Managing Customer Experience

This document discusses the value and importance of understanding customer needs in the hospitality industry. It explores factors that drive customer engagement and provides a customer experience map for a selected service sector organization. It also discusses the use of digital technology in customer experience management.

Managing Customer
Experience

INTRODUCTION...........4
LO1..................................................................................................................................................4
P1 Explain the value and importance of understanding the needs, wants and preferences of
target customer groups for the hospitality industry................................................................4
P2 Explore the different factors that drive and influence customer engagement of different
target customer groups within a service sector organisation..................................................5
M1 Review how customer engagement factors determine customer on-boarding strategies for
different target customer groups within a service sector organisation...................................6
LO2..................................................................................................................................................6
P3 Create a customer experience map for a selected service sector organisation..................6
P4 Discuss how the touch points create such opportunities throughout the customer
experience in your hospitality organisation............................................................................7
M2. Detailed customer experience map and examination of activities by which customer
touch points create business opportunities.............................................................................8
LO3..................................................................................................................................................9
P5. Use of digital technology in management of customer experience within Thomas Cook
with examples of customer relationship management systems..............................................9
M3. Evaluation of utility of digital technologies for customer experience management in
changing CRM systems to effectively acquire and retain customers.....................................9
LO4................................................................................................................................................10
P6. Customer service strategies in relation to a certain service sector.................................10
P7. Customer service strategies create and develop experience for accomplishment of needs of
customers and business.........................................................................................................11
M4. Review of application of customer service strategies of Thomas Cook in creation of
customer experience with recommendations for improvement............................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCS.................................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Management of customers experience can be explained as the process where organisation
is required to design and react to after having the interaction with customers for the purpose of
meeting out their expectoration (Homburg, C., Jozić, D. and Kuehnl, C., 2017). It is necessary
because it helps to enhance the level of customer satisfaction which can directly reflect upon
accomplishing the goals of a company. The current report will be based on Holiday Inn which is
one on the British multinational organisation involved in the sector of hospitality. In context of
the file, different topics will be discussed which will be related within diverse target segments,
customers experience map for the purpose of creating the business opportunities. Also,
investigation will done upon the impact of digital technologies. At last, how customers
experience can be maximised for effective results will be explained.
LO1
P1 Explain the value and importance of understanding the needs, wants and preferences of target
customer groups for the hospitality industry
In any of the organisation target market plays the most crucial role as it help to identify
that which customers are needed to be target so that goals and objective of a company can be
accomplished within the specific time period. While talking about current situation, it can be
clearly said that customer’s main aim of any of the tourism industry is that how they enhance the
customer satisfaction. It is crucial because customers are the one who can uplift the brand value
of a company through which targets can be accomplished in a short period of time and even
company will have the opportunity to sustain within the market for longer period of time
(Merrilees, B., 2016). But, it is needed to be understood that all of the work must be done in a
systematic manner so that chances of occurrence of error will be less.
It is necessary to understand for hospital industry to make their aim that they will be able
to attain their goals in the situation where they can provide maximum benefit to customers. In
context of Holiday Inn, they are required to find that what are expectation of customers from
them and for that company have the option to take feedback on regular basis which will help
them to improve. If manager of Holiday Inn will be able to work as per the needs and wants of
customers then target can be accomplished easily within the short period of time. In short, it also

reflects that comprehending needs, wants and preferences of target customers group in this
respective sector is crucial for the purpose of attracting the guest.
P2 Explore the different factors that drive and influence customer engagement of different target
customer groups within a service sector organisation
Customer engagement can be explained as the process where communication takes
among organisation and its external stakeholders with the help of different sources such as
newspaper, advertisement, social media and many more. Talking about Holiday Inn, there are
number of customers who visits the hotel to whom company tries to provide various kind of
facility which are of high quality. This allow customers to enjoy the services which are being
provided to them (Peppers, D. and Rogers, M., 2016). There are number of factors which drive
and influence the group of people towards the how and those factors are explained below:
Families: In any of the hospitality industry, families are the most effective target which
company can look for attaining their targets. In context of Holiday Inn, they can easily provide
various kind of services to the families who visits the hotel for example they have the option to
provide fine dining, amusement park and many more. Even there is the option that various
activities can be planed such as different trips to heritage site located within the city, visit to
nearest wildlife sanctuaries which will help to ensure the engagement of customers.
Corporate Personnel: It is also one of the way which can be used by the business
organisation like Holiday Inn because it can help to target the customers. Here, company add on
different accommodation facilities in the hotel which can help to conduct various kid of meetings
and conferences. Also, various facilities can be add on it such as providing internet facility,
additional number of charging plugs which will allow electronic equipments can be used easily.
Disabled people: It is also needed to be focused by the company that engagement of
disable people also plays the crucial role in number of situation. Company like Holiday Inn can
plan the safety equipment whenever any of the disable people visits the hotel premisses to make
them comfort.
Also, there are several other factors which can also influence the engagement in negative
manner which are explained below:
Inappropriate Food and Beverage Quality: Due to the presence of unhygienic food
quality just because of the lack of resources sometime its might create problem for customers
and adventure which is one of the negative factor.

