Brand Differentiation Through Customer Relationship Management

Hilton Hotels

Brand Differentiation through Customer Relationship Management

1. Introduction

        Imagine, a traveler plans to go to New York City. He opened the Hilton Hotels’ home page, typed in the location, chosen a Hilton’s property site in Time Square, reviewed the available options, selected one proper room and completed the check-in process online. Second day, when he arrived at the Hilton Time Square Hotel, his electric key was waiting at the front desk, the desk clerk called his name courteously; and when he walk into his room, a personalized traveller guide has been waiting for a while. To provide the above fantastic experience, Hilton relies on a highly emphasized and advanced customer relationship management, which is enabled by a comprehensive, integrated on-premise CRM software named OnQ system. The OnQ information system plays an important role to enable Hilton’s Customer Relationship Management strategy. It not only helps Hilton family brands to deliver the Customer Really Matter promise, but also ensures a leading position in global competitive lodging industry.

1. Hilton Hotels & CRM Information System

         As an internationally diversified company, Hilton has been successfully leading the industry since 1919. Along with the lodging service, Hilton also involves in the field of casino and vacation ownership. With a transaction with the acquisition of Promus Hotel Corporation in year 2000, Hilton began to operate in the diversified investment portfolio. Currently, Hilton operates ten different sub-brands over 78 countries, with over 3000 hotels and more than 100,000 workforces in different price points to meet their worldwide customers’ demand.

        Standing on the top of the industry, Hilton focus on its customer services and keeps improving. In 2002, the Customers Really Matter initiative had been proposed. This strategy aimed to provide the excellent customers services and create solid customers relationship by using the integrated Information System OnQ. The cost of the system was estimated to be about $93 million with $40 million for the license cost and $53 million for the hardware. Meanwhile, the annual maintenance fee was estimated at $60 million. Heavily invested in the information system, Hilton management believes that the OnQ system would contribute substantially to deploy its aggressive expansion strategy and realize the brand promise. Enabled by the OnQ system, CRM strategy is explained as recognition, personalization, services recovery, and customer analytics by Hilton. In other words, Hilton desire to obtain the customers’ satisfaction, recommendation, and return by experiencing their excellent customer services.

1. OnQ Platform & CRM Strategy

        First, OnQ System assists Hilton hotels to recognize their customers. By collecting and updating the customers’ information in the OnQ system, the front desk employees receive a best guests report each morning. This report lists the clients’ information, after reading the report, the front desk services can easily call out their best guests’ name and talk with the guests’ recent achievement. This humanized function not only enables Hilton to meet their CRM goal, but also provides their guests a homey feeling. Also, this function can assist Hilton to improve their service standard by reducing the check-in time. Personalization is the second mean to achieve the relationship with the customers. By applying this mean, Hilton can serve their value customer by individual needs and preference. Hilton hotels classify their customers’ personal information by the CRM system and label the best guests’ purpose of travelling. To illustrate this iconic mean, a Hilton CRM video is given on YouTube video site. In the video, Hilton prepares the balloons for the birthday celebrating customer based on the information provided by its CRM database. Certainly, after experience the excellent services, the customer loyalty would be substantially reinforced. Service Recovery is the third function in Hilton’s CRM System. This function is for recording the mistakes that Hilton made in previous service and making sure the same problem would not come again. Last function is customer analysis. This function is realized by the Satisfaction and Loyalty Track (SALT) survey. Hilton asks a random sample of their customer to complete the survey. By analyzing the data of the survey, Hilton can measure their service and Customer Relationship Management strategy.