“They will be hungry for more”

Customer Loyalty in the Hospitality Industry

Heiko Figge

Chief Operating Officer- Thistle Hotels

Welcome

What service is not about!

Customer Loyalty at Thistle

•An insight into our approach to service and product development over the last two years

•How do we retain our customers so that they are “hungry” for more

•A snap shot of our Incentives and initiatives

•Customer Relationship Management and the future for Thistle

Recent Developments

•We have spent 18 months developing our plans for the new Thistle brand

•Conducted research with customers

•Analysed where we sit in the market-place compared to our competitors

•Developed ideas about what we want guests to experience, and tested them out with

guests

•Agreed on a new brand identity

Our new identity

ProblemQuality full service hotels can feel special, but sometimes they are too fancy and formal and you end up feeling like you can’t be yourself when you are staying there. And although they have all the things you expect (concierge, hotel restaurant etc.) the service is so inflexible and the furnishings are often so commoditised that the experience can actually end up feeling a little impersonal and soul-less.

SolutionAt Thistle we focus on doing the things that are most important really, really well – from spacious & comfortable rooms, to an efficient and warm service from friendly staff. We know that our guests expect comfort and efficiency so a welcoming smile, good breakfast, clean, simple décor, seamless business support, and a good bed come as standard. Because we pay attention to the things which really matter, it means you can really relax and enjoy your stay.

How are we delivering the new brand?

•Investment across the entire hotel group over the next five years

•Refurbishment and improvements - new bedrooms, public areas, restaurants, back of

house areas

•New attractive and Contemporary Uniforms for all staff

•Wireless internet access throughout the hotel

•Introduce flat-screen televisions with high-quality satellite TV packages

•A consistent F&B offering throughout the brand geared to suit our guests needs

•Service training for all guest facing, front of house staff

•More training!

•More training!

•More training!

A New Product Offer for our Customers

Thistle Service Standards

The Service ‘Touch Points’

The Booking Process

Approaching & Entering

Check In / Out

Entering & Using the Bedroom

Food & Drink

Lounge/Bar/Restaurant/Room Service

Meetings & Events

Otium Leisure

Follow up

“The Customer is at the Heart of everything we do!”

Our Approach to Service

The ‘BIG book’ of Service

The ‘BIG book’ of Service

The ‘little book’ of service

The ‘little book’ of service

The ‘Tool kit’

The ‘Tool kit’

Customer Feedback is valuable

“I was really impressed with the customer

service and I really felt that they cared”

“Its nice to be treated like a person instead of income”

“They went out of their way to help me and nothing was too much trouble”

“The service they provide is exceptional;

I would definitely tell my friends and recommend them to come here”

“I have really tried to be nice to my customers lately”

“Why what happened?”

“They kept coming back and back , I couldn’t get a minutes peace”

A Humorous slant on Customer Loyalty

How customer loyalty is measured

“What gets measured gets done”-Lou Gerstner- Ex CEO of IBM

Our Original Method of Measuring Customer Service

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) definition

•What is it?

•A strategic approach to understanding and building relationships with our customers•A system that provides us with intimate knowledge of our customers needs, wants and expectations•A basis for competitive differentiation in the market

•What are the benefits?

•A means of identifying, acquiring and building repeat business with more profitable customers•A lever to accelerate “word of mouth referral and advocacy amongst customers and agents•A way to extend customer relationships across the whole group of hotels

“It is not a question of how well each process works; the

question is how well they work together”

Customer Relationship Management

•The vision for CRM is to enable our company to better understand, communicate with and introduce enhanced products/services to our customers to increase their overall lifetime value with us”

•The CRM programme will enable product and service offer to be more customer driven

•Improve ROI and effectiveness of sales, marketing and development spend

•Improve customer brand loyalty and “leave them hungry for more”

The way forward for Thistle

•Focus on CRM and implement the areas we have identified which are crucial to its success

•Continue to develop our product and align to our customers needs

•Deliver a consistently high level of service to our customers and act immediately on feedback especially from our net promoters

•Develop our initiatives and incentives to ensure we have the best in place for both internal and external customers to encourage loyalty

•Listen to our customers needs

How can you influence customer loyalty?

“If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what youalways got”

Any Questions?

Thank you