Managing Customer Experience

This document discusses the value and importance of understanding customer needs in the hospitality industry. It explores the factors that drive and influence customer engagement, creates a customer experience map for a selected service sector organization, discusses how touch points create opportunities throughout the customer experience, and examines how digital technology is employed in managing the customer experience within the service sector organization.

Managing Customer
Experience

Contents
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1.......................................................................................................................................................3
P1: Explain the value and importance of understanding the needs, wants and preferences of target
customer groups for the hospitality industry............................................................................................3
P2: Explore the different factors that drive and influence customer engagement of different target
customer groups within a service sector organization..............................................................................5
TASK 2...................................................................................................................................................8
P3: Create a customer experience map for a selected service sector organization...................................8
P4: Discuss how the touch points create such opportunities throughout the customer experience in your
hospitality organization.........................................................................................................................10
TASK 3.....................................................................................................................................................11
P5: Examine how digital technology is employed in managing the customer experience within the
service sector organization....................................................................................................................11
TASK 4.....................................................................................................................................................12
P6: Illustrate customer service strategies in a specific service sector context........................................12
P7 Demonstrate how customer service strategies create and develop the customer experience in a way
that meet the needs of the customer and the required business standards..............................................12
CONCLUSION.........................................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..........................................................................................................................................16

INTRODUCTION
Customer service experience refers to the experience derived by customer by the products
or services of particular company or brand. This process begins from pre purchase to post
purchase helps in building multiple experiences which can be satisfied, good or bad. It is
basically the responsibility of the business entity to strengthen its capability and successfully
participate to manage and maintain the long term service experience of customer in order to
flourish the business operations (De Keyser and et. al., 2015). Most of the large organization
objective is to optimize the interactions from the perspective of customer and participate to foster
their loyalty. To better define the topic InterContinental hotel group (IHG) has been selected
which is the part of hospitability industry of UK. The company comprises of various hotels as
well as resorts to cover the requirements and manage experience of diverse traveler all around
the world. This report covers topics like determine the needs and expectations of target market
from the particular sector. Map out customer experience to creates the business opportunity and
successfully optimize the customer touch points. Evaluate the impact of digital technology in
maintaining long term customer relationship. Further, effectively apply customer experience
management derived within service sector to maximize the customer engagement.
TASK 1
P1: Explain the value and importance of understanding the needs, wants and preferences of
target customer groups for the hospitality industry
Customers are the main external stakeholders that help an organization to sustain in the
competitive market as they are the revenue source which help to maintain the profitability
margin. It is basically the responsibility or the entity that serves those commodities in the market
which customer requirement rather than emphasize on service which they can produce.
Transition is an essential part which is incorporated by most of the successful organization to
match up with the pace of target market. In addition to that IHG is a luxury brand that offer royal
suite to the customer. It basically attracts high and upper middle class people that are ready to
spend desirable amount of funds in order to explore prestigious services. Thus, diverse brands of
IHG like Holiday Inn and Crown plaza functions to deliver supreme level of experience to guest.

Adequate strategies needs to be build out in order to remain connected with the existing
customer and track out their new desires, requirements and urge to enhance their lifestyle (Klaus
and Maklan, 2013). The untapped requirement is basically the opportunity for the entity which
they need to explore and come up with optimum situation in order to address the new
requirements of the customer. In terms of the hospitality industry, whose core offerings are the
service and almost all customers prefer to get supreme quality of services. So the manager of
hotels makes best possible attempts to examine the requirement and desire of visitor by
observing their preferences and maintaining records in database which immensely helps in terms
to convert the first time user or potential customer into loyal ones. In context to the IHG hotel
deliver different type of onboard strategy that help the manager to effective connect with their
target market. For instance, the company immensely depends upon the online platform in terms
to evaluate the response of guest and according carry out personalised communication. This
overcomes the chances of dissonance as their existing guest gets highly convenient and flexible
services. Along with that in comparison to other luxury hotels IHG is high customer centric as
human touch is added in this processes. Like, favorable meal of guests is cooked so that they feel
homely and loyal customer gets the room on the basis of their preferences. Further, sharing
desirable relationship with target market lead the hotel to gain core competencies. Thus, the
vales and importance derived by hospitality industry after understanding the requirements of
customer are listed down below:
 The manager of hotel, resorts, cruise ships and so on asks the customer to out their honest
feedback forward which helps to gain insights about the experience and requirements of
customer. As customer are solely paying for the services so any shortcomings can be
overcome with the contribution of customer in form of constructive feedback, review or
rating posted in the website of company or gained through survey method. This task
highly offers the opportunity to hospitality industry in terms to remain update and bring
out favorable efforts in maintaining long term relationship with customer (Lemon and
Verhoef, 2016).
 As their always exist the scope of improvement due to which most of the successful
organization like IHG hotel and Hilton company makes the virtual relationship with
customers, so with the help of digital media like email they update the people regarding
exiting packages. All these techniques help in examining the latest trend of customer on

