The Use of the Internet and the Hospitality of Hotels In The Old Royal Road

The research presents a diagnosis using the internet and hospitality in hotels of Old Royal Road path in the scope of Ouro Preto (Minas Gerais) to Paraty (Rio de Janeiro) as a competitive edge, and that affects the volume of Bookings for these hotels. A study of 17 hotels in seven (7) cities in the Old Royal Road was made. The survey found the relationship between hotels and their customers, forms of dissemination of projects and realization of reserves, as well as knowledge of managers regarding the implementation and expansion of Internet use. The research method is a multiple-case survey with semi-structured interviews. Observation of processes and document analysis were used for data collection adopted in the preparation of this work. Respondents were hotel managers and owners, case study object. The research also demonstrates the considerable growth of internet use in hotels surveyed, the features of websites, and especially the business opportunities to increase competitiveness. Using technology to research and compare prices, brands, forms of payment, and detailed information on the products and services without leaving home seduces the consumer. The hotel industry is also increasingly integrating with the virtual world process and getting hit with customers.


Introduction
The Internet, initially set up to manage information between US universities in the 1960s and 1970s, developed significantly and is currently inserted at all times of social and economic life.The world today is in constant transformation, with each new generation changing the ways of relating and living in society.And our generation will be strongly marked by the changes caused by the Internet and its importance.She brought new forms of communication, instant messengers like MSN and Skype, and their patterns of communication, e-mail, social networks, etc., among others, are tools in internet-based systems that enabled a revolution in how We communicate with other people and businesses.This is a very positive point because it cheapens the cost of communication and has the closest people.
But there is a downside to the digital divide: many people need access.Although the technology involving the Internet has existed for some time, only now, in recent years, it has begun to expand and influence society.This is because each day brings access to faster and different ways to connect to the Internet.
Currently, the Internet is the medium of communication and entertainment used by people.Also, it can be used for work, study, and even shopping without leaving home, enabling you to find prices at the best shops.With each passing day, more influence in people's lives, even for those who have never used or do not know how it works.
The Internet is a global network that connects millions of computers worldwide of various types and sizes, makes and models, and with different operating systems therefore, , is an easy and inexpensive way to make computers distant to communicate with each other.Despite having a relatively short life, the Internet is a significant factor in communication, social integration, storage of information of all kinds, and globalization products.Since the internalization of the Internet, which started in the 1980s and 1990s, the world sees every year an increasing number of people who use it for everything from leisure and hobby to commercial and banking transactions, reaching even to its use to define where family will stay on your next vacation or where an executive, traveling to a city to host during its meetings.
Given the information's growth, Internet users have also increased significantly.The Internet is considered extremely important in various segments, and corporate use is no different.It has become rare to find a company that does not have computers with Internet access today, even if such companies are outside the computer area itself, but the best performance depends on it.The importance of the Internet in business is unique, and knowing how to take advantage of it has been a challenge.The internet is growing significantly in communication, advertising and marketing, and business.It has also been very helpful in reducing costs, for example, telephony, sales staff, printed communication, folders, and catalogs, among others.
The internet also makes it possible to apply new working ideas.These include sales with online retailers.Changes in communication between employees of the same company and between customers and service providers, through various communications software, e-mails, and the like, achieve new market points and the most remote places.Another issue that concerns many companies is keeping up with recent trends.Something which is also facilitated by the Internet, as lagging in the new "moment" of no interest to any company, and many have favored the Internet to keep up with new trends in the market or even to analyze competitors' strategies.
The hotel sector also checks up on this phenomenon, which has directed hotel owners to integrate this virtual world.However, there is still some concern about the realization of online shopping because of the insecurity in the operations and the possibility of violation of privacy.Specifically, for the hotel industry, it is known that the distribution process of tourist services needs to get their facilities for buying and selling between those who produce the service and those who consume it, especially in Brazil.
Against this background, this research sought to examine whether the use of the internet and the hotels of the cities of the Old Royal Road path is performed as a competitive edge and how it influences the volume of reserves.It was a multiple-case survey that surveyed fourteen hotels in the region.In this study, we observed the relationship between hotels and their customers, forms of dissemination of projects, and realization of reserves, as well as managers' knowledge regarding the implementation and expansion of Internet use.The survey also shows the growth of internet usage in these hotels, the functionality of the websites, and especially opportunities for that use.

Theoretical Basis
Although Brazil is a country with significant tourist potential, particularly for natural resources and with a more concentrated hospitality structure in the states of the Southeast and South, Badiz and Barros (2010) state that Brazil still has little tradition in the hotel industry, the principle of which was given to the small inns of Portuguese immigrants, family run.
To develop and support this research, the key elements were tourism catering, hospitality, internet, and competitiveness.A typological framework of this referenced approach is shown below for ease of understanding and perception.In

