Customer Experience Management in Hospitality Sector

MANAGING CUSTOMERS
EXPERIENCE

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
L O 1................................................................................................................................................3
P1) Importance of understanding wants and preferences of customers.................................3
P2) Factors influencing customer engagement of different target customer groups..............4
L O 2................................................................................................................................................5
P3) Develop customer experience map..................................................................................5
P4) How touch points develop opportunities throughout the customer experience...............8
L O 3................................................................................................................................................9
P5) Role of digital technology in managing the customer experience...................................9
L O 4..............................................................................................................................................10
P6) Various customer service strategies...............................................................................10
P7) How customer service strategies develop customer experience....................................11
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Hospitality industry consists of wide range of fields such as food and beverage, lodging,
transportation, event planning etc. The industry is mainly depends on purchasing power and
leisure time available to customers. Customer experience implies the involvement of customers
at different levels. It consists of three parts that is journey of buyer, touchpoints and environment
like digital environment experienced by customer etc. The Report is based on Marriott Hotels
and Resorts. It belongs to hospitality industry. According to Forbes, the hotel comes at 4th rank in
the list of best firms to work in UK (Kandampully, Zhang, T. and Jaakkola, 2018). The Report
will outline need to understand customer needs, factors that impacts customer engagement,
customer experience map and touch points, importance of digital technology and various
customer service strategies.
MAIN BODY
L O 1
P1) Importance of understanding wants and preferences of customers.
Target market -
The term target market refers to a group of buyers for which organization uses its
resources offer its products or services to fulfil the demand of targeted segment of buyers. Target
market includes the customers that are having similar features like income, age etc. Every
organization chooses that market segment which provides maximum opportunity for growth and
success.
Marriott Hotels mainly targets business travellers for offering its products and services that are
searching valued-price facilities. It also targets customers on the basis of their personality.
Need, expectations and preferences -
Need is the fundamental requirements of the person such as food etc. that are essential for
survival. Wants are not regarded as need. When need for particular thing arises it stimulates the
taste as a result want arises. When customer is having willingness to buy product or service, and
they also have ability to pay for it. In that, case demand arises (Marutschke, Gournelos, T. and
Ray, 2019).
Understanding the need, want and preference of customers is very important in
Hospitality Industry because it helps the marketer to select the target market. As a result it helps

to offer goods and services to targeted segment of customers. Understanding of all the three
elements helps the firm to improve the sale of products through effective advertisement. It also
supports hospitality companies to forecast the sale in a particular market segment. Better
understanding of the demand and preference of buyers will help companies to determine the
impact various factors such as demographic, level of income, social and cultural factors on the
behaviour of customers. This will also help marketer of hospitality companies to determine the
level of willingness of buyers to buy the product or avail the service of the organization. For
example – Information in respect of need, want and preference of target market will help
Marriott Hotels to design marketing campaign for attracting the buyers towards goods and
services that firm is offering to them.
Understanding of customer demands in respect of certain commodity or service will help
Marriott Hotel to provide better facilities like room service, food and beverage etc. to the clients.
It will result in better customer satisfaction that will help firms operating in Hospitality Industry
to gain competitive advantage over competitors.
P2) Factors influencing customer engagement of different target customer groups.
Customer Engagement -
It refers to the communication and interaction between targeted segment of customers
and firm with the help of different channels. This type of connection can be the response or
overall experience of the buyer that can emerge through offline or online. Engagement of
customers through online channel like internet etc. is different as compared to offline channels.
Hospitality firms like Marriott Hotels should develop effective strategies for improving the level
of customer engagement because this will help the company to grab various opportunities,
improving customer loyalty and also help to improve relationship with the clients (Rajaobelina,
2018). There are various factors that influence customer engagement in target market of Marriott
Hotels. Such as -
Understanding customer expectations -
The expectations of the buyers in respect of products and services of Hospitality
companies like Marriott Hotels is changing. To remain competitive it is very essential for the
firm to understand the expectations of clients regarding quality, convenience of service etc.
Marketer of Marriott Hotel should make efforts to determine the demand of targeted segment of