the basis of conversion or bounce rate. Accordingly, efforts are made to leverage the
power of data and helps in deriving out favorable strategy to appeal the interest of
customer and maximize company’s profitability.
 Different types of the customer are segregated into the homogeneous groups in order to
more likely understand the wants or requirement of each and every individual. It helps to
focus n different categories like families, couple, business travelers etc. which benefits
them to derive out better experience.
Targeted customers Customer need, wants and preferences
Families Spacious room and
availability of basis amenities
like availability of food,
heating appliances and active
house keeping services.
Play areas exclusively
designed for kids (Wong,
2013).
Business travelers Conference hall, good Wi-Fi
connection and quality food.
Room service facility, clean
towels, newspapers and
exercise corner
Couples Fine dining area and clean
rooms
High quality bedding and Off-
site surroundings
P2: Explore the different factors that drive and influence customer engagement of different target
customer groups within a service sector organization
Customer engagement is perhaps the opportunity to facilitate consumers by presenting
them with product or service-related information with a view to improving communication and
exchanging insights to create brand awareness on the marketplace. Some of the factors that can
influence the chances of customer engagement are listed down below:
 Destination choice: The travel sites as well as destination places basically influences the
interest of customer towards the hotels. If the hospitality industry builds strategies on the
basis of preferences, attitude and values of diverse customer then it leads to better
engagement rate. An effort needs to be made to make the trip of tourist desirable by offer
them memorable experience.

 Tourist experiences: The travel industry's basic services are visitor experiences.
Multiple visitors have various aspects of travelling. Hotel or resort operators have
introduced numerous approaches to involve travelers before, both during and after trip to
explore different facilities. Tourist interactions are a crucial factor which also affects the
interaction of different customers (Verma and et. al., 2012).
Customer engagement factors that affect the requirements of diverse target customer
groups within hospitality industry are listed down below:
Family trip: There trip mainly include the spouse along with their children which are
basically designed during the time of vacations. Customer engagement can be seek out if the
traveler finds the stay relaxing and delightful, so the hospitality sector for this category needs to
have adequate availability of parks or open spaces where kids can enjoy. Housekeeping staff and
room services can extensively help the family to leverage the trip.

Business traveler: Business trips involve the professional partner that after attaining the
target went to explore the new destination. So here the hotels like IHG needs to offer
unstoppable internet connection, good scenic view through window or balcony, quality food,
conference hall in order to engage the customers (Bagdare and Jain, 2013).
Couples: in include spouse or newly married couple that becomes the part of hospitality
industry to spend quality time with ne other. In this case hotels and restaurants can only engage
and attract couple by offering them the facility of fine dining area, candle ling dinner, supreme
quality of bedding, pools and off site surroundings.

TASK 2
P3: Create a customer experience map for a selected service sector organization
Mapping out customer experience is basically a framework designed by the organization
to track as well as engage the customers by offering them desirable amount of products and
services. This helps to maintain the connection with potential customers by understanding their
perspectives which helps to convert the first time user into the potential ones. Within hospitality
industry, emphasize is given to deliver the supreme level of services and offer desirable
experiences to the customer so that they repetitively stay at the same hotel as well as refer other
also (Mukerjee, 2012). As IHG hotels are spread over hundred countries so it remain well versed
about the requirements of potential customer due to which it can maintain competitive image all
around the globe. Thus, the steps of customer service mapping are listed below:
Customers experience map for InterContinental hotel group:

Discover and explore: The interactions of customers throughout the processes to
purchase IHG services commence with the discovery of information related to
alternatives or packages offered within geographical region to meet customer
demand. Adequate space in digital media help to facilitate desirable information
for which diverse tools such as social media, website, paid advertisements are
explored.
Compare and evaluate: Here the customer explore detail information about the
services or packages delivered by various hotels based on which decisions are
taken to reach out to a conclusion, usually the offered services are compared on
the basis of individual requirement so it is the responsibility of hotels to
constantly update their information over internet (Jain, Aagja and Bagdare, 2017).
Book services: Once on the basis of services final decision is made then booking
id done, IHG offer both online as well as offline reservation. Most of the booking
takes place through the online media due to their user friendly website and
flexible policies.
Arrival at hotel: On the basis of reservation tenure guest check in to the hotel
where it interact with reservation department and gets overwhelmed by
refreshments drinks.
Room available: The manager of hotels keeps the room ready for their guest so
that after long journey they can relax and explore new place. The interior needs to
be effectively designed like windows can help to get scenic view.
Fitness rooms: Exclusively designed for fitness freak customer so that they need