Tourism
According to the Brazilian Tourism Institute (Embratur), quoted by Vicenti (2003), tourism is generated by the temporary and voluntary movement of people out of the boundaries of the region where they have permanent residence, for whatever reason, provided they do not is to develop gainful activity on the site to be visited.
Tourism is the movement of people is a social, economic, and cultural phenomenon that involves people.It is a branch of the social sciences and not of economics; although the latter may be the reason for such a move, tourism transcends mere spheres of relations in the trade balance.Tourism has further leveraged from World War II (1936)(1937)(1938)(1939)(1940)(1941)(1942)(1943)(1944)(1945) in the modern world.According to Cavalcanti (1997), many reasons increased the practice of tourism in the second half of the twentieth century, such as more accessible time and much attachment to other cultural forms of life, the creation of international organizations to facilitate tourism exchanges among countries; and the rapid development and modernization of transport and telecommunications.
Tourism is the activity of the tertiary sector, the fastest growing in Brazil and worldwide, moving, directly or indirectly, more than $ 6 trillion (Enbratur, 2018  2007), the hotel is part of an essential mechanism of a service system available to the tourism industry, which has evolved to be a complex organization that requires technical and specialized administration.The tour builds a system of meanings for things to bequeath pleasure travelers.This construction establishes relationships between life, past material, landscape, and customs and the reality of those looking for fun, knowledge, and everyday escape.Recognize a tourist as space is to develop a cultural construction.It is to give sense and meaning to things and customs of different times and different tourist people.This process forms a narrative that guides the search of every traveler and anticipates the pleasures that can be pursued and achieved.
According to Sebree (2018), Brazil still occupies the 13th position in world tourism among the countries where more people travel.The data is based on a study by the World Travel and Tourism Council conducted in 181 countries in 2018.The same study puts the country as the champion in the tourism economy in Latin America.The survey also places Brazil among the top 10 countries in terms of tourism GDP (10th place), in generating direct jobs and indirect industry (7th place), generating direct jobs in the sector (5th place), and speed growth in infrastructure investments (5th place).To bring the country to this joyous moment in our economy, there are public and private initiatives to prepare Brazilian businessmen better to manage their tourism business, such as the Brazilian Support Service for Micro and Small Enterprises (Sebrae).
One of the pillars of tourism sustainability is rural, dependent on development cooperation procedures (Mielke and Handles, 2012).Although it does not constitute a determining factor, rural tourism has been commonly associated, in Brazil and the world, with that which develops in rural areas or protects nature and often focuses on locations of territorial disputes.Tourist activity has been seen by a wide range of actors from sectors of the State as the own local populations, as a way of activating rural economies affected by the challenges of urbanization processes.
One of the segments of tourism that has been treated in many countries, and most incisively by the European Union, is vital for local development associated with the countryside as with the area of the Old Estrada Real way.Sheep (1998) draws attention to the fact that proactivity in tourism activities has new dimensions in that it opens possibilities for new models to develop the management process of tourist resources.
The geography of tourism aims to study space, relationships and phenomena arising from travel and temporary stays of people, mainly for recreational and leisure purposes (Mitchell, 1994), it describes further that the geography of tourism is concerned with recreational use patterns and travel, as occurs in space.The scholarly overview of the geography linked to tourism examines the destination relating to supply and connections in the foreground space and, subsequently, concepts involving the structure and distribution of the entire process behind the decisions and actions of tourists and other stakeholders of the tourism industry.
As for the planning process of the sights, according to Oliveira and Angels (2013), it should have the systemic vision assumption, enabling the understanding of the complexity of the natural world, and complementing the design of a tourism destination depending on the integrated and interdisciplinary planning, that produces a balance of the whole, constituting a determining factor which takes place the process of expansion of a city characterized tourism as an economic source of destination.Cracolicia and Nijkamp (2008) argue that a tourist destination is no longer a distinct assemblage of natural, cultural, and environmental resources, assuming a new reality of a new global product attractive and available in one location.
An essential element and having a more specific look by tourism agencies in Brazil is related to domestic tourism.According to research (FIPE; MTUR, 2014) on the characterization and sizing of domestic tourism in Brazil, 57.7% of Brazilian domestic trips take place between December and February, and this restriction of choice of travel period is justified by the holiday period, as argued by approximately 50% of respondents in this research, which strengthens the need for more exposure to the public in the area surveyed.
Research shows the results as a dynamic process and facilitating tourist transactions.Arrow and Damiani (2000) speak of the revolution that the tourism sector has suffered and is suffering from introducing the internet in its processes.Some impacts are the distribution of products and services and decreased costs.Still, Ramos and Mendes Filho (2002) point out that tourism, together with hotels, rely increasingly on new information technologies, among them the Internet, so you can follow and catch up with tools for the efficient performance of the functions each hotel sector, providing better results for the organization.
Therefore, tourism is a global reality, and places never visited become part of tourist itineraries of the most diverse forms.And the internet has contributed effectively and is a convenient tool.Tourism is growing, too, with the advancement of media and information exchange.In addition, income from international tourism data is constantly increasing.According to Youell (2002, p.18-19) tourist activity reached growth rates higher than those of commercial services and goods exports and overcoming other vital factors in exports.
Tourism, as understood by Ramos Mendes Filho (2002), assists in the social integration of communities, cities, different peoples, and nations, enabling a person to know a place elsewhere and their culture.The internet can be helpful to extend this integration, generating a positive effect between tourism and the internet.
The term refers to Estrada Real paths taken by settlers since the discovery of gold in Minas Gerais to the period of their exhaustion.A Walk that Road is a return to history, it is back in the time of drovers who came on their horses, and adults and children were party with the arrival of tropeirada.Those who live by these guard bands remember when gold flowed to the ground and welcome no one who comes to these stops.

