The Secret Weapons of Service: Customer Service Standards for Hilton

This report discusses the importance of effective customer service standards for the success of Hilton, an American multinational hospitality organization. It outlines the different service standards that Hilton needs to maintain, including preparation, execution, guest preference and experience tracking, recovery, and continuous improvement. The report also discusses the ARFFD model used by Hilton for customer recovery and provides recommendations for improving customer experience. The report cites various sources to support its findings.

THE SECRET WEAPONS
OF SERVICE

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Customer service standard related to brand- consistency standard.............................................3
Recommendations.......................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
For the effective working of the company it is very essential for the effective
management of all the product and services. This is very essential for the effective management
of the business so that it can get successful and can run effectively. This is particularly because
of the reason that when the effective services will be provided to the consumer then this will
result in increase in sales of the company. the current study is based on Hilton which is an
American multinational hospitality organization. The hotel was founded by Conrad Hilton in the
year 1919 and operates worldwide. The current study will outline the customer service standards
which are essential to be maintained in order to get successful. Also, the use of a recovery model
will be analysed in order to attract the consumers. In the end the recommendation for customer
experience failure recovery will be discussed.
MAIN BODY
Customer service standard related to brand- consistency standard
For the success of the hotel the most essential aspect is that they effectively manage the
service standards so that it attracts the consumer in large numbers (Chan, Gao and McGinley,
2021). The reason pertaining to this fact is that if the customer services will be good and high
then this will attract majority of the consumer towards the services provided by Hilton. Hence,
the major service system standard which Hilton maintains and manages are as follows-
Preparation- this the first service standard as everything is based on the preparation
only. This is particularly because of the reason that when the preparation that is the planning has
been done in proper and effective manner then this will provide a good base to all the
departments of the hotel to work in proper and effective manner. Hence, for getting successful it
is very important for Hilton to have effective planning and preparation stage so that all the
operational activities ae clear to every employee within the hotel.
Execution- under this stage comes the proper and successful execution of the planning
undertaken within the preparation stage. This is particularly because of the reason that when the
preparation will be undertaken then this will be providing a good base to the company to get
successful. Hence for success it is also very essential for Hilton that they execute the plan in the
intended manner only. This will definitely result in success for the hotel as the planning is
properly done and is then executed in proper and effective manner.

Guest preference and experience tracking- this is yet another service standard which
Hilton needs to follow in order to manage and maintain the customer retention. This is
particularly because of the reason that if the guest preference is being followed and implemented
within the operational activities of the business or not (Ivanov and Webster, 2017). This is very
crucial because of the reason that if the guest preference will not be managed and maintained
then this will not attract the consumers. Hence, the consumers will not like the services provided
by Hilton and will not come to the place. Thus, it is the responsibility of Hilton to ensure that the
complete research is being undertaken for the effective management and analysis of the
requirement and experience of consumer which they are expecting from the hotel. Hence, this the
main standard which the hotel need to follow and maintain so that the consumers are attracted
towards the hotel services and are satisfied.
Recovery- this is also a very crucial standard service which needs to be maintained in
order to improve the working of the company. this is particularly because of the reason that when
the consumers are not happy and satisfied with the services of hotel then these recovery models
will assist in attracting the consumers. This is particularly because of the reason that the aim of
these recovery models is to recover the consumers towards the product and services of the hotel.
The major recovery model which is being used by Hilton in order to recover their consumers is
the ARFFD model. This recovery models involves the following stages which Hilton is being
using in order to attract the consumers in proper and effective manner-
1. Apologize- under this step, Hilton first apologizes to the consumer for the aspect which is
not being liked by the consumer or the service which was not good. Hence, for this Hilton
first apologizes for all the drawbacks within the business.
2. Review- after apologizing, comes the step of review wherein the company reviews the
aspect in which company was lacking in order to satisfy the consumer needs. Hence, for
this it is very essential that Hilton time to time reviews all the aspect relating to the issue
being faced by the consumers.
3. Fix- under this step the issue faced by the consumer is being fixed that is it is being
solved. Hence, this is a crucial step in order to effectively manage the consumer and for
retaining the consumers (Mmutle and Shonhe, 2017).
4. Follow up- this is the next step wherein the follow up is being taken by the company for
the effective following that whether consumer has liked the fact or not. This is very

