Research Report: Mobile Technology and Customer Experience at Marriott

This report investigates the influence of mobile technology on customer experience within the hospitality industry, specifically focusing on Marriott International. The research begins with an introduction outlining the research aims, objectives, and questions, followed by an exploration of factors influencing research project selection. A critical review of key references establishes the concept of mobile technology and its importance in enhancing customer experience, as well as the challenges faced by Marriott in its implementation. The report then presents a research project specification, detailing the research methodology, data analysis, and interpretation. The findings are analyzed using appropriate research evaluation techniques, leading to recommendations for improving customer experience. The report concludes with a summary of the key findings and suggestions for future research areas, providing valuable insights into how mobile technology can be leveraged to enhance customer satisfaction and drive success within the hospitality sector.

Research Project

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
1.1 Formulate and record possible research project outline specifications.................................1
Research Aim..............................................................................................................................2
Research Questions.....................................................................................................................2
1.2 The potential factors that contribute to the process of research project selection.................2
1.3 A critical review of key references.......................................................................................3
Concept of Mobile Technology..................................................................................................3
Importance of mobile technology in influencing customer experience within Marriott hotel....3
Challenges faced by Marriott hotel in implementation of mobile technology............................4
Recommend different ways through which Marriott hotel can easily enhance customer
experience...................................................................................................................................4
1.4 A research project specification............................................................................................5
1.5 An appropriate plan and procedures for the agreed research specification. .........................6
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
2.1 Match resources efficiently to the research question or hypothesis......................................6
2.2 undertake the proposed research investigation in accordance with the agreed specification
and procedures............................................................................................................................7
2.3 Record and collate relevant data where appropriate.............................................................9
TASK 3 .........................................................................................................................................11
3.1 Use of appropriate research evaluation technique for study...............................................11
3.2 Analysis and interpret results for determining original specifications. ..............................11
3.3 Make recommendation and further area for consideration.................................................20
TAKS 4 .........................................................................................................................................21
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................21
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................22

INTRODUCTION
Mobile technology is now become a most crucial part of day to day activities performed
by an individual. This also supported businesses in improving their practices by getting a
platform where direct relation can be maintain with customers for a long run by providing them
more customised services (Neuhofer, Buhalis and Ladkin, 2015). Marriott International is an
American multinational chain of hotels which provide accommodation and leisure related
services within several different countries. This report contain a study over role that mobile
technology plays within the growth and success of hospitality industry by enhancing the
customer satisfaction. By conducting investigation over this topic refresher would be able to
determine the manner in which mobile technology can be used by hotels to improve the customer
experience.
1.1 Formulate and record possible research project outline specifications.
An investigation is totally depend over specific issue for identification of which
investigation is performed. The activities performed within the investigation totally depend over
the aims and objectives which are deigned by the researcher at beginning of project which help
investigation by guiding them in right direction toward the accomplishment of objectives.
Current investigation is based on “To identify the role of mobile technology in influencing
customer experience within hospitality industry ”. The current report is based on Marriott hotel
which is an American international diversified hospitality company which operates a portfolio of
several hotels as well as lodging facilities (Kandampully, Zhang and Bilgihan, 2015). Marriott
hotel is registered under top hotels of world and top maintain its position it continuously work
over improving its services either by providing more service options or simplifying the process
followed by customers to access services. This investigation support in determining the changes
that mobile technology brings within the manner in which customers are being served by
Marriott hotel. This is because now a days people prefer more to use their smartphone in order to
avail services and making decision regarding the company to be selected for purchasing a
particular product or services. This the greatest advantage for several businesses as mobile
technology provide them a medium to maintain a direct interaction with its customers and know
their views so that proper rectification can be made to improve their service experience.
Investigation over this topic is based on some aims and objectives which are mentioned below:
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Research Aim
To identify the role of mobile technology in influencing customer experience within
hospitality industry. A study on Marriott hotel
Research Objective
 To develop basic understanding about the concept of mobile technology
 To identify the importance of mobile technology in influencing customer experience
within Marriott hotel
 To determine challenges faced by Marriott hotel in implementation of mobile technology
 Recommend different ways through which Marriott hotel can easily enhance customer
experience.
