Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Strategies for Hoxton Hotels

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments for students. This report analyzes Hoxton Hotel's CRM strategy.

Customer Service Management for Tourism and
Hospitality
1

Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Task One....................................................................................................................................4
Task Two....................................................................................................................................5
Conclusion................................................................................................................................10
Bibliography.............................................................................................................................11
2

Introduction
The study deals with Customer Relationship Management and its utility regarding
organisations concerning Tourism or Hospitality. The diverse components of Gartner CRM
model that should be incorporated in tourism related or hospitality related organisation will
be discussed along with its influence in building strong relationship with customers. The
discussion would be continued on the CRM model chosen and its implementation on Hoxton
Hotel Group. The values created or would be created in future by the organisation
considering the aspects of daily business will be another topic of discussion. Hoxton hotel
group is an organisation in the hospitality industry, which was founded by Ennismore in
London in the year 2006 (thehoxton.com, 2018).
3

Task One
Identify and discuss the different components of the Gartner CRM model that a
Tourism or Hospitality organisation could follow in order to build relationships with
customers.
Definition of CRM-
Customer relationship management or CRM can be defined as an approach for managing an
organisation’s conversation or interaction with potential and present customers. It can be
identified as the guidelines regarding principles and practices followed by an organisation to
interact with their customers. The entire relationship between the customers and the
organisation that includes service and sales-related processes and prediction and analysis of
customer behaviour or trends is based on Customer relationship management. CRM enhances
the overall experience of the customers. It refers to the strategies and solutions formulated for
managing business relationships.
Overview of Gartner CRM model-
The Gartner CRM model is beneficial to be implemented in tourism and hospitality related
organisations like the Hoxton hotel group as it provides the building blocks to formulate a
framework comprising the necessary elements for a booming CRM initiative. A successful
CRM scheme comprises of the vision, customer experiences, strategies formulated,
collaborative working within organisations, information, processes involved, the technology
used and metrics (Das et al., 2018). Every organisation should incorporate Gartner’s eight
building blocks to enhance the effectiveness of their respective CRM system. Key points of
the Gartner CRM model are:
 For successful CRM, all eight building blocks are important.
 Among the eight building blocks, one of them is related to technology, which is of
utmost importance.
 For achieving success, the main block to be catered with is the metrics.
 Organisations or companies that abide by all the eight blocks of the Gartner CRM
model achieve more success than the organisations, which miss them.
The eight building blocks of Gartner CRM model-
4

According to Gartner’s definition about CRM, a business stratagem deals with the probable
outcomes, revenue and profitability incurred by an organisation maintaining the customer
satisfaction level. CRM strategies would enhance effective customer interactions.
Figure 1: Gartner CRM model
(Source: Alshourah et al., 2018)
1. CRM Vision:
CRM vision gives an idea of how a customer-centric organisation should be. The
stakeholders, customers and employees of the organisation would not have an idea of the
following factors without the CRM vision-
 The value proposal offered by the organisation
 The intended relationship of the organisation with the desired customers
 The significance of CRM towards the strategy formulation of the organisation
 The temperament of customer experience
The vision is a mixture of capabilities of the suppliers to attract customers for purchasing
their products or services. The customer value proposition should be accompanied by
essential corporate values that should be attractive enough to target a huge number of
customers. The values should be effective enough to demarcate the organisations, for here it
is Hoxton, from its competitors. The vision should be shared and accepted by the employees
within the organisation. Proper implementation of the vision can be made sure by involving
leadership in the organisation (Stanimirov et al., 2017).
5

2. CRM Strategy:
The CRM strategy should be interlinked with the marketing strategy of the organisation that
would provide correct direction in several operational areas like HR, IT and production unit.
Corporate business strategy is the decisive driver of these CRM strategies. The strategy is
responsible for building up the position of the organisation in the market. The main role
played by the CRM strategy is the creation and maintenance of the customer base of the
company (Peterson et al., 2018). The processes involved in the creation of CRM strategies
are-
 The current position of the organisation in the market regarding customer satisfaction
level should be audited
 Customer segmentation is also a vital step in the formulation of strategies
 The development, as well as retention of customer objectives, should be settled
 For monitoring strategy execution the metrics have to be defined
 The strategy needs to be outlined through pricing, product segmentation and
managing segments for customisation
 The customer infrastructure should be specified for implementation of operational
strategies
3. Customer Experience:
In present scenario, customers tend to focus on aspects by which they are highly influenced
such as latest technology, data relevant to the customers and organisational processes. The
CRM initiatives are mostly focused towards one side which is a major backdrop as they fail
to create value for both ends of relationship management. Leading organisations like Hoxton
create positions to cater to the need of customers and ensure that it is maintained within the
organisation. The customers should be duly notified about the developments made keeping in
mind their satisfaction level, as it is necessary for maintaining the brand value of the
organisation.
4. Organisational Collaboration:
The changing internal processes, compensation in incentives, organisational composition,
qualities or skills of the employees and their behaviour are the components of true CRM.
These goals are difficult to be achieved. The management of the organisation should take
initiatives to formulate the necessary changes through formal programs and tactful
6