o to skip the exercise even in new region.
Restaurant: IHG hotel offer both room service as well as restaurant facility where
different means of morning, afternoon and evening is served.
Check out: The tenure of departure helps the customer to take the memorable
experience with them and participate in word to mouth publicity.
P4: Discuss how the touch points create such opportunities throughout the customer experience
in your hospitality organization
Customer touch points refer to the phase when customer comes in contact of company as
well as its representation that can be before, during or after taking the services. These are
considered as influential actions which help in developing the opportunities and maintaining long
term customer experience (Goldfarb and Tucker, 2013). Explanation of different tools that acts
as an opportunity for IHG company are listed down below:
 Telephone: Mostly all hospitality organisations uses telephone to connect with people
all the contact details information is listed in the website of company. In context to
Imperial Hotel the managers have employed different people that can communicate with
their clients regarding their query while carrying out the reservation and accordingly
efforts are made to resolve the problem. Such efforts inspire the people due to which are
more likely to become the part of same entity.
 Hotel Staff: It is vital to hire the desirable staff that can understand the demand of
customer as well as resolve their remedy effectively. Herein, IHG company extensively
focuses on their staff so whether they are front staff, housekeeping or kitchen department
and constantly train them so that they participate to deliver supreme level of services by
meeting the expectation of customer successfully.

Thus, these are some of the touch points which act as an opportunity and helps in developing
significant experience before as well as after experiencing the services. It further leads to
maintain the relationship with existing and potential customers.
TASK 3
P5: Examine how digital technology is employed in managing the customer experience within
the service sector organization
Customer relationship management as the name suggest helps the company to maintain
its systematic interaction with existing customer as well as prospects. Here the internal staff of
company maintains all the record of customer with the help of electronic devices. All these raw
data offer relevant information to the company based on which the existing trend and change in
the requirement of customer are accessed. So desirable use of digital technology acts as an
opportunity that helps company to promote the changes and transmit desirable information to
immense customer within stipulated period of time. Such mechanism enhances the
interrelationship shared between company and its reach as through tools like analytics company
can anticipate the trend based on which modifications are made to sustain the interest of
customer. Digital technology has become an essential part for any organization as it is used in
large number by the customer. Lot of organization is also using digital technology to manage
customer experience in service sector using this helps in maximization of profit of whole
business. Herein, IHG hotel uses different types of customer relationship managements by
which they gain trust of the customer and also retain them for a long period of time. All the CRM
strategies are discussed below:
Operational customer relationship management: The three main activities of any
business are sales, marketing and service as this system care of all of them. The IHG helps use it
for increase attention of workforce in operations so that they can provide attractiveness to the
customer and also best quality of services. It also helps in bringing down contact of clients and
their purchase history all together so by going through them management can figure out what
went wrong and what they need to do now (Homburg, Jozić and Kuehnl, 2017).
Analytical customer relationship management system: Manager of the company
implements this system so that they can figure out the appropriate manner of how to service their

customers due to which they can get satisfied (Type of customer relationship management
systems, 2019). It is used by IHG company so that better decision can be formulated and at the
same time effectiveness can be checked due to which if there is any requirement of modification
it can be made. Further, it leads to enhance the sales, data is collected and sorted in appropriate
manner then it is given to the manager which leads to using it to formulate strategies.
Collaborative customer relationship management system: The motive of this system
is to attain good relationship with clients as well as stakeholders (Spiess and et. al., 2014). Need
requirement and perceptions of the customer is identified and communicated to them by the
managers. The system helps in formulating strategic decisions so that the long term goal can be
attained and profitability can be maximized.
Therefore, the company uses all the above described system so that experience of the
customer can be managed and needs of customer can be met. This digital technology helps in
retaining the client or along period.
TASK 4
P6: Illustrate customer service strategies in a specific service sector context
Customer service strategies are basically plans and policies which executive forms so that
they can retain the potential customers and build goodwill of the firm. This strategies helps in
identifying loyal customers and helpful in planning day to day actions. The main component is
service as giving service to customer results in engagement of customer. The IHG hotel focuses
on giving quality of experience to its customers which is done by forming affective strategies so
that loyalty can be achieved for long term. Some of the strategies are discussed below:
Treating customer as VIP: The staff make sure all the customer are treated as same that
is they try to give VIP treatment to everyone by that customer satisfaction is attained and
feedback gained from them is positive. Requirement of customer is analyses and they try to
service them on immediate basis (Ordenes and et. al., 2014).
Deliver the promises: Whatever promises made to the customer IHG hotel makes sure
that they all are kept. All the product and services are altered as per the needs of customer they

