HND Customer Experience Management Report: Hilton Hotels Analysis

This report analyzes customer experience management within the hospitality industry, specifically focusing on Hilton Hotels and Resorts. The introduction defines the core concepts of managing customer experience by meeting customer needs and expectations. The report is structured around four ...Read More

MANAGING CUSTOMER'S
EXPERIENCE

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................3
LO 1......................................................................................................................................................3
P 1 - Explain the value and importance of understanding the needs, wants and preferences of
target customer groups for the hospitality industry.....................................................................3
P 2 Explore the different factors that drive and influence customer engagement of different target
customer groups within a service sector organisation.................................................................4
LO 2......................................................................................................................................................5
P 3 Create a customer experience map for a selected service sector organisation......................5
P 4 Discuss how the touch points create such opportunities throughout the customer experience
in your hospitality organisation...................................................................................................7
LO 3......................................................................................................................................................7
P 5 Examine how digital technology is employed in managing the customer experience within
the service sector organisation, providing specific examples of customer relationship
management systems...................................................................................................................7
LO 4......................................................................................................................................................8
P 6 Illustrate customer service strategies in a specific service sector context............................8
P 7 Demonstrate how customer service strategies create and develop the customer experience in
a way that meet the needs of the customer and the required business standards........................9
CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
The managing customer experience means meeting needs and expectations of the customers
in the market. The managing of the customer’s experience can be done by providing the best
services and products to the customers in the organization. The experience of the customers can be
managed by doing interaction with the customers understand what exactly they want from the
organizations. The needs of the customers can be related to the physical, social, spiritual, rational
and emotional. The customer interaction is based on three factors. Those three factors are customers
journey in the organization, the brand touching points of the organization and environment of the
organization which will effect the customer's experience. The Hilton Hotels and Resorts are the
hospitality company which stood on the first position in the hospitality sector of US. The hotel was
founded 100 years ago on the date 31 may 1919. It is an private hotel company which was founded
by Conrad Hilton. The Company have its headquarter in the McLean Virginia, US.
LO 1
P 1 - Explain the value and importance of understanding the needs, wants and preferences of target
customer groups for the hospitality industry
The values and importance of understanding the needs, wants and preferences of the
customer groups for the hospitality industry are as follows:
Business Person
The business persons generally visits the hotel for the meeting and seminars with the other
organization or international clients. The needs and wants of the business persons includes a big
seminar hall or meeting hall in which the business person will conduct the meetings. The another
basic need of the business person is the projector in the seminar halls. The projector is very
important for the business activities because the presentations made by the business men is made on
the power point and power point presentations the projector for the presentations. The another basic
need in hotel is the enough power switch which are needed for the charging of laptops and mobile.
As the businesses are based on the online activities so the Hilton hotel are having 24*7 Wi-fi
facility which helps in the doing the business effectively. The Hilton hotel was providing all the
facilities to the businessmen so that they do not face any kind of problem during their stay in
hotel(Peppers, D. and Rogers, M., 2016).
Holiday Maker

The holiday maker are those customers who comes to the hotels to enjoy the facilities and
ambience of the hotel. The holiday marker customers are provided with the best food of their
choices. The Hilton hotels always ask their customers that what kind of food they prefer to eat. If
the customers are vegetarian, then the hotel offers the vegetarian buffet to which will include a large
variety of the vegetarian dishes. The hotel also provides a separate buffet which will be placed far
away from the non veg buffet so that the customers don't feel any kind of hesitation while having
the food. For the customers who prefer the non veg food, they all are first asked that which kind of
non veg they prefer. The kinds of meat and flashes they prefer to eat will be made especially for
during their stay. The customers are provided with a guide by the Hilton hotels who will take them
to the best places to visit in the city where they are travelling(Kale, S.H., 2019. ). The hotel also
provides convenience facility to their customer so that they can easily travel in the city without
booking the different cabs and taxis. The expense of convenience is added in the final bill of the
customer. If the customer is taking the convenience from the hotel, then they will be provided with
15% discount on their bills.
Disabled Customers
The needs and wants of the disabled customers is totally different form the other customers
staying in the hotel. These customers wants the wheel chairs facility at each and every point. Most
of the customers visit the hotel on their own wheel chair but they also want facilities like ramp near
every staircase so that they don't face any troubles .
P 2 Explore the different factors that drive and influence customer engagement of different target
customer groups within a service sector organisation
The different factors that drives and influence customer engagement of different target
customers group within a service sector organization are as follows:
Couples on First Date
The couples who are coming on their first day in the hotel should be provided with all the best
coffee, food and free champagne so that they can make their first date more romantic and exciting.
The couples who are on their first date should be provided with special facilities like quite
environment, slow romantic music, candle light dinner, best dessert of the hotel. The hotel Hilton
provides all these facilities to the couples who are on their first date. The food given to the couples
who are on date is very less spicy. The reason behind this that if the food given to them will be
spicy, then instead of enjoying the date, they will raise complaints regarding the food and their date
will get spoiled. The hotel management never disturbed the couples while they were enjoying their
date(De Keyser, A.,and et.al., 2015.). All the orders regarding the food, drinks, desserts etc are

