Role of service management in gaining customer loyalty towards the brand. A study on Hilton hotels

This research analyzes the role of service management in gaining customer loyalty towards the brand, with a study on Hilton hotels. It examines the concept of service management in the hospitality sector, strategies used by Hilton hotels to provide quality service and attain customer loyalty, and issues faced by the hotel in managing services and gaining customer loyalty.

RESEARCH
(To analyse the role of service management in gaining customer loyalty towards the brand” A
study on Hilton hotels)
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Title: Role of service management in gaining customer loyalty towards the brand. A study on
Hilton hotels.....................................................................................................................................3
Chapter 1- Introduction....................................................................................................................3
Chapter 2-Literature Review............................................................................................................5
References......................................................................................................................................14
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Title: Role of service management in gaining customer loyalty towards the
brand. A study on Hilton hotels.
Chapter 1- Introduction
Research background
Present research is conducted on the role of service management in order to gain consumer
loyalty towards brand. In hospitality industry services is playing crucial role as it will help in
providing satisfaction to consumers (Popp and Woratschek, 2017). It also offers organization
advantage through which they can retain loyal consumers for longer period of time. Present
research include discussion on the concept of service management in context to hospitality
industry along with this different strategies that has been used by Hilton Hotel to provide quality
services to attend consumer loyalty is also being discussed in this research. Along with this
issues that has been faced by Hilton Hotel during the process of managing services as well as
gaining consumer loyalty is also being discussed with the help of with the literature review
analysis. This research will provide benefit to the selected company through which they can
implement significant strategies while identifying the impact of the issues in effective manner.
With the help of this organization can significantly assure long term growth and profitability. In
the industry present research conducted on Hilton hotels which is one of the leading hotels
operating its roles and responsibilities in the hospitality industry. With the help of this
organization can assure higher growth and can gain competitive edge in a well defined and
effective manner.
Research aim & objectives
Research aim
“To analyse the role of service management in gaining customer loyalty towards the
brand” A study on Hilton hotels.
Research objectives
 To analyse the concept of service management in context to hospitality sector.
 To examine the various strategies used by Hilton hotels in providing quality service and
to attain customer loyalty.
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 To determine the issues faced by Hilton hotels in the process of managing services and
gain customer loyalty.
Research questions
 What is the concept of service management in context to hospitality sector?
 What are the various strategies used by Hilton hotels in providing quality service and to
attain customer loyalty?
 What are the issues faced by Hilton hotels in the process of managing services and gain
customer loyalty?
Rationale
Present research is rational as it is conducted on the rule of service management in order to
gain consumer loyalty towards the brand. The researches conducted on Hilton hotels which is
one of the leading organisations in hospitality industry. This research will provide advantage to
other hotels and companies in the same sector to understand the role as well as concept of service
management which will help them to implement feasible strategies through which they can gain
consumer loyalty and can enhance their overall profitability as well as productivity on the same
hand. In addition to this the present research is also rational as it will help in enhancing the
current level of knowledge and understanding of the researcher on the topic of the role of service
management in context to hospitality industry. The research will expand the understanding level
of researcher through which they can conduct future research in more efficient manner. This
research will provide both professional and personal benefits to academic learners as well as
researcher along with organisations in hospitality industry.
Significance of research
The selection of research topic is significant as it identifies the role of service management
to understand the various strategies through which organization can gain consumer loyalty. In
today’s business world service management is a crucial concept especially for organizations
operating in hospitality industry as with help of this organisations can enhance consumer loyalty
the satisfaction level as well as can remain competitive in the environment. With the help of
implementing service management strategies organization can enhance its profitability and
productivity in effective manner. Present research include discussion on Hilton Hotel which
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intake use of different strategies to provide quality services to consumers in order to attain long
term growth and profitability. Along with this research include discussion on the issues faced by
hotel during the process of managing services and gain consumer loyalty which will benefit
organization to be competitive in the business environment.
