Analyzing Digital Technology and Customer Experience in Hospitality

This report provides an in-depth analysis of customer experience management, focusing on the Ritz Hotel's application of digital technology, particularly Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems. It examines how the hotel utilizes CRM for contact and lead management, sales analytics, and reporting, including operational, analytical, and collaborative CRM models. The report also explores the impact of digital technologies like email and social media marketing, affiliate marketing, and display advertising. Furthermore, it details customer service strategies, such as assessing market needs, experience mapping, and touchpoint analysis, illustrating how the Ritz Hotel aims to meet and exceed customer expectations in the competitive hospitality industry. The report highlights the importance of customer loyalty and engagement, emphasizing how digital tools contribute to building and maintaining strong customer relationships. The report is a valuable resource for students studying marketing and customer service.

Managing the
Customer experience

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................3
P5. Analysing the way digital technology is employed by Ritz hotel for managing customer
experience...................................................................................................................................3
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................7
P6. Illustrating customer service strategies in Hospitality industry. ..........................................7
P7, Demonstrating the way customer services are created and developing the customer
experience in a manner that it meets the expectations of customers ..........................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
In present scenario, digitalization has bought the drastic change in the way different
business activities are being performed. Advancement in technology has provided firms with an
opportunity to provide more services and good experience to customers.
The report have focus on analysing the effect of digital technology on customer
relationship management in Ritz hotel. It is basically a five star hotel which provide
accommodation and food services to customers. The customer service strategies which are used
by companies will be highlighted in the assignment.
TASK 3
P5. Analysing the way digital technology is employed by Ritz hotel for managing customer
experience.
Customer relationship management can be defined as an approach which is utilized by
firms for facilitating the communication with their clients. The customer relationship
management system utilize the information about customers which assist an enterprise in
improving their relationship with potential clients. In relation to the Ritz hotel, an organization
has implemented the customers' relation management system at workplace for retaining its
profitable clients. In addition to crucial features of Customer relationship management system
are :
Customer needs: An enterprise can never determine the needs of customers. Hence, it is very
much essential to facilitate direct communication with client in order to accumulate information
related to their preference. In Context of Ritz hotel, an organisation can not serve their customer
in effective manner without getting the knowledge about the needs of their client. The
management in Ritz hotel can utilise the CRM for gathering the data about the needs as well as
demands of the customers in the market (Koetz, 2019).
Customer response: It is basically a reaction of company towards the queries of customers.
Management in Ritz hotel need to deal with queries of clients in proper manner so that the
misunderstanding as well as confusion can be avoided. In addition to this, proper answering to
the customers queries is very much important in order to provide them with good experience
and high level of satisfaction.

Customer service: It is procedure of delivering the information to customers about the goods or
services offered by organization. The level of satisfaction which is gained by customers is
completely dependent on the quality of products or services delivered by suppliers. In context of
Ritz hotel, an organisation by implementing the CRM system can make sure that complete
information about brand, goods or services has been delivered to client. By implementing the
CRM system, Ritz hotel will able to meet the expectation of its target customer group.
Customer Loyalty : It is basically a potential of customer to remain committed to particular
company. The management in Ritz hotel is required to concentrate on delivering high value
proposition as well as satisfaction to customers, as this tactic will assist them in gaining the
customer loyalty (McColl-Kennedy, Urmetzer and Neely, 2019). Customer loyalty is an
influencing aspect of CRM and is always crucial for business success.
Impact of CRM on business
Contact management : It is the key features of the customer relationship management system.
The customer relationship management system provides marketing team in company an ease in
segmenting the wide market into small segments. It also enables firm to organize the target
customers group in better way so that the needs of all the people can be fulfilled at the same
time. In relation to Ritz hotel, management in an enterprise by implementing the customer
relationship management can easily gather the all essential information related to the customers
that can be further helpful in context of developing the promotional strategies and making
decisions related to the launch of new product in the market.
Lead management: One of the effective features of customer relationship management is that it
provides firm an ease in determining the best as well as regular customers. In context of Ritz
hotel, business entity by implementing the customer relationship management system can
increase the productivity as well as efficiency of its sales team. In addition to this, customer
relationship management system will also enable an organization to concentrate on fulfilling the
needs as well as meeting the expectation of it the best clients which is very much essential for
maintaining long term profitability. In context of the Ritz hotel, management by implementing
the CRM system can easily provide quick response to customer queries.
Report and Dashboards :It has become top feature of customer relationship management. In
context of Ritz hotel, management in an organization can easily review statistics. By utilizing

