Hilton’s CRM mantra: Strive for true customer centricity

EFT Special: Sales and Marketing in Travel USA 2007

The concept of “CRM” is not new but what does it mean for a big travel supplier like Hilton?

Says Adam Burke, SVP and Managing Director, Hilton Hhonors, the idea of customer relationship management has been around for decades.

“If you think back to the corner grocery store in your neighbourhood growing up, you’ll recognise CRM at work. This was a place where customers were known and warmly greeted by name. The store owners knew their customers’ likes and dislikes, which allowed them to make recommendations, and they often catered to special requests. Of course, we need technology to enable us to deliver this same level of personalisation, since it’s a bit trickier with millions of customers around the world.  At the core of our business, we’re hoteliers – and the principles of CRM have helped us get back to those basics.”

So what does CRM means for Hilton?

“From our perspective, it means striving for true customer centricity – putting the customer at the center of our decision-making process.  That approach informs every element of our business, and has led us to create a singular view of the customer across every touch point.  From our experience, the challenge isn’t in collecting the right information – it’s in effectively utilising and integrating those insights throughout the organisation,” Burke recently told EyeforTravel.com’s Ritesh Gupta. “CRM has certainly become the buzzword of the day.”

Technology is an important component of using data to deliver value-added customer experiences, no doubt. The real key, however, lies in delivering a consistently excellent customer experience at the individual property level. How can one ensure this?

“This can be summed up in two phases: “train, train, train” and “measure, measure, measure.” With the advent of more robust technology, it’s easy to forget that what we can consistently deliver on the front lines is what will ultimately determine our success. You have to continuously focus on whether you’re providing your line level team members with the right tools, and you have to rigorously measure the customer experience.  The most important resource we have is our people, and making sure that they understand the “why,” as well as the “what,” of our efforts is crucial,” he said.

On what is critical in to integrating pricing with CRM to retain customers and maximise revenue, he said, "The core issue here is balancing short- and long-term goals.  Traditionally, yield and revenue management have been about maximising the return on a perishable commodity i.e. – if we don’t sell this room tonight, it’s a lost revenue opportunity, and how effectively can we yield that room?. 

We have an excellent relationship with our revenue management team, and have worked closely with them to look at a host of factors that impact yield decisions.  From evaluating the marginal profitability of different customer segments, to looking at share of wallet as a barometer for yield decisions, we continue to partner with the revenue team to ensure that we understand and support the company’s short- and long-term objectives.”

On the best way to engage your customers through personalisation, customisation and relevance, he said, “In addition to being responsible in how customer data is utilised, it’s crucial to provide customers with easy-to-access ways to update and maintain their preferences, including the ability to make changes on a transaction-by-transaction basis if they choose.  It ultimately is a function of whether customers view providing their preferences as both easy and beneficial.”

Another critical issue facing the industry is how to ensure that customers are allowed to supply their choices rather than business inferring their choices.

On the same, Burke said, “When you have an increasing amount of information at your disposal, there is a natural tendency to use inferred, rather than customer-supplied data. It seems like a logical shortcut, but we believe that it takes time to develop loyal, long-term customer relationships. As a result, we actively resist the temptation to draw too many inferences so that we don’t risk damaging the relationship by delivering non-relevant – or worse – unwanted messaging.”