Customer Intimacy Is King
11/22/2006
By Glenn Haussman

With all the brouhaha regarding the growing importance of customer relationship management (CRM), too many hotel companies are still vexed when it comes down to delivering on a service promise. For hotel companies looking to differentiate themselves from the competition, exceeding guest expectations is paramount since it leads to building loyalty.

In this complex era, it is crucial to truly understand and anticipate guest desires in order to fulfill that service promise. But just how to do it effectively has been an elusive and vague notion not fully grasped by many hoteliers.

Last week ,the HSMAI hosted an on online seminar (né, webinar) as part its continuing HSMAI University series that dug deep into this complex topic. The program, dubbed “Customer Intimacy: The Key to Profitability” demystified this issue and gave attendees some surefire tactics to turn customers into loyal clientele.

“I truly believe hotel companies need to be in the customer intimacy business. They have to focus on delivering what the customer wants,” said Caryl Helsel Partner, inspire resources, a Hospitality Consulting Firm. “You have to have some product leadership to deliver on customer intimacy but you have to focus on the relationship above all else. All goals should be focused on customers rather than the product or operations.”

And getting those loyal relationships are paramount to the property or brand’s success. Helsel said that 10 percent of all hotel guests account for 44 percent of all hotel nights.

To get those loyal customers, Helsel said it’s crucial a hotel employ a culture of managing the “total customer experience” and also embrace a culture of managing “moments of truth” when that experience is on the line. Also, property leadership should demand a culture that puts the customer at the “center of your world.”

Helsel believes that while a hotelier doesn’t have direct control over what someone says after they walk out, it’s very possible to control the guest experience in such a way that they leave with only positive thoughts. “Customer intimacy is essential for success in today’s world,” said Helsel. “If people don’t feel welcome and have an emotional connection, their loyalty will be in question.”

It’s also a matter of creating emotional loyalty rather than functional loyalty. Whereas functional loyalty comes into play if a hotel is conveniently located near an airport, for example, emotional loyalty transcends pure need and promotes frequent stays because the experience moves beyond the brand attributes to an attachment to the guest’s psyche.

To manage the customer relationship, it’s crucial to have deeper customer intelligence and then use that information to make each stay more memorable. For example, it is better to match up what your hotel does with each individual’s lifestyle and give them something unique based on that lifestyle to reinforce the relationship. One suggestion Helsel made was to give, for example, a customer who stays 20 times a year and uses the gym regularly, a gym membership in their home town. That way, every time they go to the gym they will think of that hotel. She said it is a much better way to build loyalty then just giving them more points on their loyalty program.

Also focus on what Helsel calls the Total Customer Experience. Customers want:

A positive, enjoyable and unique experience from the beginning until the end of their experience

They desire an emotional connection that, once made, often ensures long-term loyalty

They must be valued for a lifelong contribution versus a one-time contribution to revenues

Customers desire the perception that they are in control - ensure your customer-facing processes are engineered for how customers buy, when they buy and what they buy

Customers want choice

And they want this across all channels

In creating ways to build intimacy, Helsel said tenants include the customer’s desire to be known, confidence in service consistency, convenience, a feeling of welcoming and belonging and a comfort level where they know if there is a problem it will get handled right away.

Of course, true loyalty goes beyond the physical hotel. These days loyalty is built with every single customer communication as well.

One way hotel companies communicate to customers is via emails. However, many companies are not communicating to their guests based on established preferences. For example, hotel brands will still offer ski vacations to die hard sun worshippers

At the hotel, many hotels are at the point where they are collecting information but are simply not tapping into that information to improve a guest stay. This can actually disenfranchise the guest since they have gone tot her trouble of providing their desires which are not being executed. It’s better to not gather the information, or say when it will actually be used. “It is more harmful to ask for that information and then not use it,” said Helsel.