customers because this will help to retain loyal clients for a long period (McLean, Al-Nabhani,
K. and Wilson, 2018).
Customer service -
Only effective advertising of products and services is not sufficient but hospitality firms
should make efforts to keep their clients happy by offering high quality of services at affordable
price. Marriott Hotel should implement new tools and technology like Artificial Intelligence for
providing better experience to ta get group of customers. This will help the organization to
develop a base of loyal customers. It will also result in improving customer engagement in the
Hotel.
Providing relevant information -
Communication is an important factor that can affect customer engagement in the
organization. Marriott Hotels should consider all the channels of communication to provide
information to targeted group of customers in respect of products or services. It will help
Marketing Manager of the Hotel t engage with customers in effective way. There must be no
miscommunication between organization and customers otherwise clients will shift towards
other organization.
Clients feedback -
Customer satisfaction is an important factor that determines the growth and success of
Hospitality companies. Marriott Hotel should use different types of tools and techniques for
collecting feedback and reviews of targeted segment of customers in respect of products or
services. This will help the organization to improve its services. Their opinion will help the Hotel
to meet out expectations of the clients and it will result in better customer engagement.
L O 2
P3) Develop customer experience map.
Customer experience map -
It refers to the process of evaluating how the targeted customers or new clients feel when
they are engaged in the products or services, touchpoints of the services offered by the company.
Hospitality firms develops customer experience map that involves the journey of customers from
starting to the end stage of clients engagement with the Hotel. To develop customer-journey-map
marketer of Marriott Hotel will have to determine the journey of customers, their feelings,

customers touchpoints, setting the stages etc (Dewnarain, Ramkissoon, H. and Mavondo, 2019).
The journey of clients involves research, booking, arrival, experience of room, check out and
post stay feedback etc.
Stages Research Comparing
with other
hotels
Booking Check -in In-Room
experience
Check-
out
Follow-up/
further
observation
Custom
er
activity
Through
informatio
n from
friends,
Comparing
Marriott
Hotels with
other hotels
Taking
decision
for
Booking
Communic
ating with
Front Desk
Officer of
Using
various
facilities
that are
Leavin
g the
hotel.
Giving
Engaged in
providing
feedback and
reviews
Figure 1 : Customer experience journey
Source : (Customer experience journey, 2018)

google,
Holiday
Check,
Booking.c
om etc.
operating in
hospitality
industry.
room or
for other
facilities
in the
Hotel
Marriott
Hotel and
resolving
queries in
respect of
room
facility,
booking
details etc.
available in
the room.
order
again
for the
service
s if
satisfie
d.
through
digital media
platforms.
Touch
Points
Social
media.
Interactive
websites
Offline
and
online
system
of
booking,
making
payment
etc.
Staff, tour
details
page,
CRM
technology
etc.
Staff
members
working in
different
department
s.
Word-
of-
mouth.
Ezee
iFeedback.
Experie
nce
Satisfied Don't know Satisfied Not fully
satisfied.
Satisfied Somew
hat
satisfie
d
Satisfied
Feeling Sufficient
informatio
n is
available
on
different
platforms.
Lack of
effective
tools for
comparing
Marriott
Hotels with
other
Easy and
convenie
nt
process
of
booking.
Need for
improveme
nt in skills
of service
staff.
Comfortabl
e room and
availability
of all the
facilities.
All the
service
s are
good
but
need
for
Effective
utilization of
social media
platform.

hospitality
firms.
more
training
to staff.
P4) How touch points develop opportunities throughout the customer experience.
Customer touch points -
Customer touch points are the type of communication between targeted customers and
goods or services of the organization with the help of various channels like digital channels etc.
The interaction takes place at specific points in the journey of customers. There are various touch
points that will help Marriott Hotels in grabbing business opportunities. These are as follows -
Website of the hotel -
Word-of-mouth -
In this digital world, it may be difficult for the customers to trust on all the information
which is available online. One of the major touch point for customers of Marriott Hotel is word-
of-mouth. It is one of the best method of advertisement in the hotels. Recommendation of
friends of the client will impact the choice of booking by the customer. Marriott Hotel should
offer incentives to clients, improvement in referral process etc. This will help the organization to
deliver better experience to targeted customers.
Social media -
Nowadays, more than 60% of the clients of the hotel are using social media for getting
relevant information regrading the hotel services. Therefore, social media is one of the most
important platform for targeting the customers to avail the products or services of the hospitality
companies. Marriott Hotels should invest more funds on Instagram, Twitter etc (Diffley,
McCole, P. and Carvajal-Trujillo, 2018). This will offer an opportunity to provide information
regarding new offers, amenities etc. to the customers.
Technology -
Technology offers various opportunities to hospitality firms to give pleasure to clients at
different touch points. For example - Marriott Hotel should implement Artificial Intelligence
for providing better experience to the customers of the Hotel. It should also use messaging based
on AI for sending important information to the guests. It should also focus on using CRM system
for maintaining relationship with clients.