placed one day before the date of the couple. This is done so that the couples don't get disturb
because of the waiter's questions.
Mother's with Babies
The mother with small babies needs many facilities by the hotel management. The facilities
and services provided by the hotel Hilton to the mother's of small babies includes separate feeding
room the mother's can feed their babies time to time without any hesitation The basic food for the
babies are milk and cerelac. The hotel hill ton have all the brands of cerelacs and milk of both cow
and buffalo. The milk provided for the small babies are different from the milk given to other
customers of the hotel. The hotel gives the light weight milk so that it does not cause any diseases
for the children's.
Students
The students who are staying in the Hilton hotel are mostly those students who are on the
educational trip by their schools and colleges. The hotel provides free note pads, guides, stationary
and newspapers so that the students can increase their knowledge and skills from these facilities.
The Hilton hotel have their tie ups with different educational institutes which comes to city to give
practical knowledge their students. The hotel provides facilities like educational lectures especially
conducted by the owners and CEO's of the hotel so that they can have an good interaction with the
students.
LO 2
P 3 Create a customer experience map for a selected service sector organisation
Websites
The websites of the Hilton hotel is very attractive. The official website of the hotel have an
brief of the hotel and its chains throughout the world. The websites have the attractive images and
video's of the different parts of the hotel. The customers are provided with the advance booking
facility by visiting the official sites of the hotel. All the prices of the rooms, food, beverages, cost
for party, disc etc are clearly mentioned on the official sites. These prices will be revealed when the
customer will do online booking.
Review Sites
The review sites of the hotel Hilton have record of all the reviews, post, suggestions and
feedback's received from the customers who had visited the hotel. The review sites shows not only
positive comments of the customers, but also the negative comments and feedbacks which are

dropped by the customers on the official review sites. These feedbacks contains the issues and
problems faced by customer's throughout their stay in the hotel. This review sites helps a lot in
providing additional informations regarding the staff, management, food quality and room service
of the hotel.
Text Messages
Whenever a customer visits the Hilton hotel, the hotel staff takes all the contact information
of the customers. If the hotel is launching any new offer, product or service then they provide the
information by sending text messages on the personal numbers and mails on the personal e-mail
ID's of the organization. The text messages plays a major in reminding the to do their next stay in
Hilton hotels only(Goodman, J., 2019.).
E-Mails
As mentioned in above point, e-mail also plays a major role in the attracting the new
customers and reminding the old ones to continue their next stay in the Hilton hotels. The e-mail
also helps in taking the customers reviews, suggestions and feedbacks so that the hotel management
can make an idea about the changes they have to make in the hotel.
Paper Mails
The Hilton hotels does not send the paper mails to their customers. As the hotel have more
than lacs of customers so sending the paper mails will not be possible for the hotel.
Telephones
The telephonic interaction with the customers gives the value to the hotel business of the
Hilton hotels. Whenever the customers makes any order in the hill ton hotels, the management
always call the customer to make a conformation of their visit. By this they also make them aware
about the new offers, policies and rules of the hotels.
Restaurant Environment
The restaurant environment of the Hilton hotel is outstanding. The restaurant provides the
food of almost every country and nation. The chiefs of restaurants recruited from different countries
so that they can serve their customers the best of the food.
Restaurant Staff
The staff of the restaurant have a fixed uniform so that the working employees in the
restaurant can be easily recognised by the customers. The restaurant staff is provided with all the
training and development session which helps them in performing their roles and duties perfectly.

