Managing Customer Experience in Hospitality Industry

This assignment discusses the value and importance of understanding customer needs and preferences in the service sector. It explores the factors that drive customer engagement and create business opportunities. It also examines how digital technology is employed in managing customer experience. Additionally, it provides insights into customer service strategies in the service sector.

MANAGING
CUSTOMER
EXPERIENCE

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1: Explain the value and importance of understanding the needs, wants and preferences of
target customer group for service sector industry.......................................................................3
P2: Explore the different factors that drive and influence customer engagement of different
target customer groups within a service sector organisation......................................................5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
P3: Create a customer experience map for a selected service sector organisation.....................5
P4: Discuss how the customer touch points throughout the customer experience create
business opportunities for a selected service sector organisation...............................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................8
P5: Examine how digital technology is employed in managing the customer experience within
the service sector, providing specific examples of customer relationship management system.
.....................................................................................................................................................8
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................10
P6: Illustrate customer service strategies in specific service sector context.............................10
P7: Demonstrate how customer service strategies create and develop the customer experience
in a way that meets the needs of the customer and required business standards......................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Customer experience plays a vital role in hospitality industry. It helps in deciding
whether the guests will continue the services of the hospitality organisation or not (Peppers and
Rogers, 2016). This assignment will discuss how customer experience is important for le pont de
la tour London, UK. Additionally, the report will also cover various modes and methods that are
adapted by the respective restaurant in order to maximise the customer experience. For example,
one of the most popular and effective tool of managing customer experience is customer
relationship management also known as CRM. The digital technology also plays an important
role in managing the customers and enhancing the services provided to them by le pont de la tour
restaurant. This respective restaurant company is a D&D London restaurant which is situated by
tower Bridge near Thames river in London. The respective restaurant serves food, bakery items,
etc. including bar services.
TASK 1
P1: Explain the value and importance of understanding the needs, wants and
preferences of target customer group for service sector industry.
Customer satisfaction is very important for le pont de la tour restaurant. The needs and
wants of the customer are interrelated to each other. These rises on the basis of willingness,
requirements and ability which can be evaluated on the basis of demographics, income levels and
socio-culture of the customers (Lemon and Verhoef, 2016). Such data helps in measuring the
influence and behaviour of the customers. Some of the examples of different customers needs
and wants are given below:
Customer’s type Needs and Wants
Disabled Customers Ramp Access next to
front steps.
Easy to eat Food No rushing food meals
Sufficient space to
pass between the
tables
Nutritious Food Menu written in Brail
Business Person Wi-Fi Charging points Soft Music

Quick Service Meeting rooms Grab and go food
menu
Mothers with Babies Facilities strollers Bottle warmer
Nappy changing Entertainment Smaller portions
 Disabled Customers- The handicapped customers or guests with other disabilities have
special needs (Homburg, Jozić and Kuehnl, 2017). They need extra attention and care.
This is why it is important for le pont de la tour to make special arrangements in order for
smooth access in the restaurant and consumption of services such as ramp access,
sufficient pass between the furnitures to pass. Along with these services, the respective
restaurant also needs to focus on the foods and beverages that are delivered. The food
items should be nutritious and easy to consume. This will help the customers will
disabilities to consume the food and beverages conveniently which enhances their
experience resulting in repetitive business.
 Business Person- These type of customers prefers quick services as time management is
an important element for business men. These customer’s require different type of
amenities such as Wi-Fi, charging points for laptops and mobiles and meeting room if
available. Some of the business man may also prefer grab and go type of food items
which they can consume while going to their office. By providing such versatile menu
options and commercial facilities, le pont de la tour can maximise such type of
customer’s engagement which can help in earning revenue for the organisation.
 Mothers with babies- These customers have most variable needs and preferences.
Mothers with toddlers require such arrangement which can help them ease out handling
and managing the child such as nappy room for changing diapers, bottle warmer for
accessing hot milk for toddlers, high chairs and strollers for easy sitting (Fatma, 2014).
Along with this, arranging entertainment modes can help keeping them engage and calm
which ease out the dining experience of mothers and babies. le pont de la tour can also
provide small portion of meals for kids which minimises the wastage and becomes easy
for the kids to consume food dishes.