communication. The collaborative organisation helps to pacify the problems and bring on the
necessary changes required for better customer relationship management. Hoxton can
implement such techniques to incur addition benefits.
5. CRM Processes:
Many times the organisation fails to realise the fact that the customers are facing problems
due to their failure in providing fragmented functional processes. CRM requires a fresh
approach towards their business processes and fresh thought about their appearance to the
customers. The approaches should be more customer-centric to deliver the best customer
value (Reinhold and Alt, 2019).
6. CRM Information:
The key factor for Customer Relationship Management is the Customer information. This
information should be properly collected, analysed and stored, circulated and applied
throughout the organisation. It is essential for efficient cross-channel interaction. A lot of
hard work is required for attaining this information. Hoxton should have a strategic approach
towards customer information because it is the first step of starting a CRM initiative
(Girchenko et al., 2017).
7. CRM Technology:
Technology is one of the basic amenities required for operational interaction. CRM
technology of most of the organisations is fragmented. For supporting integration,
commercial and skill management consistency is required in the field of software, hardware,
telephone infrastructure and networking. Integration is important for both CRM and non-
CRM applications that include aspects like solutions for supply chain management, financial
systems and system related to business partners (González-Benito et al., 2017).
8. CRM Metrics:
Organisations wishing to become customer-centric should formulate appropriate CRM
objectives scrutinise indicators. CRM metrics helps to broaden the chances of success and
provide feedback mechanisms for the sake of the development of techniques and strategies.
They are important for structuring incentives for the employees. CRM metrics comprises of
two basic challenges that are related to the proper understanding of the linkage points and
complexity in internal and external metrics (Zaby and Wilde, 2018).
7

Customer service is essential for every hospitality or tourism organisation. Few examples of
good practices within a hotel sector like Hoxton-
 The management should focus on time. The first impression on customers is laid by a
strong digital presence. After check-in, the guests mostly value face-to-face
interaction. Even after departure from the hotel, the guests would remember the warm
welcome they received, and it would improve personal connection.
 The management team of the hotel sector should keep their staffs happy. On
achieving customer satisfaction, the staffs should be remunerated as a token of
appreciation. The hotel brands should train their staffs completely and look after their
education regarding hospitality.
 Hoteliers should know their customers. For this purpose, they can conduct online
surveys and other tracking tools to know the feedback of their guests. It would help in
achieving improved customer satisfaction.
 The hoteliers should design their hotels and rooms based on soothing themes to create
an amusement factor in the guests about their services (Boella, 2017).
 In the present scenario, the guests possess elevated expectations about the hotel
services. Hotels like Hoxton should find out ways to always keep their services
beyond the expectations of their guests. The incoming guests or customers should
experience new amenities and services offered to them which are different and better
from the existing ones.
 The hoteliers should have the habit of learning from the best present hotel group
functioning in the hospitality industry.
8

Task Two
Apply your chosen CRM Model to the Hoxton Hotel Group and discuss how they are
currently creating or could create value, by embracing aspects of its daily business
activities where customers tend to be directly and regularly engaged.
Overview:
Hoxton is a well known hotel brand owned by Sharan Pasricha. The company is famous for
its modern decoration, style, cultural events and pricing system. Pasricha is the CEO of the
company since the year 2012. Each of their outlets has a very attractive part called Hoxton
Gallery, where there is a collection of arts made by the local artists. The company has hotels,
such that its business outlets in London, South London, Amsterdam, Paris, New York, Los
Angeles and Chicago (MARTINS, 2017).
Vision:
The company’s vision is to make the guests comfortable and feel free to live like locals. Their
series of event programs provide the customers a scenic beauty. The company always
involves the local neighbours in terms of furnishing rooms, event programs, lobbies
designing and artwork (thehoxton.com, 2018). The main motto of the company is to involve
the local and neighbours, so that every guest can feel that they are in their home (Golka,
2019).
Strategy:
Strategy is defined as the framework and act designed by a business to attain a long-term and
one or more goals. Strategy is significant because the resources that are on hand to meet the
targets are limited. Business strategy is the master plan that a management system uses to
ensure its good position in the competition market of the industry. This practise can be
achieved by continuing the management operations and by pleasing the customers (Scholes,
2015).
The strategic case study of the Hoxton Hotel Company discusses the factors how the hotel
must consider different aspects to stretch their business strategies. In terms of analysing the
environmental studies on the resources and competencies, some micro as well as macro
factors are also explained.
9

