Customer Experience Management Strategies for Hilton Hotels Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of customer experience management within Hilton Hotels. It begins by emphasizing the importance of understanding customer needs, wants, and preferences across various target groups, followed by an exploration of factors that drive and influence customer engagement. The report then delves into customer on-boarding strategies and the creation of a customer experience map, highlighting key touchpoints and business opportunities. Furthermore, it examines the role of digital technology, including CRM systems, in managing customer experience. Finally, the report illustrates customer service strategies, providing recommendations for improvement and concluding with a review of Hilton's approach to customer engagement and satisfaction.

Managing customer
experience

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................1
P1. Value and importance of understanding needs, wants and preferences of target customer
groups for Hilton.........................................................................................................................1
P2. Exploring different factors that drives and influence customer engagement of different
target customer groups within Hilton..........................................................................................2
M1. Reviewing customer engagement factors determining customer on-boarding strategies for
different target customer groups within Hilton...........................................................................3
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................3
P3. Creating customer experience map for Hilton......................................................................3
P4. Customer touchpoints throughout customer experience creating business opportunities....5
M2. Creating detailed customer experience map........................................................................6
LO 3.................................................................................................................................................6
P5. Examining digital technology employed in managing customer experience with examples
of CRM........................................................................................................................................6
M3. Evaluating digital technologies employed in managing experience that are changing
CRM systems to acquire and retain customers...........................................................................7
LO 4.................................................................................................................................................7
P6. Illustrating customer service strategy in Hilton....................................................................7
P7. Demonstrating customer service strategies and customer experience that meets needs of
customers.....................................................................................................................................8
M4. Reviewing application of customer service strategies of Hilton and recommendations for
improvement...............................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
The term customer experience is defined as integral part in terms of customer relationship
management and it is very significant to every type of business (Baker, 2016). In this report,
Hilton has been taken into consideration. It is a global trend and leading hospitality industry that
was founded by Conard Hilton.
Thus, in the following report, various target group customers has been discussed. Hence,
various factors that influences the engagement of customers has also been discussed. Further,
customer experience map has created and touchpoints has been discussed. In addition to this, this
report also highlights on the digital technology that manages the customer experience with help
of an example of CRM system.
LO 1
P1. Value and importance of understanding needs, wants and preferences of target customer
groups for Hilton.
Understanding the needs and preference of customers plays very important role either in
terms of selling product or offering service to them (Bilgihan, 2016). Hilton can only satisfy the
customers desires if the company can understand the needs and requirements of them in clear
manner. Thus, it is discussed as per the below table-
Customer type Needs and wants
Business person Wi-Fi
Nappy changing
facilities
Pool side service
Mobile telephone
charging points
Crayons and colouring
books.
Meeting Rooms
Couple on a first date Terrible customer
service
Bottle warmers
Candlelight
No garlic in the dishes
Soft Music
Unpleasant smell from
the drains.
College student Space to work Wi-Fi Unpleasant smells
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Pool side service Over-priced poor
quality food
from Drains
Comfortable sofas to
sit on
Further, Hilton can also offer the business person with pick and drop service. This will
help them in easily go for the meeting wherever and whenever they have to go. This helps the
business person to reach the place without any kind of trouble.
For couples they can provide with complimentary gifts that may attract them towards the
particular hotel. They must also treat couple with great respect by offering them with special
dates on the poolside with romantic arrangements.
In addition to this, for college students, the cited company can offer with appreciation
like bottle of water, small pack of mints or a puzzle. This attracts the college students towards
the brand as they are visiting with their college group of friends.
P2. Exploring different factors that drives and influence customer engagement of different target
customer groups within Hilton.
The term customer engagement refers to as the communication connection of business
between external customer or brand with the help of various channels (Homburg, Jozić and
Kuehnl, 2017). Thus, the connection that occurs is based on reaction, interaction, effect and
overall customer experience that takes place either online or offline. Thus, the factors that may
drive the customer engagement towards Hilton is discussed as per below context-
 Being Available all the times- nowadays, there is extreme trend of Social media, so
customers expect from the particular brand to remain available 24*7. Therefore, the cited
company must try to remain connected to each and every customers. This will help in
engaging large volume of people towards Hilton.
