Customer Service of Hilton Hotels - Case Study Example

Hospitality Management Tourism, being a global phenomenon is one of the world’s most “popular” industries. It is also the most “volatile” as the world experience setbacks from surging inflation and overall uncertainty in the global economic situation, tourism changes shape. Since hotels make up a large part of the tourism industry and provide millions of jobs for people worldwide, proper strategies to execute hospitality management is key to ensuring that the hotel industry does no die. For this paper, the researcher has chosen to focus on the hospitality management strategy of Hilton Hotels, a popular international chain of hotels and resorts, which originated in the United States. In 1919, Conrad Hilton bought his first hotel which was called The Mobley, located in Cisco, Texas (see picture). Six years later, he built his first hotel in Dallas and aptly named it ‘The Hilton.’ This was the start of a chain of hotels across the country, which found its way to countries abroad as well. 1995 was the year when the Hilton Hotels Corporation invaded the internet with their website, www.hilton.com. (Hilton Hotels Corp, 2008). For Hilton, this turned out to be a good move, since it meant that they could reach out to their clients on a wider level to find out more about their needs and wants regarding customer service. When it comes to the hospitality industry, a little extra always goes a long way. An extra chocolate and rose petals scattered on a bed when a guest enters his room can mean the difference between an economy hotel and a deluxe hotel. The success ingredient of such deluxe hotels lies on the management focusing on the ‘wants’ of a guest and not just the needs. This is what would make the guest come back for more. In 2007, Hilton decided to renovate their Hilton Orange County/ Costa Mesa branch (shown in the picture). Aside from changing the interior design of the hotel, Hilton also invested in ensuring that the guests were treated like royalty with London style cabs being used by the hotel for their guests who wish to travel around Orange County in style. A Starbucks has also been built inside the hotel for people wanting to get their coffee fix, in addition to the upgraded fitness center and the new wine bar (where guests can taste different varieties of wine). Businessmen would also be glad to find out that the lounge inside the hotel has also been improved, complete with a convenient workstation and wireless internet for business purposes and convenience. Such recent innovations and renovations have made the Hilton quite popular (Chao, 2007). Business travellers are different from other travellers in the sense that for business travellers, luxury is extremely important. According to the Guest Satisfaction Survey posted on HotelChatter.com, business travellers prefer utmost privacy, while being surrounded by luxury and expensive bed sheets and bath products. They also prefer hotels that are closely located to the airport. Customer satisfaction can be found out through the Market Metrix Hospitality Index (MMHI) which provides reports from different clients and/or consumers with regards to hotels, airlines and even car-rental companies. In-depth interviews are usually carried out among 35,000 individuals where they are given the freedom to talk about their experiences with a certain company, and where they can share what they like and do not like. For 13 quarters, Homewood Suites, a Hilton-owned upscale brand of residential-style hotels, has received recognitions for being one of the leaders in the hotel industry. They are known for their stellar customer service and prove to be quite a competition against other rival hotels. The survey system done by Market Metrix has received awards for providing hotels with tools on how they can further improve their management. It must be noted here that hotel management does not only refer to guest satisfaction, but also to the satisfaction of the employees employed at the hotel. (Carmony, 2008). According to Gillin, (2008), Hilton companies take advantage of the online community to find out more about their performance as a company in the guests’ eyes. Online forums on websites help a great deal in ensuring quality performance for all guests. Through such online communities, the hotel can find out their weak points and their strong points in running the establishment. This way also, the hotel can find out what appropriate marketing strategies they should make to ensure that guest turnout improves and does not decline, despite the economic crisis happening across the globe today. Conversations between guests are encouraged and monitored by an efficient staff, who provide reports regarding their findings. These conversations are also started by the guest himself/herself in order for the staff to see comments, complaints and suggestions about service that they may have overlooked. However, some questions from the hotel staff are also asked on these discussion boards, and responses for these questions are also monitored. The advantage of such research done through online communities is that it saves time and effort on the part of the staff of the establishment. In addition to this, the guests who join the online communities join as a result of how much they value or do not value their experience in a Hilton hotel. They always have the option to decline, but a percentage of them are willing to provide necessary feedback for the hotel’s performance development. Thus, membership alone says a great deal about the hotel’s services as a whole. The disadvantage on the other hand could be the fact that not all the responses posted on such online boards project a good image for the establishment. There are a lot of negative comments and feedback, and as much as this should help the hotel provide better service and guest satisfaction, it could also affect the perception of other potential guests to that particular hotel being written about. Since a large population of people log on the