Hotel staff -
Staff of the hotel is one of the most important tangible touch point that helps to provide
better experience to the guests of the hotel. Staff working in different departments of Marriott
Hotel remains in touch with the clients from the stage they enter the hotel till they check out
from the hotel. Adequate training should be provided to the staff members of Marriott Hotel
because it will provide opportunity for offering high quality of service to the clients.
L O 3
P5) Role of digital technology in managing the customer experience.
Digital technology -
It is the branch of engineering that deals in use of digital devices' system, methods etc.
Digital technology plays an important role in managing the experience of customers, to meet out
their wants and demands etc. Marriott Hotels has implemented different types of tools for
enhancing customer experience (Roy, 2018). Such as-
 To enhance guest experience, hotel is investing in implementing Internet of Things
(IOT) in rooms that helps the clients to feel comfortable.
 Marriott hotel is the first hotel that has implemented Virtual Reality (VR) in the hotel to
provide information regarding the surroundings to the customers. This has help the
management of hotel to redefine the experience of the guests. Hotel should use Trilyo voice based service for solving queries of the guests.
Customer Relationship Management -
It is the strategy of the firm to manage the relationship with existing as well as potential
customers. Focussing on the quality of products or services is not only sufficient for hospitality
companies they are also required to focus on customer relationship.
Customer Relationship Management System in Marriott Hotels helps to support marketing, sales
and process of delivering services to clients. It also helps the management to satisfy the needs as
well as to provide long-lasting experience to the guests of the Hotel (Homburg, Jozić, D. and
Kuehnl, 2017). Further, it also assists the Marketing Manager of Marriott Hotels to improve the
value of services for exceeding the expectations of the customers. CRM offers various benefits to
the Hotel. Such as-\

 The system helps Sales department to access the preferences of clients that helps to
develop attractive offers for the customers. As a result it helps the organization to manage
customer experience.
 CRM of Marriott Hotels involves strategies such as up selling or cross selling etc. It
helps to develop the interest of clients in other products or services also. As a result, all
these schemes helps to increase the sales of Hotel as well as results in improving
customer satisfaction.
L O 4
P6) Various customer service strategies.
Customer Service -
It refers to the act of an organization to take care of the needs of customers by offering
better quality services to the clients till their need and demands are met. There are various
strategies that Marriott Hotels should adopt for offering better services to the guests of the hotel
(Kandampully, Zhang, T. and Jaakkola, 2018). Such as -
 Customer feedback -
One of the important customer service strategy is receiving feedback. Technology helps the
companies to collect real time feedback from clients. Marriott Hotels should offer different ways
to clients for providing their reviews regarding products or services of the Hotel. Such as through
email, telephone, live chat etc.
 Improving customer service team -
Organization should hire skilled employees for offering various products and services if the
Hotel to the customers. While recruiting the staff, Manager of Marriott Hotel should ensure that
employees will have all the required skills such as communication skills, patience etc.
 Services through multi-channels -
Marriott Hotels should use various channels for providing services to the clients. It should use
mobile devices. Nowadays many people are using social media for getting booking rooms etc.
Therefore, firm should use platforms such as Facebook, Twitter etc. for providing solutions to
clients.
 Improvement in supplier relationship -