 Changing Social Conversations- Hilton must change their way of conveying of social
media. They must use them as the consumers wants to use. Therefore, the cited hotel can
engage customers towards the brand by inspiring them in order to advocate on their
behalf. It has been found in research that customers use social media to remain connected
with family and friends or follow the trends or products.
 Listening to people- as people gives feedback to the brand for the product they are
offering. The feedback that is received may be either positive or negative. Negative
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feedback may help the company to make changes accordingly as it is the most important
drivers for a change and engaging the customers towards the brand.
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4

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M1. Reviewing customer engagement factors determining customer on-boarding strategies for
different target customer groups within Hilton.
Customer on-boarding is that term that is used in order to describe the process entirely
that the users go through from start of their journey in terms of customers (Jain, Aagja and
Bagdare, 2017). The customer engagement factors that determines customer on-boarding
strategies within Hilton has been discussed as per below context-
 Be unique- the company or a hotel can be unique as they can share their stories to the
customers. They can give some good examples with help of their stories. This might
attract large number of customers towards the brand.
 Keep it simple- The major obstacle that is faced during the on boarding experience is
simply due to information that is overloaded. This will help customers to select the
service or product easily.
 Communicate- communication is very essential that leads the brand towards success. On
the process of On boarding, the communication must be good and consistent. This is the
one that either makes or breaks the relationship with the customer. The brand must
remain with them during initial stages right from engagement and also has to make them
know that they are valued and the company is always available for them.
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 Gathering data- The cited company Hilton has to gather data in terms of customers that
will help them in easily go through the process of on-boarding and also beyond it. The
data that has to be gathered includes buying tendencies of customers, customers fairs in
overall market etc.
LO 2
P3. Creating customer experience map for Hilton.
The term experience mapping is termed as the process that helps in capturing and also in
communicating complex customer interactions in strategic way (Kandampully, Zhang and
Jaakkola, 2018). Thus, the mapping activity leads in building knowledge and agreement and also
in building smooth customer experience. Thus, this has been further discussed with help of
below context-
 Websites- Nowadays, people are more connected with their phone. They prefer online
shopping. Therefore, Hilton must design the website in such way that it may leads in
attracting large number of customers towards the brand. They must also mention the
offers or discounts on products and services that they are offering. They must post good
and innovative image of their brand and their price. This will help customers to compare
the brand easily and select the best one.
 Review sites- it is the website where the comments regarding particular brand is being
posted in a positive or negative way. This helps the company to gather the negative ones
and accordingly bring changes in the company. The company must provide the feedback
section in the review sites that will assist the company in terms of change that has to be
undertaken. Positive reviews helps in attracting large number of customers.
 Text messages- the company can share their special promotions through text messages as
this is the easy way to reach to the customers. This helps the customers to be feel as they
are valued and can attract their attention by using exclusive element. As people are
always connected to their phone, so it becomes easy to reach the message in terms of
hotel to people.
 E-mails- today the interactions are increasing through online services or social media.
Customers also prefer to visit the brand for which they find easy advertisements and
promotions. So Hilton hotel must try to share their business information, their price
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related to product and services via email. This will attract customers easily without any
effort.
 Paper mail- sometimes inbox gets overloaded so it is not sure that the individual get the
information or mail sent by Hilton. So paper mail is also the best option. Company must
maintain all the information on the paper. Thus, many people may not even sort mails
daily. So paper mail plays the best role in grabbing the focus of customers towards the
brand.
 Telephone- this also plays important role in order to attract the customers. Hilton must
select try to contact people and offer their services on phone. The voice that get
transmitted must be calm and sweet and stress free. Person may use telephone in order to
know the booking status of the brand. The cited company must try to resolve all the
queries and try to pull them towards Hilton.
 Restaurant Environment- environment of the restaurant also plays vital role to engage
the customers. Hilton must try to keep the environment positive with beautiful interiors
and soft music. It will increase the customers focus towards the brand and they will share
their views with their friends and families. This way environment of restaurant helps in
attracting huge customers.
 Restaurant Staff- Staffs that are involved must use sweet and innocent language and
must try to solve all service or product related queries. This leads towards high level of
customer loyalty base as they feel valued.
 Restaurant Management- Management of a particular hotel must be proper. The service
that is offered must be correct way. They must try to keep everyone happy by offering
products and services on time.
