CRM Technology without people and processes can only fail
Over a decade ago, a colleague of mine, whilst undertaking a process study of a hotel operated by the organisation we worked for, wrote me the following, “I discovered that there is absolutely no customer recognition programme here. The customer database is hardly maintained nor is customer behaviour tracked. In fact, this is true of all our city and resort hotels” (the company we worked for owned and managed over a dozen hotels in Sri Lanka and in the Maldives).
He went on to add, “All we need is a well maintained customer database, more specifically a CRM programme which would help the hotel identify guest preferences, whereby, apart from customer satisfaction, the hotel can achieve customer delight which will lead to customer loyalty and other benefits such as positive word-of-mouth awareness”.
Here was my response.
“You are absolutely right. None of our hotels have a CRM system or a structured approach whatsoever. Before the advent of technology, the entire front office process was manually driven. The ‘Whitney’ system was widely used in the 5-star hotels as computers were yet to be invented. The telex machine was the fastest means by which businessmen connected globally. For instance the Hotel Lanka Oberoi had a team of telex operators 24/7, punching tapes to meet the demands of the corporate guests. Getting an overseas call via the hotel operator (there was no direct dialing then), required a pre-booking of the call thru the government run Telecommunications department. This could take hours. Check outs were handled by the front desk cashiers using NCR 42 cash registers. There was no integration with the outlets and periodically stewards had to bring the signed in- house guest checks to the front desk cashiers located in the lobby, for posting to the relevant guest accounts. To minimise staff at the Supper Club having to come down often from the top floor to the lobby level, a pneumatic chute was connected enabling guest checks from that outlet to be swiftly sent down in a sealed silo-shaped metal tube. This was all in the early 1980’s.
Even then, the 501 – roomed Hotel Lanka Oberoi, which had an average 80% occupancy, with ADR exceeding US$ 85.00 had in place a slick ‘Guest Recognition’ programme. Mind you, this guest recognition programme was maintained entirely manually during that period. The success of the then programme was mainly due to the ‘tracking’ and meticulous ‘capturing’ of guest behaviours, preferences, observations, etc. across-the-board by all frontline/service staff who interacted with hotel guests. The data thus gathered was maintained by the Front Office (reception) and made available to everyone involved in the booking process for retrieval and ‘flagging’ thereafter to all other depts. F & B outlets such as the Coffee shop and London Grill maintained a similar database of their diners. The higher than average ‘loyalty factor’ from the many repeat guests that the Hotel Lanka Oberoi enjoyed over the competitor hotels was testimony to how well it easy implemented –all the time, every time…and by everyone”.
The point I wish to make here, is that there is no escaping the required ‘hard work’ – be it with or without technology. Most of us naively expect technology to do the needful, believing that the more advanced it is, it will deliver with a press of the button. It really does not work that way! Unless the guest behaviour is actively tracked, data captured, fed in accurately and retrieved in a timely manner by staff, the information flow will simply not occur.
Capturing guest data is a challenge. It involves a keen sense of observation and common sense among other factors. For example consider the guest who arrives with his own golf bag. This is an easier scenario to boot – because the guest has announced his passion to the bellman who carried his luggage, and to the receptionist who checked him in. His love for golf can now, not only be immediately captured under his ‘profile’, but no sooner settled in his room, the concierge can contact him to enquire whether he would like to book a round of golf at the nearby golf course? Likewise, any guest checking in, say with a tennis racket along with her baggage, can be proactively approached by the recreation supervisor as to whether she (the guest) would like to book the hotel tennis court for a game of tennis? This is how we did it at the Hotel Lanka Oberoi at that time. This type of information sharing by hotel staff did lead to guests recognising superior service leading eventually to loyalty.
Shafeek Wahab – Editor, Hospitality Sri Lanka, Consultant, Trainer, Ex-Hotelier |
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