the customer relationship management system, company can easily engage with their customers
through using the customized dashboards as well as reports that can be helpful in providing the
high level of satisfaction to clients.. It is the customer relationship management system which
provides management an ease in updating the information. In addition to this, customer
relationship management system also provides platforms that could be easily accessed from
different portals. The information stored in customer relationship management can be utilized by
the management in Ritz hotel for making crucial business decisions.
Sales analytics :it is considered to be as one of the most valuable features of customer
relationship management. In relation to the Ritz hotel, management in an organization can
organize better sales campaign in the future. The customer relationship management will
provide manager an ease in analysing the existing information related to the campaign which has
been executed earlier. By using the Customer relationship management system , marketing team
in Ritz hotel can easily accumulate information through social media and could easily analyse
the same. In relation to the Ritz hotel, an organization by implementing the CRM system can
seek feedback from the customers related their products or services, as it will help business
entity in gaining the customers' loyalty.
Types of Customer relationship management
Operational CRM: It is a type of customer relationship management which provides assistance
to front office business procedures which is mainly includes direct communication with
customers. The detailed information related to the communication which has been done with
specific client get stored in the contact history and that can be retrieved by management in Ritz
hotel at the time of requirement. The operational CRM presents the opinion of specific client
about the procedures, products or services offered by firm (Goodman, 2019). In relation to the
Ritz hotel, the manager in an organization can transfer all the information or feedback given by
client across different functional unit with the support of Operational CRM. For instance, sales
force automation is the operational customer relation management system. In addition to this,
enterprise marketing automation as well as customer service support are examples of
operational CRM system.
Analytical CRM: It is the form of Customer relationship management system which allow
bothy marketing team and manager an ease in analysing the information related to the customers

that has been created by the operational CRM system. In context of Ritz hotel, an organization
can implement this system, as it will provide business entity an ease in developing the
understanding about the behaviour of customers (Bolton, Witell and Zaki, 2018.). The analytical
customer relationship management system will help Ritz hotel in approaching the target
customer group and would assist an enterprise in catering to the needs of their clients. It is the
type of CRM which utilizes analytical promotional tools such as data mining for extracting the
meaningful information related to the target market, profitable clients. Purchasing pattern of
customers etc, that further can be helpful for enhancing the organizational performance.
Collaborative CRM : It is basically a type of CRM which provides an organization an ease in
collaborating with partners suppliers and customers which can be beneficial in terms of
increasing sales as well as improving customers services across different marketing channels.
The main aim of the collaborative CRM is to assist an enterprise in enhancing the quality of
customer service. The Ritz hotel should implement the collaborative CRM , as it will assist them
in gaining the loyalty of customers. Partner relationship management is example of
Collaborative CRM.

Importance of digital technology in building relationship with customers
The digital technology such as CRM enables management in an organization to record
all the essential information related to the customers. It will provide manager an ease in
analysing the purchasing pattern of customers. By using the CRM, manager in an enterprise can
easily identify the profitable customers. The implementation of CRM is considered to be as
marketing strategy that can assist an enterprise in increasing revenue.
Different social media platform utilized in hospitality industry
E-mail marketing : In context of Ritz hotel, marketing team in an organization send
personalized mail to customers for informing them about the launch of new goods or services.
Social media marketing : But after the digitalization, Now marketing team in Ritz hotel is using
the social media platforms such as Facebook, twitter for generating the brand awareness.
Business entity conduct the social media marketing campaign for informing people about goods
or services and discounts.
Affiliate marketing : In context of Ritz hotel, it is the type of marketing technique which is
applied by Ritz hotel for promoting goods or services, An organization provides reward to
customers for refereeing the companies goods to other people.
Display advertisement: An enterprise also utilizes the print media such as newspaper,
magazine, hoarding for promoting business.
TASK 4
P6. Illustrating customer service strategies in Hospitality industry.
The different customer strategies which can be implemented by Ritz hotel are :
Assessing the market needs : it is the activity which mainly includes conducting the external
audits for gathering the information about needs as well as demand of customers. In relation to
the Ritz hotel, marketing functional unit can conduct survey and obtain feedback from
customers, It is the strategy which will help business entity in analysing the perception of
workers towards about products or services offered by an enterprise.
Experience mapping : while developing the customer service plan, it is very much essential for
marketing team in Ritz hotel to develop the understanding about the way customer prefer to

