Analysis of Premier Inn Hotel's Customer Relationship via Social Media

This report analyzes Premier Inn's customer relationship management (CRM) strategy on social media. It explores the importance of CRM in the hospitality industry, particularly for hotels like Premier Inn, and examines how social media platforms are utilized to interact with existing and potential customers. The report delves into the impact of social media on Premier Inn's marketing strategies, highlighting the significance of content creation, promotional activities, and real-time customer engagement. It provides a background on the evolution of customer interactions in the digital age, the benefits of social CRM, and the challenges faced by hotels in maintaining a positive online presence. The research aims to analyze how Premier Inn uses social media to build customer interest, evaluate content effectiveness, and assess the impact of social media on its marketing approach. The report also discusses the significance of the investigation, the rationale behind the research, and the methods used to gather data, offering insights into how businesses can leverage social media to enhance customer relationships and drive business growth.

Management of
relationship with the
customers over social
media
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TITLE - Management of customer relationship over social media: Analysis of
Premier Inn hotel, United Kingdom.
INTRODUCTION
Customer relationship management can be considered as an approach that aid a business
organisation in interacting with existing and new clients. This can be executed with the help of
analysis, as this would lead firms to focus upon all the requirements and needs, which may help
in managing the relationship of customers in a rightful manner (Rodriguez, Peterson and Ajjan,
2015). Through this, an organisation could effectively enhance both productivity and
profitability in a short span. Along with this, if it is talked about social media, then it is one of
the crucial element or approach, which may aid people in getting connected with each other with
the help of internet. Basically, different social media applications that are developed by various
company's software engineers like Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and so on. If it is talked
about, hospitality industry it can be said that it is vital for hotels and restaurants to maintain the
relationships with customers. Moreover, firm would efficaciously increase rivalry advancement
in a short span through evaluating different range of needs and requirements of customers. Away
with this, it has been found that mainly CRM System may directly aid a business company in
building relations with consumers (existing, new and potential) (Harrigan and et. al., 2015). On
the other hand, it is also said that CRM is kind of a system, that directly aid in facilitating the
company in enhancing the customer satisfaction level. Through this, this system would aid in
implementing the number of goals and objectives in specified time frame.
In present context, researcher has considered a case of Premier Inn hotel, United
Kingdom, which is looking forward to improve customers relationships considering social
media. Including this, if it is talked about relationship that consumers along with the brand
carries needs to be positive in nature and this could effectively be done by social media, which
aid in making direct relations with customers (Wang and Kim, 2017). Away with this, if it is
talked about the different executives along with the owners then they mainly considered social
media as one of the crucial promotional plan. This would lead businesses to find out ample
number of opportunities in relation with customers, where they could target customers from all
over the world. Under this, there are number of social media applications or sites that are
available in the market are: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and so on. Considering these sites,
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organisations could develop various strategies and develops number of targets and try to fulfil
number of demands of customers (Agnihotri and et. al., 2016). Away with this, it is said that
there are some of crucial strategies like producing number of attractive podcasts, developing both
user-generated hashtag campaigns or polls, where developed videos helps in enhancing the brand
image through developing interest among customers from all over the world. Away with this, it
is also said that considering the different functions of a business company like sales, customer
service and marketing, social media involves number of sections and these are Customers
Relationship Management and so on, that specifically aid a business company in meeting the
different range of goals and objectives in order to develop relations with consumers. Social
media in present time is being considered as one of the crucial element that is helping customers
to get satisfied after getting information from different social media channels. But, it can be both
positive and negative in nature for a brand where individuals could have multiple thoughts over a
particular area, which could be anything from products or services offered by a company.