Inappropriate Booking Facilities: The facilities which are being provide by Holiday Inn
related to booking services are favourable but there are some of the situation due to which
customers have to face issue (Tung, V.W.S., Chen, P.J. and Schuckert, M., 2017). It has a
negative impact upon customers as they want the consistency in the services which are being
provided to them.
M1 Review how customer engagement factors determine customer on-boarding strategies for
different target customer groups within a service sector organisation
It is Important for Holiday Inn to build suitable strategies which are determined those factors
which affect the customer engagement. With the help of on-boarding strategy where Holiday Inn
provide various entertainment facilities such as fancy dinners or picnics facilities which allow
them to have a relaxation time. Another on-boarding strategy is for disabled person where they
can pre book for themselves. Holiday Inn also arrange for physical assistance through providing
stretchers or wheelchairs and nurses or care staff to ensure appropriate on-boarding of these
customers. They also provide the corporate facilities like space for conferences and meeting with
corporate clients. Organization also ensure that, they does not affect the personal tourism area or
activities and they try to keep them entertained or satisfy them which enhance their customer
experience.
LO2
P3 Create a customer experience map for a selected service sector organisation
Customer experience map can be explained as the process which is used by the
organisation for the purpose of doing interaction between firm and customers. Even Holiday Inn
prepares the map for the purpose of finding the requirement of customers so that goals can be
accomplished. Below, there is the detail explanation about the customers experience map in
context of Holiday Inn.
MAP ACTIVITIES
Research and Plan It is the primary stage where customers
experience map is related with research and
plan. Customers always try to do different
types of research at the time of visiting to new
place. By looking at this, company can prepare

the website, online application and even then
can add on different agent who can help
customers to avail the services as per the
requirement (Yang, Y., Liu, X. and Li, J.,
2015). In short, it helps various diversified
customer group.
Booking
It is one of the area which is mainly focused by
the business organisation like Holiday Inn
where they will allow customers to select
different packages by having a visit on the
official site of a company. Here, company
allows customers to do online payment of the
services which they want to avail.
Check out and Future Customer Engagement It is necessary for company to understand that
they must plan that how they can enhance the
customers satisfaction. Here, Holiday Inn,
provide the feedback form at the time of
checkout which allows to improve the
performance. In addition, to make customers
connected with the organisation they give
different coupons and offers to customers for
the next time when they visits to hotel.
P4 Discuss how the touch points create such opportunities throughout the customer experience in
your hospitality organisation
Customers touch points are very important in any of the business organisation because it
is the place where customers and company tries to get connected with other. In context of
Holiday Inn, it is necessary for them to understand that it is one of the way through which
customers experience can be improved (Chahal, H. and Dutta, K., 2015). In addition, it is one of

the way through which business opportunity can be enhanced and even goals can be also
achieved in shorter period of time. Below, some of the touch points are explained:
Mobile Application: It is the touch points which can be used by the company like
Holiday Inn as a opportunity because they have the option to develop the site which is easy for
accessing. Here, company can add on different offers and facilities which they can provide on
different price range. Customers will have the option to select their preferences as per their
choice which can help them to improve their experience while staying within the hotel
premisses.
Companies Website: Whenever any of people plans the trip to any of the place they ask
number of question with themselves but it becomes difficult for them to find out the solutions. In
order to reduce the doubt, Holiday Inn have managed the official websites where every single
information are mentioned for customers but in case they faces any sort of issues then they go for
the option to do interaction. Company should also manage the employees who can help them to
give instant reply to the customers who are facing issues. This will be one of the touch point
which will allow customers and company to build strong relationship.
In Hotel premises: It is one of the most important touch that an customers and company
can have because it is one of the stage where both party does interaction on the basis of physical
presence (Frow and et. al., 2015). Here, it is necessary for the Holiday Inn to ensure that they are
providing all of the necessary services to the customers which they want. Different facilities
should also be included in it which will help customers to experience the better services while
staying and enjoying the time of vacations.
These are some of the touch point where company and customers can help each other to
improve their experience. In context of company, it will help them to uplift the standard whereas
on the other hand of side it is crucial for customers that they will be able to get the services
which they like to have while staying within the hotel premises.
M2. Detailed customer experience map and examination of activities by which customer touch
points create business opportunities
For all the organizations it is very important to make sure that they are formulating effective
customer map with examination of different process which can help to assess the customers
touch points. With the help of it the organization will be able to influence behavior of customers
and their responses to the services which are delivered to them. Holiday Inn makes sure that all