Hospitality and internet
Speaking of hospitality is to say also in tourism.Both overlaps.Abreu and Oliveira (2001), both elements come together because tourism implies displacement, transportation, and staying in a different location from where the person resides.If someone goes on a journey, you want to be housed in a comfortable place, and because of, there are hotels.Show that hospitality is a service industry with its organizational characteristics whose primary purpose is hosting, security, food, and other services related to the activity to receive (La Torre, 2001).
Therefore, as has La Torre (2001), we see that the primary organization of hotel management is to be in constant harmony with the guests to know their desires, wishes, and needs.At the beginning of this millennium, the tourism sector generated about 1 million jobs and a gross income of US $ 2 billion a year, as mentioned by Morrison and Teixeira (2004), based on data from Embratur (2018), the current level of employment and segment income is much more significant.Data from Nunes (2010) show that the tourism market is expected to become the largest in operation by 2020 and will move to $ 5 billion per day worldwide.According to the Brazilian Hotel Industry Association (ABIH), sales of national hotels can reach $ 2 billion a year.Also, in Morrison and Teixeira (2004), we see that the hotel industry is the fourth largest employer in the country by its revenues come from tourist spending on accommodation, food, drinks, and use of services such as telephone, laundry, rent room for events, among others.
The Brazilian Hotel Industry Association (ABIH) points out that the hotel sector has assets worth around US $ 10 billion and annual revenues of about $ 2 billion.The data of the detailed study of the Brazilian hotel industry, Business Daily, also attests that there are about 22,000 lodging facilities in the country.Petrocchi (2002) defines the tourism product into three parts: transportation, lodging, and attractiveness as leisure or any other motivation for the trip.Thus, the hotel is one of the primary factors of tourism.Where there is no accommodation (hotel, hostel, B & B), there is no tourism.This property is an integral part of tourism, it has also evolved -and must continue to evolve -to exercise its leading role in the business chain.
As reported Serson (1999) excellence in hospitality is associated with the issue of service and hospitality.In the universe of small hotel companies, Petrocchi (2002) sees a warning: more important than the location, the proposal, or the size of the hotel, in any endeavor, the quality of services must prevail.
If the internet provides the union of nations and people and extends to an infinite level of business possibilities in the tourism industry, it is not without its importance.The tourism industry suffered a real impact with the introduction of the Internet as a business generator.This fact drove a character of extreme competition in the sector and also generated growth.
There is a need for tourism organizations to heed the fact that the exponential growth forecast of tourist business via the web is to the detriment of conventional means.According to the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA), American Society of Travel Agents, Travel agencies must change to suit the future of the tourism industry.Using the internet, they can both compete more advantageously and will be prepared for the future, which will focus on online sales.
As for the viability of the Internet, Janissek (2000) explains that it allows the hotel industry, small or large, to create and maintain contacts with partners, customers, and suppliers spread geographically as well as decreases dislocation needs for information, allowing more excellent and better communication, helping to consolidate contacts and dissemination of business, and facilitating the company's participation in a global perspective.
With this view, too, Arrow and Damiani (2000) understand that the opportunities to do business over the internet (e-commerce) in the tourism industry, like what happens in other sectors, is still a "gold mine" little explored in addition to not having all your resources fully utilized.The importance of the Internet for the tourism sector is also highlighted by Vicenti and Hoppen (2003).In the opinion of both, the tourist service, before the actual sale, is the information that needs to be made viable and crafted to explain the business benefits and boost the effective sale.Regarding the tourism market, which has a potential representative for the country's economy, the effective use of media such as the Internet in their processes becomes the differential and half for the survival of many tourism organizations.The tourism industry has information as a key factor for their business, in this information needs to match customer desires because of the speed of the market and customer requirements.
As for the Internet's impacts on the tourism sector, Arrow and Damiani (2000) understand that in addition to streamlining their processes and facilitating the distribution of goods and services at a lower cost, the World Wide Web has also brought about the transformation of environments purchase for virtual rooms, in which there is the interactivity with the consumer and the transactions necessary for their satisfaction, now reigning the need for continuous improvements in media's relationship with the user.
For Freire (2008), customer users have become the highest authorities regarding tourism.Therefore, the author also argues that tourism businesses to enter the world of social networks and monitor the behavior of potential customers.The Internet, he said, will give interactivity and communication, essential for today's businesses.Business events such as techno tourist highlight the tourism ratio versus the internet.This fair brought together travel industry professionals to discuss "Technology Applied to Tourism." The meeting discussed the new uses of social networking and online tools for the sector's growth.According to Teixeira (2010), quoting Professor Marcelo Coutinho, the Getulio Vargas Foundation, stressed the importance of the internet in the market, "she came to reduce consumers' uncertainties, [...] with it, the consumer has the power to speak on equal terms with the company " (Teixeira, 2010).The show discussed the use of social networks like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube and the impact it generates in the tourist business, where the customer of a hotel, for example, was not well attended and publishes their complaints on the Internet, influencing, according to Teixeira (2010), the decision to future customers.
For Teixeira (2010), quoting Mário Ponticelli, Amadeus, this technological event understands that the internet has made consumers increasingly informed, using it to get the best services at the lowest prices.So, according to the expert cited by Teixeira (2010), the experience of the journey becomes increasingly hightech thanks to social networks, new gadgets, all these new technological elements that bring advantages to a trip.
Brazil is going through extensive media exposure generated by the capture, promotion and realization of mega-events.Despite attracting an increasingly eclectic crowd, the various profiles of interest to sports, religious, cultural, scientific, and natural events, global trends in the tourism sector have been repeatedly proven, attracted by society.One is the increasing use of digital media, the internet, for planning, purchasing, and sharing the experience of traveling for foreign tourists visiting the country or the tourist site.In Europe, for example, 32% of Internet users made purchases online holiday travel this year, according to data from Eurostat.Five years ago, the figure was 21%.Also, according to the consultancy, 75% of people between 16 and 74 years of the European Economic Community use the Internet, and of those, 59% had some online shopping this year.
Information technology offers a new paradigm to the media in the tourism sector.New forms of customer interaction and new ways of selling and purchasing tourism products and services.Arrow and Damiani (2000) demonstrate the potential of using e-marketing in tourism processes, focusing on cost, profitability, and quality.Moreover, it highlights the need for organizations to anticipate the binding of its services and tourist destinations on the web process to avoid losing the market.In the case of tourism, the site needs to be a "showcase" for the consumer, denoting all the vast amount of tourism elements.The Internet as a strategy for tourism marketing is an indispensable tool for the organization to differentiate low-cost, face the environment, and anticipate competitors.
Lobiano (2001) warns, in turn, that e-marketing applied to tourism is strategically essential for its success since the potential of this tool is operated effectively and consistently to the tourist processes.According to Pereira and Maia (2002) the tourism sector can benefit from using the Internet because there is a potential to cut their transaction costs substantially.In addition, the Internet brings a lot of business opportunities and challenges for businesses operating in the tourism industry, especially for those who intend to work in a market segment and distribute their products/services via the Internet.
In this context, it is worth noting that the strategy and the decision to invest in digital media, including the actions to promote Brazil as an international tourist destination, earn every day more relevant in the planning process of public and private organizations.Embratur has been expanding its digital communications actions recently by launching applications, advertising, and public relations products and services to enhance its excellent performance.
The need for the Internet in tourism is urgent because the customer only has information before traveling and staying in one spot.The vast possibilities of interaction disclosure images, data, and videos allow the characters of the tourism sector to 'win' the customer inside your home through the computer.The customer can check the hotel's location, apartment price, quality photos, and tourist information about the area and other facilities through the web.Nowadays, through a hotel's website, the customer can consult online hotel rates room availability and confirm the reservation for the period you will be staying (Mendes Son and Ramos 2001).
The internet is present at all journey stages: from research to booking, recording the images to sharing information.Digital media have been consolidated in recent years as the primary source of information for foreign and Brazilian tourists, according to research from the Ministry of Tourism (2012).Every hour, Internet users worldwide perform 625,000 searches on Google site travel, according to company data.Because of the importance of the internet for the traveler, the Ministry of Tourism invests in its nine social media, an essential means of exchanging information with citizens and the traveler.
With the growing number of people with Internet access and the use of smartphones and tablets practically incorporated into the day to day lives, we can expand our actions of digital communication, seeking to connect more directly with various stakeholders in visit Brazil, our culture, our gastronomy, and our people.

