This interview is part of an Economist Intelligence Unit research programme sponsored by BDO. For more expert insights on the financial impact of customer service, visit http://event.wavecastpro.com/returnonservice/, where you can watch a webinar (live on January 16th at 3pm GMT), gain access to exclusive research and take part in our online debate.
Victoria van Lennep: What are the latest developments in terms of types of customer services in the luxury hospitality industry?
Trent Walsh, Managing director, Leading Quality Assurance: I would say there are two main areas where luxury hotel brands are focusing on at the moment. The social media aspect is of course becoming increasingly important, but another interesting development is the big data question. Luxury hotels are trying to figure out how to best use customer personal data to enhance their experience, and how they can pass that information between their hotels as a brand to ensure a loyal client as he goes from one hotel to the other.
What type of innovation have you seen with the use of big data by luxury hotel brands?
I just got back from the “leading hotels of the world” conference in NYC, where much discussion was about big data. There was an example given at the conference of someone who had checked in a hotel and when entering his room found a framed photo of his family next to the bed. The audience at the conference was split as to whether this is great or not. Some said that it was amazing and really proactive of the staff; they thought it was a nice touch. But the rest of the audience thought it was just way too creepy and intrusive. The Europeans hoteliers had much more conservative views than their North American counterparts.
So the challenge most of the luxury brands are now facing is to try and find out how they can use customers’ personal information effectively, without too much intruding on their privacy. I don’t think anybody has the golden answer yet.
What would you say are the “hygiene factors” of customer service in the luxury industry?
Historically, the brands that have done very well are the ones that have consistently delivered compliancy based standards, like fast check in for example. But we think the next frontier now is more on “emotional intelligence”. So the focus is shifting from what is being done in terms of standard delivery to how it is being delivered. It is about actually connecting with the guest, and reading the guest right by picking up both verbal and non-verbal cues to see what this particular person wants.
Two months ago I checked into a hotel at 2 am after a long overnight flight. I was escorted to my room by an employee who asked me if she could show me all the facilities of the room. I told her that I was tired and that I really just wanted to go to bed, to which she replied “OK, no problem, but let me just show you a few things” and then proceeded to do everything in the room. To me this is a great example of being emotionally unintelligent. She did what she thought she should be doing rather than listening to what the guest actually wanted.
How are these luxury hotels changing their customer service strategies?
The change in strategy that we are seeing, particularly at the moment, is adapting the service to each individual as opposed to having a consistent service delivered the same way at every hotel in every destination around the world. Luxury hotels are aiming to have a service that is much more adapted to the individual as opposed to a collective
During times of economic difficulties, should luxury hotel concentrate on competing on value or improving customer service?
After the 2009 financial crisis for instance, luxury hotels brands adopted 2 strategies: they would either cut costs and thus prices, or, they thought “the world is caving in, what we need to do is be better than ever” and started investing in employee training and other types of customer services. I think the most successful strategy is definitely the latter. In times of economic crises, cutting costs are not the answer, the solution is to dig deeper and be better than everybody else. Sacrificing service is only a short term gain.
Cutting costs by contracting out services also poses all sorts of issues. When housekeeping departments for example, are contracted out to a third party to clean the hotel, those are again short term financial gains but I know from experience that you don’t tend to get the same level of service.
Do you think the added value created by customer service is greater in your industry than in others?
Customer service is probably the single most important aspect of our industry. Anybody can build a beautiful hotel but not anybody can run one. Running a great hotel is about great service. I can’t think of another industry where it is more important than the hotel industry.
