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Personalized Customer Service
1. Trends Assessment 2
“Personalized Customer Service”
November 16, 2012
HT-344 Hospitality and Tourism Marketing and Sales
By: Kate Smuda and Lauren Flory
2. Background
The hospitality industry has always worked with creating a better environment for the customer.
Customer is always right and what they want is what needs to happen. This type of service was
only limited to the front desk clerk or room service. There was no way for the guest to give their
point of view on what they would like their room to look like. I have stayed in many hotels with
my family for vacation trips or family gatherings. Never did I feel like I was at home in these
rooms. The article “Personalization is Becoming a Reality across the Hospitality Industry” states
for years companies have relied on mass marketing (one size fits all) or traditional approaches,
such as RFM (based on customers’ Recency, Frequency, and Monetary value), to communicate
and sell to their customers and prospect. Most of the hotel industry fits this characteristic. The
hotels who come up on top are the ones who make their rooms a home to the travelers while they
are staying.
The hotel experience is becoming more desirable. Guests want to enjoy their stay rather than get
a good night’s sleep. The article “ Personalization is Becoming…” mentions according to a
recent study by Fast Forward and Amadeus, customers want an increasing say, if not total
control, over what they expect of their hotel and what they are willing to pay for. More hotel
guests will expect their stay to be personalized around a set of choices they make at the time of
booking or prior to arrival. I remember this was nowhere near the thought of staying in a hotel
while I was younger. The only customer service we were given was at the front desk checking in
or if we had a problem with our room.
Customers are beginning to be verbal on what they would like for hotels to do for them. This has
become a standard for new guests at a hotel. The hotel now needs to be asking the questions
rather than the guest asking them. From the article “Future Hotel Trends- 8 Hotel Guests
Demands that will Shape Hospitality”
Life is made up of moments. It’s these you remember, cherish, crave. And sometimes
service experiences blow you away… a lot of times they leave you a nervous wreck. I
want to be able to share my feelings, be they elation or frustration immediately… when
they are at their most intense. I want to ensure my voice is heard, is handled with
discretion and is acted upon.
This article talks about the guests giving “instant feedback” when the information is needed and
when it is not. I love technology and the convenience automation offers. But sometimes I miss
just talking to someone… another human who will listen to me, empathize and help me—also is
stated from the article “Future Hotel Trends…” I think bringing the guests back to reality is key
with this customized service. The hotel industry has become so enclosed in the technology field
that we start to loose having a human body present. With the hotel industry looking to advance
their market by connecting with the guests we feel this will become the new attraction to hotels.
People will want to stay at hotels that make them feel at home. Instead of having high technology
items encompassing the business, we are now getting back to having front desk clerks and
doormen to greet guests as they arrive. The doormen even are given names of guests to
remember.
3. Case Studies
The Luxury Collection, St. Regis hotels have taken personalized customer service to the next
level. St. Regis is part of the Starwood Hotel & Resort collection and they have three major
customer service commitments. They call these three commitments “promises” and these
promises guide their everyday actions. The three promises are; go the extra step, play as a team,
and do the right thing. They include taking actions that build lasting connections and loyalty,
working globally and across all teams in the company, and using good judgment and respecting
everyone from guests to the environment. The Starwood collections uphold the promises and are
committed to creating a good work environment and diverse guest experiences. St. Regis along
with other Starwood properties strives for personalized customer service and providing their
guests with exceptional service. Starwood Hotels & Resorts are using FaceTime for preferred
guest members to connect with the company’s customer service agents. “Starwood Hotels is
proud to offer face-to-face video calling for SPG members with FaceTime. Apple’s innovative
technology allows us to provide a meaningful, personalized experience that will resonate with
our most loyal customers,” said David Godsman, vice president Global Web Services. He also
stated, “By offering our member’s access to FaceTime, they are able to enjoy a more
personalized customer service experience.” Facetime is a video calling feature Apple provides
which links computers, iPhones, iPod Touches, and iPads. This feature allows preferred
customers to actually see who is helping them make reservations, book award stays, check
account balances, or just learn more about the hotel chain. Technology is making a major impact
on the hospitality industry and this technology is continuously making customer service better.
Starwood hotels followed the trend of a luxury hotel in Miami who started to provide their
customers with Skype sessions so they could interact with family and friends that were not on
vacation with them. Starwood took that idea a step further and started to interact face to face with
customers via technology. The hotels and resorts took a step in the right direction by using
FaceTime, but they do need to consider the preferred customers that do not use Apple products
and come up with another way to video chat with them.