Research Methodology overview
To conduct this research investigator will undertake advantage of quantitative research
methods. In this with the help of deductive research approach by taking positivism research
philosophy into consideration collection of data facts and information will be undertaken to
execute research objectives efficiently. Furthermore to accumulate data both primary and
secondary source of methods will be considered by investigator. In this in context with primary
method with the help of random sampling method certain number of respondents will be
selected those who will be the employees of Hilton Hotel. In this researcher will acquire
responses from the selected respondents with the help of a questionnaire and will analyse them
by taking use of bar charts and tables. While on the other hand in context with secondary data
collection method investigator will undertake advantage of evaluating journal articles, books,
previously conducted work and will analyse them with the help of a literature review. The
overall number of respondents will be 35 and the responses will be evaluated by researcher
effectively to conduct research in a well-defined and effective manner.
Chapter 2-Literature Review
Concept of service management in context to hospitality sector
According to the viewpoint of Kandampully, Zhang and Bilgihan, (2015) hotels and
restaurant management are duly bundled together and they are known as the hospitality industry
or the service sector. This sector is playing crucial roles in many economies around the world.
Inclusive of developing various countries around the world the hospitality industry is providing
job opportunities to individuals, enhancing the living condition of people and providing wider
best of services and facilities to consumers. The hospitality industry is one of the leading
industries around the world’s major industry. This is inclusive of activities which include the
hotel industry (Ramanathan, Subramanian and Parrott, 2017). The growth and success of this
industry can be seen as one of the key components of the growth of economies. Consumer needs
and demands are dynamically changing they are demanding for top-notch services and facilities
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in affordable pricing segment (WHAT IS SERVICE IN THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY?.
2022). This enhances the importance and need of service management in hospitality industry as
to overcome the increase in competitive rivalry in this sector while fulfilling consumer needs and
demand. Service management plays crucial role in context with hospitality industry. Service
management is a management discipline which aim towards offering quality services so that
consumer will value, buy and use them. Hospitality industry is operating as one of the important
sector which is playing important role in providing services and facilities. with the help of
various frameworks and standards. Quality of service is a merit that is judged by customers’
point of view. Customer expectation match and the level of service delivery are key
measurements of the quality of service. Quality of service is defined from the customer
standpoint and their perceptions of how satisfied were they with the service delivery. Hence it is
very critical feature that obliges the marketing managers to examine their quality of their service
basing on the customer approach. Therefore, it is significant for service based organizations to
find out what customers want, expects and need, and then develops services that either meet or
exceed customers’ expectations. It is important because service based companies need to
enhance its quality of service in order to be distinct in the market and gain customer satisfaction
and hence their loyalty. To be more unique in the trade market businesses need to know their
customer and what customer need and want. In production companies’ innovation is crucial
because product and price can be easily imitative. In this it is essential for organisations in this
industry to undertake use of various service management principles process and best practices to
serve needs and demands of the consumer segment. Furthermore in context to hospitality
industry service management is important, as it helps in developing long term relationship with
consumers. Many business organization in this sectors are developing at a faster rate in which
with the help of innovation and unique products, they are maintaining their competitive edge in
the industry. Service management enable these business organization to maintain loyal
consumers while providing them opportunity to attract more consumer base from different
locations around the world. The main aim of service management in hospitality industry is to
maintain the top quality services as to make consumers happy. Service management is a crucial
aspect which help companies in this sector to build up a loyal consumer base while influencing
more and more number of consumers. Service management basically starts with consumer
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service or service consumers. In this organization undertake use of various practices to
understand the consumer needs and demands and provide them attractive range of services. The
service management in hospitality industry usually starts from identifying consumer journey and
describing organization facilities and services which have potential to create value for them.
