Customer Relationship Management Plan for Hotel

Customer Relationship Management Plan for HotelThe Sao Paulo Case schemeThe paper sets forbidden to produce an describe client descent plan for a Brazilian hotel which has recently been taken over by a globally bulls eyeed hotel chain.It begins with a review of selected literature which contains knowledge, techniques and ideas relevant to a guest relationship plan. Terms atomic number 18 defined within this element.The final section contains the process plan, which derives from ideas in the literature review section.1. IntroductionThis report forgeting consist of a concise, integrated customer relationship plan for Sao Paulo senior watchfulness with the particularised aims ofreducing customer switchingmaintaining stakeholder relations in the good timbre valuate chainWithin this plan there will bean appellative of the gaps in Sao Paulos current approach to relationship marketing groominga description of internal and external relationships which impact the hotelpropose d marketing objectives to help relaunch and change the hotel brandsuggested evolutions of the brandan outline dish up property management programmean outline CRM systeman outline integrated marketing communications programmean outline internal marketing communications programmeInput for the plan will be taken from the case material and the literature review which follows in section 2.2. Literature ReviewThis section will review the literature in a structured way. The first part will draw on conjure up notes, text books and journal articles to clarify and explain aspects ofstrategic marketing and brandingrelationship marketing and customer relationship management servicing quality managementThe second part will draw on three casesThe Ritz Carlton caseBergstrom HotelsSao Paulo Hotel2.1 Strategic Marketing and BrandingPiercy defines strategy as simply being someBeing best at doing those things which matter most to customersBuilding sh areholder value by achieving superior custome r valueFinding new and snap off ways of doing things to achieve the first two1If one accepts this no-nonsense definition it underscores the have for all companies toUnderstand who your customers are and what matters to themKnow how they perceive your service directs and what you must do to improve your performanceDesign and implement communication and management processes which spend a penny your strategy workIn other words you need a plan. The planning process is described in the lecture notes as beginning with a Mission Statement and ending with implementation and measurement control. Before customer relationship objectives (the focus of the action plan at a lower place) cannister be identified and agreed the mission statement needs to be clearly understood as do the dynamics of the current market place. A SWOT analysis and Marketing Audit are effective tools for clarifying the comp whatevers current agency in the market, its performance so far and for suggesting possible changes in strategic and tactical moves.In a services business this will lead to the unfoldment of a customer relationship plan, which will be underpinned by a detailed understanding of the various internal and external stakeholders with whom one needs to develop and build relationships.22.2 Relationship Marketing and Customer Relationship ManagementRelationship marketing concerns the shifting from activities of attracting customers to activities concerned with current customers and how to retain them. At its core is the charge of relations between a company and its suppliers, channel intermediaries, public and customers.3 Focusing on retention is considered to be significantly more profitable than conversion of non-customers.CRM is a system to make relationship marketing work. The US writer, George Day sees CRM as a customer-responsive strategy, which seeks to give companies competitive advantage byDelivering superior customer value by personalising the interaction between compan y and customer,Demonstrating trustworthinessTightening connections with customersAchieving co-ordination of complex capabilities (functions, resources) within the company4Park Plaza foreign uses its new CRM system and global database to enkindle the hotels as a group, rather than an individually networked system, with targeted promotions and one-to-one marketing.Through company profiling we will be able to identify who the biggest backers of the group are and who should be given special treatment, so that we can target our promotions accordingly5Hwang and Chi6 ,in their recent empirical study, highlight the fact that service personnel are the most meaning(a) resource in the service sector and also the primary marketers. By helping to achieve customer satisfaction service personnel upgrade the immaculate performance of the organisation. The message to management is that they should engage in aggressive internal marketing to achieve and maintain a synergy of staff satisfaction and amend organisational performance.2.3 go Quality ManagementCustomers will be loyal to a hotel, or a branded hotel chain, if they are satisfied with the quality and value offered. It is thus important for service providers to know what influences these customer perceptions.Johnston suggests two approaches to understanding