MKTG3040 Services Marketing

Introduction

The aim of the report is to prepare the Service experience management plan for the selected hospitality industry. The company that has been selected for the preparation of the service experience is Hilton Australia. The company falls under the hospitality industry and it is a well-known company who is operating its business operations across the world. In addition, the companies involved in the hospitality industry ensure that they offer the effective services to their customers. The purpose of the report is to conduct an extensive review which shows the way through which the company manages their customer service experience, potential gaps in the service and the level of customer satisfaction on trip advisor. This explanation is discussed in the report with the help of the SERVQUAL framework. The way the company interact with their customers is discussed in the report which shows the connection of the company with their customers. In the end, there is analysis related to the recommendations which show the way through which the company can bring the improvement in the service experience for their customers.

The rationale for selecting the company

Hilton Australia has been selected for the analysis due to numerous reasons such as Hilton Hotel is a well-known company who is operating their business across the world which develops an interest to know about the services offered by the company. The accommodation services of the Hotel are excellent due to which it is easy to extract the details related to the feedback of the customers from trip advisor (Hilton, 2018). In addition to this, the company is managing the services on large basis due to which there is the possibility of the gaps in the services offered by the company. The company is selected because the analysis which is conducted will offer the recommendations that will help the company to give tough competition to their competitors in the same market. Moreover, Hilton Australia has been selected because Australia is the place where the people visit the most for the tours and business meetings.

Company background

Hilton hotel & resorts is a global brand of full-service hotels with the flagship brand of Hilton. The hotel started in the year 1919 by the Conrad Hilton as it opened his first hotel. The hotels and resorts of Hotel stand as a stylish, forward thinking and a global leader in the industry of hospitality (Hilton, 2018). By the year 2017, the company is able to manage more than 570 Hilton hotels & resorts properties in almost 85 countries and territories across six continents. In the Australian market, the hotel is managing its operations in Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth, Sydney, Surfers Paradise, Cairns, Darwin and many others.

Service vision: -The service vision of the company is to offer the exceptional guest experience across the global brands. The hotel wants to fill the earth with the light and warmth of the hospitality industry with the help of the delight service to its customers (Hilton, 2018).

Design and service encounter: - Design and service encounter are the two important elements of the hotel which is considered by them for offering the effective services to their customers. Designs of the services that are offered to the customers are done in a way that can offer the comfort to the customers. The hotels available in Australia include the luxurious rooms with the attractive interior and Stylish bars that include Zeta bar and a Marble bar with the Fitness area. Talking further about the rooms it offers modern guest rooms with the Aquavision bathroom TV and pillow menu which attracts the customers the most. In addition, the hotel offers the value-added services according to the needs of the customers which include the facility of the spa (with relaxing treatments and therapies).

Service encounter is the bases through which the customer’s evaluation of the service provider is done. Hilton provides effective service encounter with the help of which they can easily generate the positive experiential value with the lasting customer relationship that leads to the customer satisfaction (Hilton, 2018). For example the frontline workers of the company experience the service encounter that is linked with the four elements which include room, product, meeting and the management control system. Most of the service encounter is faced by the frontline workers with the customers are related to the room and product that is offered by the Hotel.

Company engage with customers

Hilton Hotel Australia engages with the customers or guest on the daily basis which requires lot efforts. Customer engagement is an emotional connection that takes place between the customers and a brand. This is the fact that the customers who are highly engaged with the hotel visit the more, promote more for the services offered by the hotel and these customers offer the high loyalty towards the hotel (Johnson, 2017). These reflect the reason due to which every company in the today’s world engage more with the customer. Hilton Australia also engages with the customers in different ways which are given below: -

Website

In a modern and globalised world with the fierce competition, it is essential for the hospitality industry to engage the customers in order to form the loyal customers. Hilton Hotel makes use of the digital channels with the help of which they can engage the maximum number of customers. The website of the company is one of the ways through which they can easily engage with the customers and this is the reason the website of the company asks to select a language after clicking on the website (Venkatraman, 2018). The hotel website offers 20 languages which make the product easily accessible for the diverse people that are available across the world and willing to visit Australia and other areas of the world. The language gets change once it has been selected by customers which help them in making the right choice for the product.

Hilton Honours programme

Hilton Honours programme is another way through which the hotel engages with the customers as in this Hilton Honour programme they allow the customers to save the points when booking any hotel or making use of transport and other partners services that are associated with the Hilton (Kontzer, 2016). The customers can redeem the save points to avail the discount on the very next stay with the Hilton hotel, transport service and many more. This program will make the customers to avail the service of Hilton on a frequent basis which shows a strategy for enhancing the customer loyalty (Hilton, 2018). 