Hospitality and Competitiveness
The study of cultural and social dimensions in hospitality establishes three key points.First, the hospitality relationship is an essential and defining characteristic of all societies and communities.Second, a study of hospitality traditions in modern industrial societies suggests that cultural and religious obligations, both the host and guest, do not have the same meaning they once had.That said, there are many contemporary societies in which these obligations to welcome and protect guests are still significant power players in setting civilized behavior.Third, the commitment to be hospitable can provide a framework to inform the conduct of front-line operations in bars, hotels, restaurants, and other hospitality industry sectors.
Although there are cultural and social expectations about hospitality, which set broad rules on both the treatment of guests by the hosts and the behavior of customers when they are being hosted, practice hospitality is experienced mainly in private domestic environments.Entertain family and friends for dinner, offering drinks to visitors, and even the lodge are common in most societies Ashley Mitchell (2008).Usually, people, therefore, experience the condition of the other guests in houses of families and, being hosts when others come to your home, the rituals associated with the hosts and hosting behavior is itself a subject worthy of study.
Rules on guests contributing to the host, such as wine, gifts, or dishes to be consumed, are worthy of study in all communities.In some cases, the guest who will come for dinner without the contribution of a bottle of wine would be considered as lacking generosity and enjoying the host.In other cases, the host may be offended by the guest who arrives with wine and food, etc., because it suggests that servers cannot afford to entertain guests.Indeed, those obligations and expectations are broadly shared by sharing cultural and social norms that is appropriate (Lashley, Lynch & Morrison, 2007a).
According to Selwin (2004, p.26) hospitality is a set of behaviors originating in the very basis of society, whose primary function is establishing or strengthening existing relationships.In this sense, Camargo (2004, p. 19) shows that hospitality is the human act of (...) to receive, host, feed, and entertain people temporarily displaced from their habitat.In this way, hospitality becomes an act of closer relations among people, as Lashley and Morrison (2004) are divided into three areas based on scenarios where these activities occur: in social environments, private and commercial, according to Figure 1 below.Tourism and hospitality operators can improve business performance and customer satisfaction with management practices that fit into emotional intelligence practices.According to Longhorns (2004), the study also explored the impact of emotional intelligence on dozens of managers in equal service groups.It found that managers with higher emotional intelligence scores were positively related to improved profit performance, customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, and team performance, providing a competitive advantage for their businesses.
Improvements in operational performance through recruitment and training practices, as well as monitoring the quality of performance and service that use emotional intelligence as a significant business concern, can be introduced constantly in services.Inside the hotel market performance, which may lead to the competitive advantage in an environment where change and observed the domain processes for performance improvement through the operational services of back office (housekeepers, maintenance staff, kitchen and security, etc.), the social domain front office (receptionists porters, messengers, butlers, waiters, event coordinators and recreation monitors, among others), as well as the marketing domain itself, through the areas of controlling, procurement, audit areas supporting operation such as human resources, marketing and others.
The provision of services and the perceived quality attributes are considered whose travel motivation is not strictly leisure but business.Thus, those motivated by business travel have specific needs to be met by those staying as transport recommendations and urban mobility means concerning allocation or specialized services.
Several initiatives have emerged, including partnerships with multiple stakeholders, multilateral aid agencies, international business, and philanthropy conservation.These initiatives involve partnerships between local companies, NGO communities, government, and other stakeholders in developing countries with global companies, aid agencies, and financial institutions (Raufflet et al., 2008).Complexity and interdependence among stakeholders resulted in the creation of many local tourism marketing alliances for competitiveness gains (Palmer and Bejou, 1995).When the product involves multiple vendors and distributors, like a typical destination in tourism, strategic consistency and coordination between those who use it become critical to your success.
Tourism involves the provision of goods or services to facilitate business activities, pleasure, and leisure away from the home environment.From a stakeholder's perspective, a destination can be seen as an open social system, with interdependent stakeholders having multiple choices.The networking, alliances, partnerships, collaboration, and clustering represent more effective strategies than those incorporated into the business by simplistic and conventional models.
Hospitality can be seen as a competitive differentiator for hotel companies.However, according to Lashley and Morrison (2004), the market sees it as uniting the provision of services offering facilities without creating social ties as the guests are free of retribution, as observed in the other two hospitality scenarios.It is also said to be a mistake to believe that only the set of premises is enough to make the guest feel inclined to relate to the service provider to the author; the desire on the part of service providers is needed to achieve this relationship.
Therefore, in the context of hospitality, hospitality is not just, for example, the welcome at the reception sector.Still, the perception of the quality of infrastructure, comfort of the facilities, and all the services consumed lived and experienced by customers throughout their stay.All contacts with the collaborators of a particular hotel are seen as possible generation of value factors leading to local competitiveness.This amount can generate better positioning for the hotel project, recommendations to new customers from those who experience this differential and renew the potential customer base.
Still on the customer contact with employees of the hotel company, Matos, Alves and Wada (2012) point out that it is expanding the perspective of observation to other hospitality activities; you can associate the personal characteristics of the employees to the factors which are perceived by users who propitious strategies and lead to competitive advantage.Regarding elements that make up the business strategy, Porter (1986, p.17) considers fundamental factors for the company's success, which determine what the company can achieve high performance.In his opinion, the organization constantly seeks to understand four determining factors for success: Strengths and weaknesses of the company, threats and opportunities of the market sector, and personal values of key decision makers.In a complementary way, Hamel and Prahalad (1997, p.18) state that the search for competitiveness involves the restructuring of the portfolio, promoting re-engineering processes and establishing continuous improvement, reinventing its industry, and regenerating their strategies, so shaping the future for the firm (Prahalad, 2006).
The hospitality industry arises from a paradox between generosity, social-cultural rules, and the market.The offer of commercial hospitality, according to Lashley (2004), [...] depends on reciprocity based on monetary exchange and the guest satisfaction concession boundaries [...] "which leads to impacts on the perception of hospitality by guest/customer and the service provider.
Skills in hospitality management and strategic planning are critical and imperative to acting in a competitive environment.They, therefore, should be applied throughout the hotel organization, both senior managers and middle managers and front-line employees.As a result, strategic planning and hospitality skills are considered basic needs in a new corporate vision.As presented by Christou (2002) the disposal problems and the process of maintaining positive relationships with customers, too, are essential skills identified for the complete management of the hotel industry.Other strategic dimensions include quality management, systems design, process improvement, teamwork, enterprise policy, strategy analysis, and sustainability.
As Porter (2011) mentions, other competitive factor begins with the question of location, which, due to observations of competitive advantages through the provision of inputs such as labor, natural resources, and capital abundance, highlights, as well as a competitive factor, the availability of urban mobility services, passenger terminals such as airports, etc. and its distance about big cities and hotels.
Competitiveness is always one step ahead of your competition, dictating the sector's future as a strategic architecture and needs to be better prepared.It has little value without the ability to turn intellectual leadership into market leadership and do it before its rivals.Getting the future first may allow a company to establish a virtual monopoly on a new specific product category.(Hamel and Prahalad, 1997, p.205).

