Reimagining customer experience, part 4: Hospitality happenings

Customer experience can be difficult to define, but easy to recognize when it’s missing.

It's become the holy grail that companies seek as a way to stand out from their competition. And for good reason.

In its March survey report, Experience is Everything: Here’s How To Get It Right, PwC found 73% of global respondents say a positive experience is among the key drivers that influence their brand loyalties.

And they’re willing to back that up with dollars - consumers would pay as much as 16% more for better customer experience.

But how is that defined? Nearly 80% of PwC's respondents indicate speed, convenience, knowledgeable help and friendly service are the most important elements of a positive customer experience.

This month we are exploring the topic of customer experience from a variety of angles.

For our final installment we explore what is happening in the world of hospitality, as new and established brands vie to win loyalty from increasingly demanding travelers.

What guests want

Deloitte recently surveyed more than 6,600 hotels guests who have collectively stayed at 25 brands across different hotel tiers to find out what makes a great hotel experience.

The results are outlined in its whitepaper, Next Gen Hotel Guests Have Checked In: The Changing Guest Experience. The findings show guests want more than ever from their hotel stays, so brands must work to truly know their guests to deliver personalized experiences and programs.

Deloitte outlines how the landscape has shifted over the past few decades. Early on, guest expectations for a hotel stay were based on basic qualities such as a clean room, good value, location and quiet atmosphere.

Then hotels were able to differentiate themselves by going a step further, by offering high-quality bars and restaurants, appealing public spaces, modern fitness facilities and sustainable practices.

Now those are what Deloitte terms “the new basics” - necessary and expected but not qualities that can contribute to an exceptional guest experience.

To do that, brands must address five guest needs Deloitte identified through its survey:

• Know me: Guests want hotels to know and remember their preferences and needs. Sixty-five percent of respondents say they feel the hotels where they stay “know” them. Improvements in this area can translate to loyalty - Deloitte found stay frequency increases by 13% when guests feel the hotel understands them.
• Engage me: Hotels need to ensure their staff members interact with guests in “personalized, authentic and attentive ways.” Survey respondents indicate the top reason for a positive experience was the friendliness of the hotel staff. Conversely, 38% of respondents say an unfriendly team leads to a negative stay, putting that second only to a dirty room (41%).
• Hear me: Deloitte found that a desire for hotels to “listen to guest needs, empathize with their situation and then follow through” as the most important attribute identified by guests. Guests are 40% more likely to “positively, organically promote their experience when a problem was fixed quickly.” But just creating new communication tools has no impact on guests’ likelihood to promote – an indication that things such as chatbots and other new feedback channels do not add value on their own.
• Empower me: Today’s guests want flexibility and opportunity to design their stay, for example through apps and other self-service portals that offer tailored recommendations activities, restaurants and ground transportation. Deloitte found this will only become more important in coming years as the desire for empowerment for travelers ages 18 to 34 is approximately 20 times higher than for those 55 to 70.
• Delight me: This attribute, which speaks to a hotel’s ability to create moments that surprise guests and exceed their expectations, received the lowest satisfaction score on the survey. Only 56% of respondents say their hotel stays succeed in delighting them. “A common misconception is that this always has to be big things like expensive amenities or lavish gifts. But delight me can be the simplest of touches that are unexpected, tailored and delivered in ways guests did not anticipate,” writes Deloitte. This is also another attribute that is notably more important for younger guests.

These last four attributes all support the first concept of “know me,” what Deloitte calls “the central pillar of the guest experience.” Room reservations and loyalty programs can provide useful data about guest behaviors and preferences, but Deloitte suggest hotels also work to know their guests in other ways, such as tracking when they visit the hotel’s “restaurants and bars, spas and events - or even those of your competitors.”

Marriott and Alibaba

China is one of the fastest-growing travel markets, and Marriott is investing in winning that audience to its brand by partnering with a company that understands Chinese consumers.

Marriott International has created a joint venture with Alibaba Group, a Chinese multinational e-commerce, retail, internet, AI and technology conglomerate with more than 500 million mobile monthly active users across its platforms.

The two companies have created a digital travel service and consulting company that will market directly to Alibaba’s customer base, provide a link between the two companies’ loyalty programs and create content, programs and promotions for Marriott hotels that is customized for Chinese travelers.

“Together, we are elevating and redefining the travel experience for Chinese consumers to be more seamless and personalized as they embark on adventures to discover the world,” says Daniel Zhang, CEO of Alibaba Group.

Earlier this month, the two entities announced a pilot program to solve one of the paint points in the customer experience for hotel guests: check-in.

Working with Fliggy, Alibaba’s travel service platform, the companies are testing facial-recognition technology for check-in at two Marriott International properties in China.

Marriott says the traditional check-in process takes at least three minutes, and more during peak times. With facial-recognition technology, the self-service check-in can be completed in less than a minute. Guests scan their IDs, take a photo and input contact details. The device verifies the information and then dispenses a room key card.