Organisations in hospitality sector by under taking advantage of service management framework
can emphasise on the essential activities of good service management as a practice or process for
example providing guidance. Service management practices framework of service life cycle
concept will benefit organization and establish management through which they can assure
continuous improvement. The service cycle is inclusive of 5 stages which duly correspond to the
service management practices and process inclusive of service strategy, service design, service
transition, service operation inclusive of service request management, incident management and
problem management along with service improvement. For companies operating its roles and
responsibility in hospitality sector service management is a crucial aspect as it encourages them
to have a positive emphasise towards consumer relationship management, change management,
service continuity management, configuration management service, portfolio etc. The service
management is a body of knowledge which is made up of different framework which duly define
best practices as well as standard process. By taking advantage of these process companies can
have a discipline approach to service management implementation. This will benefit companies
to have a framework through which they can provide maximum number of satisfactory services
and facilities to the consumer base.
According to the above analysis it has been stated that service management plays crucial
role for organizations operating specially in hospitality industry, as this industry is directly
related with consumer in terms of providing services and facilities. Service management
practices will help companies in the sector to assure competitive edge by providing them a
chance to grab opportunities (SERVICE VS HOSPITALITY: WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE
AND WHY IT MATTERS. 2019). In this with the help of taking use of YaSM process model
organisations can have service management framework and can streamline company aims and
visions according to the document and process template. This will help them to have a clear and
consistent structure that will benefit them to understand consumers needs and demands and ideas
behind service model. With the help of hospitality- best service management administrative and
managerial department in organisations in this industry can assure long term growth and
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profitability. This will also benefit them to retain in the sector for longer period of time by
providing hospitality service which helps in creating a satisfactory in experience for consumers.
With the help of having better experience consumers retain with organization for longer period
of time. This provides organization a successful opportunity through which they can assure
higher growth and profitability. Service management in context to hospitality industry provides
organization an advantage to focus beyond profit. With the help of service management
principles organization can align roles and responsibilities of each and every individual and can
provide maximum satisfaction to consumers. This plays crucial role in assuring higher growth
and eliminating practices which are creating bad impact on organization growth (Hassan, Lashari
and Zafar, 2015). The discussion states that service management is crucial for hospitality sector,
as it is directly associated with consumer satisfaction, profit-generating ability, revenue creation
and long-term growth along with a competitive edge in the market.
Various strategies used by Hilton hotels in providing quality service and to attain customer
loyalty
According to the viewpoint of So, Sparks and Wang, (2016) to retain competitive in any industry
irrespective of its size and scope organization needs to emphasise on providing qualitative
services and facilities to consumers in order to assure their loyalty and satisfaction level.
Consumer satisfaction and loyalty is crucial for organization long term growth profitability and
higher sales. With the help of having wider base of consumers those who are loyal towards
organization, company can assure significant increase in sales as well as higher competitive
advantage in the industry. Hilton hotels is operating its roles and responsibility in a highly
competitive environment in the hospitality sector. This lead the respective hotel to undertake use
of various strategies which is helping them to provide quality services to consumers. With the
help of offering these services Hilton hotels is assuring consumer loyalty as well as satisfaction
level.
 Hilton hotels is classified as a full service hotel in which they are providing wide range of
services according to the consumer needs, demands, income level and needs. The
facilities and services of this hotel group is inclusive of meetings, banquet facilities,
wedding facilities, special event services, food and beverage services, restaurant and
lodges, gift shops, swimming pool, retail facilities and another services. Being a luxury
hotel the organization offers different set of excellent quality services to consumers in a
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premium pricing range. The hotel’s core product and basic services its hotel rooms that
provide consumers of facilities to stay in for a specific period of time. In order to provide
quality services Hilton Hotel is facilitating its product which include luxury restaurant
and online reservation facilities. This hotel group is also providing free newspaper and
magazines, 24/7 room services for consumers. The organization is operating its roles and
responsibilities in more than 100 countries and territories around the globe. This is among
the leading hotel group in which they emphasise towards maximum satisfaction of
consumers. With the help of these services company is providing quality services to
consumers and attaining their loyalty towards the hotel.