P2: Explore the different factors that drive and influence customer engagement of different target
customer groups within a service sector organisation.
As different factors influences the needs of different type of customers in le pont de la
tour (Klaus, 2014). Though it is tough to fulfil the needs and wants of the customers individually,
the needs can be targeted by considering demographics and other basis of customers to maximise
their satisfaction. These needs can be understand by the discussion below:
 Mothers with babies- Some of the factors that can help in maximising their service
experience in le pont de la tour are entertainment for kids, comfortable high sitting for
babies, nutritious food, quick services, safety measures, first aid kits, drawing books and
other engaging activities for kids.
 Business Person- Various elements that enhances the experience of business persons in
le pont de la tour are Wi-Fi services, charging points, quick services, quick meals, quality
service, fine dining, and many engaging materials like newspapers, magazines, etc.
 Disabled customers- These service users have different type of special needs such as
ramp for easy entrance, wheelchair to move around in restaurant, disabled bathroom
facilities and spacious interior space management. Along with this, these customers also
require healthy food and easy to eat food dishes. As there are different type of health
issues and disabilities, menu in brail language can also be a facility that can be provided
by le pont de la tour for customers who cannot see.
TASK 2
P3: Create a customer experience map for a selected service sector organisation.
Hospitality industry is wide in nature and for them satisfaction of customers play
important role. le pont de la tour London is the part of respective sector which is working for
generating revenue and providing better services to their customers (Blázquez, 2014). Below
mention are some tools and techniques through which same organisation can take customers
experience :- Website – It is that which include images related to the le pont de la tour London food,
ambiance, environment and so on. Through Website of the company customers get
knowledge about everything related to particular hotel. But in relation to this, it is the
responsibility of respective hospitality enterprise to upload actual pictures so that

customers will gain same services as shown. Apart from this, there is an option of
writing reviews in which customers, employees and other person related to association
can give their opinions. This attract large number of customers from market area.
 Telephone – In hotels telephone are putted on the receptions through which employees
can contact to their customers and provide them information as per their requirement.
But the person who will take call should be professional and polite in talking (Spies,
and et. al., 2014).
 Review Sites – Every company have their review sites same as le pont de la tour
London also have. In these customers get knowledge about hotel through feedback of
other guest and employees. Thus, for good reviews it is responsibility of the company
to provide good services and products.
 Restaurant Staff – Employees within the enterprise gives positive as well as negative
both image in front of these others eyes. Hospitality industry organisation have to
make sure that staff members should provide better services because through this they
can gain positive reviews of customers.
 E-Mails – It is the best source through which company can provide information related
to new offerings, discounts and so on. Most important is that With the assistance of E-
Mails le Pont de la tour London take reviews or feedbacks of their customers.
Moreover, time to time e-mails regarding respective hotel products and services attract
customers and shows positive image in their eyes.
 Restaurant Management – Hospitality industry is popular for its management and
services provided to customers (Torres, Fu and Lehto, 2014). Proper Management of
this gives positive impact on customers and grab more from market area. Although,
management is responsible for offering by the le Pont de la tour to their customers.
P4: Discuss how the customer touch points throughout the customer experience create business
opportunities for a selected service sector organisation.
Customer experience has a direct relation with creating business opportunities for le pont
de la tour. As the respective restaurant belongs to hospitality sector which is a service oriented
field. Hence, the most affective way to enhance the customer experience is by providing
adequate attention and services at every touch point or point of contact with the customers. To

understand the customers experience and how it is influenced by customer touch points in order
to create business opportunities for le Pont de la tour, a conversation between a waiter of the
respective hotel and a customer with disabilities is given below:
The moment customer reaches the front door, the staff member of le Pont de la tour provides
wheel chair for the customer and Greets the customer.
Staff member- (smiling at the cutomer, gives a warm welcome) Good Evening sir, welcome to
le Pont de la tour.
Customer- (Smiles back to the staff member) Good evening. Thank you
Staff member- Shall I provide a wheel chair for your comfort.
Customer- Sure that will help, thanks a lot.
(The staff member helps the customer with disabilities to sit on the wheel chair and escort him
to the restaurant hall. The dining manager welcomes him to the restaurant)
Dining manager-(smiling) Good evening sir, how are you ?
Customer- I am good, thank you.
Dining manager- Will you be dining alone today or someone else will be joining you?
Customer- Yes, my wife will be joining me shortly, I would like to have a table near the
window please.
Dining manager- Sure sir, I have a perfect table that will give you the best view of the city.
(The dining manager assist the customer towards the window side table)
Dining manger- John(waiter) will be at your assistance today. Enjoy your meal.
Customer- Thank you for your help.
Waiter-( smiling, making eye-contact with the customer) Good evening. What can I get you
sir?
Customer- I would like to order mac and cheese with wine.
Waiter- Anything else I can get for you ?
Customer- A glass of water please.
(waiter pours the water in the glass and passes the order to the production department of the
restaurant)
Waiter- It will take 15 mins to prepare your order. Till that, shall I get you some magazines to
read or anything ?
Customer- No, thank you. Can you tell me which way is the restroom?