The Mandarin Hotel Group has worked with creating a better experience for the customers
visiting. The article “How Mandarin Hotel Implements its Unique Customer Loyalty Strategy”
talks about what makes this system noteworthy is the way data is collected, shared, and turned
into service that meets guests’ needs an reflects the rare qualities of the Group’s varied hotels
around the world. Data collection comes from three sources:
Information the guests willingly provide about their likes and dislikes
Preferences the hotel discerns from guests’ actions, such as the room temperature they set
Information the hotel staff gathers from guests to improve their stay.
I thought this was interesting because of how they watch the guests’ actions on how they kept
their room. The smallest detail can really make a difference. I think that if my hotel room was
created to fit my needs I would want to stay there for an extended period of time. The article
“How Mandarin Hotel…” also talks about the housekeeper might have a conversation with a
guest, where she says, “I’ve noticed you never eat the green apples, only the red ones,’ and takes
notes, “prices says. The Global Guest system collects this information and has it available to
hotel staff anywhere in the world when that guests checks in. A guest can create their ideal room
without having to talk with the staff about it. Hotels can use their actions to the businesses
4. advantage. Body language and habit are almost the best way of getting feelings across to
customer relation personnel.
Great Clips salon has become the next best thing in customer relations. Their business has
created a database where the customers who come in to get their haircut will be remembered in
the system. That way the next time that they need to get a haircut again, the style they got before
is already in the system and the hairstylist knows what to do before the customer has to say a
word. We liked this because having to explain what you want done to your hair is always an
event in itself. Usually the hairstylist doesn’t understand you and goes for the easy route and then
you come out with something totally different than what your ideal was or you end up having a
very long argument of what you would like done and what they can do. On the website for great
clips it states,
Great Clips understands that with today’s fast-paced lifestyle, you need a salon that fits
your schedule. That’s why we’re open evenings and weekends; no appointments
necessary. At Great Clips, you can relax, because you know you will get an affordable,
quality haircut in a comfortable, friendly salon.
We thought this was a good example because the business Great Clips has worked with
customers to figure out what they wanted and what was expected of their business.
J. Crew is a clothing store that was first debuted in 1983 and feature specialty shops for men,
women, and kids. CEO Millard Drexler pushes service, quality, and innovation to the next level.
J. Crew has begun providing more personalized customer service by providing a 24/7 live chat.
The chat box pops up automatically within a few minutes of being on the site and a customer
service representative responds quickly. The customer can ask for suggestions about outfits,
about return policies, about certain materials, and many more. Since the customer is already
logged onto the website J. Crew offers a convenient and fast way of connecting with their
customers. Although live chat is convenient for customers to contact a representative, chat has
been around for many years. The company needs to look at new ways of providing customers
with personalized service, which could include video chatting or skyping.
Interview Results
Kristine’s was a small family diner in Three Lakes, WI that was located on the Three Lakes
chain of lakes. The restaurant provided a comfortable setting that made customers feel like they
were right at home. Besides the fact that Three Lakes is a small town of about 500 people
Kristine made sure all customers felt like family. Kristine Bassett ran the restaurant for about 20
years and in that time she made sure to provide customers with personalized customer service.
As owner and manager of the restaurant she realized it was important for her to get to know her
customers and contact them face-to-face. By getting involved with customers she created a loyal
customer base that supported her small business. She said as a business owner it is important to
meet and learn about your customers so they feel appreciated. She said that personalized
customer service is a great marketing tool because as word of mouth spreads about the great
service more customers are willing to support the business. Although Kristine’s Restaurant was a
small scale restaurant customer service still remains a high priority. She believes the key to
staying ahead of this trend is by having positive employees that are aware of how to provide
5. excellent customer service.
Conclusion
In conclusion the industry of connecting with customers is becoming a bigger trend. We both
feel that this will continue to grow because of the new market of customers. They want
everything to be the way that they ask it for. I believe that each customer will benefit from the
new customer service and will become more relaxed with the environment. Having a home away
from home has always been the goal for the hotel industry and now they are making it into
normality in the hotel industry.
Sources
St. Regis News. Starwood Hotels & Resorts, 1 Jan. 2012. Web. 15 Nov. 2012.
<http://www.starwoodhotels.com/stregis/news/news_release_detail.html?Id=FaceTime01
102011>.
Luxury Collection, St. Regis Hotels Personalize Commnication with Mobile Video Chat. Luxury
Daily, 12 Jan. 2011. Web. 15 Nov. 2012. <http://www.luxurydaily.com/luxury-
collection-st-regis-hotels-personalize-communication-with-mobile-video-chat/>.
"Company History."J. Crew. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2012.
<http://www.jcrew.com/help/about_jcrew.jsp>.
Bassett, Kristine. Personal interview. 11 Nov. 2012.
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/microsoft_business_intelligence1/archive/2011/02/09/how-
mandarin-hotel-implements-its-unique-customer-loyalty-strategy.aspx
