Customer Experience Management in Hospitality: A Report

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HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT
MANAGING THE CUSTOMER
EXPERIENCE

Contents
LO2 Explore the customer experience map to create business opportunities and optimize
customer touchpoints.......................................................................................................................3
P3 Create a customer experience map for a selected service sector organisation.......................3
P4 Discuss how the customer touchpoints throughout the customer experience create business
opportunities for a selected service sector organization..............................................................5
LO3 Investigate the impacts of digital technology in customer relationship management.............7
P5 Examine how digital technology is employed in managing the customer experience within
the service sector, providing specific examples of customer relationship management (CRM)
systems.........................................................................................................................................7
LO4 Apply effective customer experience management within a service sector business to
maximise customer engagement......................................................................................................9
P6 Illustrate customer service strategies in a specific service sector context..............................9
P7 Demonstrate how customer service strategies create and develop the customer experience
in a way that meets the needs of the customer and required business standards.......................11
References......................................................................................................................................13

LO2 Explore the customer experience map to create business opportunities
and optimize customer touchpoints
P3 Create a customer experience map for a selected service sector organisation
It is a tool that used to answer the questions about an organization and its process with a short
description and identifies some important factors. It includes a clear set of objectives in the map
with the goals and profile of the person touch all the important points about the process of the
organization. It includes the necessary changes in the customer process on the map. Create a
customer journey map with using the tool Canva on the infographic and represent as below that
includes a complete journey of the customer of hospitality area that starts with Travel inspiration,
research, booking, check-in and stay at the end (Agius, 2018).

Figure 1: Customer Journey Map
P4 Discuss how the customer touchpoints throughout the customer experience
create business opportunities for a selected service sector organization
The customer touchpoints are the points that used to increase the business of a brand with contact
to the customer and its business, check its reviews and ratings, check the nearby shops and
contact to the services of customer care. The touchpoints are used to identify with the factors of
the customers that also helps to increase the business. The customer touchpoints are divided into
three different types as before purchase, during purchase and after purchase the products. the
points of before purchase is like, social media, testimonials, advertising, marketing or PR and the
community that involved in the whole process. The points of during purchase are like website,
catalogue, store or office, promotions, phone system and the points of sale. After purchase the

points are like, billing, marketing emails, different kinds of services and support teams with the
thankyou cards (SurveyMonkey, 2019).
Figure 2: Customer Touchpoints
Source: (Rosenfeld, 2019)
The above are some major points that used in a process of customer service to increase the
business.
Figure 3: Customer Touchpoint Map
Source: (Rosenfeld, 2019)
The customer touchpoints have different interaction types as, appropriate, relevant, meaningful
and endearing. That touchpoint are used to control the brand a blueprint of a model that include
some factors like, physical evidence, attendee actions, interaction between different stages and

the support process. The customer touchpoint also works on different principles to provide better
services and communicate with all the services (Rosenfeld, 2019).

LO3 Investigate the impacts of digital technology in customer relationship
management
P5 Examine how digital technology is employed in managing the customer
experience within the service sector, providing specific examples of customer
relationship management (CRM) systems
The digital transformation in the business areas is helpful to increase the fundamental changes in
the business with it operate and check the values of customer satisfaction. Different kinds of
applications are now helping to increase customer satisfaction for business to business sales and
for customer services team. The digital transformation starts to implement some new technology
as agile in the IT department of the organization as well as the cloud is also an option to
implement in the organization. it also helps to personalise the customer experience with
recognising their name and purchase history and the recommendations about the products (Lund,
2019).
A strategy that used to create a relationship between customers and organization or manager with
the proper interactions is known as the customer relationship management. it helps to connect
with the customers to improve the stability and profitability of the organization. CRM can use as
a technology, process and strategy in business development. the CRM software used to connect
with the customers through email, telephone or website. CRM has different benefits for different
purpose as:
 It helps the sales team to understand the pipeline of sales with a better way
 The marketing team use the process of CRM to make the process simple and accurate
 The team of customer services also use CRM as an effective channel to track the
conversation
 It helps to make better the process of the supply chain, the arrangement of partners and
their relationship with the supplier
 The HR team of the organization follow the CRM process to track the performance of the
employees and accelerate the requirement process of the employees (Salesforce, 2019)
The CRM system has different types as:

