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Hilton Worldwide have successfully built upon a solid brand image and have ensured that they have the correct technological architecture to effectively manage the various information streams. Customer interface with actual staff remains critical in satisfaction terms, however, enabling the staff member to be able to provide lightening fast and accurate responses is definately the way to do business.

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How do Hilton Worldwide ensure that they have the competitive advantage?

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How do Hilton Worldwide ensure that they have the competitive advantage?

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Tackling social issues and encouraging development.

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CRM in action

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OnQ

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Service and Loyalty Tracking: SALT

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SALT training sheet.

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How do Hilton Worldwide ensure that they have
the competitive advantage?

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3. 

















How do Hilton Worldwide ensure that they have
the competitive advantage?

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When Conrad N. Hilton opened the first hotel to bear the Hilton name in 1925, he aimed to operate the best hotel in Texas. As a result of his commitment, leadership, and innovation, today Hilton is one of the most respected brands in the world. As time has moved along these aspirations are measured through the CRM and CEM statistics. Trends, opinions, areas for improvement all lay in the hands of the customer; it is down to HW to draw these in. Loyalty programs, incentives and packages are relatively new on the whole.

HW pioneered early, in 1987 they introduced their HHonors scheme that allowed customers to accumulate loyalty points based upon their spends and stays. In 1994 the program was further extended to include the use of air miles. Take up of the HHonors is significant, with an average take up of at least 50% and rising to 75% in hotels that have a lot of corporate accounts in the bigger business areas.

Satisfaction guarantees are less mainstream, and have a reputation of being gimmicky due to ever increasing complexity of the terms and conditions and the way in which to claim. Again, HW were ahead of the pack when, in 1989, they were first to introduce a no quibble 100% satisfaction guarantee for their mid range Hampton Hotels

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Although reputation, something that is very strong in all areas of HW, is a key enabler in the services industry, the directors at HW have not always enjoyed the hacienda of a glitch free IS and IT service.

The early utilisation of E.piphany Inc’s suite of IS led into the eventual production of OnQ, which is their tailor made IS for property management that was launched in 2003. During 2010 their IT provider; IBM is urged to assist the escalation of more intuitive front and back room systems and also to bring together several booking streams into one worldwide system with sub servers in regional areas.

Unfortunately the enhancement was not successful, which resulted in IBM being ditched before the end of the contract due to outages, they were as major as a whole day in one case. Dell was then given the contract and the integration of the entire worldwide service has been entirely successful.

The significant size and credibility of HW, its own IS and a critical requirement for stable IT systems and hardware is a boon for Dell, raising their profile and giving them tremendous kudos.

Their revenue management has become vastly efficient under the new systems, they do over-book as with most hotels, however the statistics that are based upon historical data within the Property Management System (PMS) have proven to be extremely reliable. All room rates in all hotels are variable to ensure that an balanced stream of reservations continue throughout all periods. To further exploit this finite control of rooms there is also an ad-hoc room rate that can immediately be accessed for walk-in customers.

Accounts are updated immediately where EPOS and room service are utilised, some restaurants still need to manually consolidate at the close of business. The guest accounts are updated, and checked early morning seven days a week ready for check out.

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Hilton are class leading and have the information technology architecture to match

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Hilton are class leading and have the information technology architecture to match

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Their website is informative, clear and holds all of the required information for the entire worldwide estate.

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The underpinning vision and overriding aim

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The underpinning vision and overriding aim

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The Hilton Worldwide website has a comprehensive overview of its main pillars that combine to ensure a class and sector leading approach. The guest cycle that all systems support are as follows:

Pre-Arrival: This is where marketing and historic feedback are crucial to drawing in the potential guest. It is also the stage where the business will commence the gathering of information from the guest.

Arrival: Confirmation of the information that has already been gathered about the guest and also on the details of their stay, including payment method.

Occupancy: The highest level of satisfaction is the single aim here and all services specified by the guest, and promised by the hotel must be the focus. Clear lines of communication between staff and guest must be paramount and the front desk staff are the most critical in this role.

Departure: This will be one of the most lasting memories of the hotel if there are any problems. The back of house systems must be ready to collate the last minute information to enable the speedy settlement of the guest account at the front desk. In the case of HW, the Service and Loyalty Tracking is carried out here, and also in a later email.

These elements of the cycle are entirely reliant upon the IS and IT to enable the delivery of a cutting edge, glitch free and user-friendly system.  Hilton Worldwide website, 2014 states:

Bringing the Hilton Worldwide experience to life:

At Hilton Worldwide, we see Information Technology as a connection between vision and world-class technology. With our unmatched level of integration, resources, and partnerships, we deliver everything from core reservation and property management systems to high-speed Internet, data security, and in-room entertainment. This ensures that our guests have a better experience and our properties are able to generate increased revenues.