customers perceptions and judgements of service qualityThe rational approachThe incident-based approach7The rational approach suggests that customers consciously or unconsciously use a weighted average, so that a high score on one attri exclusivelye or factor may offset a low score on another, to arrive at an overall evaluation of personal satisfaction.The SERVQUAL approach is based on the work of Parasuraman, Zeithamel and Berry8 and sets out to measure customers perceptions of quality across 5 dimensionsTangibles physical facilities, equipment, appearance of personnelReliability abilities to perform the promised service dependably and accuratelyResponsiveness w illingness to help customers and provide prompt serviceAssurance knowledge and courtesy of employees and ability to inspire trust and confidenceEmpathy caring, individualistic attention provided by firm to customersA third approach suggests that any single incident, delighting or satisfying, could, whatever the weightings given to the other transactions, result in an overall feeling of dissatisfaction or delight.Another writer argues that investment of time and currency in quality improvement should concentrate on those areas of your business where the effort will have the greatest benefit9 Effort should not necessarily be directed to areas where you are worse than the competition if those factors are not so important to customers.2.4 The Ritz-Carlton CaseR-C has a follow quality approach to the business. They fix causes not problems, i.e. they think about processes and systems to prevent problems and to ensure continuous quality. They set up a system to understand the real needs of their customers, to ensure hand overy of these needs, to make it work continuously and to communicate all this to the market not just an image-driven approach, but one which was conscious of the experience which customers were seeking.2.4 Bergstrom Hotels10Bergstrom set up a total quality approach and system which was driven by senior management but acted on and supported by teams across the organisation. Vital components of the system are training of all staff in internal customer relations, culture, process improvement and problem-solving, setting up and development of a data-base based on customer and employee surveys to drive improvement, open lines of communication and regular performance evaluation. Recognising staff contributions to quality of service was a key final element.The case demonstrates that significant quality improvements can be achieved without significant investment and ongoing cost.2.5 Sao Paulo CaseSao Paulo is a recently refurbished hotel which is operat ing in a highly competitive market (with much price cutting) and unstable economy. It has recently been taken over by a hotel chain with a global brand name and a reputation for high service quality and the ability to build long-term relationships with stakeholders. It needs now to reposition itself in the Brazilian market such that it is clearly differentiated in stakeholders minds from the competition. Service must be the main differentiator, so an integrated customer relationship plan needs to be developed.3. Action Plan for Improving Customer Relationships3.1 Gaps in current approachSao Paulo needs both to retain the loyalty of its current customer base and to grow via new customer and intermediary relationships. Growth will probably come via extended use of new services (e.g. restaurants and bars) by current customers and attracting new, more focused customer segments. This needs to be spelt out in its overall mission and made explicit with regard to individual stakeholders.3. 2 External and Internal StakeholdersApart from the different customer segments important external stakeholders are tour operators, airlines, travel agents and the many web-based hotel discounters. Local SP-based organisations such as the city hall and tourist office may also be influential in the communication of the hotel brand to intermediaries and potential customers.The current relationship-building approach appears to be re-active and now needs to become focused and pro-active.Important internal stakeholders are hotel employees front-office staff and gross revenue staff and franchisees in the restaurants and bars. All need to be aligned with the culture of the refurbished and repositioned hotel.3.3 Relaunching and Repositioning of the BrandThe SP hotel is now part of a global chain. Its service level will need to be aligned with the core brand values of GHG and these values will need to be communicated to all stakeholders and acted upon by internal stakeholders if the communi cated brand image is to be consistent with delivery on the ground. Proposed marketing objectives are to grow the current customer base by 20% by increase spend per customer and by improving retention by 10% focus on excellent, caring service at a fair price.3.4 Service-Quality architectural planA customer survey should be carried out to establish which service attributes are important to customers. This should be linked to an assessment of the cost of correcting what goes wrong. The survey should be ongoing and reinforced by regular staff interaction with customers so as to identify any areas of dissatisfaction.Overall customer relationship objective will be to