the demand of customers gets fulfilled so that long term goals could be accomplished by it. The
enterprise uses mobile application for facilitating the customers to book the rooms. It helps to
establish the process which can help to make improvements in the fulfilment of demand and
requirements of clients. Currently the enterprise is looking for future improvements with the help
of advanced technology which is used by it for the purpose of analyzing the level of customers
satisfaction.
LO3
P5. Use of digital technology in management of customer experience within Thomas Cook with
examples of customer relationship management systems
Customer relationship management can be defined as the process which is focused by
business entities for the purpose of interacting with existing as well as prospects clients. The
latest and digital technology plays a vital role in customer relationship management because with
the help of it, accurate data could be gathered. It will be beneficial for analysing the buying
behaviour, preferences and needs of customers.
Holiday inn is managing the customer relationship management with the help of Right
Now Technologies CRM packages. It is the most recent software which is used by most of
service sector companies for the purpose of maintain good relations with employees. It is
operated with the help of automation technology. The main objective of using it is to make sure
that organization is maintaining good relations with all the clients. This software uses the online
optimization of enquiries and complaints which helps the enterprise to save the cost which could
be spent for the purpose of determining the issues which are faced by customers (Bilgihan,
Kandampully and Zhang, 2016). It helps the organizations to directly interact with the clients and
engage with them spontaneously so that their problems could be analyzed and solution for them
could be identified. It is beneficial for strengthening the customer base by making sure that all
the issues that are faced by them gets resolved properly.
M3. Evaluation of utility of digital technologies for customer experience management in
changing CRM systems to effectively acquire and retain customers
Digital technology is a way of transforming the way in which an organisation operates
business activities with the help of new and innovative techniques. It is playing a vital role in
travel and tourism industry as with the help of it, business entities can attract, engage and retain

customers for a long period in future. There are various types of CRM systems which could be
used by Holiday Inn. All of them are discussed below:
Miles & More CRM: It is used by Lufthansa which helps the enterprise to target the best
suitable marketing campaigns to the select customers on the basis of journey with the
organization. It also allows the companies to provide personalized services which includes
membership for long term in future which is provided to the clients on the basis of their brand
loyalty. Artificial intelligences play and crucial role which allows the companies to analyses all
the customers effectively and then decide the products or services which will be provided to
them. With the help of it, enterprises can retain their customers properly and enhance their
positive mind set against the entity.
Tera data CRM solution: In British Airways it is used by the top-level executives for
the purpose of automating the ongoing campaigns and manage communication with all the
clients. With the help of it, company tries to optimize communication and relations with all the
clients in different locations (Chahal and Dutta, 2015). It shows that automaton is a digital
technology which is required to be adopted by all the companies so that they can effectively
manage the relations with clients. It allows the enterprises to attract customers from different
locations and reach to various geographical areas for expansion of business and maintaining
relations with all the patronages.
LO4
P6. Customer service strategies in relation to a certain service sector
It is very important for the Holiday Inn to make strategies regarding customer service
which helps in providing effective to the customers in order to enhance their experience with the
organisations. It will further contribute in the sustainability as well as growth of the company.
There are various strategies build by the Holiday Inn which mentioned below:
Training of Employees: It is one of the most effective strategies which is used to enhance
customer service is that training to the employees to improve their skills and competencies.
Employees or staff members of the hotels are the persons who are responsible for the physically
delivering of services to the customers. At the time of interacting with customer they need to
understand their complaints, problems and other queries regarding hotel services. With the help
of training, staff members able to manage customers. Better customer experience fulfils the

organizational objectives which meet in capturing market share (Jain, Aagja and Bagdare, 2017).
With the help of training & development of employees will helps in attracting potential
customers as well as enhancing the scope of increasing market share of the business.
Infrastructural Development: It is the strategy which is used by the organization in order
to provide better customer experience to the guest of Holiday Inn. Hotel manager need to build
strategies accordingly and measure the factors which impact the customer engagement. On-
boarding strategy implemented in the Holiday Inn where they provide entertainment facilities
such as fancy dinners or picnics theme and allow the customers leisure time. They also provide
various facilities such as free booking facilities which save the customer time as well as efforts.
Holiday Inn also provides the facilities such as arranging wheelchairs for those people who are
physically not well. Along with this they provide medical facilities in order to ensure that
customer feel healthy of any case something happen. In addition they also provide direct
reference links to the hotels where they can arrange for the conference or seminar services. It is
separated with their personal tourism place and provide separate place for it. Along with this,
they try to keep them entertained through the whole process.
P7. Customer service strategies create and develop experience for accomplishment of needs of
customers and business
In context of Holiday Inn, there are various strategies which are used to enhance the
experiences of customers as well as satisfy them with the help of effective services (Srivastava
and Kaul, 2016). They need to fulfil the desired standards of customer with organizational
objectives.
Training of Employees: In context of Holiday Inn, hotel managers provide the various
training and development programmes which generate various opportunities for the employees to
enhance their skills & competencies such as soft skills, customer relationship, customer service
management etc. With the help of training and development, managers enable to develop skills
in the person which helps in performing their task in appropriate way. Employees need to
perform according to the requirement of employees in order to satisfy each guest of their hotels.
This strategy is beneficial in order to enhance the accomplishment of customer needs through
continues engagement which enhance individual learning and educated them which further
beneficial for employees to provide better assistance to the customers (Pont, 2014).