P4. Customer touchpoints throughout customer experience creating business opportunities.
Customer touchpoints are defined as point of brand that comes in contact with customers
right from start to end (Klaus, 2014). There are some touchpoints that are included has been
discussed as per below context-
 Interactive website- the cited company can easily reach to their guests with the help of
websites. They can tell them more about the upcoming features. Hilton hotel can make
most of the website by making the option of searching more visible. They can also use
vibrant colours that may help guest to stay longer.
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 The good old SMS- SMS acts as the most effective channel touchpoints in the Hilton.
The company can easily enhance and uplift the standards of experience of customers by
sending them relevant message.
Interaction between waiter and customer
Waiter: Welcome sir, please have a seat.
Customer: Thank you.
Waiter: How can I help you?
Customer: Can I see the menu card please?
Waiter: Sure sir.
Customer: can you please let me know about the famous dish in non veg of this restaurant?
Waiter: Roasted spicy chicken is the best one we serve.
Customer: Get that one for me. Meanwhile, can I get one magazine?
Waiter: Sure sir. Here it is.
M2. Creating detailed customer experience map.
The customer journey map different stages as per the following-
 Travel idea
 Research
 Booking/Purchase
 Stay at hotel
 Post stay
In the above stages Hilton communicates in different manner with their potential
customers and also has different goals during all this stages (Lemon and Verhoef, 2016). Thus, it
becomes important for hotel in order to get more insight about the journey consist of in terms of
customer experience. Thus, it becomes important in order to have good customer journey
mapping strategy as it enables in identifying expectations and also the desires of individual
customers. It will also help in providing with appropriate services and also the products at every
stage of the journey of customer.
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LO 3
P5. Examining digital technology employed in managing customer experience with examples of
CRM.
Customer relationship management is defined as a term referring to practice, strategies
and also to technologies that is used by company in order to manage and analyse the interactions
of customers throughout customer life-cycle (McColl-Kennedy and et.al., 2015). Thus, it has
been discussed as per below context-
 Keep in touch with customers- CRM system has the function of automatically marketing.
This means that, customers are provided with regular emails automatically without
putting any type of efforts.
 Personalising communication- the company if using CRM system gets ability in order to
personalise the subject line as well as the body of the email automatically. This will help
customers to open email due to personalised feature and also build instant connection
between Hilton and their customer.
 Learning more about customers- CRM system also helps in achieving ability in learning
as much as possible for them that later helps in improving customer experience. With the
help of these, the company can easily find interest of customers in the product they are
offering.
 Providing relevant information- CRM system leads in providing customers with relevant
information that they are interested in. this also enables in segmenting lisy and also in
sending targeted content to particular customers.
Thus, Hilton if uses this software will help them in tracking history of the customers that are
currently present. This will also help in identifying loyal customer so that the cited company can
easily give rewards for their loyalty in terms of discounts or any special offer.
M3. Evaluating digital technologies employed in managing experience that are changing CRM
systems to acquire and retain customers.
In today's technology, the demand of customers is to have whole new level of attention.
CRM system helps in doing all this and more (Nema and Joshi, 2016). This helps in creating 360
degree view of customer and also gives chances in personalising the communication. CRM
system also offer various benefits as it gives opportunity in knowing the customers. It may also
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lead in identifying new prospects and also increase the customer base. Thus, the relationship may
fail with customers if anyone that are involved in this will not perform their part efficiently.
Therefore, it has been analysed that CRM system plays essential role in acquiring or retaining
customers.
LO 4
P6. Illustrating customer service strategy in Hilton.
Customer service strategy is defined as the care and service standard that is offered to
customers and also set requirements in order to meet those standards (Peppers and Rogers,
2016). It also plays critical role in order to build customer satisfaction. Thus, customer service
strategy has been discussed as per below context-
 Giving employees excellent knowledge of product- if everyone that are involved in the
company are acting as a support will help customers to get the answers of their questions
in prompt manner.
 Training employees in customer empathy- the interactions of customers are the emotional
exchanges and the factual ones (Venkatesan, Petersen and Guissoni, 2018). So the
employees must get tools in order to share happy customer satisfaction or else reduce
tension of customer that is frustrated.
 Resolving customer issues at first point- Hilton must ensure that the person who initially
handles the calls takes the complete responsibility until the concern has been resolved.
