Åsa Granath , pp. 44. Inst. för Programvaruteknik och Datavetenskap/Dept. of Software Engineering and Computer Science, 2001.
Expert systems have been explored since the 1970's and there are several existing and functioning applications in use today, in several different fields of business. Yet, the term 'expert systems' is unknown to many and I hope to shed some light over the concept in this thesis, by studying an expert system application; an intelligent hotel reservation system. The hotel industry is a hectic business with many competitors, especially in the larger cities. Yield management is an important factor today if the hotel wants to join the race for the most profitable business. A prototype of an expert system carrying the same knowledge and expertise as the yield-thinking reservation manager was developed and documented in order to study the ways in which a rule-based expert system could help bring a hotel to success in this competitive business. Since the prototype did indeed solve all problems in a manner similar to the one of the human expert, the conclusion was drawn that an expert system can function as a substitute for the human expert without affecting the outcome in a poor way.