How can travel companies deliver a consistent customer experience across all touchpoints? EyeforTravel's Ritesh Gupta explores the complexities.

Customer experience for hotels is about consistency. It isn’t just about working out new self-service tools, mobile apps or a new service. Although some of these initiatives can work on their own, there needs to be consistency across all touchpoints  based on the guest’s requirements. And all this must be backed up by a solid technology roadmap.

Against this backdrop, hotels are currently trying to come up with solutions that address customer and user experience (UX) issues. Creating an unambiguous cross-channel experience is of paramount importance, both from a customer experiencne and UX standpoint, argues Stan Kreydin, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology officer for hospitality company Wyndham Exchange & Rentals. “Where possible, we want our customers to have a similar experience with our products via self-service channels such as the web as they do with our contact centre agents for our assisted service channels,” he says.

Where the firm syndicates products to channel partners, Kreydin argues for the importance of a consistent operating platform. “In doing this, we create an ERP-like open systems-based platform that channels legacy information in near-real-time with contextual pricing and business logic by channel,” he says.

Building a strong online affiliation

Kim Walker, Senior Vice President and Creative Director of Morgans Hotel Group agrees that the main objective of the group is to create a consistent experience that translates the culture of hotels to a digital platform.

“The experience guests have with hotel staff is engaging and streamlined, and we made it a top priority for consumers to feel the same way when interacting with our website,” she says. With the new site guests can make reservations in four clicks or less, tour the city they’re visiting with a curated Google Map outlining the top locations, and access an Instagram feed populated with photos from guests staying at the property.

Morgans Hotel Group guests are early adopters so it is important that we are able to communicate effectively with them in every medium. This could be by creating a seamless booking experience on mobile devices or building a social media integration on the website that allows guests to instantly post their travel plans on any of their social media platforms.

Changing technology ecosystem

The team at Pullman Hotels and Resorts, the upscale international brand of Accor, focuses on delivering a cosmopolitan, vibrant and in-style experience for guests.  

“Pullman Hotels & Resorts offers a new approach to upscale hospitality in which technology plays a key role,” says Xavier Louyot, SVP Global Marketing, Pullman. There have been a  few major initiatives this year including:  

·          The new Pullman Hotels website has been set up with the evolving lifestyle of tech-savvy customers in mind. Pullman focused on the aspirations of its ’hyper-connected, mobile, multi-cultural’ travellers who believe that just because they are travelling for business doesn’t mean they shouldn’t enjoy themselves. And just because they are travelling for leisure doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be connected’. 

·          Pullman has also worked on a unique guest technology ecosystem this year. The initiative is all about synchronising various screens - TV, smartphone and tablet in order to create a unified network of entertainment services. For this, Pullman chose Quadriga’s Personal Media Network (PMN) solution. This move is expected to lend a new dimension to a customer’s overall stay, with a seamless, unified experience.

Multi-device phenomena

According to Louyot, the multi-device phenomenon does not only impact the online experience Pullman offers its customers, but it also impacts the in-hotel experience offered at their properties. The latter experience, is coined ‘connectivity by Pullman’, This has several implications including:

·          The multiplication of IP addresses which allows the company  to increase the bandwidth offered at all Pullman properties.

·          A brand standard of multiple power sockets placed near beds.

·          A currently piloted brand new ’Pullman Unified Experience’ concept which integrates the TV, smartphone and tablet, as well as different kinds of personal content whether it is stored on a device, delivered from a set top box-based or subscription-oriented into a single application. This makes for a seamless experience for customers to access different type of content, regardless of the device used, for as long as they are connected to the hotel’s WiFi network.

Rising expectations

Hotels are currently all trying to match the rising expectations of guests. Check-in and check-out, for instance, is one area where guests tend to be merciless - they don’t like to waste time and expect immediate service. The same goes for free Wifi which they expect to access as soon as they enter any property.

“The days of Wifi being a luxury are long gone and the bar has definitely been raised. Now, smartphones are part of the guest experience and have extended into all areas, from air travel to retail. The consumer is able to access all areas of life through this medium which is why integrating social media into our website and improving our mobile and tablet presence was of utmost importance to us,” says Walker.

Such initiatives are not only significant from guest services perspective; they can also contribute to  bringing operational efficiency as well as revenue generation.