Methodological Procedures
The study was based on a multiple case research method because it is limited to research the same phenomenon in a group activity of the same organization and continuous area and a period.According to Yin (2001), it is an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon with its contours outlined in the real world when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not evident and in which multiple sources of evidence are used.
Considering its objective, this study was characterized as exploratory and descriptive.It is exploratory because its primary purpose was to develop, clarify, and modify concepts and ideas to formulate more consistent approaches to the development of further studies.It is descriptive since the authors sought to describe reality as it is without worrying about changing it (Gil, 1987;Selltiz et al., 1987).
Respondents were owners and managers of seventeen hotels surveyed as the object of this research.Composed of 68 semi-structured interviews applied throughout the 2018/19 year, from December (2018) to March (2019), with an average duration of two hours each.Data analysis was performed to group the results by hierarchical level in hotels, which ensured alignment of perceptions by groups of people with profiles with similar characteristics and responsibilities.All scientific work requires the skill of your executor, a knowledge or a curiosity that moves to discover new knowledge, new realities, and new ways also point to further studies.
For this study, we used the methodology based on the multiple-case survey approach proposed by Yin (2005).It has a qualitative and exploratory nature.It is qualitative concerning their process, given the nature of social science and how to address issues involving the search.It is experimental concerning its purposes and research because it seeks to become familiar with the phenomenon studied and/or obtain a new understanding.To Gil (1991) exploratory analysis is centered on a study that aims to provide greater familiarity with the problem researched to make it explicit or build from it a chance.Thus, its nature will be based on non-probability samples.
The research is an exploratory target for increasing knowledge on the subject to be studied, leading to improved experience.It is seen that exploratory research is all research that seeks to find something in an organism or a phenomenon.Work is also descriptive because the facts are observed, recorded, analyzed, classified, and interpreted, aiming at describing the known characteristics of the problem without the researcher interfering with them.
To Yin (2005), qualitative research involves a wide variety of empirical materials: case studies, personal experiences, life stories, insights reports, productions and cultural artifacts, interactions, and short materials that describe the routine and the meaning of human life in groups.
theory is compared with the results of each case, analogously to what occurs in the experiments.
In this sense, this research was conducted by collecting data from owners and 17 hotels in the Old Royal Road path in the scope of Ouro Preto (Minas Gerais) to Paraty (Rio de Janeiro) that have web pages to check the following: a) the use of the Internet as a marketing tool; b) the Internet's influence on the volume of reserves.
For structured data collection, scripts were used to identify issues that enable knowledge of the use or not of internet marketing and how they are working with this instrument.They were also asked questions for better clarification by the leaders of the subjects they dealt with.
For a better understanding of the strategies used by hotels in the capture of guests, the survey also addresses the general characteristics of the people who frequent hotels, the motives that they bring to the region, and what forms affect their reserves with establishments.The script also generates information on the hotels' means for promotion and dissemination and which documents are used for communicating with the target audience.
We sought to investigate the differences in position between establishments regarding the use of the Internet, and there is an understanding of the benefits this tool can bring to the business.Data to support this research were collected as follows: a literature review helpful for building the theoretical framework through books, articles, and the Internet.Data for analyzing the study of the object were collected through questions to selected professionals.The choice of script is grounded by Demo (2000), which recommends using methodological support during its execution so that the speech of someone does not turn into subjective contexts.At the request of the hotels, they need to spell out their real names.