Research Questions
 Explain about the concept of mobile technology?
 What is the importance of mobile technology in influencing customer experience within
Marriott hotel?
 Describe about the challenges that are faced by Marriott hotel during implementation of
mobile technology?
 What are the way that Marriott hotel must adopt for enhancing customer experience?
1.2 The potential factors that contribute to the process of research project selection
A research can be defined as systematic exploration of a particular study as well as
sources in order to implement several facts with an aim to reach over final outcome (Bowie and
et. al., 2016). An investigation is based on some factors that support in selection of particular
research project. These are mentioned below:
Research scope:- The scope of this investigation is very wide as this report is based on
role of mobile technology in improving the business operations. With this investigation Marriott
hotel will be able to determine the number of ways that it must adopt in order to improve the
quality of services with the help of mobile technology that help in reducing cost and maximizing
customer satisfaction.
Research limitations:- The main limitation of this report is that time and cost provided
for investigation was very limited as a result of which researcher has prepared questionnaire for
gathering information (Benckendorff, Xiang and Sheldon, 2019). Another limitation is that
questionnaire include only closed ended questions which restrict the responses of participants, if
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open ended questions asked to the respondents then researcher would be able to gather more
information.
1.3 A critical review of key references.
Concept of Mobile Technology
According to Varsha Kumari, (2018), Mobile Technology has played a crucial roles in
the development of not only the Hotels ad Resorts but also on the complete Hospitality Industry.
It enables the customers of the this industries to have a variety of service to make use of sitting at
their homes or at any other place. The fastest developing industry in the world is hospitality
industry which has increased the customer experiences as the mobile apps of hotels are launched
by them which provides the customers with a number of services such as the solution to their
questions and queries, information about the hotel, nearby places, services of the hotel, design
and interior of the Hotel (Bouck, Satsangi and Flanagan, 2016). The information about these
services are provided by the organisations on their mobile apps in order to provide assistance to
their customers. In addition to this, mobile technology removes the distance problem for the
customers as the information which they need to go and collect is now easily available at the
place where they want to have. With the help of this technology, it has also become a reason of
increase in the competition for the companies as not all the companies were providing this
service to their customers. In addition to this, it also provides the company with better
predications about the consumer behaviour on the very basis, the organisation could make
changes in the services they are providing. This will help the company in making long term good
relationship with the customers as with the help of providing the customer with new and
innovated services of the company.
Importance of mobile technology in influencing customer experience within Marriott hotel
According to Andre Smith, (2017), the customers experiences are greatly influenced by
the mobile technology used by the companies in their operations. The impact has increased in the
reach of customers to the services of the company. In addition to this, in today's world, the
mobile technology in hotels such as Marriott Hotel has become very important as all the
bookings and queries of the customers are solved online website of the organisation. This has
simplified the way of working of the companies as the decision about availing or not the services
of an organisation is taken while sitting at their homes or any other place by the customers.
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Another reason for the importance of this technology for the companies is because it provide the
customers with the services provided by the company on online basis as the hotel provides the
detailed information and pictures about what services they are going to provide to their
customers. Customer services standards of these hotels and restaurants has also achieved much
progress due to this technology. As the services of the company are managed and operated
through online mode so this will help the company to focus more over the reviews and
suggestions provided by the customers related to the services of Marriott Hotel.
Challenges faced by Marriott hotel in implementation of mobile technology
According to Valyn Perini, (2011), as the mobile technology provides the companies with
several benefits that on the other hand there are also some bad impacts that are caused with the
use of this mobile technology in the working of an organisation. As some customers have bad
experiences with the services of the hotel, so they could also share their experiences with other
people about what they had and experienced in the Hotel. The negative reviews of people will
impact negatively on the working of the organisation as the reviews will also be checked by
other people and will impact upon the sales and profits of Marriott Hotel. In addition to this, the
challenge is also related to the server connection which sometimes is lost. This also proves to be
the reason of frustration of customers and they do not prefer to use of the services of the
company. In this way, these kinds of challenges could be faced by the organisation at the time of
making use of mobile technology.
