Pearson HND Hospitality: Managing Customer Experience Portfolio Report

This report comprehensively examines customer experience management within the hospitality industry. It begins by identifying and analyzing various customer touchpoints throughout the purchase cycle, from pre-purchase awareness to post-purchase service, and discusses how these touchpoints create business opportunities. The report then explores different customer journey models, outlining activities and actions at each touchpoint, and provides a detailed explanation of how a selected service sector organization, specifically Hilton Hotels, can optimize these touchpoints to influence customer behavior and enhance the overall customer experience. Furthermore, the report delves into customer service strategies within the hospitality context, offering a review of their advantages and disadvantages, and making recommendations for improvement, with a focus on leveraging digital technology like websites, apps, and social media. The report also includes a graphical presentation to illustrate how these strategies contribute to customer experience development and meet customer needs and business standards.

Task 2
1. Various touch-points throughout the customer experience. Identify few of these touch-
points and discuss how these help create business opportunities for the chosen
organization.
Customer touchpoints, as the name suggests, are the organization’s point of contact with its
customer. These are numerous customer touchpoints during the entire cycle of purchase of
organization’s good or service.
The customer touch points can be divided into three phases of the purchase cycle as follows:
 Pre- purchase: This is the first point of contact between a potential customer and an
organization. Some of the common touch points comprises organization’s various
advertisement channels like o print advertisement, bill boards, social media pages, word of
mouth advertisement from other customers, customer ratings, reviews, testimonials, etc.
Touch points help create awareness about the organizations, its brands, its products range,
etc. and helps the organization understand its customer’s needs and preferences. Thus, pre-
purchase touchpoints provide the organization with opportunity to convert potential
customer into actual customers.
 During the purchase: The subsequent touch points could be customer visiting the company’s
office, retail outlet, online stores, interaction with the sales team, ng with the various
employees before making his/her purchase. These are essentially direct customer touch
points and helps the organizations to actually sell its product/service. Essentially, through
these touch points, organization should make the entire sales experience to be seamless,
quick and easy for the customer.
 After the purchase: The last point of contact could be after sales service, customer reviews
on the product, etc. These touch points can be used to ensure quick response time, update
customers about similar products, thus creating value for the customer, repeat business,
longevity of the customer relationship through customer loyalty.
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2. Various customer journey models and examine the activities and actions taken at each
touch-points that help create business opportunities. Explanation of how a selected service
sector organization can optimize each of the customer touch-points to influence the
behavior, responses and actions of its customers to enhance the customer experience.
In the age of steep discounts, coupons., etc. customer loyalty is quintessential for the
hospitality industry. One of well renowned hotel chain, Hilton can leverage its customer
touchpoints in the following way to create more impact for its customers:
 Compelling website: Digital technology has revolutionized the customers who prefer
visiting websites and apps to collect information about a hotel rather than calling up
the hotel. Hilton already has a great Hero app. Hilton should focus on a fully featured
informational website compatible on various devices like laptops, mobiles, etc.
 Guest Check In: This is first face to face customer touch point, hence, Hilton should
strive to create an ultimate customer check in experience by knowing what providing
them rooms of their choice, hassle free checking, etc.
 Guest Check Out: This is the last face to face interaction and last opportunity to
great a lasting impression. This impression would create customer loyalty and
encourage word of mouth advertisement.
 After stay: Touch point like customer feedbacks, reviews, etc would help Hilton to
gauge its customer satisfaction level and get his/her suggestions to serve them
better the next time.
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Task A3
1. Explain various customer service strategies in a specific service sector context. Also provide
a review (advantages and disadvantages) of the application of these strategies for the
organisation chosen, in creating better customer experience and make recommendations for
improvement.
Justify the use of these strategies and make valid recommendations for improvement on the
customer quality experience.
Customer is the king in any business, thus it is quintessential for any business to keep
improving its customer service strategies. The availability of digital technology provides
organizations with an opportunity to boost its customer services.