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The objective of this case study is to display understanding of the guest cycle, purchasing cycle and yield management and to research the use of IS within an organisation. This will be theorised in general first, and then in detail by making reference to the main Hilton Worldwide (HW) web portal and investigative research that will be carried out through references to reports and statistics.

The main body of the case study covers the underpinning principles to ensure successful finance and information systems, and will be structured into this Padlet wall, concentrating on key topics. The topics that are considered are as follows:

1. Hotel systems in the digital age

2. What systems do Hilton Worldwide use?

3. How do Hilton Worldwide ensure that they have the competitive advantage?

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How do Hilton Worldwide ensure that they have the competitive advantage?

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How do Hilton Worldwide ensure that they have the competitive advantage?

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Information systems in HR management:In a nod back to the the HR module in the first semester: Hilton are exploiting IT and IS to manage the staff.

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“It has to be Hilton” Finance and Information Systems Case Study Introduction:

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“It has to be Hilton” Finance and Information Systems Case Study Introduction:

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Effective hotel management encompasses a wide range of hardware and software. The Information Systems (IS) and Information Technology (IT) need to be designed, programmed and executed well to be effective for the customers, the staff, and the business.

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A subtle Hilton promotional video designed simply to relay the message of the finest customer service in the finest surroundings

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A subtle Hilton promotional video designed simply to relay the message of the finest customer service in the finest surroundings

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The use of finance and information systems are a key factor in enabling the best possible customer relationship model

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Feedback: General systems will adopt a method of recording feedback and this has many providers. Internal KPIs and PIs will be based upon this information.

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Output: Information streams need to be established to build in heirarchy and allocate systems to specific areas.

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Processing: These systems, again, from multiple providers and with specialist functions need to be able to communicate.

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Input: Trained staff are key to the success of finance and information system.

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What system activities are important? A means of collecting raw data and converting this into a manageable and understandable format to enable effective and efficient facilities management is critical in the modern age. The implications of not having these systems would see productivity affected and ultimately see your business offering a lesser customer experience. The following seven slides below illustrate the current "must have" systems for a modern hotel.

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Our decisions are made earlier than before, based not simply upon the facilities but others experiences and their feedback

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1. Device and entertainment autonomy

2. Virtual Bookings

3. Leverage the billboard effect

4. FREE WIFI FREE WIFI FREE WIFI

FREE WIFI FREE WIFI FREE WIFI

5. Role of social media

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eRevMax has unveiled an infographic to assist property owners around the world to know about the latest technology trends topping the charts this season.

One of the current trends listed deals with device and entertainment autonomy. A SmartBrief poll showed that 45% of hotel guests travel with two devices and 40% with three or more. Thus, ensuring guests have electronics (adequate and easy-to-reach plugs, bandwidth capabilities) and ergonomic support (seating and surfaces) becomes essential for hotels.

Another important tip by the hotel solutions provider is to leverage the billboard effect, defined as the increase in offline bookings of a property when it is listed with an Online Travel Agency (OTA). An experiment conducted by Cornell University observed that one of the participant hotels experienced an impressive 14% increase in direct bookings when it contracted with an OTA. Besides, Average Daily Rate (ADR) increased by 1.5% during OTA listing of the same property.

Accordingly to the infographic, 38% of the guests reported that Wi-Fi was the priority factor while booking a hotel. Also, a whopping 85% of travelers said they wanted access to free Wi-Fi in hotels. eRevMax suggests hoteliers to provide the service for free to guests who enroll for their select programs, for starters. Such services may be made exclusive for gold and platinum level members or accessible in lobbies of full-service properties.

These are important insights for property owners and serve as helpful reminder to get thinking about what is important to guests who want to stay connected virtually.

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Hotel technology offerings play an increasingly important role for guests when booking.

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AirCAST: Interactive hotel information channel

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AirCAST: Interactive hotel information channel

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I have experienced various similar attempts to this system, each personalised to a particular hotel group. The effectiveness of this sales forum is of course limited, given that people are more social and use the dining area, bar, and gyms more than simply locking themselves in the room. The best systems, that allow room services and dining are by far the most successful, but they also the most difficult to integrate of course.

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Customers like to receive personalised mailings rather than generic flyer drops. A mail merge programme that places their name into the body of the text as well as the address and introduction are an excellent idea.