 The hospitality Industry is highly competitive in which there are number of organisations
are providing services and facilities to consumers. Hilton hotels is operating in this
industry with a strong market value. In this they are facing competition from many
organizations such as Marriott etc. In this to enhance competitive advantage and provide
quality services to consumers. Hilton hotels is strongly rely on information technology
and internet in various formats such as phone apps, website and social media. With their
official website the company is providing effective platform to consumers through which
they can have a look on wider range of features and services providing by the company.
With the help of strong internet platform framework Hilton Hotel is providing assistance
to consumer such as booking room, scheduling meetings, planning events and weddings,
booking airport pickups etc. The primary reason behind providing these services and the
selection of internet platform is to enhance the distribution strategy of the company in
order to enhance the convenience level of consumers (HILTON PERFORMANCE
ADVANTAGE. 2022). With the help of this organization is providing consumers a
possibility of purchasing services and products in advance on the go within a particular
time frame. With the help of this Hilton Hotel is facilitating consumers to have quality
services which is providing benefit to hotel in terms of attaining their loyalty and
satisfaction level.
 The Hilton Hotel is significantly undertaking use of technology such as providing smart
room facilities, offering consumers a connectivity through which they can control the
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room facilities from their phone etc. With the help of this Hilton Hotel is allowing
consumers to enjoy great experience with the help of good technology. The hotel is
undertaking use of technology to provide better experience and encourage consumer
loyalty. With the help of having delighted and surprising consumers based Hilton Hotel is
assuring strong in competitive growth in the industry. Due to the emerging impact of
technology Hilton hotels have drastically changed their consumers servicing strategy to
match consumer expectations and providing them positive experience. Hilton Hotel with
the help of technology is providing easy luxurious and practical facilities to consumers.
Technology is also enabling Hilton Hotel to take use of innovation and uniqueness in
order to meet consumer expectation and attract new consumer base. With the help of
allowing guest to use their mobile to check-in and check-out from their hotel, Hilton
Hotel is providing easier facilities to consumers.
 Hilton Hotel is also providing better experience to consumers with the help of mobile app
and website in which they are providing a wide range of capabilities and features for
consumers by providing them practical assistance to consumer such as planning event,
booking a room, scheduling meetings, booking airport pickups etc. In addition to this
hotels is providing consumers and opportunity to customize their needs and demands
(Goodman, 2019). With the help of taking advantage of various platforms like Twitter
Instagram and Facebook company is promoting its luxurious services and promise
consumers and outstanding experience. All these impressive services are being provided
by the Hilton Hotel to increase the consumer satisfaction level and provide them tangible
as well as intangible satisfaction.
 In addition to this to enhance the consumer satisfaction level along with the extent of the
services that they are using Hilton hotels is under taking use of providing advanced
training employees. In that they are taking use of virtual and traditional modes of
technology to increase the current level of knowledge, skill and experience of employees.
This is allowing employees to serve consumers in a better an efficient ways as compared
to the other rivals in industry.
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To remain competitive in the hospitality industry aim to continually increase consumer
loyalty. Hilton Hotel is under taking use of various services and strategies to provide quality
services to consumers. This is providing hotel and opportunity to remain in the market for longer
period of time and assure more opportunities for growth and expansion.
Issues faced by Hilton hotels in the process of managing services and gain customer loyalty
As per the view point of Iglesias, Markovic and Rialp, (2019) Hospitality industry is highly
competitive in which Hilton hotels is facing high competitive rivalry from different other
organizations such as Marriott, Holiday Inn etc. However in order to manage consumer
satisfaction number of strategies and framework has been implemented by organisations. In
addition to this hotel is also managing satisfaction level of employees with the help of taking
advantage of Maslow hierarchy theory. Irrespective of these practices there are some certain
issues that the current hotel is facing in the process of managing services and gain consumer
loyalty. Some of these challenges are inclusive of continuous improvement. In context to this it
has been underlined that the neat and demands of consumers are dynamically changing which
requires organization to encourage continuous improvement. In this is the process of constantly
introducing small incremental changes in order to make improvement in quality and efficiency of
business in order to assure sustainability. With the help of this company can assure higher
growth in order to fulfill consumer needs and demands according to the current business trends.