create in the minds of all customers an experience of being cared for by warm, friendly staff who have your best interests at heart and will do all that they can to offer you speedy and professional assistance.This will be translated into specific CR objectives for the different stakeholders, all of whom will need to partici pate in service quality training programmesFranchisees communicate always in your words, dress and body language that you are a member of the SP team.Front-office staff make the customer feel welcome, respected, valued and at home.Sales staff communicate, warm, professional, helpful manner at all times, backed up by prompt follow-up.Service standards former DESK perpetually smile at customersAddress by name wherever possibleApologise for even slightest delayNever keep customer time lag without apologisingAlways do what you promise to doBe sensitive to cultural differencesKeep desk and hall area clean at all timesAlways ask if you can be of further assistance sincerelyNever argue with a customerTry always to exceed expectationsService draught Sales staff to CORPORATES (process service mix)Tangibles Dress smartly, speak warmly and professionally, ensurethat all promotional materials are packaged and presented professionallyReliability Be punctual, deliver what you promiseResponsiv eness Exceed customer expectations with your response timesand look always for creative solutions to difficult problemsAssurance Be confident about the hotel and its qualities but radiatecourtesy at all times. Avoid over-familiarity and use of christian names, unless requested to do soEmpathy Avoid any remarks/comments about religion, race,culture. Be oddly sensitive to cultural differences and help people with language difficulties. Never make fun of anyone. Apologise for even the most minor errorsService guarantee for empowering FRONT-LINE roundIf a customer arrives after 19.00 and requests a ratereduction you may offer him/her a room at a rate 20% below normal rateThis service quality approach is in line with the realignment of the brand as a warm and caring hotel which offers fair prices.3.5 CRM SystemA CRM system needs to be developed for the global chain. It would aim to profile customers both in order to communicate with them more effectively and to ensure that service feat ures are adapted to meet individual requirements where possible. It should be seen as a support for the warm and caring approach, not a replacement.The communications programme would need to be consistent with, and integrated into, the CRM system.3.6 Internal Marketing ProgrammeStaff are at the heart of hotel service and underpin customer perception of quality.homework programmes must be run to ensure that all staff are aligned with the culture and attitudes of the hotel, are aware of service guidelines and have the requisite skills and knowledge. An judgment and suggestions system will be introduced to help staff maintain requisite standards. Incentives will be introduced to encourage maintenance of these standards.BIBLIOGRAPHYBooksBarwise P. and Meehan S. (2004), Simply Better, Harvard Business School abbreviateCerasale M. and Stone M.(2004), Business Solutions on Demand, Kogan PageJohnston R. and Clark C. (2001), Service Operations Management, Prentice HallPiercy N. (2002), Mar ket-led Strategic Change, Butterworth HeinemannJournal ArticlesBreiter D., Tyink S. and Corey-Tuckwell S. (1995), Bergstrom Hotels a case studyin quality, Journal of contemporaneous Hospitality Management, Vol.7 No. 6Brown T. (1997), Using norms to improve the interpretation of service qualitymeasures, Journal of Services Marketing, Vol.11, No.1, p.80Day G. (2000), fix in an Asset, in Understanding CRM, Financial TimesEditorial article, CRM in Hotels, in Leisure Hospitality Business, September,2001Hwang I. and Chi D. (2005), Relationships among Internal Marketing, Employee Job ecstasy and International Hotel Performance, International Journal ofManagement, Vol.22 No.2Parasuraman A., Zeithamel V. and Berry L. (1988), SERVQUAL a Multiple ItemScale for Measuring Consumer Perceptions of Quality, Journal of Retailing,Vol.64, No.1 natural springFootnotes1 Piercy N. (2002), Market-led Strategic Change, p. 2732 voice communication Notes Key Issues from the Marketing Audit to Prioritise Actions in a Relationship ServicesMarketing Plan3 Jobber D. (2004), Principles and Practice of Marketing, McGraw-Hill, p. 1174 Day G. (2000), Tying in an Asset, in Understanding CRM, Financial Times5 Editorial article, CRM in Hotels, in Leisure Hospitality Business, September, 20016 Hwang I. and Chi D. (2005), Relationships among Internal Marketing, Employee Job Satisfactionand International Hotel Performance, International Journal of Management, Vol.22 No.2, p.2917 Johnston R. And Clark G. (2001), Service Operations Management, Prentice Hall, p. 1028 Parasuraman A., Zeithamel V. and Berry L. (1988), SERVQUAL a Multiple Item scale forMeasuring Consumer Perceptions of Quality, Journal of Retailing, Vol.64, No.1 Spring9 Brown T. (1997), Using norms to improve the interpretation of service quality measures, Journal ofServices Marketing, Vol.11, No.1, p.8010 Breiter D., Tyink S. and Corey-Tuckwell S. (1995), Bergstrom Hotels a case study in quality,Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol.7 No. 6