Organizations already knows that, better relationship with the suppliers along-with whole supply
chain is important for gaining success in Hospitality Sector (Lemon, K.N. and Verhoef, 2016).
 CRM platform -
Organization should make efforts for make the staff more efficient with the help of CRM
platforms. This will provide various benefits such as understanding the needs of guests in better
way etc.
 Incentives to staff -
Marriott Hotel should develop and implement the policy for offering incentives to the employees
for better performance. It will motivate them to provide services to the clients in effective way.
 Personal touch -
Firm should make efforts for providing personal touch to the guests of the Hotel. Marriott Hotel
should focus on providing recommendations to the guests and delivering services beyond their
expectations.
P7) How customer service strategies develop customer experience.
Customer service strategies plays an important role in creating better customer
experience as well as it also helps the firm to meet out the required standard of the business.
Marriott Hotels has already implemented various tools for collecting feedback from clients such
as Ezee iFeedback etc. It helps the firm to make modifications in the product or service. As a
result, it helps to improve customer satisfaction (Joshi, 2018).
Company is also using a tracking system like Guest Voice for improving overall
satisfaction of the guests. The Hotel also conducts training sessions for its customer service team
to enhance their skills for offering customer service in effective way. It helps the firm to improve
clients experience.
Marriott Hotel also develop the policy of providing incentives to the staff on the basis of their
performance. It helps to improve motivation level of employees that resulted in better services to
the guests (Uhl, A. and Gollenia, 2016).
Hotel is offering solutions and facility of communication through Omni -channel fro
improving the experience of the customers. Marriott believes in providing products or services
that clients want at the time they want and in the simplest way. It has implemented innovative
technology for offering customer services through CRM platform that provides all relevant
information about clients that helps to provide better services at all the touch points.

CONCLUSION
The above Report has outlined that the target market of Marriott Hotels mainly consist of
Business travellers and it targets the customer group on the basis of their personality. Knowledge
about customer preference help the firm to select the target market. Further, it has also described
that expectations of the buyers, Customer service, relevant information, feedback etc. are the
factors affecting customer engagement. Various touch points has help Marriott Hotels in
grabbing business opportunities. Digital technology help to to enhance guest experience.
Customer feedback, supplier relationship, Incentives to staff etc. are various customer service
strategies.
REFERENCES
Books and Journals -
Dewnarain, S., Ramkissoon, H. and Mavondo, F., 2019. Social customer relationship
management: An integrated conceptual framework. Journal of Hospitality Marketing &
Management. 28(2). pp.172-188.
Diffley, S., McCole, P. and Carvajal-Trujillo, E., 2018. Examining social customer relationship
management among Irish hotels. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
Management. 30(2). pp.1072-1091.
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.
Joshi, A., 2018. Digital technologies for enhancing customer experience. Sansmaran Research
Journal. pp.1-8.
Kandampully, J., Zhang, T. and Jaakkola, E., 2018. Customer experience management in
hospitality: A literature synthesis, new understanding and research agenda. International
Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. 30(1). pp.21-56.
Kandampully, J., Zhang, T. and Jaakkola, E., 2018. Customer experience management in
hospitality: A literature synthesis, new understanding and research agenda. International
Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. 30(1). pp.21-56.
Lemon, K.N. and Verhoef, P.C., 2016. Understanding customer experience throughout the
customer journey. Journal of marketing. 80(6). pp.69-96.

Marutschke, D., Gournelos, T. and Ray, S., 2019. Understanding Fluency and Friction in
Customer Experience Management. In Predicting Trends and Building Strategies for
Consumer Engagement in Retail Environments (pp. 88-108). IGI Global.
McLean, G., Al-Nabhani, K. and Wilson, A., 2018. Developing a mobile applications customer
experience model (MACE)-implications for retailers. Journal of Business Research. 85.
pp.325-336.
Rajaobelina, L., 2018. The impact of customer experience on relationship quality with travel
agencies in a multichannel environment. Journal of Travel Research. 57(2). pp.206-217.
Roy, S., 2018. Effects of customer experience across service types, customer types and
time. Journal of Services Marketing. 32(4). pp.400-413.
Uhl, A. and Gollenia, L.A., 2016. Digital enterprise transformation: A business-driven approach
to leveraging innovative IT. Routledge.
Online -
Customer experience journey.2018. [Online] Available Through :
<https://www.gchhotelgroup.com/en/newsroom/blog/customer_journey/3258?rel=/en/
newsroom/blog>

1

2