Customer Relationship Management: A Hotel Case Study

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MANAGING THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................5
References........................................................................................................................................6
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Introduction
In this assessment, here will be described the effect of customer relationship management on
customer experience. As a guest relationship manager in the “Hotel Midlands”, there is huge
responsibility of managing the experience of customers. This hotel is established in United
Kingdom, England and it has branches in other cities also. It has huge number of customers
every year so it is necessary to provide them a good experience. Customer experience includes
each aspect of organization’s offering like consumer care quality, packaging, advertising, service
and product features, reliability and easy use. Customer relationship management enhances the
customer experience through great communication and providing good services.
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LO3
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
CRM makes sure that the business relationship with services users, consumers, partners,
colleagues and suppliers. Functions of CRM include keeping record of customers and prospects,
good relationship, customer retention and acquisition etc. Using digital technology in managing
the experience of customers will be good as it will make their experience better. For this, there
are applied several different innovations by “Hotel Midlands” as they are experimenting with the
technology “Virtual Reality”. For example- they provide motorized beds that can shift through
more space of floor or a golf course virtually that allows the individual to hit a ball at the time of
standing in the room of hotel (Buonincontri et. al., 2017). Here are some more digital technology
innovations that are applied by the hotel for managing the customer experience-
1. Check-in through mobile- Sometimes guest don’t want to go through process of check-in
so hotel is trying to provide them facility of direct booking through mobile phone. This hotel
also trying to provide their customers to unlock the doors by using the phone.
2. Cyber security- This “Hotel midlands” provide their customers a secure IT infrastructure
that protects their data. This hotel uses in-house IT system rather than cloud or mobile
devices as this is more secure. Hackers can interrupt the business by HVAC controls,
electronic door locks, and internet of things devices so common sense methods are used for
solving this problem.
There are also some examples of customer relationship management system (CRM) as
mentioned-
- CRM software should be adaptable and aligning with the specific goals and objectives of the
hotel.
- Reward programs for customers for visiting the hotel second or more time or using services
further.
- Old customers should be retained through customer loyalty programs as this will be
profitable for organization (Hidayat, et. al., 2015).
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M3 Evaluate how digital technologies employed in managing the customer
experience within the service sector are changing CRM systems to effectively
acquire and retain customers
Employment of digital technology in hospitality industry is changing the operations of business
and values that they deliver to the consumers. Digital technology changes the method through
which a business interacts with consumers and provides them a continuous experience when they
require. It also influences the decisions of business to execute. It changes all the decisions that
are made by the CRM previously. Digital technology has made customers smarter in their
decisions and it has converted their habits also. Mobile apps, devices, automation, machine
learning many things are available for customers to get what they want. It does some significant
changes as mentioned-
- Digital technology replaces cold calling with the social selling for B2B sales teams.
- It also decreases the time spent on activities of offline marketing such as billboards, direct
mail and TV ads by applying the digital channels like account based marketing, search
engine marketing etc. (Homburg et. al., 2017)
D3 Critically evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of CRM systems used in
service sector businesses for acquisition and retaining of customers
CRM supports the organization in many ways but like all the technologies and systems it also
has some advantages and disadvantages as mentioned-
Advantages Disadvantages
- Consumer data and deep insight
consolidation.
- Decreases time-cost and enhances
productivity of staff.
- Speeds up the process of sales conversion.
- Data protection and security problems
with centralized data.
- Not improved customer experience
because of staff over-reliance.
- Non-suitability of CRM on all the
businesses.
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LO4
P6 Illustrate customer service strategies in a specific service sector context
For enhancing the customer experience and competitive advantage, organization uses various
strategies of customer service for retaining and attracting the customer. These are as mentioned-
Recruitment process- In team of “Hotel Midlands”, each person should know about the things
and skills they want in their employees so that they will only appoint the people whom they find
applicable. They should know the objective and aim of the organization for meeting the
expectations (Jain et. al., 2017).
Team communication and development- There should briefly describe the customer’s
expectation. For this, team should be allowed to practice in suitable environment and getting the
feedback. Team should have the products and services knowledge. It also provides feedback
opportunity on comment of any guest and discussing any questions regarding problems of
operations for bearing service level that are received by the guest.
Ownership and involvement- There should be team encouragement with their idea of
improvement of customer services and if they are appropriate then publish it in board. For giving
unified services, there should be support of each-other. Responsibilities should be allocated to
particular team member for conducting training, briefings, suggestions and feedback.