try to deliver the services on time due to which customer don’t have to wait which can result in
frustration, company try to avoid it.
Tackling customer grievances: If there is any problem to any customer for the product
and services offered, IHG hotel try to earn it from the customer and rectify it on immediate basis
so that customer is satisfied and is ready to visit the hotel again.
P7 Demonstrate how customer service strategies create and develop the customer experience in a
way that meet the needs of the customer and the required business standards
Customer Audit Trail, Critical Observations
Hospitality organization InterContinental hotel
Date of visit: 27th March’ 2020
First Impressions
Things which found desirable? Things which I found
undesirable?
What changes I would promote
if this was my business?
The ambiance and interior
design was eye catching also
the sound services offered by
professional staff
Inadequate parking space
which usually time to take in
or take out the cars
Focus on widening the parking
space and promote quick
check in facility
Tariff Board, Labelling and Signage:
Things which I really find
attractive?
Things which were not
satisfactory in hotel?
What changes I would bought
in my business?
Proper display of Signage for fire
alarm, fire exit, way to lift and
stairs.
The guest has to take their
stuffs by their own at their
respective place. Staffs used to
Proper allotment of staff to leave
the guest at their respective
places also the restaurant and

only help in case of heavier
luggage
other amenities are needs to be
labeled in lift as well to avoid
chances of confusion.
Price:
Things which I really find
attractive?
Things which were not
satisfactory in hotel?
What changes I would adopt in
my business?
Fresh food and salad was
served at desirable prices.
Special dishes were
overcharged
Focus on charging static prices of
the food to welcome more
customers
Staff:
Things which I really find
attractive?
Things which were not
satisfactory in hotel?
What changes I would adopt in
my business?
Staffs were polite as well as
humble in terms of listening
our request and fulfilling it
within desirable limit.
Training needs to be offered to
the new staff in order to
enhance the level of delivery of
services.
Offer practical training session
where focus is given on the
analytic skill of staff in order to
better deal with different situation.
Payment:
Things which I really find
attractive?
Things which were not
satisfactory in hotel?
What changes I would adopt
in my business?
IHG promote the cashless
transaction through different
medium like credit and debit
card
Restricted tools of digital
payment were used.
I will promote different forms of
digital payment tools like mobile
wallets.

CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been determined that customer support services plays an
essential in terms to constantly interact with customer and resolving the chances of dissonance
which leads in gaining competitive advantage over other rivalries dealing in same type of
industry. To scale up the business the internal representative of an organization needs to remain
well verse about the changing preferences or taste of customer on the basically of which
necessary alternations area made. There exist different forms of customer relationship
management system like operational or analytical that need to be managed by hospitality sector.
Therefore, effective strategies are articulated to maximize the sales, accommodate target market
requirement and gain long term sustainable advantage.

REFERENCES
Books and Journal
De Keyser, A., and et. al., 2015. A framework for understanding and managing the customer
experience. Marketing Science Institute working paper series. 15(121). pp.1-48.
Klaus, P. P. and Maklan, S., 2013. Towards a better measure of customer
experience. International Journal of Market Research. 55(2). pp.227-246.
Lemon, K. N. and Verhoef, P. C., 2016. Understanding customer experience throughout the
customer journey. Journal of marketing. 80(6). pp.69-96.
Wong, I. A., 2013. Exploring customer equity and the role of service experience in the casino
service encounter. International Journal of Hospitality Management. 32. pp.91-101.
Verma, R., and et. al., 2012. Customer experience modeling: from customer experience to
service design. Journal of Service Management.
Bagdare, S. and Jain, R., 2013. Measuring retail customer experience. International Journal of
Retail & Distribution Management.
Mukerjee, K., 2012. Customer experience management: A framework for successfully managing
the customer experience. SAMVAD. 4. pp.55-65.
Jain, R., Aagja, J. and Bagdare, S., 2017. Customer experience–a review and research
agenda. Journal of Service Theory and Practice.
Goldfarb, A. and Tucker, C., 2013. Why managing consumer privacy can be an opportunity. MIT
Sloan Management Review. 54(3). p.10.
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.
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.

Ordenes, F. V., and et. al., 2014. Analyzing customer experience feedback using text mining: A
linguistics-based approach. Journal of Service Research. 17(3). pp.278-295.
Online:
Type of customer relationship management systems. 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://project-management.com/different-kinds-of-crm-systems-software-solutions/>