Background of the research
In this century, technology is continuously upgrading and this has built the customer's
tastes and needs much more dynamic in nature. Over the years, it has been found that businesses
used traditional ways to communicate with customers. This has kept these firms to consider a
limited amount of people only, to whom they can target. But, if it is talked about current
scenario, then globalization has led technology to upgrade and this has helped firms in bringing
innovations at workplace. There are a range of ways like social media, telecommunications and
others, which led organisations to reach large number of audiences and develop their presence in
online market. On the other hand, due to the impact of social media, the relationship between
brands and consumers have changed a lot (Felix, Rauschnabel and Hinsch, 2017). Nowadays,
companies create strategies after they analyse and understand the target consumer’s demands,
likes and dislikes through Social Media. Social media has had a major effect on the world and
business. Starting from an MNC or a small start-up, everyone is adopting Social Media
Marketing to make their brand or services visible. Considering the different tools like Social
CRM, a company could effectively deliver number of benefits to the customer like support in the
online platforms that individuals are using to interact with different people. Another benefit that
came in front i.e. engagement with customers in real time that would lead a business company
whether it is performing within the hospitality sector or in any other one.
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Including this, taking in use of Social CRM a hotel could effectively resolve number of
issues by monitoring social media for complaints that has been made by potential customers.
Away with this, there are some of other benefits that has also been pulled out are finding and
developing the reward brand advocates that may effectively lead or help consumers to deal with
various problems that they are going through while booking a hotel and so on (Huotari and et.
al., 2015). On the other hand, it is also said that for a hotel it will become really very easy to get
greater exposure in the places where audiences spend their time. But, as it sounds this is not that
easy for a hotel to maintain their positive presence among consumers that are continuously
operating their business and accommodating their potential ones to hit the targets and so on.
Because, customers may think of many factors that would lead organisations to go through
number of situations.
Background of the company
Premier Inn Hotel was found in the year of 1987 by Whitbread, which is being
considered as the parental hospitality company. It's headquarter is at Dubstable, United
Kingdom. At present, Premier Inn hotel is said to be one of the United Kingdom's largest hotel
brand, which is having around 72,000 rooms with more than 800 hotels. On the other hand, if it
is talked about the operations of this hotel chain then it consists of different varieties of hotels
among different locations like suburbs, airports, city centres where it is giving good rivalry to
major business hotel chain like Ibis hotels and Travelogde. Specifically, Whitbread purchased
Premier Lodge in the year of 2004 & incorporated it with Travel Inn. This has brought the whole
new name as "Premier Travel Inn". After that, company was specifically shortened it's name to
Premier Inn.
Along with this, if it is talked about the current situation then the organisation i.e. Premier
Inn Hotels is dealing with decline within it's sales. This impacted negatively upon overall
performance level of hotel chain. The major reason that came in front was Premier Inn Hotel was
not specifically making appropriate modifications as per the requirements of consumers
(Harrigan and et. al., 2017). In order to do so, hotel chain has made their decision to consider the
social customer relationship management that would help them in integrating social media
channels so that they could directly make appropriate connections with customers. This would
help company in bringing appropriate modifications as customers are looking to get for better
experience.
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Away with this, it is also said that Customer Relationship Management related platforms
support specifically linked with both social media and traditional channels. This would help
Premier Inn Hotel in meeting the requirements of goals and objectives in specified time frame
(Zhang and et. al., 2017). Including this, it is also may be possible that Premier Inn Hotel may
gain number of competitive advantages as well, because with the help of social media, hotel will
directly stay connected to consumers in all over the world. Here, hotel may also get feedbacks
from the consumers where it might become able to bring appropriate modifications within the
hotels as per the requirements.
Research Aims
This is being considered as one of the crucial element in relation to a particular
investigation, because without developing an aim a research cannot get completed. This is said to
be the basic reason behind why the research is needed an aim along with the objective so that
appropriate results could easily be identified in given time frame. This aim of present research is
“To analyse the impact of management of customer relationship over social media: Analysis of
Premier Inn hotel, United Kingdom.”
Research Objectives
Different investigating objectives are given underneath:
 To analyse ways that aid companies in becoming able to grab attention of consumers
considering social media.