Recommend different ways through which Marriott hotel can easily enhance customer
experience
According to Steven MacDonald, (2019), different hotels faced different types of
challenges while making use of mobile technology in the working of the company. So on the
very basis, there is a need for the companies to adopt suitable strategies in order to deal with the
situation. In cases of bad server connection which creates problem for the customers in knowing
about the hotel and their services so Marriott Hotel could make use of other means of
communicating to the target market. In other words, it can be said the organisations such as
Marriott hotel should not rely on only one means of communicating their customers but also
adopt some other so that the customers could better reach to the services of Marriott Hotel.
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1.4 A research project specification.
Research project specification contains a summary which represent the actual image of
project by presenting the area that will be covered throughout the investigation. It represent the
overall structure of research project which help reader in understanding the manner in which an
investigation has been performed so that they become able to determine the aim behind
conducting a particular section in investigation (Ooi and Tan, 2016). Following point depict
about the project specification:-
 Introduction:- This part contains a description regarding the research topic for providing
an insight about the meaning of topic, main issues fro which research has been conducted
and purpose behind selecting this topic. In addition to this it also contain aims and
objectives for the accomplishment of which a research has be performed.
 Literature Review:- The section is consider as most crucial part of an investigation in
which support in developing an understanding regarding current topic by critically
evaluating the already available information over similar topic. This help in creating a
base over which further investigation can be performed.
 Research Methodology:- This part of investigation represent the number of tools and
techniques that are used to gather, arrange, evaluate and interpret effectively which in
turn support within concluding the findings effectively and accomplishing main role
behind investigation.
 Data analysis & Interpretation:- In this section, the data gathered by researcher will be
analyzed effectively and then interpret with the help of thematic approach that support in
presenting finding in more effective manner (Liu, Kauffman and Ma, 2015). This section
is beneficial in identifying whether the gathered information support in accomplishing the
main objective behind research or not.
 Conclusion & Recommendations:- This is the final section of a research which
represent the final summary of findings that have been determined throughout the
investigation. On the bases of these findings recommendations will also be provided in
this section regarding the actions that can be taken to overcome such issues.
1.5 An appropriate plan and procedures for the agreed research specification.
In order to perform an investigation effectively it is very essential for researcher to plan
the activities effectively that are required to perform in order to accomplish the research
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objectives. For presenting the plan in effective manner Gantt chart will be used which is a
pictorial representation of activities to be performed within investigation along with the time
taken by them to get completed.
TASK 2
2.1 Match resources efficiently to the research question or hypothesis.
Hypothesis introduces to the assumption and a making of statement about any given
situation. It might be correct or wrong (Hayden and Webster, 2014). According to this project,
following are determined hypothesis:
Null Hypothesis
H0: Mobile technology help Marriott hotel to enhance customer experience.
H1 Mobile technology not help Marriott hotel in enhancement of customer experience.
Research questions
Question 1: What are the concept of mobile technology?
Ans: Mobile technology is the type of technology which is applied for cellular communication.
Question 2: What are the importance of mobile technology in influencing customer experience
within Marriott hotel?
Ans: Mobile technology in service industry is developing new parameters by creating
personalized seamless experience for visitors. Mobile technology help a customers by saving its
time and cost, providing medium for comparison of services and easy access to services. All
these will assist a hospitality industry to enhance customers experience towards their services.
Question 3: What are the challenges faced by Marriott hotel in implementation of mobile
technology?
Ans: There are different challenges which is faced by Marriott hotel while implementing mobile
technology. Not implementing the right systems and procedures, Hacking of information and
Negative publicity are identified main challenges which is going to be faced by hospitality
sector.