Political- Government legislations like the trade limitations, tax policies, tariffs and any
other environmental issues in UK can have direct effects on Hoxton Hotel. Strict
Governmental interventions affected the business strategies of the company.
Social- the Hoxton Hotel brand is very popular among both domestic and international
visitors. The fact that UK is one of the most attractive countries for shopping lovers and
tourists should also keep in mind. There is a wide variety of social impacts that can affect
Hoxton Hotel. The company recently launched new trends after researching on different
lifestyles and decision making roles of different visitors. The most important social impact on
Hoxton Hotel is the increasing number of youth customers from the international market by
attracting them with modern facilitations. This strategy also helps in boosting the company’s
growth by means of sales. Citizens from the other developing nations like China, Brazil and
India are now looking for modern hotel services from Hoxton Hotels.
Environmental Impact- Hoxton Hotels essentially control the global warming issues with
compared to the other companies in the hotel industry. Even the increase in operational costs
of the hotel industry could not allow the company to compromise with the environmental
support.
Except these above mentioned strategies, there may be several restricted rules regarding the
visa issues in UK. This adverse condition does not allow the Hoxton Hotels to welcome
international visitors, so accordingly they have to still think about looking forward in
incorporating the strategies that can neutralise these negative business situations.
Valued Customer Experience:
Valued Customer Experience is the process of making communal principles for a full
customer based plan across the whole customer cycle. Customer experience value formation
happens in a hotel company like Hoxton, when it empowers its consumers to accomplish
their individual targets with a larger scale fulfilment. Hoxton’s customer experience value
may be defined as the level of upside compared to the level of downside for a customer to do
trade with the other hotel industries in global prospect. This valuation through Customer
Relationship Management (CRM) may give the company a chance to get new customers.
Hoxton is a well known series of open minded hotel chains influenced by the variety and
creativity of the scenarios that is surrounded to it. They have a separate arrangement for the
mind refreshment of the visitors. They have their own art collection made by the local artists
10

named as “Hoxton Gallery” and they also turned the empty car parking areas into hotels by
renovating the old building architectures, so that they make the outlets looking attractive for
keeping the customer value high.
 Still the concerned company needs to improve their customer values by making more
choices for the international visitors according to their national cultural scenarios.
Organisational Collaboration:
Organisational collaboration refers to the organisation’s actions of working together for
delivering outcomes by addressing the overall problems, which cannot be solved by one
single unit or by someone alone. A Collaborated organisation is said to be ready for
evaluating the solutions of common organisational problems that is associated with the whole
company (James and Christopoulos, 2018).
For example, Hoxton Hotel is recently collaborated with a jewellery company named as
Daisy Jewellers in London. In the hotel outlets of the company, the jewellery company has
joint ventures which attract the visitors and art lovers to buy something. This approach helps
in achieving the market goals for both the companies. Furthermore collaboration as well as
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) may involve new employee recruitment as
well as staff retention.
Still Hoxton should reduce the rental structures for the jewellery shop, otherwise the
jewellery making charges will go on increasing and eventually it will become impossible for
them to sell the jewellery at an affordable price.
Processes:
Process is a repetitive flow of actions and mechanism procedures by which a particular goods
or service is delivered to the consumer end.
In reality or in the case study, process is more concerning about the visitors of the Hoxton
hotel and their deal with the company in a series of stages, such that, all the way through the
process. The hotel employed a number of well behaved customer servicemen and women.
Their main job is to look after the matters associated with consumer’s welfare.
Still the hotel needs to focus more on their employee welfare and customer satisfaction in the
competition of growing environment.
11

Information:
Information is the reduction method for reducing hesitations or uncertainties. In a
communication system, information is defined as the direct or indirect stuffing of message.
In this context of case study also, the message contents is the main concern. The proper flow
of information and messaging is a vital aspect for a hotel company like Hoxton, because if
there is a default in the information exchange occurs in the medium, then it will raise the
chances of confusion and then conflict between both the visitors and the staffs. The
communication between the employees is encoded by CRM software so that they can
maintain their privacy without leaking it to any third party. This is how Customer
Relationship Management (CRM) software creates a coherent and cohesive body of
information that drives the value proposition for a given client.
 Still the company need to develop their trainees to train their new employees to
improve the communication system inside a hotel.
Technology:
Technology is defined as the practise for applying the scientific knowledge and skills for
practical purposes such as business. It is an applied branch which deals with consuming less
time using different machinery and any other means of equipments (Stewart, 2016).
Hoxton Hotel’s utilisation of energy resources and its service expenses with respect to the
invention of new innovative technologies can be realised as an essential technological factor
of the industry. Furthermore, hotel bookings have now become simpler than before from their
official website page. It can easily be done by sophisticated way of using internet
technologies. A number of reputed social media and sites like Trip Advisor, Make My Trip,
Yaatra, Facebook and Twitter are also useful in terms of consumer interface.
 Still the company need to work on the making of their smart phone application to gain
the competitive advantage in the market.
Metrics:
Metrics is the measuring tool used to measure the standard or quality of goods and services
or products in any business mean (Pronk et al., 2018).
12