By creating this self-service check-in, Marriott says its hotel associates are available to focus on providing personalized service to guests. It plans to enable facial recognition check-in at more properties in the future.

Along with this initiative, the joint venture also manages Marriott’s storefront on Fliggy, which serves as a booking portal for Chinese travelers. Guests can access 6,000 of Marriott’s hotels from 30 brands and can see those that are part of Marriott’s “Li Yu” program, a suite of Chinese-language services and amenities designed to provide Chinese travelers “the comforts of home anywhere in the world they may go.”

More than 1,000 Marriott properties around the world also have enabled PPP (Post Post Pay), Fliggy’s mobile service that allows users to book hotels without paying a deposit. Room charges and incidental expenses are automatically settled afterwards, providing a wallet-free experience for both customers and hotels. Marriott is the first brand to roll out PPP on a global scale.

“We are proud to have a hand in supporting Marriott International to redefine the experience of Chinese travelers with innovative services,” says David Chai, CEO of the joint venture.

“These accomplishments thus far are testament to our solid expertise of providing effective solutions and services across the entire journey of a traveler; and we look forward to continuing reinventing and showcasing our expertise.”

Guest-centric search

Guest-written reviews, comments on online travel agency sites and blog posts can be rich sources of information about what they value in a hotel experience, providing a clear view of how hotels can improve that experience and differentiate themselves in the competitive hospitality landscape.

But Travelsify, a content analytics platform, has found a disconnect between the way guests describe a hotel and how hotels describe themselves.

By analyzing more than 100 million natural language traveler and expert reviews, Travelsify has found that while hotels tend to describe themselves in terms of standard property characteristics and amenities, guests are more likely to mention whether a room is stylish or the comfort level of the bed.

“People are talking more than four times more about the decoration of the room as they are about the Wi-Fi, and they are talking about spaciousness of the room more than about the breakfast,” says Alexandra Fernandez Ramos, chief product and sales officer at Travelsify.

“If guests are writing about these concepts, it’s because they matter to them. And they influence other potential guests of these hotels.”

From this analysis, Travelsify has identified 34 “hotel DNA” attributes - terms such as “cozy,” “bright,” “stylish” and “zen” - that it says matter to travelers when choosing a hotel. The company has identified similar “DNA” terms for restaurants and vacation rental properties.

“These terms tell us why they like or dislike a room or a restaurant. We are shifting from the ‘what’ to the ‘why,’” Ramos says.

In April 2017, AccorHotels tested an inspirational discovery tool powered by Travelsify’s data. Dubbed “MoodMatch,” it enabled users to filter hotels based on the type of experience they desire - such as “luxury,” “views,” or “vintage” – without having to select a destination. After selecting at least two mood descriptors, the system provides a selection of hotels and the percentage that the property’s “DNA attributes” match the user’s chosen moods.

Now Travelsify is working with Accor to provide enriched smart data for across various business units, incorporating its Hotel DNA, Restaurant DNA and Vacation Rental DNA.

"The ambition of AccorHotels in hospitality and lifestyle is to multiply the number, frequency and relevance of touchpoints with our guests,” says Ian Di Tullio, senior vice president of guest services for AccorHotels.

“AccorHotels is not only about hotels anymore. It is about hotels, restaurants, vacation rentals and much more, all which match users personal preferences whether they are traveling or at home. This is a shift in how we are transforming customer experience. Partnering with Travelsify’s AI technology for Hotel DNA, Restaurant DNA and Vacation Rental DNA will enable our strategy and will allow Accor to further develop cross-product sales that make sense for our valued guests.”

In-room AI

Artificial intelligence is one of the most talked-about technologies in travel, with the potential to revolutionize the guest experience by bringing understanding and efficiency to every aspect of the journey, from powering pricing, search and booking functions to creating more personalized experiences and on-site service.

Earlier this month, InterContinental Hotels Group announced it is creating 100 “AI Smart Rooms” at its hotels in cities across China within the year.

IHG has partnered with Baidu, a Chinese AI and internet company, to create the smart rooms using Baidu’s DuerOS system, a software for intelligent hardware.

Unlike some voice assistant platforms that require specific prompt words or instructions, these devices are being built to understand requests in the natural ways guests would say them.

Guests will also be able to switch the room’s settings between “work” and “leisure” modes. The AI solution will also be used to aid hotel staff, for example by automatically resetting devices when guests check out.

“IHG has always been at the forefront of innovation,” says Lin Wang, vice president of marketing or IHG Greater China.

“We are thrilled to be pioneering in the hospitality industry and exploring the various possibilities of future experience with our guests. Millennials are particularly sensitive to technology, often seeking new things to try. The AI Smart Room will undoubtedly be extremely attractive for them, paving the way for a new level of modernization and consumer satisfaction.”

IHG and Baidu inked a strategic partnership on AI development last November.

• Reimagining customer experience, part 1: Digital design
• Reimagining customer experience, part 2: Brian Solis on iteration vs. innovation
• Reimagining customer experience, part 3: Airport innovations