Waiter- We do have restrooms for people with special needs.
( The customer shows the way. After a while, Waiter gets the order to the customer)
Waiter- Here is your order sir, enjoy your meal. I'll be right here for your assistance.
(After consuming the meal, the waiter takes the feed back)
Waiter- How was your meal sir ?
Customer- I loved it. It was really good.
Waiter- Is there any suggestion for us ?
Customer- Not really, I loved the services that were provided by yoy all and really glad that
the restaurant have paid special attention on disabled customer requirement. I would love to
visit again.
Waiter- ( smiling) Thank you for coming. Do visit us again.
TASK 3
P5: Examine how digital technology is employed in managing the customer experience within
the service sector, providing specific examples of customer relationship management
system.
In current time period, digital technology help in enhancing hospitality growth and development
level by maintaining service records in proper manner ( Cetin and Dincer, 2014). Le pont de la
tour adopt latest digital techniques and methods which can be used for maintaining and
managing their customers experience in higher way. In most of the hotels, Artificial intelligence
is one of the most important thing in the hospitality industry since front desk came in the picture.
This will assist in carry out voice and chat based solution in this industry. Now customers can
easily converse along with this they can receive hyper personalised recommendations according
to their choice and preferences. There are various digital technology which employed in
managing customer experience that are explained as under:
Internet of Things – In order to increasing customers experience, Le pont de la tour are
advancing in tech side which enable them in collecting and gathering valuable guest data in other
to enhance their customers experience. This trends carry out the internet of things which directly
affects the hotel accommodation and make their guest happy or comfortable. It will assist in
providing proactive maintenance and location based interactions that asst in improving the

existing customers experience ( Garg, Rahman and Qureshi, 2014). This can send custom
tailored recommendation to the guests according to their choice, preferences, demand.
Front desk robot – This is the another digital technology which can be used by
hospitality sector which help them in enhancing their guest experience in proper manner. It is the
jaw dropping experience if a talking robot welcomes a guest and follow their instructions. Front
desk robots are the next generation things and some nations are used this techniques. For
example, China has already executed it in the hotel and Japan is redefining their customer
experience that will assist in gaining higher profitability effectively ( Bilgihan, Kandampully and
Zhang, 2016).
In today's era digital marketing is acquiring the abilities to create interaction between
the customer and the organisation. A successful business marketing leads to focus on their
customer to add value addition to act effectively in the market. Digital marketing strategy is
strongly focusing on the taste of the consumer which help the hospitality industry to manage a
suitable approach so that they can meet the consumer demands.
Digital technology services provided by the le pont da la tour UK Landon are as follows:
Wi-Fi infrastructure: Nowadays Wi-Fi is becoming a perk, customer demand for it when the
check in the hotel. Le pont da la tour is providing great Wi-Fi facilitates to their customer. So
that the customer can do their business and make use of the technologies with ease.
Smart room key services: Le pont da la tour providing services of smart room key that allow
their customer to unlock their doors by simply swiping up their room cards or phones as keyless
pad on the doors.
Feedback on social media: By the feedback and reviews of the customers towards the stay and
the facilities provided by the le pont da la tours attract more customer and also help to build
strong relationship between the customer and the organisation.
Example Customer Relationship management of le pont da la tours:
Customer relationship management of le pont da la tours build strong relationship with
their existing and with the new customer by providing superior quality of services and various
technology facilitates such as free Wi-Fi services, smart room keys and synchronize with every