Reward and recognition- individuals who provide exceptional services to customers and go for
extra mile, they should get reward. It generates win-win situation and recognizes the effect. It
motivates the team and lead to outstanding services (Dobrovič et. al., 2018).
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
Consumers are the core of each business and organizations should keep them always on priority.
If they will get better experience they will also recommend it to others so customers should be
satisfy and happy with excellent services and great products. Strategies of customer’s services
help in making and developing the good customer experience though some methods as
mentioned-
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Feedback of customers- “Hotel midlands” should understand the experience, needs and pain
points of the consumers first if they want to offer excellent service to them. For this, they should
make sure they can provide customers the ways that they can share their feedback time to time. It
will connect them to their customers and it will be beneficial for the customer relationship of
organization.
Strengthen the team of customer services- There should be a strong team of professional and
trained employees so that they can provide excellent services. For this, there should be hiring of
individuals with right skills. They should also have good communication skills, patience and
empathy, and knowledge about hospitality sector (Lemon & Verhoef, 2016).
M4 Review the application of customer service strategies of a specific service sector
organization in creating the customer experience and make recommendations for
improvement
For creating better customer experience, there are some applications of strategies of customer
service as mentioned-
Be a compassionate listener- while any employee is in conversation with any of guest, he
should listen to that customer very carefully and should understand his problem or concern. He
should also provide appropriate solution or help to them. It will create good impact on them.
Always be available for customers- Whenever the guest needs the services of hotel, any
member of hotel staff should be there. It will make an impact on them and they can share their
concerns with the staff members.
Enhance the emotional intelligence- The higher individual’s emotional intelligence will be, the
better exceptional services will be provided to customers. It gives better intelligence and
understanding in human psychology and emotions.
D4 Apply effective customer experience management within a service sector
business to maximize customer engagement
For maximizing the engagement of customers, there should be efficient management for
customer experience for influencing and targeting the customer base. Here are mentioned some
aspects through which customer engagement can be enhanced-
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- Majority of consumers want that if they are staying in a hotel, hotel staff will be available for
them whenever they required. If they will get this, it will definitely make a good impact on
them.
- Reputation of brand is also essential for customer engagement. However “Hotel Midlands”
has good brand image but it should be maintained by focusing on producing powerful and
useful content relevant to offerings.
- Hotel staff should respond to the messages of client and guests within particular time amount
or in few hours. There should be good communication between hotel and their guests for
making good impact (Ng et. al., 2019).
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Conclusion
Appropriate implementation and understanding of customer relationship management is defined
in above assessment. Complaints and issue can be resolved easily through CRM that makes the
experience of customers better. With the use of digital technology and strategies it enhances that
customer experience. CRM system also help the organization in keeping individuals and
organizational records completely so that they can handle the relationship with their guest over
time. It also improves by managing customer relationship in a better way along with 360 degree
customer view, seizing the business interaction and through information development that is
required for good communication with customers.
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References
Buonincontri, P., Morvillo, A., Okumus, F., & van Niekerk, M. (2017). Managing the experience
co-creation process in tourism destinations: Empirical findings from Naples. Tourism
Management, 62, 264-277.
Dobrovič, J., Gombár, M., & Ali Taha, V. (2018). Forms of managing the efficiency of tax
administration in Slovak Republic. Journal of International Studies, 11(2), 304-314.
Hidayat, S. E., Rafiki, A., & Ajaj, N. F. (2015). Customers’ Satisfaction Towards Baytik Ijarah
Card: A Case Study of Kuwait Finance House-Bahrain. International Journal of Excellence in
Islamic Banking and Finance, 5(2), 1-15.
Homburg, C., Jozić, D., & Kuehnl, C. (2017). Customer experience management: toward
implementing an evolving marketing concept. Journal of the Academy of Marketing
Science, 45(3), 377-401.
Jain, R., Aagja, J., & Bagdare, S. (2017). Customer experience–a review and research
agenda. Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 27(3), 642-662.
Lemon, K. N., & Verhoef, P. C. (2016). Understanding customer experience throughout the
customer journey. Journal of marketing, 80(6), 69-96.
Ng, S. C., Sweeney, J. C., & Plewa, C. (2019). Managing Customer Resource Endowments and
Deficiencies for Value Cocreation: Complex Relational Services. Journal of Service
Research, 22(2), 156-172.
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