 Operational CRM: it used to help to make better the daily performance and the operations
as customer service, sales and marketing
 Analytical CRM: it used to improve the retention process and customer acquisition with
tracking the customer interaction
 Collaborative CRM: it used to engage with a different department, stakeholder and
supplier to get the strength
Examples of CRM are as:
 Salesforce: it is a CRM application that used for different purpose as sales, marketing and
customer service as increase satisfaction and lifetime value
 Zoho: it engages with the customers through chat, website, social media to track their
performance and analysis them with proper communication
 SugarCRM: this software application is helpful for the customer lifecycle with sell
smarter and serves exceptionally
 Here are some examples of the organization that using the CRM software and get a better
result with improve efficiency and productivity (Salesforce, 2019)

LO4 Apply effective customer experience management within a service sector
business to maximise customer engagement
P6 Illustrate customer service strategies in a specific service sector context
Customer satisfaction is one of the major parts of the hospitality industry. The services provided
to the customer is the reason for the customer experience. According to Khashab, Gulliver, and
Ayoubi (2018), the customer experience result in the feedback which can be positive as well as
negative. The good experience will make the relationship strong and will profit the organization,
so there should be good customer service then the customer experience will be positive.
There are different strategies and methods to improve the customer experience in the hospitality
sector. The strategy depends upon the customer requirements which include –
Listen and understand customer requirement:
The first and most important task is to listen to what actual customer want. Sometimes the
experience goes wrong just because the staff doesn’t understand the customer accurately. The
proper listening can make understanding easy and the service should be provided accordingly.
Checking the services or monitoring the service:
The services provided to the customer should be up to mark. There should be monitoring or
periodically checking the all process so that there is no issue with the quality of services.
Sometimes the service gets failed or affected by other events at that time the experience of the
customer can go in the negative side. The customer should get everything they want.
Showing Gratitude and importance:
The customer wants that they should be respected by all staff. The genuine smile can change all
the mood of the customer. The customer must be feel appreciated and pleasure of being with
you.
Customer Engagement:
Many customer and other user want to be part of the process and feel great when they are
informed about the happening in the organization (Kumar, 2018). The customer engagement deal

with the relationship between customer and organization. There are different methods to improve
these things.
Be confident:
The behaviour of the person can make a difference in the thoughts of others. If staff were
confident then the customer will feel safe and secure. The confidence will make a good
impression as the staff are confident about their product and services.
Give what is promised:
The customer will dissatisfy if they don’t get what they have promised for. The service must
include all the things which were said to them and giving extra will make them happy. So
something extra will make them happy and establish a good relationship (Ren, Qiu, Wang and
Lin, 2016).
Everything at fix time:
The customer hates delay. If the services provided with time delay then the schedule will be
affected. So everything should be on time and all things should be managed.
Final greetings:
The final greeting involves asking them about the services and make them comfortable about the
issues. There should be a proper understanding of human nature so that the exact issue can be
resolved. Make them feel that the staff care about their customers.

P7 Demonstrate how customer service strategies create and develop the customer
experience in a way that meets the needs of the customer and required business
standards.
The customer wants that they should comfortably enjoy their stay and trip. There should be no
inconvenience. There are different steps and elements need to be the focus for improving
customer experience. The strategies can be categorized as their affection on the customer
experience:
Encouraging their joy
The customer wants to enjoy every moment their trip or plan so the staff must encourage them
and make them feel happier. Participating in their celebration will make them feel special and
important. All the requirement of the customer to fulfil their requirement must be provided with
no delay.
Problem-solving and good listening
If the customer face any issue related to the services provided and other stuff must be resolved as
soon as possible. Good listening skills can help in understanding the customer’s requirements.
All the answer should be accordingly so there will be no mistake. The problem must be resolved
at the same time and all the services should be provided accordingly. This will make them feel
secure from the management side.
Make them feel that you are always there
The main motive of this step to comfort the customers about services and privacy. There should
be always approachable service. Whenever the customer does not feel good then they can easily
reach management. This will make them to comfortably enjoy each service.
Think of ways to delight
Fulfilling all the requirements is not enough. The guest must be delighted and should feel happy
to be part of the service. There should be wow factor i.e. the service should provide them with
the best experience, and it can be done by going beyond your role. The staff must give all the
services and emotional comfort to their customer.
Emotional understanding

There should be intelligent emotional control on the feelings. The persona should be trained as
the emotional understanding of the customer can be done. The actual understanding will help to
make a relationship with the customer so that the organization will be benefited from the
satisfied customers.
All the above strategies provide a good and effective experience for the customers. They will
remember all the good memories and whenever they talk about their trip then they will defiantly
share the experience. The good experience can increase the customers and the improvement in
the business. The good customer will use the same organization or hotel for the next experience.
The review of the customer which have already experience of the service will suggest other for
the organization or hotel. This will increase in the business as well as more customer will be
connected with the organization (Homburg, Jozić and Kuehnl, 2017).