Analysis And Results
As Abreu Oliveira (2001) warns, 50% of tourist spending refers to accommodation, i.e., hotels, so it is essential to serve that customer well.In the above context, the intense exchange of information between companies and firms for tourists/guests/customers acquires importance in various organizational processes, especially in decision-making.
In this script, containing twelve questions, we sought to determine the consciousness of the owner or manager of the hotel project on the company's disclosure on the internet, which means used to communicate with their customers, and which are the most used forms for the realization of reserves.

The Old Royal Road
With many stories to tell, the old way was the first route officially opened by the Portuguese Crown to traffic between the Rio de Janeiro coast and the mining region.Estrada Real refers to the path settlers took from the discovery of gold in Minas Gerais to the period of their exhaustion.Are locations that combine the typical culture of Minas Gerais, a mix of indigenous, African, and European roots.This wealth is responsible for attractions such as the unique architecture of Ouro Preto, gastronomy internationally recognized Tiradentes, the large spas Circuit of Water, and the latent culture of Paraty.
The 710 km of the Old Way of Royal Road is divided into 27 sheets, wherein the tourist can have a good experience in each section.10% of 710 km is asphalted (75.5 Km), 1.5% of paving (10 km), and 6% of the trail (38 km).The other 82.5% are dirt roads (586.5 Km).Down the stretch of asphalt or trail:  Source: http://www.estradareal.tur.brThe seventeen hotels surveyed in seven cities, marked in Figure 3, below, are: Ouro Preto, Lafaiete Advisor, Sao Joao del Rei, Carrancas, Baependi, Guaratingueta and Parati.Tourists must be cautious in the notes field of the sheets, especially in track sections, where it will track status information and the possibility of how to do it.Those who will go towards Ouro Preto to Paraty will have the altimeter in their favor, as it comes out of 1200 meters to sea level.Yet the journey oscillates with short and long hikes, totaling 320 km, the most striking between Chapel Bag the Carrancas and Guaratingueta Cunha.For much of the route, there is little choice with shaded areas, especially from Sao Joao del Rei to Cruzília.
Those who go towards Paraty to Ouro Preto will have the altimeter as an enemy because it goes from sea level to 1,200 in Ouro Preto.Yet the journey oscillates with short and long hikes, totaling 319 km, the most striking of Paraty to Cunha, Vila do Embau the Passa Quatro and St. Bartholomew Ouro Preto.It is a walk that road is a return to history; it is back in the time of drovers who came on their horses, and adults and children were party with the arrival of drovers Those who live by these guard bands in mind the time when gold flowed to the ground and welcomed as no one who comes to these stops.
Many passages can be traversed in Estrada Real, and each script hides historical, cultural, and natural beauty treasures.In these trials, men and women of varied order sought spaces of survival and production of goods and, in the search, built life, memory, and history.Go down these paths is slash and penetrate a pleasure and everyday escape route.The old way of the Royal Road was once a place where gold lived; today, it is a gold mine for tourism.It has attractions for ecotourists, those interested in history, horseback riding lovers, and hiking.A considerable benchmark for hotel companies.
The tourist experience, although permeated with prior information, is unique and surprisingly built on the trip and lodging.One should not give up this wonderful experience and not allow easy pictures of tourist brochures overcome the light of day, the sound of the night, the smell of the earth, the beauty of the forests, the cool breeze of the hills, the vividness of the splendor stones the dusk and sunset these parts.
The old way of the Estrada Real is a cultural construction with all its historical significance and preserves his memory.The hotels generate investments so you can provide the tourist information and structure so that you can experience an unforgettable and the tourist reciprocated love with the natural environment here lived experience.