interact with brand. The manager in an organization by analysing the information gathered
through market research can create customer journey map. It is basically a visual representation
of the process a customer undergoes before making the purchase of particular goods or services
from company. As development of customer journey map will help marketing team in addressing
those factors which can have influence on customer purchase decisions (Kandampully, Zhang
and Jaakkola, 2018). This tacit will also assist manager in development of an effective marketing
strategy which can be implemented fort positively influencing people to buy specific good. In
addition to this, by developing the customer journey map, manager in Ritz hotel can develop the
understanding about the way they could structure touch points for creating most effective as well
as efficient procedures for their clients. Management in Ritz hotel need to develop the
understanding about the factors which drives customer engagement (Díaz-Méndez and Saren,
2018). They are required to gain the knowledge about need of their clients. The main benefit of
customer touch point analysis is that it enables firm to measure their own perceptions from the
point of view of customers. In context of Ritz hotel management in an enterprise is required to
make improvement plan on the basis of the information gather through touch point analysis, as it
will assist them in providing good experience as well as high level olf satisfaction to their
clients.
Touch point analysis : It is a stage in customer journey map when an individual interact with
company. The marketing team in Ritz hotel by continuously facilitating the communication with
customers , as it is the tactics which will assist them in developing the understanding about the
interrelation between different customer touch points and also about the value it delivers to their
clients. By analysing the different touchpoints and gaining the knowledge about the valuer it
delivers to customers, management can easily identify the way they can provide more or better
experience to the guests. An organization need to concentrate on consistently meeting the needs
and expectations of their clients throughout the life cycle (Ulaga, 2018). Touch point analysis
will provide organisation ease in Systematically evaluating performance across all customer
touch points that can be helpful as well as beneficial in terms of making better alignment of
organization.

P7, Demonstrating the way customer services are created and developing the customer
experience in a manner that it meets the expectations of customers
Customer experience can be referred to as interaction between company as well as customers
throughout the business relationship. It is very much essential for organization to provide good
experience and high level of satisfaction to customers as it will help firm in maintaining the
business sustainability in highly competitive business environment.
Developing a customer service vision : It is initial phase in developing the customer service
strategy. In context of Ritz hotel, management in an organization need to inform workers about
vision of customer service strategy, as this tactic will help employees in identifying their role in
accomplishment of desired objectives. Management in Ritz hotel by supporting workers in
development of customer service skills can provide better experience to their clients (Zaki and
Neely, 2019.).
Assessing the customer needs : Marketing team in Ritz hotel can develop the understanding
about the customers needs as well as demand. On the basis of the information gathered through
market research management in an enterprise can formulate plans for meeting those requirements
by their clients.
Hiring the right employees: In context of Ritz hotel, manager or leader in an organization
should screen candidates before appointing them for the Job post of customer service executive.
Establishing goals for customer service : It is very much important for employees in Ritz hotel
to develop the through understanding about target so that they can assist company in reaching
their corporate objectives.
Training on service skills: In context of the Ritz hotel, management in an organization is
required to provide customer service related training to employees, as this strategy will help an
organization in delivering the professional services which is very much crucial for providing the
good experience as well as satisfaction to client (Mbama and Ezepue, 2018).
Attending to the negative review: It is very much essential for management in the Ritz hotel to
obtain both positive and negative feedback from customers, as it is the strategy which will help
an enterprise in analysing the needs fore improvement. It is the tactics which will assist
management in identifying the business area which requires improvement.

CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from the above report that developing the understanding about the
customers touch points and implementing the plan accordingly can be helpful in providing the
better experience to customers. The other fact which has been discovered is that customer service
management is the best system which assist firm in maintaining their relationship with potential
customers.
The different strategies have been highlighted in the assignment which can be
implemented by companies for improving the customer service.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Bolton, R.N., Witell, L. and Zaki, M., 2018. Customer experience challenges: bringing together
digital, physical and social realms. Journal of Service Management, 29(5), pp.776-808.
Díaz-Méndez, M. and Saren, M., 2018. Managing advertising agency client partnerships for
value co-creation.
Goodman, J., 2019. Strategic customer service: Managing the customer experience to increase
positive word of mouth, build loyalty, and maximize profits. Amacom.
Kandampully, J., Zhang, T. and Jaakkola, E., 2018. Customer experience management in
hospitality: A literature synthesis, new understanding and research agenda. International
Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 30(1), pp.21-56.
Koetz, C., 2019. Managing the customer experience: a beauty retailer deploys all tactics. Journal
of Business Strategy, 40(1), pp.10-17.
Mbama, C.I. and Ezepue, P.O., 2018. Digital banking, customer experience and bank financial
performance: UK customers’ perceptions. International Journal of Bank Marketing, 36(2),
pp.230-255.
McColl-Kennedy, J.R., Urmetzer, F. and Neely, A., 2019. Gaining customer experience insights
that matter. Journal of Service Research, 22(1), pp.8-26.
Ulaga, W., 2018. The journey towards customer centricity and service growth in B2B: a
commentary and research directions. AMS Review, 8(1-2), pp.80-83.
Zaki, M. and Neely, A., 2019. Customer Experience Analytics: Dynamic Customer-Centric
Model. In Handbook of Service Science, Volume II (pp. 207-233). Springer, Cham.
ONLINE:
7 Steps to Creating a Customer Service Strategy.2016.[ONLINE]. Available
through:<https://thethrivingsmallbusiness.com/customer-service-strategy/>.