Personalization

Personalization is one of the effective ways which helps the company in engaging with the customers and this will add value to the experience of customers. Hilton believes that value to the customers comes at each stage of their journey. Hilton Australia offers the personalized service from the dreaming and booking phases to the guest stay and review phases. Mark Weinstein found that generally, travellers book their airline tickets first and then book the hotels in the near area. This made the company decide to work with the airline partners as this helps the hotel chain to retarget the customers who book their tickets (Dupre, 2016). This makes the customer feel delighted with the service. In addition, Hilton e-mail to the customers related to the destinations in which the customers are interested to visit. This almost wins the day of the customers and they believe to avail the services offered by Hilton.

Innovative service and advanced technology

Hilton Australia is able to engage the customers with the help of the innovative service and advanced technologies that work collectively to enhance the business and to keep the cost down without compromising towards the quality of the product (Glushko, 2010). These services help in engaging more with the customers at a single time.

SERVQUAL framework

SERVQUAL framework is an empiric model that was introduced by Zeithaml, Parasuraman and Berry to compare the service quality performance with the customer service quality needs. This model is used by the organisations for analysing the gap between the service quality performances against the service quality needs of their customers (Madar, 2014). This model mainly focuses on the quality system for the products that are offered by the hotel to their guest. In the current time, it is more and more important to bring the improvement in the quality of the related services. The improvement helps the company in satisfying the needs of the customers (Manhas and Tukamushaba, 2015).

The analysis of the customer satisfaction can be done with the help of their comments or experience shared by the customers on Tripadvisor. The comments of the customers are categorized on the basis of reliability, responsiveness, empathy, assurance and tangibles (Kansra & Jha, 2016). All these are the dimensions of the SERVQUAL framework. In addition, the gaps which are available in the potential services are identified with the same.

Dimensions of SERVQUAL framework

Tangibles

The tangibles dimensions include the appearance of the Physical facilities, equipment’s, personnel and communication materials. This means that analysing the customer satisfaction on the basis of the tangible dimension. One of the guests of the company shared the comment on related to the services and other tangible dimensions. William, B. a guest visited the Perth located Hilton hotel and commented with the statement “Quality Hole Close Waterfront”. He stated that he made use of the DoubleTree by Hilton group on numerous locations and got never disappointed for same (Trip advisor, 2018). He shared his experience in which he explained that rooms of the hotel remain very clean and large enough. The suite of Hilton hotel was equipped with the 2 Queen Sized comfortable beds, large TV screen with the ample selection and quality bathroom with all the extras. This shows that equipment’s with the physical facilities was able to meet the needs of customers.

 

(Source: Trip advisor, 2018)

According to the guest it was long to walk to get the main cairns but it is still part of Cairns CBD. The cairns of the tourist include all the day tours which include diving or experiencing the rainforests in the particular place. He highlighted that the service that was received after the arrival and concierge staff were very helpful and respectful. The view of the hotel rooms was appealing because of the ocean, mountain or view of the garden (Trip advisor, 2018). This shows that personnel and communication material of the hotel attracts the customers.

Reliability

The reliability dimension of the model reflects the ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately. Trip advisor helped the Hotel in understanding that their services are offering the reliable experience to the guest. W9249PYdavidw Sydney, Australia said a Great place in the CBD. He said that hotel is always a reliable and excellent place to stay (Trip advisor, (2018). Though, the prices of the services are high but with the great location. The physical presence of the hotel is very nice with nice room, lobby areas and amenities that are wonderful and staffs are very friendly with kind nature.

Responsiveness

This dimension of the model includes the willingness to help the customers and to offer the prompt service. Heather_Laflamme, Quindalup, Australia, a precious guest shared the views with the help of comment in which he mentioned Amazing service, clean, great location and Spacious room (Saini & Singh, 2018). The guest went to the Perth to see Celine Dion in concert and there they booked a room at the hotel. As a guest, they received King Suite as a complimentary which was beautiful with the free breakfast and valet parking as they faced the issues with room at the previous stay (Trip advisor, 2018). The service that was offered was top notch since the time we depart; the suite was also very massive, quiet, and comfortable. This was found that when the guest arrived, the room was not ready due to which guest was given two free drinks at the bar with the nice and warm touch by the staff of the hotel. 

This shows that Hilton Australia offers the prompt service and quick help to the customers. The staffs of the hotel are responsive due to which they ensured that while the customers are waiting for a drink will make them feel refresh and they can consume the same (Tovmasyan, 2017). 