Hotels
Seventeen hotels in the area were analyzed, of which: in Ouro Preto 4 hotels, in Lafaiete 2 hotels, in Sao Joao del Rei 3 hotels, in Carrancas 1 hotel, in Baependi 1 hotel, in Guaratingueta 2 hotels and Parati 4 hotels.The hotels were chosen for their characteristics as the provision of services for all besides the apartments have a place for events and conventions; that is, any guest can select one of these hotels, be it for walking, business, or other reasons that the It made staying in the area.As for the room hotels categorized into two types, Luxury (7 hotels) and Inns (10 hotels); they are designed to give comfort and safety to guests in both categories.
All rooms categorized as luxury hotels are equipped with electronic safes, cable TV, desks, split air conditioning, soundproof windows, and a minibar.The hotels have services that include colonial breakfast, broadband in the apartments (plug and play), wireless in public areas and function rooms, games room, movie room, TV room, access to the business center, pools, playground, chauffeur service 24h, special tours, rural activities, among others.They also have apartments adapted for people with special needs.
As for the categories of guests who attend these hotels, the companies presented are sought mainly by tourists on vacation, families on short trips, congress participants, fairs, and other events.Of these hotels, 70% have participated on the Internet since 2001, the other since 2004.The site of the hotels is easy to navigate and provides general information about the hotel, weather reservations online, etc.
The categorized hotels, like Bed 5 are equipped with electronic safes, cable TV, desk, split air conditioning, minibar, and services that include colonial breakfast, broadband in the apartments, wireless in public areas and game rooms, TV room, swimming pool, playground, and others.They also have apartments adapted for people with special needs.The other Hostels 3 are equipped with cable TV, desks, split air conditioning, refrigerators, and services that include colonial breakfast, broadband in the rooms, wireless in public areas and games room, TV room, and ecological trails.The remaining two are equipped with cable TV, fans, refrigerators, and services that include colonial breakfast, broadband in the apartments, wireless in public areas and game rooms, and nature trails.
As for the categories of guests who attend these hotels (Hostels), it showed that managers are sought mainly by tourists on vacation, families on short trips, and occasional travelers.These hotels 50% participation in the Internet since 2001, the other since 2005.The site of the hotels is easy to navigate and provides general information about the hotel, weather reservations online, etc.

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With the internet a reality in the tourism sector, this tool provides great opportunities and, when properly implemented, can become a competitive advantage for companies.As shown by Diaz (1998), which cites studies of The Future Media Research Programmer, points to the need for companies in the hotel industry to pay attention to better targeting of marketing communications with potential customers.The same author notes that in the case of tourism, the site needs to be showcased for the consumer, showing the vast amount of tourism elements.Two aspects must be observed: focus on the business and simultaneously provide the operational transactions.The potential of the Internet and websites supply these consumer needs, making effective emarketing and e-commerce.The study by Valor Economic newspaper (2010) attests that the Internet is becoming more critical for the hotel industry.The study reinforces that since the early 90s, the Internet has been used as a means of marketing of tourism products and services, becoming an essential sales channel for independent hotels and others in the industry.
It is seen that the potential of online reservation systems has increased with the development of software that allows the realization or the reformulation of reservations anywhere.The same study says hotels selling reserves over the Internet is extremely interesting.This can give them higher profits by eliminating many intermediaries in hotel sales (tour operators, travel agencies, and agents).There is countless software that helps the Hospitality businesses to make the internet an important ally.One of which enables data management and better customer relationships is Microsoft Dynamics CRM, whose solutions are aimed at helping hotels, inns, and entertainment companies to become more customer-centric to win loyalty and increase revenues.The program aims to collect information about the entire customer experience -from booking to departure to refine its services and educate, earning customer loyalty and increasing the company's revenue by providing more personalized service.With the Dynamics CRM program, the company can create customer profiles to segment customers and better target your marketing efforts.
For the hotel industry, the program enables the collection of consistent customer data into a single information repository to better understand the needs of each guest and to enhance and cultivate profitable customer relationships.The program also measures customer behavior to improve the development of products and services and their performance management.
In the customer service field, the program allows you to create strong relationships with guests to build repeat business and gain loyalty.In the area of sales and marketing, the program aims at improving processes to get more value from their sales activities and with easy access to marketing information for sales and marketing.It also ensures the automation of marketing processes to respond quickly to requests and queries and create reminders for follow-up requests.
The program also identifies high-value customers and profitability.For the Internet, the program aims to transform the website into a big seller for the company.The program is a company's response to the need to win the customer each time he visits the company portal online.In the tourism sector, having a well-set-up site makes an excellent first impression, passing professionalism and responsibility and giving guests a chance to choose your inn or hotel because of the incredible appearance caused on the internet.Teixeira (2010), reporting a technology fair focused on the tourism sector in the country, says it is only possible to have a company that is present in social networks.The fair, held in São Paulo, in February 2010, presented several tools that can help improve the tourism industry's interaction with customers and increase the range of their actions.There are the tools described below: Tweet Reach: a tool that lists the number of retweets your messages in the microblog Twitter.With it, you can find out how many people had contact with the information that the company reported.

Google Trends:
This tool shows the sites and links most sought after by Internet users.With good research, you can determine the behavior of online tourists -which pages they seek to get information and recommendations, which most clicked travel sites.
YouTube: less emphasized than Twitter and Facebook, creating a company account on YouTube is a good way of monetization to allow customers to post videos of their trips, with praise or constructive criticism, and let the word go ahead.
Slide Share: Here, you can share advertising campaigns, PowerPoint presentations, and customer travel photos that approve their services.