 A seamless communication interface between the customer and the organization is
quintessential for any industry. Presently, companies can use different platforms like
social media pages, websites, apps, etc. enables organizations to engage with its
customers thus assisting them to understand customer preferences, customer
feedbacks, etc.
o Chatbots, artificial intelligence enabled technology, enables organizations to
provide instant customer service through messages, apps, websites, etc.
This helps in providing quick responses and improved customer experiences.
o Hilton has developed the Hero App as a platform to deal with its customer
directly. But in addition to its app, Hilton needs be work on its website, and
social media pages like Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc. The different
platforms will enable Hilton to connect with different set of customers. For
instance, LinkedIn platform might help to connect with corporate clients.
 Serving the customer needs and desires within is a short span of time enables
organizations to boost its customer service and generate customer loyalty. For
instance, a hotel must be able to provide its customers with the desired rooms
based on type of travel like business, leisure, etc.
o Big data analytics equips an organization to deal with large amount of data
and gain insights into customer attitudes and preferences. Such a
technology enables an organization to deliver personalized customer
services i.e. tailoring customer solutions based on their preferences. Such a
customer dealing strategy leads to improved customer quality and satisfied
customer base. Such satisfied customer base eventually turns into brand
ambassadors for the company.
o With the large amount of customer data available at organization’s disposal,
organizations can launch insight driven marketing. Thus, organizations can
send hyper personalized marketing aimed at creating memorable customer
experiences, thus generating customer value. For instance, if a particular
customer had done a corporate booking last time, then the selected
customer will be provided with more executive hotel options like executive
lounges, corporate meeting rooms, etc as he may be more inclined towards
such options. While sending thisThis essentially leads to customer value
creation.
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 Providing customers with a seamless multi- channel experience is the ultimate
driving force behind a complete customer experience. The advancement in
technology has resulted in customers using multi-platforms. For instance, while
booking a particular hotel, customer browse the different room services through
the mobile app, while the final booking is done through a phone call. The same
customer, when he comes for a leisure holiday, would prefer to the do the hotel
booking through the online website. All these activities take place on a real time
basis. Thus, it is quintessential for any organization to provide multi-channel
experience.
o One of the key flavor of this multi-channel customer experience is
happening on a real time basis. For instance, the customer books a room
of his/her choice in one of the Hilton Hotel. Immediately, after the
booking, the customer realizes that the his/her companion wants a
totally different room. They immediately call up the customer helpline
number to cancel/modify the immediate purchase. Such seamless real
time customer service results in less waiting time for customer, satisfied
customers. This leads to creation of loyal customer base.
 The most radical technology available with organizations to deliver the best form of
customer experience is virtual reality. Virtual reality delivers a three- dimensional
rendering of the product. Thus, before booking a hotel, customers can choose their
preferred rooms by entering the rooms through the help of virtual technology and
they can see how the selected room with look. By deploying such a strategy, Hilton
hotel will be able to provide its customers a real feel of the hotel prior to their stay.
By providing such options, Hilton will be able to understand its clients’
requirements in a better way and serve them better.
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2. With the help of a graphical presentation show how the strategies discussed above create
and develop customer experience. Also explain how this helps to meet the need of the
customer and required business standards
In the present times, the customer always has a lot of options before choosing the one
product that he/ she will actually purchase. In order to make the customer purchase that
one product, the respective company needs to provide good customer experience, quick
response time, customer satisfaction with the product and the company. Thus, in order to
deliver the best customer experience, company adopt different strategies aimed at overall
customer experience improvement.
1. The multiple platforms like apps, websites, social medial platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn
etc. provides a platform for client and the company to interact with each other. The different
platforms can be used to target different client bases.
2. Customer databases helps the company gain insights into customer preferences, thus
helping them to deliver personalized solutions to customer.
3. Adoption of latest technology like virtual reality helps organization to give a real feel of the
product prior to the purchase.
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