Infrastructural Development: Holiday Inn is the organization which effectively improves as
well as develops their infrastructure according to time. It is further beneficial for the organization
to perform well in the market. In order to get appropriate services, customers just have to update
their mobile applications in order to get better services or information. Holiday Inn also provides
perceive ease, convenience and enhanced quality services in digital environment. There
standards also encourage them to modifying their internal as well as external systems which lead
the change in the market share. It further helps in developing strategy in order to achieve
organizational goals & objectives through effective implementation of business policies and
standards.
Above mention strategies followed by the Holiday Inn which further maximize
productivity as well as profitability. It will possible through providing effective customer
services.
M4. Review of application of customer service strategies of Thomas Cook in creation of
customer experience with recommendations for improvement
In order to execute business appropriately it is very important for all the organisations to
provide development opportunities to staff members which can help to enhance their qualities,
abilities and skills. For this purpose, Holiday Inn can pay attention towards mock situations
which are important for all the staff members to respond all the critical situations which are faced
by them while working within the enterprise (Lemon and Verhoef, 2016). The organisation may
focus upon its infrastructure development by managing the technology at workplace. It will help
to make sure that all the requirements of clients get fulfilled by providing them a place where
they can spend their quality time.
CONCLUSION
From the above project report it ahs been concluded that managing customers experience is
the process of making sure that best and adequate experience is provided to the so that they could
be retained by organisations for a long period in future. For companies it is very important to
assess importance of analysing needs and requirements of all the customers in targeted clients so
that business could be executed properly and in systematic manner. In order to make sure that all
the clients are engaged in the business it is very important for the enterprises to analyse that
customer experience map is created or not. Customer relationship management systems are used

in most of the entities which is based upon latest technology. Some of them are Tera Data CRM
solutions and Miles & More CRM.

REFERENCS
Books and Journals:
Homburg, C., Jozić, D. and Kuehnl, C., 2017. Customer experience management: toward
implementing an evolving marketing concept. Journal of the Academy of Marketing
Science. 45(3). pp.377-401.
Merrilees, B., 2016. Interactive brand experience pathways to customer-brand engagement and
value co-creation. Journal of Product & Brand Management. 25(5). pp.402-408.
Peppers, D. and Rogers, M., 2016. Managing customer experience and relationships: A strategic
framework. John Wiley & Sons.
Tung, V. W. S., Chen, P. J. and Schuckert, M., 2017. Managing customer citizenship behaviour:
The moderating roles of employee responsiveness and organizational
reassurance. Tourism management. 59. pp.23-35
Yang, Y., Liu, X. and Li, J., 2015. How customer experience affects the customer-based brand
equity for tourism destinations. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing. 32(sup1).
pp.S97-S113.
Chahal, H. and Dutta, K., 2015. Measurement and impact of customer experience in banking
sector. Decision. 42(1). pp.57-70.
Frow, P., and et. al., 2015. Managing co‐creation design: A strategic approach to
innovation. British Journal of Management. 26(3). pp.463-483.
Bilgihan, A., Kandampully, J. and Zhang, T., 2016. Towards a unified customer experience in
online shopping environments: Antecedents and outcomes. International Journal of
Quality and Service Sciences. 8(1). pp.102-119.
Chahal, H. and Dutta, K., 2015. Measurement and impact of customer experience in banking
sector. Decision. 42(1). pp.57-70.
Jain, R., Aagja, J. and Bagdare, S., 2017. Customer experience–a review and research
agenda. Journal of Service Theory and Practice. 27(3). pp.642-662.
Srivastava, M. and Kaul, D., 2016. Exploring the link between customer experience–loyalty–
consumer spend. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services. 31. pp.277-286.
Pont, L., 2014. Hospitality Management. Iuniverse.
Lemon, K. N. and Verhoef, P. C., 2016. Understanding customer experience throughout the
customer journey. Journal of marketing. 80(6). pp.69-96.