They must also support live chat support on website that allows in collaborating behind
scenes.
 Deliver on promises- customers mainly wants their promise to be fulfilled easily. They do
not need moon but want that which has been wanted by them on time with a smile.
 Make it personal- Hilton service sector must take it personally and must apologize for not
meeting the promises for any reason. This will make the customers to keep calm and trust
the company next time.
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P7. Demonstrating customer service strategies and customer experience that meets needs of
customers.
Customer service strategy helps in building customer experience by meeting the needs
and wants of customers on a particular period (Shah, Kumar and Kim, 2014). For this, they have
to follow some strategies as mentioned below-
 Know customers- the cited hotel must know the customers, their needs and wants that
may help them in easily satisfying their needs and build loyal customer base.
 Know ideal customer response-before creating strategy of customer experience the ideal
experience of consumer or visitor has to be found out. Once the version of best customer
experience has been decided, they must later focus on the efforts in terms of delivering
intended experience.
 Be friendly- having friendly nature with customers also helps in building the experience
and knowing about their actual needs and wants and also the trends that are present in
market. This will help in achieving long term success to Hilton.
M4. Reviewing application of customer service strategies of Hilton and recommendations for
improvement.
Name of hospitality business visited: Hayatt
Date and time of visit: 3rd June 2018
Ambience and First Impressions
Things that I observed that
were positive, or good?
Things that I observed that
were negative, or bad?
What would I change if this
was my business
The environment of the hotel Pool side service The welcoming style
Prices
Things that I observed that
were positive, or good?
Things that I observed that
were negative, or bad?
What would I change if this
was my business
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High quality food with
reasonable price
Charging price for every
facility offered by them.
Complimentary service that
may cost higher somewhere
else.
Signage, Tariff Boards, Labelling, Etc.
Things that I observed that
were positive, or good?
Things that I observed that
were negative, or bad?
What would I change if this
was my business
The creative way of
advertising
Lack of advertisement I would have promoted my
service in every possible way
that may attract large number
of customers.
Staff
Things that I observed that
were positive, or good?
Things that I observed that
were negative, or bad?
What would I change if this
was my business
The tone in which staffs were
talking
The staffs were slow in
providing service.
I would have trained my staffs
in terms of attracting
customers
Time
Things that I observed that
were positive, or good?
Things that I observed that
were negative, or bad?
What would I change if this
was my business
They took limited time in food
service
Customers have to wait lot as
they were not sure about
checkouts.
I would have used updated
technology that would have
helped me in recording
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information about the
availability.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it has been concluded that, managing the experience of customers plays
essential role in every business. Thus, it has also been analysed that CRM system is useful for
both customers that is existing or that are prospective. The benefit of the customer is at the heart
of every successful business.
In addition to this, it has also been stated that customer experience helps is important as it
boosts revenue with incremental sales.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journal
Baker, M.A., 2016. Managing customer experiences in hotel chains. The Routledge handbook of
hotel chain management, pp.240-250.
Bilgihan, A., 2016. Gen Y customer loyalty in online shopping: An integrated model of trust,
user experience and branding. Computers in Human Behavior. 61. pp.103-113.
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.
Jain, R., Aagja, J. and Bagdare, S., 2017. Customer experience–a review and research
agenda. Journal of Service Theory and Practice. 27(3). pp.642-662.
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.
Klaus, P., 2014. Measuring customer experience: How to develop and execute the most
profitable customer experience strategies. Springer.
Lemon, K.N. and Verhoef, P.C., 2016. Understanding customer experience throughout the
customer journey. Journal of Marketing. 80(6). pp.69-96.
McColl-Kennedy, J.R. and et.al., 2015. Fresh perspectives on customer experience. Journal of
Services Marketing. 29(6/7). pp.430-435.
Nema, G. and Joshi, A., 2016. Managing Customer Relationships through Customer interaction
management. International Journal of Research in Finance and Marketing. 6(4). pp.74-82.
Peppers, D. and Rogers, M., 2016. Managing customer experience and relationships: A strategic
framework. John Wiley & Sons.
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.
Venkatesan, R., Petersen, J.A. and Guissoni, L., 2018. Measuring and Managing Customer
Engagement Value Through the Customer Journey. In Customer Engagement
Marketing (pp. 53-74). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
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