Hilton Hotel is facing challenges in order to achieve total quality by pursuing continuous
improvement as they are facing challenges in terms of enhancing attitudinal change and
consumer shift as the other rivals are providing affordable services and being a luxury hotel
Hilton Hotel offer services and facilities basically in luxurious pricing segment. This is causing
organization a challenge to manage services and gain consumer loyalty at a maximum level. In
this modern business environment technology is being widely used by organization in hospitality
industry. The major issue that the Hilton Hotel is currently facing in the process of managing
services and gaining consumer loyalty is associated to increasing wastage and sudden change in
the perception of customers towards environmental safety. In the current business environment
government and consumers around the world are highly influenced by those organisations who
are contributing in the protection of environment. This is the major challenge as in order to have
a positive attitude towards environment Hilton Hotel needs to increase the quality standards with
the help of providing quality guarantee in all they process. In this company needs to implement
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real time quality checks in every department and assure implementation of practices which will
help organization to reduce overall wastage while reducing the use of energy an increasing the
use of renewable sources. This will help organization to have a responsiveness to consumer
needs with the help of providing them efficient services while having significant contribution
towards environment.
According to the above analysis these are certain issues that has been faced by Hilton
Hotel in the process of managing services and gaining consumer loyalty along with this
challenges in providing training to employees intense competitive rivalry, dynamic needs and
change in the demands of consumers (Murali, Pugazhendhi and Muralidharan, 2016). The
outbreak of COVID-19 has also increased challenges in front of Hilton Hotel to manage services
on gain consumer loyalty. In this company with the help of investing on digital tools and
technology with a positive contribution towards environment can create loyal consumer base
through which they can retain them for longer period of time. In addition to this it has been
underlined that the other major issue that has been faced by Hilton Hotel in the process of
managing services and gaining consumer loyalty is due to intense competition in the market.
Various other rivals of the Hilton Hotel is taking advantage of affordable pricing segment in
which they are also maintaining quality standards. This is creating issue in front of Hilton Hotel
to implement strategies and practices to serve wider base of consumers while maintaining their
loyalty level.
According to the above literature review analysis it has been stated that service
management is an important practice for hotels and organizations operating in hospitality
industry in order to assure greater success service management plays crucial role, as it help
organization to implement service quality strategies and practices in all departments in order to
increase their service delivery standards (Bowen and McCain, 2015). This will help organization
to increase their competitive edge in the market with the help of implementing service
management strategies. Hotels like Hilton Hotel can fulfill consumer needs and demands and can
make constant improvement as per the client needs. The competitive market environment
requires Hilton Hotel to undertake use of new approaches to management such as total quality
management, increase in investment, renewable energy use, introducing quality management
system and implementing approaches to increase consumer satisfaction level. With the help of
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this Hilton Hotel can significantly assure long term growth and sustainability in industry along
with maximum level of consumer satisfaction and loyalty level.
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References
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relationship between customer loyalty and customer satisfaction”. International Journal
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Goodman, J., 2019. Strategic customer service: Managing the customer experience to increase
positive word of mouth, build loyalty, and maximize profits. Amacom.
Hassan, R.S., Nawaz, A., Lashari, M.N. and Zafar, F., 2015. Effect of customer relationship
management on customer satisfaction. Procedia economics and finance, 23, pp.563-
567.
HILTON PERFORMANCE ADVANTAGE. 2022. [Online]. Available
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advantage/
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brand equity? Considering the roles of customer satisfaction, customer affective
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