Analysis of the interviews
Interviews with owners and managers of 17 hotels in the old way of the Estrada Real were vibrant.They enabled valuable surveys on Internet use in these hotels and the results for these companies.The interviews showed that hotels use electronic mail (e-mail) and the website to communicate with their target audience.
As for hotels, here considered a luxury, the responses of owners and managers of companies showed that (average) 83% of the reserves are accomplished online, by phone 14%, and in-person 3%.Some answers from these managers are reported below: Manager of Hotel X -The internet has provided us with increased visibility and knowledge, generating increasingly consulted reservations...I am pleased with the internet for my business.
Manager of Hotel Z -The internet has been and remains a great marketing ploy.
Y Hotel Owner -Increasingly get my business known and increasing the reserves and my profit.The internet has brought greater visibility and profit for us.
Owner of Hotel XY -I'm internationally known and have guests from other countries; this is excellent.
Hotel manager ZZ -The internet has guaranteed 92% of my reservations.Increasingly Invest.
MN Hotel manager -I assess that some activities already used by our hotel via the Internet may not maximized, and others must be implemented.
Owner of the Hotel NY -With the benefits that the Internet can bring to my hotel, it's huge to be connected to the World Wide Web, and today helps a lot.
They also claim that the newspaper, radio, TV, and direct mail by post are no longer used to publicize the project because the return is meager and does not cover the costs of these channels.
As for hotels, considered here as Inns, the responses of owners and managers of these hotels have shown that (average) 86% of the reserves are accomplished online, by phone 10%, and 4% personally.Some answers from these managers are reported below: Manager Hotel WZ -I like and use the internet to promote my hotel.
Owner Hotel WX -The internet provides me with over 805 of my reservations, which is very good.
Owner WY Hotel -With the internet, it's easy to show future clients my hotel and bring to enjoy this wonderful place.
Owner Hotel WW -Investing in the internet and people was my best investment.
Only one of the Inns still uses channels: newspaper, radio, and direct mail by post to promote his venture.Others no longer use any of them.
Nine of the seventeen hotels have control over your site's monthly visits.The most visited has a monthly average of 18,000 visits, and the least seen has 4,500 monthly visits.The standard of these nine hotels is 11,350 visits.Responses from managers showed historical data of the respective hotels that, after the deployment of the Internet and its spread, leveraged the company's brand, made in a way that has no geographical or language limits, as an interested party, anywhere in the world you can know the hotel company's services.The results presented by managers, comparing reserves 2005 and now in 2018 show that there was, in eight years, a 56% increase with the intensification and improvement of Internet use.
The analysis of responses makes it clear that the respondents have a deep knowledge of implementing or expanding hotel Internet use.Still, it is noted that business disclosure is perceived as fundamental web, and to use the internet better, it is essential to invest in training of human capital hotels.However, regarding the implementation or expansion of investments in e-commerce, some companies recognize some difficulty in knowing the total possibilities segment and claim that investing in the internet is relatively inexpensive.
All recognize the potential that the Internet offers for hotels, stands out in response that the hotel believes that this medium helps promote the company, assists in attracting new clients, and is very useful for apartment bookings.It is practical and needs to be further explored.
The hotels here were considered luxury and maintained good relations with travel agencies nationwide.Also, they point out that promoting and disseminating the hotel, identifying new customers, making reservations, and receiving payment from customers, identifying suppliers, making purchases, communicating with customers and suppliers, developing aftermarket activities, and developing training activities for employees are essential factors to streamline and reduce business costs.

Conclusion
This study found that the tourism industry has also changed with the advent of the Internet as an enabler/facilitator of new business.On the one hand, competition was high, with more Hospitality businesses advertising their products/services to a more significant number of customers on the other, it also provided segment professionalization; therefore, nothing worse for a customer and a business it is found that the promised was far from reality and the perceived offered hospitality is not expected.
The survey showed that small businesses are qualified to act on the Internet in their relationship with customers, disseminate their products, and retain and create new customers.Tourism in the Old Royal Road path has also been found to be one of the very influential economic activities and benefits from the internet and its possibilities.Regarding the tourism sector, all the small and large hotels are participating in the Internet, leading to customer information and services directly, efficiently, and with agility.
It was found in this research that the small hotel gets new ways to reach consumers when going online.Besides being a good investment and low cost, participation in the internet gives companies, especially the small ones, a chance to reach different types of people located in other regions of the country and the world, with diverse ages and additional purchasing power.
The choice of Internet media is also justified by its affordable cost for small hotels and a convenient way to provide access to information about products and services quickly and dynamically, generating great comfort for the client.Being on the internet is also a company way to improve customer relationships.It can obtain suggestions and complaints of its customers, creating a new communication channel.
Research has shown that using the internet by the hotels of the Old Royal Road path is undoubtedly a competitive advantage because the public seeks to use it to search for locations where they intend to stay for leisure, for business trips, and to hold conventions and festivals.And hotels by owning a website, directly influences the volume of business reserves, since the marketing function appears as the main benefit of the internet.
Analysis of questions applied to hotels points to conclusions related to the research objectives and to reservations made through the Internet as a differentiator element of their practical use, as shown in Table 1 below.The analysis of issues related to increased reserves by expanding and improving the use of the Internet as a dissemination channel, promotion, and reservations in the 2018 period compared to the results of 2005 (average annual values) shows the increase in reserves and confirms that the internet for hotels is a competitive edge, as shown in Given this study's limitations, future research is suggested to expand the analysis of internet use in the hotel industry in other regions and states.Extend the work to contribute further to discuss the impact of the Internet as a competitive advantage in the management and strategic planning of the hotels.

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. Map of the Old Royal Road

Table 1 .
1, below the theoretical foundation of the research base Theoretical basis Prahalad (2006))xeira (2004) (2004);Petrocchi (2002);Serson (1999).CompetivinessPorter (1986);Porter (2011);Prahalad and Hamel (1997);Prahalad (2006).Source.Authors Freire et al. (2007)0)ndamental importance to the professionalism of the tourism sector and necessary for Brazil's economy, which has excellent potential for Tourists.The importance of tourism is highlighted by numerous studies, as quoted byAbreu and Costa (2000), based on 1998 data from the World Travel and Tourism Council (the World Tourism and Travel Council): tourism accounts for 11.7% of GDP world and is among the fastest growing areas in the world, next to the Technology of the Information.It can be seen inFreire et al. (2007)show that tourism, since its emergence impossible to date until its mass in the 1950s, has been showing steady growth around the world, especially since the 1980s.
For Freire et al. (

Table 1 .
Affected by Internet reservations.