Question 4: What are the different ways through which Marriott hotel can easily enhance
customer experience?
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Ans: There are various ways must be used by Marriott Hotel in order to enhance customer
experience. Personalisation Marketing, Smart Rooms and Internet of Things are identified best
way for enhancing customer experience.
2.2 undertake the proposed research investigation in accordance with the agreed specification
and procedures.
There are different methods and approaches which will be used for collecting accurate
data about the importance of mobile technology in enhancement of customers experience within
hospitality industry (Law and et. al., 2018). Following are determined different methods and
approaches of research methodology:
Research Philosophy: Interpretivisim and positivism are consider two important part of
research philosophy. According to current research, Interpretivisim philosophy will be used
because it help in identification of research impact. On the other side, positivism philosophy is
not useful for this research because it need more time and cost of an organisation or researcher.
Research Approach: Inductive and deductive are introduces as a two types of research
approach. For this project, inductive approach will be applied because it help an investigator by
providing quality and accurate data about the importance of mobile technology in enhancement
of customer experience. On the other hand, deductive approach is not useful for current research
because it require data in form of facts, numbers etc.
Data Collection: Primary and secondary are introduced as a two type of data collection
methods which is applied by researcher. With the help of both methods, researcher will easily
collect in-depth and appropriate information about the study. Under primary research,
questionnaire will be applied (Kim and Jeong, 2018) As it will asset an investigator by giving
reliable and valid data about the significance of mobile application in enhancement of customers
experience. On the other side, for accumulating secondary information, books, magazines,
journals etc. sources will be applied by Researcher.
Sampling: Probability and non-probability are introduced as a two types of sampling
method used for selecting sample size out of total population. Probability sampling method will
be used for this project because with the help of this method, respondents will be selected on
random basis. On the other side, non-probability sampling is not useful for this project because it
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require more time and cost of the company. Therefore, with the help of probability sampling, 40
respondents will be selected by researcher.
Questionnaire
Q1) Do you have knowledge about the basic concept of mobile technology?
a) Yes
b) No
Q2) How does mobile technology affected the hospitality industry?
a) Reducing cost
b) Improving service and customer experience
c) Enhancing operational efficiency
Q3) What are the importance of mobile technology in influencing customer experience within
Marriott hotel?
a) Save cost and time
b) Easy access to services
c) Provide a medium for comparison of services
Q4) What are the significance of higher customer experience for Marriott hotel?
a) Improvement in brand image
b) Increase in sales and market share
c) Increase in customer base
Q5) What are the different ways through which Marriott hotel can easily enhance customer
experience?
a) Personalisation Marketing
b) Smart Rooms
c) Internet of Things
Q6) What kind of relation does mobile technology and customer experience have within
hospitality industry?
a) Positive
b) Negative
Q7) What are the challenges faced by Marriott hotel in implementation of mobile technology?
a) Not implementing the right systems and procedures
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b) Hacking of information
c) Negative publicity
Q8) What are the features of Mobile Apps for hotel industry?
a) Mobile-friendly Websites and Apps
b) Encouraging Self-service
b) Maintaining Long-term Relationships with Customers
Q9) Is customer experience essential for growth and success of Marriott hotel?
a) Agree
b) Strong agree
c) Disagree
d) Strongly disagree
Q10) Provide recommendation for improving the customer experience towards brand.
2.3 Record and collate relevant data where appropriate.
Research Instrument: Questioners introduces as an important and useful instrument of
primary research which is used by researcher for accumulating reliable as well as valid data
about the effectiveness of mobile technology in enhancement of customer experience.
Data analysis: Data analysis will be done with the help of thematic analysis. In this case,
different themes will be made on each questions. As it will support a researcher to analysis
accurate data in minimum time period.
Q1) Do you have knowledge about the basic concept of mobile
technology?
Frequency
a) Yes 30
b) No 10
Q2) How does mobile technology affected the hospitality industry? Frequency
a) Reducing cost 15
b) Improving service and customer experience 14
c) Enhancing operational efficiency 11
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