computer which can be connected to a plurality of client computers via a network so as to provide price information on a provision price of goods or services to each general user client computer. An information storage processing procedure for storing price information related to the provided price in a server computer, and information input in which each general user inputs price information related to a desired purchase price using his / her own client computer. A selection procedure for selecting a desired purchase price that satisfies a predetermined criterion from the price information input in the information input procedure; a price information stored in the information storage processing procedure; Matching process for matching with the price information on the desired purchase price And an information providing process for providing matching information when matching is achieved in the matching process to the client computer of a general user who has input the desired purchase price selected in the selection process. Information provision method.