Restaurant Management
The management committee of the restaurant of hotel Hilton is very organized and efficient
in their works. They listen to the customers complaints and takes quick reaction on the problem and
issues raised by the customers of the restaurant. The quick delivery of food is also managed by the
management of restaurant(Roos, M. and Bekker., 2018).
P 4 Discuss how the touch points create such opportunities throughout the customer experience in
your hospitality organisation
The touch points created by the Hilton hotels for attracting more and more customers
towards them were the highlights of the hotel on which the hotel industry had putted many efforts.
The touch points of the Hilton are that they provide the booking of the rooms and reservation of the
tables in the restaurants with the help of mobile application. The mobile app of Hilton hotel helps
their customers to choose the rooms according to their budget and types of facilities they want in
from the hotel during their stay. The booking of tables according to the number of persons visiting
in the restaurant can be easily managed. The hotel also provided the rewards to their customers in
the form of redeemed points. This redeemed points were based on the number of bookings made by
the customers in the hotel. For example, a couple had booked a suit for their stay in the hotel
costing $500, the they will be provided with redeem points which will help them in giving discounts
on the food and other facilities they have enjoyed in the hotel(Venkatesan, R., Petersen, J.A. and
Guissoni, L., 2018). The customers have this facility to track the room services and improvements
to be made in the rooms of the hotel. These services can be easily tracked by the customer with the
help of mobile application. This facility gives the customers satisfaction about the actions taken
against the complaints made by them in the hotels. The customers were provided with the musical
concerts organized by the Hilton hotels which were best source of entertainment for the customer's
who were staying in the hotel. These musical concerts were free of cost for the customer's of the
hotels.
LO 3
P 5 Examine how digital technology is employed in managing the customer experience within the
service sector organisation, providing specific examples of customer relationship management
systems.
To build strong customer relationships with the customers of Hilton hotels, the organisation
has taken many initiatives with helped of digitalization in the economy. The hotel industry firstly
made an strong internet facilities for the customers living the hotel. This helped a lot in doing the

business deals, seminar, educational lectures, interviews, social life etc. easy for the customers. The
hotel have the 5g facility as the internet which makes the internet surfing fast and organized in the
hotel. The second digital technology which made the strong customer base was the “robot staffed
hotels”. This facility provided to the customers of the hotel made a great business. The customers
got attracted to this digital facility because they found the work done by the robots more effective
and accurate. The probability of occurring of the problems and issues have reduced in the
organization. The reason behind this was that robots were doing the management of the hotel in
more organized and perfect way. The another step to make strong customer relation ship was the to
create virtual reality for the customers of the hotel. This virtual reality had made the customer's
experience more cheerful and positive in the hotel. The customers had an opportunity to view their
rooms and the ambience of the hotel before starting their trip. This virtual reality helped the
customers to see what the hotel will be offering to them and are they meeting their expectations and
requirements (Merrilees, B., 2016). The Hilton hotels also provided online feedback facility to their
customers. In this the customer have to write their feedbacks on the tablets and mobile phones
provided by the hotels at the time of customer check out. This was helpful because the customers
made give their feedback on the high tech software's and submitted it by their own hands. The
chances of changing the negative feedback reduces and the customer are actually tell the hotel
management staff about the problems they had faced. The use of artificial intelligence in building
the strong customer's relationship played a very major role. The artificial intelligence helped a lot in
analysing the data automatically in the hotels. The data analysed by the help of artificial intelligence
are accurate and the common problems faced by the customers of the hotel are reflected clearly in
the front of their staff (Ng, and et.al., 2019).
Ways in which digital technologies are employed in managing the customer experience and
changing CRM systems are used to interact with customers
Advancement in digital technology is helping travel and tourism industry to focus on enhancing
their customer experience. Many companies today Are using different types of CMS systems
through which they can enhance their customer base and build some strategies in order to retain
them. These CMS systems helps an organization to manage their customer base as well as their
information digitally. Today changing CRM systems are helping organizations to enhance
experience that they provide to their customers. They can even interact with their customers and
through their feedback management system which helps them to record their customers feedback
and work on it. These CMS systems also help the organizations to get to know their customers and
their requirements in a much better manner. All the issues faced by customers can be resolved and
brand consistence can be managed or maintained.

