SPECIAL REPORT
25 % of guests need resolution to one issue or another , and those who have received a response in near-real time greatly impacted satisfaction scores . “ What we have proven , and guests have since acknowledged is , in fact , using technology further humanizes the experience ,” he says . In one case , a guest used a live chat function to ask for a barbecue restaurant recommendation . The staff member responding generated such rapport that the guest sought him out the next day , put his arm around him , took a selfie and posted it to his social media account .
Marriott ’ s Kozik adds that a Facebook chatbot is used to make offers to customers who have linked their Facebook accounts to their loyalty accounts . However , he cautions that chatbots should stick to answering questions and avoid confusing customers who then have to call for an explanation .
MANAGING IT ALL Questions have also arisen as to who is responsible for managing personalization . “ This is evolving at Hilton , but we ’ re into a good rhythm whereby the personalization engine is being regarded by brands and regional marketing colleagues as another channel ,” Wardman says . “ It ’ s always a good sign when people are asking to use your capability , rather than you having to seek their buy-in . We ’ re at that stage . We ’ ve evolved our team to be split into capability builders , front-end experts ( program / strategy design ) and back-end experts ( coding and testing .)”
Wyndham ’ s Goldstein suggests that operators will start to see an organization structure dedicated to personalization that probably reports to the chief marketing officer , who interacts with
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“ 75 % OF ALL OF OUR CUSTOMERS HAVE USED THE MARRIOTT WEBSITE OR APP AS A PART OF THEIR LAST STAY . SO IT IS BY FAR OUR BIGGEST ENGAGEMENT CHANNEL WITH THE CUSTOMER .”
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– GEORGE CORBIN , MARRIOTT
Hilton uses beacon technology on property for its Fun Finder feature found on its loyalty app . key business units – digital , brand marketing and operations . “ But for now , it lives in multiple places and we ’ re kind of doing it through collaboration ,” he adds .
COST VERSUS ROI The ROI can be very attractive if a personalization plan is extensive enough to cover a wealth of use cases , touchpoints and offers , Hilton ’ s Wardman says . “ ROI can start to decline if the amount of sophistication and granularity of content bifurcation outweighs the efficiency needed to arbitrate . For example , creating 400 versions of an offer is technically possible , but the effort to do so might be greater than the benefit . There are diminishing returns with granularity .” For Marriott , ROI goes beyond whether the customer accepted the offer , Kozik says . “ If I can , through that orchestration , keep a certain percentage of members from opting out of email , then I can keep an open channel of communication with them – what is the value attribute to that ?” he asks . Increasing precision “ has a tremendous impact ,” he says .
Kozik further states , “ A lot of industries have tended to look at personalization as an attempt to get customers to do something or behave a certain way in the moment . And the reality is our customers have been members for decades in some cases . Personalization has to accommodate that and converse with the member in a way that acknowledges that and recognizes that .” He later adds , “ You need to look at the customer relationship as a dialogue over time … The customers ’ stay patterns change – they have a kid , they stop staying for a while , they have a job change – all these things matter and need to be encompassed into the personalization .”
28 hotelsmag . com March 2017