essential because if Hilton has taken the step for attracting consumer and if they are not
satisfied then further actions will be taken.
5. Document- this is the last stage wherein all the changes for the recovery of the consumer
by Hilton are being documented (Edghiem and Mouzughi, 2018). This is very important
for the reason that when the changes will be documented then this will be beneficial
because of the reason that this can be used in future as well.
Continuous improvement- this is also a crucial service standard which needs to be
managed and maintained by Hilton. This is particularly because of the reason that there are many
different changes taking place within the external environment and in needs and preferences of
the consumers. Hence, for getting successful, Hilton need to analyse the changes and try to
implement within their operations. Hence, for this it is very essential for Hilton to undertake
continuous research in order to effectively analyse the changes in need and preferences of the
consumers. For this Hilton need to have effective marketing research and development team for
the analysis of the recent changes within the environment. The reason underlying this fact is that
when the research will be advanced then this will provide the latest requirements of the
consumer and if they adapt to these changes then this will increase the working. In addition to
this taking continuous feedback from the consumer will also assist in proper and effective
improvement within the operations of the company. the feedback will be assistive because of the
reason that when the feedback will be assessed by the company then they will get new ideas for
the development of the product and services of Hilton (Ali and et.al., 2021).
Recommendations
After the analysis of the above discussion it is clear that there is high demand of
consumer service standards to be followed. This is particularly because of the reason that when
the customer service standard will be analysed effectively then this will result in customer
satisfaction. Further some recommendations to Hilton are as follows-
 The first thing recommended to Hilton is the use of CRM that is Customer Relationship
Management. This will be very beneficial as this will assist hotel in managing good
relation with the consumers. When the relation is maintained good with the consumer
then this will increase popularity of hotel among consumers and they will like it.
 Another strategy advisable for customer service standard is to provide multi- channel
servicing to the consumers. This is pertaining to the fact that when the variety of services

are being provided to the consumer under a single area then this will increase the
popularity of the hotel among the consumers.
 Looking at each and every touchpoint is another recommendation which can be assistive
to Hilton in managing and improving the consumer base (Kuo, Chen and Tseng, 2017).
This is particularly because of the reason that these touchpoints motivate the consumer to
buy or use the product and services of company which in turn will motivate the consumer
to go to Hilton. Hence, as a result of this the sales and profitability of the company will
increase to a great extent.
CONCLUSION
The above report summarised the fact that when the managing the consumer services is
very important for the success of the company. this is pertaining to the fact that consumers are
the king of the industry and if they will not be satisfied then company will face loss. Hence, for
the effective management of the business it is very essential that company effectively manages
the marketing and attracting the consumer and to have good service standards. These service
standards belong to different fields like preparation, guest preference, continuous improvement
and many others. Further it was evaluated that the all these factors are very important for the
effective management and success of Hilton.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Ali, B.J., Gardi, B., Jabbar Othman, B., Ali Ahmed, S., Burhan Ismael, N., Abdalla Hamza, P.,
Mahmood Aziz, H., Sabir, B.Y., Sorguli, S. and Anwar, G., 2021. Hotel Service Quality:
The Impact of Service Quality on Customer Satisfaction in Hospitality. Ali, BJ, Gardi, B.,
Othman, BJ, Ahmed, SA, Ismael, NB, Hamza, PA, Aziz, HM, Sabir, BY, Anwar, G.
(2021). Hotel Service Quality: The Impact of Service Quality on Customer Satisfaction in
Hospitality. International Journal of Engineering, Business and Management, 5(3), pp.14-
28.
Chan, J., Gao, Y.L. and McGinley, S., 2021. Updates in service standards in hotels: how
COVID-19 changed operations. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
Management.
Edghiem, F. and Mouzughi, Y., 2018. Knowledge-advanced innovative behaviour: a hospitality
service perspective. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Ivanov, S.H. and Webster, C., 2017. Adoption of robots, artificial intelligence and service
automation by travel, tourism and hospitality companies–a cost-benefit analysis. Artificial
Intelligence and Service Automation by Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Companies–A
Cost-Benefit Analysis.
Kuo, C.M., Chen, L.C. and Tseng, C.Y., 2017. Investigating an innovative service with
hospitality robots. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Mmutle, T. and Shonhe, L., 2017. Customers' perception of service quality and its impact on
reputation in the hospitality industry.