LO 4
P 6 Illustrate customer service strategies in a specific service sector context
The customer service strategies includes the strategies which can bring more and more
customers in the Hilton hotel because of the services provided by them. The services provided by
the Hilton hotels to their customer's are the creativity in every work or task done by the staff
members to make the customer experience excellent in the hotel. This can be done by decorating the
rooms in beautiful ways. Presenting the products ordered by the customers in the creative and
attractive way. This customer attraction will increase the demand of products and services in the
hotel industry. The services provided by the hotel are many times personalized((Homburg, and
et.al., 2017.)). These personalized services includes the order of birthday parties, weddings,
receptions and other events held in the hotel. In this if the hotel take the responsibilities of
organizing the whole event on their own, then the customer will not contact any event manger or
other managing team from outside. This service will be provided by the hotel management by
organizing the events more decoratively and attractive which will gain the appreciations from their
customers. If the hotel industry start proving these services then they can easily gain the customer
satisfaction. Another service offered by the hotel management is the creativity with the lost and
found service of the customers things. In this the hotels can provide the customer with the damages
and losses they have made while their stay in the hotel. For example- if a customer has lost her
diamond ring in the hotel and the management is unable to find it out, then the customer will get
60% of amount of their lost product (Wilson, A., and et.al., 2016).
P 7 Demonstrate how customer service strategies create and develop the customer experience in a
way that meet the needs of the customer and the required business standards
The customer service strategies help a lot in making the customer experience both good and
bad. If the customers is not satisfied with the services of the hotel, then they will never visit that
hotel again in their life. Not only that particular customer will not visit the hotel again, but they will
also give negative comments about the hotel and their services to their relatives and friends. The
customers of Hilton hotel are satisfied from the services they are receiving from the hotel
management. They generally do not complaint about the services provided by the Hilton hotel but
many years ago a case happened in the hotel in which the customer was dissatisfied by the room
service provided by hotel staff. Other than this the Hilton hotels never faced any issues regarding
the customer service (Gopalakrishna, and et.al., 2017.).
Ways in which hospitality businesses can interact with current and potential customers via a choice

of integrated digital marketing channels
There are various ways through which Hilton can interact with their potential customers. They
can use various kinds of digital marketing channels that can be used by organizations like Hilton to
interact with their customers such as Social networking sites. Social networking sites can help
Hilton to interact with their potential customers and get to know their issues, needs, desires or
requirements so that they can bring required changes within their business. this will help them to
enhance their customers experience in a much better manner. There are various other kind of digital
channels that can be used by organizations to interact with their customers.
CONCLUSION
The report can be concluded by mentioning all the customer's related issues faced by the
Hilton hotel of the London. The Hilton hotel is one of the biggest and most famous hotel in the
hospitality industry. There were many facilities provided to the business persons, students, mother
of small babies, holiday makers, disabled people, couples who were on their first date and students.
The Hilton hotel adopted many strategies for attracting more and more customers towards their
offers. The hotel adopted many digital strategies such as use of robot in the taking orders from the
customers. The restaurant of the Hilton hotel also h\made its own and unique image by offering best
quality food with the best taste.
REFERENCES
Books and Journals
De Keyser, A.,and et.al., 2015. A framework for understanding and managing the customer

experience. Marketing Science Institute working paper series, 15(121), pp.1-48.
Duran, C. and Uray, N., 2018. MANAGING AND MEASURING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE: A
LITERATUR REVIEW. Research Journal of Business and Management, 5(1), pp.63-72.
Goodman, J., 2019. Strategic customer service: Managing the customer experience to increase
positive word of mouth, build loyalty, and maximize profits. Amacom.
Gopalakrishna, S., Malthouse, E.C. and Lawrence, J.M., 2017. Managing customer engagement at
trade shows. Industrial Marketing Management.
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.
Kale, S.H., 2019. VICTORS: A New Framework for Managing Customer Experience in Gaming.
Merrilees, B., 2016. Interactive brand experience pathways to customer-brand engagement and
value co-creation. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 25(5), pp.402-408.
Ng, S.C., Sweeney, J.C. and Plewa, C., 2019. Managing Customer Resource Endowments and
Deficiencies for Value Cocreation: Complex Relational Services. Journal of Service Research,
22(2), pp.156-172.
Peppers, D. and Rogers, M., 2016. Managing customer experience and relationships: A strategic
framework. John Wiley & Sons.
Roos, M. and Bekker, J., 2018, September. MANAGING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE USING
DATA ANALYTICS IN A PARTNERING VENTURE. In 29th Annual Conference of SAIIE.
Srivastava, M. and Kaul, D., 2016. Exploring the link between customer experience–loyalty–
consumer spend. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 31, pp.277-286.
Tandon, A., Gupta, A. and Tripathi, V., 2016. Managing shopping experience through mall
attractiveness dimensions: An experience of Indian metro cities. Asia Pacific Journal of
Marketing and Logistics, 28(4), pp.634-649.
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.
Wilson, A., and et.al., 2016. Services marketing: Integrating customer focus across the firm.