Improving Customer Experience at Marriott

This assignment analyzes the customer experience at Marriott County Hall Hotel, identifying areas for improvement. It suggests increasing staff numbers in the call center, enhancing staff training and development programs, focusing on touchpoints, and treating customers politely to elevate the overall customer experience.

Understanding And
Enhancing Customer
Experience

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................1
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................3
P3 Customer experience map for Marriott County Hall Hotel, hotel industry......................3
P4 Evaluation of the customer touchpoints through customer experience which would help in
creating business opportunities for Marriott County Hall Hotel............................................4
Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................5
References........................................................................................................................................6

Introduction
Customer experience management is the collection of processes a company uses to
watch, organise and oversee the interaction between its clients and management throughout the
customer life cycle. Customers the main assets of hospitality industry (Garg, Rahman and
Qureshi, 2014). This is industry aims at making their customer happy so that the clients visit
again to experience their services. For bringing consensus the hotel that has been taken is
Marriott County Hall Hotel which is one of the most top rated hotel in London, this hotel is
admired by various film actors, the hotel have total of 186 rooms. This report will give the brief
analysis on needs and expectations of market segments for the service industry and the customer
experience map which will help in opening new business opportunity to optimise customer touch
points.
LO 1
INDUCTION PROGRAMME
DAY 1: Why hotel carries out market segmentation
Every hotel groups needs to focus on understanding the needs and wants of their targeted
customers so that they are able to achieve success and win the situation that will generate
maximum customer satisfaction. For the hotel Marriott County Hall Hotel their main aim is on
the travellers and the business class people who come to visit London and to organise the
business meetings (Altunel, and Erkut , 2015). The hotel works at attracting Elite class people
who are the main target customers. The needs, wants and preferences of the targeted customers
as analysed by the hotel staff that should be fulfilled by the new employees are stated below:
Needs are the requirement that a client wants from the hotel that should be fulfilled while their
stay at the hotel. The tourists in this department requires that their stay at the hotel is great and
they are served with maximum services. They want that proper arrangements in the rooms
should be done, a supporting and help full staff should be provided and the food that has to be
served is delicious and met their taste preferences. If these requirements are not fulfilled then
client will not come again to visit the hotel.
Day 2: Various ways in which customers can be profiled
For the business class people they desires to have a elite business class service to be served to
them. They want that their rooms should be well equipped with all the facilities that they have
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in their office rooms. Conference room should meet the criteria of providing them the projectors
and a table that is made for the purpose of business meetings having sufficient lighting and
proper sockets so as to attach their electronic gadgets. The hotel provides the executive room
and the executive lounge that has the maximum facility that a business class client requires. The
requirement of proper staff and best food that is hygienic is the major needs of these clients and
should be fulfilled on time when required by customers. If these needs are not fulfilled then it
would lead to dissatisfaction among the clients.
Marriott County Hall Hotel should commit its staff to satisfy the needs of their clients and
should listen to them properly (Brandon-Jones, and et. al., 2016). They should fulfil the
requirements of the guests as and when demanded by them. It will help hotel to develop greater
understanding between the employee's and the clients so that the demands could be fulfilled on
time. It will help the company to build and maintain brand image in the market. If the needs,
wants and preference of the customers are fulfilled on the regular basis then it will help them to
increase attraction towards their hotel.
Day 3: Drivers of customer engagement
Customer engagement in the hotel industry are affected by various factors. Marriott County
Hall Hotel focuses on the various factors which helps them to improve the customer experience
so as to provide services that are best in class.
As tourist who visits the hotel requires that the environment in the hotel should be positive and
gives the aroma which feels like they have entered in London. They should be given a room
that would help them to relax at night and should give them a proper sleep. Staff should be
attentive and approachable. Main requirement of the travellers is that they should get a proper
food stuff and should be customisable according to clients preference (Engelbrecht, and et. al.,
2014). Food provided should be healthy. Business class clients which are the major source of
revenue for the hotel are treated as the top most priority as they are paying more for the
services. They requires a proper executive rooms which focuses on all the requirements for their
business meetings. They require a silent environment while working in the conference room so
that they can communicate with their employees efficiently. The company should also provide
other facilities such as WI-FI services, charging sockets near table and many other facilities that
may influence customer engagement.
Day 4: Various strategies that can be use by hotel for on boarding customers
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The hotel should take feedback about the services that are provided to the clients so that it can
be further improved and can result in providing better services to the targeted customers. This
will help Marriott County Hall Hotel to increase the customer experience and would also entitle
them to create loyal customer's who will return to hotel for stay.
The employees who are newly recruited should comply with the requirements of the
company. They should focus on listening to the clients requirement and should focus on their
needs, wants and preferences (Bowie, Buttle, Brookes, 2016). Employees should learn from the