internet everyday and come across such comments, they may take it as a sign to not step foot in that hotel ever. Therefore, through online communities, foot traffic into the hotel may be affected. Traditional surveys on the other hand, refer to one-on-one interaction between a member of the staff or an experienced researcher with a guest in order to acquire efficient customer feedback. Direct traditional surveys with a guest and a member of the staff show how dedicated the hotel is in finding out how to better serve their loyal guests. At this point, it must be mentioned how advisable it will be to conduct such forms of traditional research with loyal. In addition, traditional surveys mean that the researcher or hotel staff member can get details from the loyal guest regarding his/her experience at the hotel. In exchange for the guests’ time, he/she can be offered complimentary stay at the same hotel or a partner hotel, or additional services. To improve customer satisfaction at the Hilton, another way of researching strategies to bring about development would be to leave survey forms at the front desk. The surveys could be filled out by the guests upon checking out while the guest waits for his/her hotel bill. For convenience sake, the surveys must be short and can be easily answered. The researcher would like to suggest using Likert scale questions. These type of questions find out the feelings of the respondent towards a criteria. For instance, the number at one end of the scale would represent ‘most agreement’ and the other end of the scale would show ‘least agreement.’ Should the scale consist of words to give a meaning behind the numerical figures given, the question would be called a Likert-style question. An example of such a question is shown below: How important do you think room smell is inside a hotel room? Not very important Very Important 1 2 3 4 5 The guest can encircle the number to express his feelings and opinion towards the question. Another method with which to ask survey questions could be through the use of multiply choice questions in order to also find out guest satisfaction levels easily. The guest can encircle the appropriate answer according to his/her preference. An example of such a question could be: As our guest, what do you think is our hotel’s biggest weakness? a. Guest service b. Cleanliness c. Reservations d. Peace and quiet e. Other ____________________ (Waddington, 2000) Such surveys do not take up much time since the questions are relatively easy to answer. The survey may also contain a ‘Comments’ section where the guest can write down comments that may not have been asked in one of the survey questions. These type of surveys are also easy to tally, so statistics of guest satisfaction or dissatisfaction can be easily acquired by the hotel. In a survey done by JD Power and Associates, called the North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Survey, the chart below shows the main complaints 47, 634 guests had during their stay in a hotel. (Yancey, 2007) Appropriate customer care and service lies in the hotel management ensuring that guests never have to lift a finger, or never have to pay extra charges for basic amenities during their stay. A perfect example would be the experience related by Miss Hedda Schupea, who was charged extra cash for bringing in luggage to the hotel. This made her determined to never stay in a Hilton again. Guests pay the hotel to be pampered and the hotel must ensure that the guests get their money’s worth, and more. If the guest is able to have a good experience and is satisfied with the hotel’s service, then the hotel can be assured that the guest would return to stay again at their hotel (Stoller, 2006). Hilton’s service has been declining for the past couple of years, and can therefore take a page from Microtel and Omni group of hotels’ service strategies. The Omni chain, for instance, ensures that all the senses of the guest- his/her sight, touch, sound and smell are pleased and satisfied. In other words, there is no room for the hotel to commit an error. (Brand Report, 2007). References 1. Hilton Hotels Corp (2008) Milestones and Innovations. Retrieved November 5 2008. http://hiltonworldwide1.hilton.com/en_US/ww/business/history/milestones.do;jsessionid=1A1A62D0BE2B9C774BE6AA36B3F7DD1C.etc34 2. Carmony, Brad (February 5 2008) Homewood Suites by Hilton(R) Rated Top Upscale Hotel Chain for 2007 in the Market Metrix Hospitality Index. Retrieved November 5 2008. http://www.hiltonworldwide.com 3. Gillin, Paul (2008) Hiltons marketing guided by online Family members. Chicago: 2008. Vol. 93, Iss. 7; pg. 33, 1 pgs. 4. Yancey, Kitty Bean (July 27 2007) As hotel guests, heres what we love -- and loathe; [FINAL Edition] USA TODAY. McLean, pg. D.1 5. Waddington, H. (2000). Types of survey questions. In B. Hoffman (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Educational Technology. Retrieved November 5, 2008. http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/Articles/surveyquest/start.htm 6. Schupak, Hedda, T. (2006) This is Service? Editor’s Note. 177, 5; ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry; pg. 462 7. Stoller, Gary (2006) Hotels Check out More Satisfied Customers, but flies Unhappier; Hilton, Southwest at surveys top; Ramada, Northwest at bottom; [FINAL Edition]; USA TODAY. McLean, Va.: May 16, 2006. pg. B.5 8. Brand Report (2007) What do Guests Want? Lodging and Hospitality; pg 16 9. Chao, Fifi (Nov 26-Dec 2, 2007) Hilton Hosts Holiday Charity Events, Adds Amenities. Orange County Business Journal; Nov 26-Dec 2, 2007; 30, 48; ProQuest Newsstand pg. 42 10. HotelChatter.com (2006) Brand Loyal or Stuck in a Rut? TripAdvisors New Business Traveler Survey. Retrieved November 6 2008. http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/Guest%20Satisfaction%20Survey Photo Credits: The Mobley: (http://skyepuppy.blogspot.com/2007_06_01_archive.html) Hilton (Orange County): (http://www.all-hotels.com/usa/california/south_coast/irvine__univ_of_california_m1.htm) Read More