 To evaluate the importance of producing content or promotional activities on social
media.
 To evaluate how social media has affected Premier Inn Hotel's existing marketing
strategy.
Research Questions
Based on the objectives some of questions are presented underneath :
 How a business firm could develop customer's interest towards products and services
offered by them considering social media?
 How significant it is for a business organisation to develop promotional activities and
content as well on social media?
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 Explanation on how social media changed Premier Inn Hotel's strategies followed by
marketing department?
Significance of the investigation
If it is talked about importance of an investigation, then sometimes it becomes really very
important to know exactly and truthfully that what has happened considering a particular topic so
that risks linked with the same could effectively be reduced to minimal. In present investigating
topic, why researcher has taken this into consideration is particularly belongs to a reason, which
is many of the business hotels dealing within the hospitality industry of United Kingdom are
going through ample number of issues. This has impacted negatively upon customer relations,
which is much needed for every single business company to maintain the performance
Rationale of the research
The primal reason behind conducting the investigation is to identify the effectiveness of
customer relationship management system that organisations are utilising, which basically aid
companies in maintaining relations with consumers through utilising different social media
platforms. Another reason behind formulating this research is self interest of the researcher
because, with the help of developing this investigation, investigator would directly gain
appropriate information in specified time frame in relation to how social media has helped
businesses companies in maintaining the presence of themselves utilising the customer
relationship management systems (Carlson and Lee, 2015).
Through the assistance of web based social media channels like Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram, email, content and YouTube, the association can keep up long haul associations with
the clients. The online social stages mainly empowers the advertisers to directly take into
consideration of offering consumers with the best and effective to all the potential clients. With
the assistance of this study, the researcher may effectively break down the information that may
associate different potential client to get appropriate knowledge in relation to internet based life
stages. This examination study is also significant for exploring the different elements through
considering the online networking (Navimipour and Soltani, 2016). With the assistance of this
investigation, the researcher would effectively break down different elements in relation to what
perceptions clients are having and this would lead companies in pulling out favourable outcomes
towards the customer related management and may also aid in making appropriate connections
with consumers.
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On the other hand, it is also said that considering the social media as a promotional tool,
then it would directly aid the business company in offering consumers with all the detailed
information in relation to a particular product or a service that company is providing. Along with
this, social media sites like Facebook and more are also helpful in delivering the data in relation
to what exactly the discounts a hotel is providing while accommodating their potential clients.
Scope of the investigation
Present investigation's scope is that researcher will directly become able to develop all
the effective strategies that are connecting to social media and consumers, which is much more
important for the companies to understand. Through this, appropriate information pulled out
from this investigating research will help readers in improvising their knowledge in relation to
social media and customer relationship management. Away with this, it is also identified that
through tracking and managing customer contacts across channels and business functions,
customer service teams can deliver dramatically better service and markedly improve resolution
times (Benthaus, Risius and Beck, 2016). Away with this, researcher may also directly become
able to get all the information which is directly linking with social media along with working of
Customer Relationship Management that helps in offering consumers with 24*7 support
services. With the help of this, a company could deliver direct message to the customers
regarding sharing of the new products or services. Finally, the CRM with social media helps to
create long term value for the customers of the organization. The CRM technique with social
media platforms can provide opportunities for increasing online sales and cross sales of the
products or services. Some 79% of Sales-force customers reported improved customer service,
and 63% increased customer retention – demonstrating that social CRM delivers real commercial
benefits. These are said to be some of the scope that this investigation will be providing to the
consumers.