facet of the consumer interaction. And also improving the customer acquisition process for
future ( Shah, Kumar and Kim, 2014).
TASK 4
P6: Illustrate customer service strategies in specific service sector context.
While visiting a restaurant, all the customers have some pre conceived conceptions and
expectations of the restaurant. Therefore, it is important to meet these expectations of the
customers in order to enhance their service using experience and ensuring repetitive business.
For this, le pont de la tour planned certain customer service strategies to meet the needs of the
service users. These are mentioned below:
 Employee Training- The services are provided by the employees in le pont de la tour
restaurant. Hence, it is important to provide certain training which can help the
employees learn new skills of serving, update their menus by new cuisines which will
attract more customers in the respective restaurant ( Yang, Liu and Li, 2015). The staff
member should also have a good knowledge about the foods and beverages that they are
offering in order to recommend these food products to the customers. This will also help
in promoting the menu and increase the sales of the respective restaurant. Also, training
of professional behaviour and body language can also be provided as it plays a very
important role in providing quality services.
 Handling customers complaints and concerns- In order to provide efficient services, it
is important to handle the complaints and queries of the customers. This can be done by
le pont de la tour by acknowledging the issue that the customer is facing at the very first
place. After that immediate action should be taken by the managers or staff members of
the respective restaurant. Faster the problem is resolved, better the service quality of the
concerned restaurant company. In order to retain the customers, various freebies can be
offered which can help in improving their experiences and have a good image about the
respective restaurant. Last but not the least, it is advised to take feedback from the
customers which can help in figuring out the areas where the restaurant need to work in
order to maximise its sales and customer’s satisfaction.
 Adapting technology- Technology has become an essential element to cop up with the
market trends. There are many technical ways to modify the services of the restaurant

company. le pont de la tour can provide online reservations which will promote the
convenience of the customers and smooth out the process of le pont de la tour.
Additionally, other tools like tablet ordering system can be adapted by the restaurant
company. This will help in providing more accurate orders and enhance the service
experience of the customers.
P7: Demonstrate how customer service strategies create and develop the customer experience in
a way that meets the needs of the customer and required business standards.
Customer service strategies also helps in fulfilling the needs of the customers and
managing business standards of le pont de la tour. It can be justified by the points mentioned
below.
 Technology- Technology helps the restaurant company in modifying their existing
services and stay up to the market trend ( Yang, Liu and Li, 2015). Additionally, it also
helps in maintaining the standards of the company by providing updated quality services.
By providing online reservations, helps the customer to get a certain assurance about their
booking and waiting time. This is one of the luxury service which the customer can
consume being at any place. By providing these modes, the range of services also
increase.
 Handling Customer complaints- Handling the customers complaint has become one of
the necessity for le pont de la tour. By proper management of the complaints and queries,
the respective restaurant can enhance the customer experience and learn about various
elements that the restaurant needs to implement which can help them in providing more
satisfactory services to the customer along with modifying the standards of the
organisation.
 Employee training- By providing efficient training , the employees can enhance their
skills. This can further lead to improving the services of the restaurant company and
improving the quality of business standards of le pont de la tour.
CONCLUSION
From the above assignment, it can be concluded that customer experience plays a very
important role in creating business opportunities for the restaurant. Hence, it is important to

understand the needs, wants and preferences of different type customers. Additionally, there are
various modes which helps in creating customer experience map such as websites, telephones,
emails, etc. Digital technology also plays an important role in enhancing the customer experience
and maintains the service standards of the company. Some of the digital modes are CRM, also
known as customer relationship management which helps in maintaining a healthy
communication with the customers and maintains data. Additionally, there are various strategies
of customer service that are adapted by the respective restaurant in order to maintain the quality
of services provided by the company and helps in improving the customer experience.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Peppers, D. and Rogers, M., 2016. Managing customer experience and relationships: A strategic
framework. John Wiley & Sons.
Lemon, K.N. and Verhoef, P.C., 2016. Understanding customer experience throughout the
customer journey. Journal of Marketing. 80(6). pp.69-96.
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.
Fatma, S., 2014. Antecedents and consequences of customer experience management-a literature
review and research agenda. International Journal of Business and Commerce. 3(6).
pp.32-49.
Klaus, P., 2014. Measuring customer experience: How to develop and execute the most
profitable customer experience strategies. Springer.
Blázquez, M., 2014. Fashion shopping in multichannel retail: The role of technology in
enhancing the customer experience. International Journal of Electronic Commerce.
18(4). pp.97-116.
Spiess, J., and et. al., 2014. Using big data to improve customer experience and business
performance. Bell labs technical journal. 18(4). pp.3-17.
Torres, E.N., Fu, X. and Lehto, X., 2014. Examining key drivers of customer delight in a hotel
experience: A cross-cultural perspective. International Journal of Hospitality
Management. 36. pp.255-262.
Cetin, G. and Dincer, F.I., 2014. Influence of customer experience on loyalty and word-of-mouth
in hospitality operations. Anatolia. 25(2). pp.181-194.
Garg, R., Rahman, Z. and Qureshi, M.N., 2014. Measuring customer experience in banks: scale
development and validation. Journal of Modelling in Management. 9(1). pp.87-117.
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.
Shah, D., Kumar, V. and Kim, K.H., 2014. Managing customer profits: The power of habits.
Journal of Marketing Research. 51(6). pp.726-741.
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.