Assurance

The dimension of Assurance of model reflects the knowledge and courtesy of employees with their ability to convey confidence and trust. Trip advisor appreciated Justin G, from Canberra Australia to share the view for the hotel. He said it is "One of the Sydney's best!" where he stayed the most. The hotel has the perfect location, amazing room, great service which leads to a wonderful stay (Trip advisor, 2018). Moreover, even down to the courtesy SMS message was sent to ensure that everything was standard.

Empathy

This dimension of empathy reflects the caring and personalized attention that the Hotel offers to its customer in the market. Vicki, D. from Victoria, Australia shared the comment on Personalised service. The guest thanked for the service offered by Hilton Sydney in hosting and the hotel is beautiful and comfortable (Trip advisor, 2018). Though, the staffs are the key asset of the Hilton Sydney. The accommodating and friendly service by the hotel staff became a way to visit the hotel again. This shows that all the service of the hotel made the guest look satisfied.

GAPS

The gaps in service are also determined with the help of the comments shared by the customers through trip advisor. These gaps are given below: -

• The Hilton Hotel Honors program has set policy but the customers are not updated from the same due to which they can ask for the up gradation in the rooms and services. This shows the lack of communication among the loyal customers and the hotel (Lee, et al 2016).
• The orientation of room and information of the basic things were missing which made the experience difficult due to which the guest needs to visit the staff area or reception to get the orientation. This shows that the staff member is not able to focus on customers might be due to lack of employee’s satisfaction.
• The lack of information related to the mini-bar in the hotel was one of the major drawbacks (Wilson, Zeithaml, Bitner and Gremler, 2012). Most of the customer’s complaint that the movement they pick the thing from they will be charged no matter they have used the stuff or not.
• Most of the customers in the Australia market registered the complaints about the breakfast that is offered to them in the executive suits (Trip advisor, 2018). They said the quality and quantity of the breakfast is not good due to which they might face the lack in meeting the expectations of the customers.

Recommendations

It is suggested to the Hilton Australia to bring the changes in their operations which will help them in improving the service experience to the customers or guest.

Service Guarantees

A service guarantee is a marketing tool that is used by service firms for reducing the customer risk; perception, signal quality and many others which are must to manage the customer complaint and service recovery. Hilton hotel should offer the guarantee for the services which will help given assurance to the customers that they will get the resolution due to which all their complaints will get reduce.

Service Design

The service design of the Hilton Hotel requires the changes in the design in which they should add some value-added service. Moreover, the design for the breakfast and lunch that is offered to the customers should be changes and some innovative services should be included which include improvement in quality and quantity.

Quality gap

Delivery gap: - Hotel should reduce the delivery gap in which whatever service is promised to the customers should be offered to them without any miss in the service. The same should be clearly written by the company on their terms and conditions.

Conclusion

In the end, it can be concluded that the service management plan of Hilton hotel requires some improvement which is must improve the service quality which they offer to their customers. The company falls under the hospitality industry who works with the motive to offer the delight experience to their customers. The report includes the ways through which the company engage with customers. In addition, the views and comments of the customers are categorized in the report with the dimension of the SERVQUAL framework. The gaps are identified that are affecting the experience of the customers who visit the Hilton Hotel. In the end, the recommendations have been given with the help of some tools which include service guarantee, service design, service quality model and many others.

References

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Johnson, K. (2017). A Hilton exec explains how technology keeps the hotel chain relevant after nearly 100 years. Retrieved from: https://www.businessinsider.com/how-technology-keeps-hilton-hotels-relevant-2017-6?IR=T

Kansra, P., & Jha, A. K. (2016). Measuring service quality in Indian hospitals: an analysis of SERVQUAL model. International Journal of Services and Operations Management, 24(1), 1-17.

Kontzer, T. (2016). It's All About the Customer at Hilton. Retrieved from: https://www.baselinemag.com/crm/its-all-about-the-customer-at-hilton.html

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Manhas, P.S. and Tukamushaba, E.K. (2015). Understanding service experience and its impact on brand image in hospitality sector. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 45, pp.77-87.

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Trip advisor. (2018). Parmelia Hilton Perth. Retrieved from: https://www.tripadvisor.in/Hotel_Review-g255103-d255646-Reviews-Parmelia_Hilton_Perth-Perth_Greater_Perth_Western_Australia.html

Venkatraman, R. (2018). Want to Improve the Customer Experience? Try This Strategy That Has Nothing to Do With Customers at All. Retrieved from: https://www.inc.com/rohini-venkatraman/the-surprising-strategy-hilton-hotels-starbucks-trader-joes-use-to-improve-customer-experience.html

Wilson, A., Zeithaml, V.A., Bitner, M.J. and Gremler, D.D. (2012). Services marketing: Integrating customer focus across the firm. India: McGraw Hill.