LITERATURE REVIEW
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Introduction
This area of research will going to cover the point of view of scholars and researchers
that describes the aim and objective of research. In addition to this, secondary sources of
research will be use that includes journals, past reports, articles, company website, newspapers,
online services in order to identify, measure and evaluate research question as well as objectives
of research. This section plays essential role in every research as it allows investigator in
developing their own knowledge on the chosen topic in deeper manner (Charoensukmongkol and
Sasatanun, 2017). Also it has been also been analysed that this section will contain information
from the perspective of different authors. As a result, it is easier for investigator to draw valid
outcome towards research problem. With reference to the current investigation, researcher will
effectively make use of several secondary sources like books, journals, online articles and other
published data so that they can easily draw valid conclusion towards the same.
In this section, detailed literature will be presented on the management of customer
relationship with the usage of social media in effective manner. The respective section is
bifurcated in several parts which are explained one after another in effective manner. In the first
part, detailed information will be provided on the different ways by which business entities
especially hospitality sector can effectively develop its long term relationship with the customers
by making use of social media. In the another section, importance of content production over
social media in order to attract customers will going to be presented with the inclusion different
perspectives of authors (Jiang, Ding and Leng, 2016). In addition to this, in the last section of
this chapter, investigator will provide in depth information on social media and its associated
impact over existing marketing strategies of Premier Inn Hotel. By analysing all of the
information presented in this section, it would be easier for investigator to determine concept of
social media along with this, researcher will be able to acknowledge actual outcome of the
research in rightful manner.
Customer relationships management using social media
According to Huotari and et. al., (2015), in order to maintain the relationship with the
customers, social media plays a very important role that allows communicating with customers
wherever they are. From the point of view of McKinsey, Now a days people prefer to be in touch
with customer service line via messages rather than sitting and calling to customer service.
Waiting for the respondent on call is done on past, 80% of the people choose direct interactions

that is easily available through social media apps. The reason to move on social media is because
it is less expensive and it is the place where customers are active. Social media is a place where
an organisation gets closer and in touch with customers anywhere (Go and You, 2016). There is
a high chance of positive relation with customers and directly leads to increase in the revenue.
The faster this gets solved with the problems of customers, more they will be loyal towards the
brand and it is all done with the help of social media. Customer relationship management helps
companies to cut down their cost and will become effective and efficient.
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Using social media for effective customer relationship management is a productive and
appropriate way in order to know customer needs, demands, taste and preferences. Through
social media the company can easily make long term relationships with the customers. Social
media is a best way of promoting the product and the brand because 70 to 80% people is now
active on social media and like to spent time on it. Online promotions via social media
campaigns, you tube ads, online advertisement and so on helps organisation to aware and reach
large number of customers at a time (Gummesson, 2017). To use social media for customer
relationship management helps organisation in three ways. The first one is it helps in managing
complaints of the customer. It is easy to deal with customers through social media because it
consumes less time as compare to the phone call or customers are not stick to work on one thing
only. The companies will give rewards online by sharing the post of customer or by liking post.
It create belief and value in the product and build good relationships with the customer for longer
time. Secondly, social media helps in providing 24*7 service to the customers so that the queries
of customers will be solve as soon as possible and their requirements can be easily fulfil. Lastly,
customer relationship management with social media build value of the customers for longer
period. This all leads to growth in online sales and provide opportunities to the organisation to
expand their services through social media.
On the basis of information presented by Carter, R., (2019), it has been analysed that
customer experience has become main priority of the companies so that they can effectively
enhance their sustainability at marketplace in effectual way. It has been further analysed that
business associations are now a days focusing on executing their work in such a manner that
could be represented social media. This directly supports them out in enhancing trust level of
customers towards the company. It can also be said that business associations which especially
deals in hospitality sector can easily approach to the targeted customers zone. This also helps
them out in enhancing their sales performance with the passing time in rightful manner. In
addition to this, it is seen that there are maximum number of companies who are using social
media as the core medium by which they are interacting with customers at regular basis (Sheth,
2017). It has also been seen that even though companies are having their social account which
makes it easier to develop their interaction with the customers. But, at the same time it makes it
difficult for the business enterprise to maintain their relationship at the same time. It has also
been analysed that around 15% of the company who are having social account are not able to
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