old staff that how they are treating the guests and what are the priorities that has to be focused.
They should give their best while performing the task and should make their clients
comfortable. The strategies that are prescribed by their managers should be followed and
implemented proper way so that overall objective of organisation is achieved.
LO 2
P3 Customer experience map for Marriott County Hall Hotel, hotel industry.
The customer experience map is the way that defines the points through which customer
communicates and get in touch with the company so as to take the services. Some of the factors
that defines the customer experience map are:
Website: This is considered as the starting point for the customer experience where the
customer comes in touch with the services that are provided by the hotel. It decides the class of
service that would be provided to customer's. So the website should be made in a proper way that
gives enough information that is required by the clients while searching about the service that are
provided by the hotel. Website should provide good and realistic view of the hotel, how the room
looks like and the menu of the offerings that decided the customer experience.
Telephone: It is considered to be the another aspect where the client talks directly with
the staff of the hotel. The staff member who picks the phone call should be attentive and should
provide a proper information to the client. Here clients queries are to be resolved so the person
attending the calls should have a proper knowledge and should provide the realistic facts to the
information seeker. This will help in getting customer more quickly and instant bookings.
Hotel customer experience: This shows all the interaction that appears between the
clients and the hotel staff from the moment of check-in. The staff should welcome the guests
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with a smile and the process of escorting the clients to the hotel room should be done in a proper
way. This shapes the brand perception through customer experience.
Check out and customer engagement: The most important stages of the customer
experience map is at the time of check out and customer experience. The hotel should focus on
creating a smooth check out phase without making the customer to wait for long time. The
customer if delighted then would promote the brand by giving positive online reviews.
P4 Evaluation of the customer touchpoints through customer experience which would help in
creating business opportunities for Marriott County Hall Hotel.
Touch points are the interaction that occurs between the clients and the hotel from
planning the stay in the hotel to doing checkout (Chathoth, and et. al., 2016). This points helps in
experiencing the facilities that are offered by the hotel to the clients. Several important areas that
must be mastered in order to create a memorable experience for the clients and making the
compel to return are elaborated below:
Website: Nowadays tourists who decide to occupy the hotel or plan their stay at the hotel
research on the websites. This will be the first priority where the customer will make their
opinion. This should ensure that first experience of the customer is best and is not affected at all.
The site should be compatible with any electronic device and should provide the feature of
online booking with having acceptance of all the ways of online payments.
Guest check in: For maximising the needs and to foster the loyalty of the customer
experience hotel should use different technologies such as CRM tools. This will create a smooth
and ultimate client experience between the booking and checking in the hotel. The staff should
focus on providing the best customer experience while leading the clients to the rooms for their
stay.
Restaurant management: The management of restaurant should be good so that they are
able to manage all the requirements of the different clients properly. The service that is offered to
the client should be done on time and the quality of food should be best in class.
Explanation page
This is the page that explains the customer touch points at an advance level which is
helping the hotel in building up of market opportunities. Which is discussed below:
As hotel is providing the services from the starting of the customer experience map to its
end. The website that has been build by hotel is showing all the relevant information but it can be
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increased. The department that picks the calls for solving the queries of the customer should be
increased in number as this would help them to tackle more customer in less time. The staff
should be trained and developed and should make them up to date so that they are following the
current trends which satisfy the demands of clients. Staff should response to the demands of the
customers and should treat every client in polite way which will help in increasing the customer
experience.
Conclusion
Through this report it is concluded that it is very important for any hotel to manage the
customer experience as this is the vital part that decides the success in the market ( Cetin and
Dincer 2014). Marriott County Hall Hotel should create and take steps that would encourage
their newly recruited staff to provide the best services according to the preference of the clients.
The employee's training and development programme is a must for the company to achieve
success. Organisation should focus on the touchpoints the ways that will help them to increase
the customer experience.
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References
Books and Authors
Altunel, M.C. and Erkut, B., 2015. Cultural tourism in Istanbul: The mediation effect of tourist
experience and satisfaction on the relationship between involvement and
recommendation intention. Journal of Destination Marketing & Management. 4(4).
pp.213-221.
Bowie, D., Buttle, F., Brookes, M., 2016.Hospitality marketing. Routledge.
Brandon-Jones, A., Lewis, M., Verma, R. and Walsman, M.C., 2016. Examining the
characteristics and managerial challenges of professional services: An empirical study
of management consultancy in the travel, tourism, and hospitality sector. Journal of
Operations Management. 42. pp.9-24.
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.
Chathoth, P. K., and et. al., 2016. Co-creation and higher order customer engagement in
hospitality and tourism services: A critical review. International Journal of
Contemporary Hospitality Management. 28(2). pp.222-245.
Engelbrecht, W. H., Kruger, M. and Saayman, M., 2014. An analysis of critical success factors
in managing the tourist experience at Kruger National Park. Tourism Review
International.17(4). pp.237-251.
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.
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