It's now some three years since the NASDAQ reached an all time high of 5,048.62 points; a time when people were filled with euphoria and driven by adrenalin in the hope of becoming an overnight zillionaire by taking their DOT COMS through to IPO. Hotels were full to the brim, often charging astronomical rates for their rooms, and restaurants were selling foie gras and caviar with champagne flowing as though it were the equivalent of a burger and fries with a chocolate shake thrown in for good luck, all this while people discussed exit strategies. What delusions of grandeur we all had…

Now over a quarter of a decade later, and with more than a trillion dollars being wiped off the value of four once-darling companies like CISCO, DELL, INTEL and Microsoft, many worthless (DOT BOMB) stocks are floating around, and many home owners are for the first time in their lives experiencing a phenomenon called negative equity. Travel budgets have been cut, and news announcements about lay-offs are more the norm than the exception.

Hotels have somewhat responded to market trends by re-defining their coffee shops, morphing them into all-you-can-eat buffets complete with such tantalizing and mouth watering delicacies as sushi, seafood, hot carvings and even made to order soufflés like the enormously successful Café Too at Hong Kong's Island Shangri-La. But, has the DoSM (Director of Sales and Marketing) applied a similar winning formula this for their rooms? NOT I hear you say.

These people are still living in cloud cuckoo land believing the all powerful corporate traveler (everyone's dream client) is still a walking pot of gold, ready and willing to hand over increasingly harder to earn (plastic) dollars for such extras as HSIA (high speed internet access), local calls, IDD surcharges, photocopies, use of internet browsing stations, laundry, a bottle of mineral water or stick of candy in the mini bar.

I have just returned from a week long trip to Singapore where I attended the 5th Annual Customer Contact World Asia 2003. Unfortunately, it was not very well attended by both exhibitors and attendees perhaps due to the world's prevailing economic situation, or perhaps due to the world's increasingly unstable political situation. It's a shame really because the focus was on CRM (Customer Relationship Management), and all about building brand loyalty - something hotels are in desperate need of - especially during these competitive and tough times. Emphasizing the impact of those conditions on international travel, one of the panel speakers whom was as the moderator (James Smith, Managing Editor, CCW Magazine & Portal, Singapore) aptly put it, "was made up of frightfully intelligent people" however, Patricia Vas, Managing Director Customer Service, British Telecom, UK was supposed to fly out, but was forbidden from doing so by her company (a sign of the times...), and instead, used an excellent video tape presentation to extol the virtues of what her company had done in this all important area. Many companies shared their (theoretical) views on how to 'service the customer', 'how to reward the employee who goes the extra mile' (like a £50 instant bonus in the case of UK's Pret A Manger which is handed over by a Mystery Shopper to a staffer that perhaps smiled more than other team members) and 'how to build a relationship with your customer'.

From first-hand experience, I know many companies are on 'capex hold-downs', so surely this would have been an opportune moment to send your scouts out and research such things, so that when things turn around, and we all hope and pray they will, you'll be prepared with all the knowledge and tools to make that educated and most likely rushed decision.

The Plenary speaker was Peter Williamson, Professor of International Management and Asian Business, INSEAD, Singapore, and he talked about Seven Keys to Building a Customer-Centric Enterprise.

Professor Williamson goes on to say, that being Customer-Centric Doesn't Often Come Naturally:

  • Good intentions meet operational constraints
  • Just doing everything the customer wants doesn't guarantee profitability!

So the Professor has come up with ; Seven Keys to Building a Customer-Centric Enterprise

  1. Opening up your communication channels with your customers
  2. Recognizing the customer wants you to help resolve their contradictions
  3. Using CRM to build links with profitable customers, not just loyal ones
  4. Accepting that customers need to be rewarded for investing more time and effort
  5. Avoiding the trap of proximity = attention
  6. Organizing your company around the customer
  7. Innovating with the customer, not just "at" them

A consistent message throughout the show was as more and more of us are under cost pressure, it's really a matter of positioning yourself 'as far as what the customer will pay for', and 'not necessarily what they want'.

A good example of this was the fact that while in this Fine City as some people label it, I stayed in a 5-star hotel (just a short covered walkway away from SUNTEC) on their recently upgraded Pacific Floor. Superficially, my room on the 33rd floor was very nice and comfortable, with my first night yielding a better sleep than I have had for a very long time. The desk was amply equipped with good lighting and accessible power sockets, and a Hermann Miller Aeron chair which is always a dream to use. Someday I must get one of these! The overall bathroom size was good, and although the shower was fitted with a Hans Grohe Pharo power shower, it was disproportionate in size to the toilet cubicle which was definitely missing a magazine rack to hold the extensive selection found in the drawer under the TV.

With a S$70 premium over my 'special travel agent booked rate', the upgrade package included (apart from a nicer room, access to the Lounge and superior bathroom amenities)

  • Complimentary unlimited pressing
  • Complimentary daily newspaper (not once received even though I ticked the box on the Registration Card)
  • Complimentary full breakfast in the lounge
  • Complimentary Mercedes-Benz to a local business address from 07:15 to 08:40
  • Complimentary afternoon tea
  • Complimentary hors d'oeuvres from 5-7pm
  • Complimentary mini bar for drinks consumed during my stay (stocked with Perrier, Evian, sodas, beer, Chivas Regal, Gordon's Gin, Remy Martin and nuts)
  • Complimentary liqueurs (in the lounge) from 8pm-10pm with tea and coffee served throughout the day
  • Complimentary local calls
  • DVD Player (but where do you get the disks?)
  • Free entry to the Health Club

But what irked me about this on the surface great sounding deal, was the fact that I would have much preferred to have paid for the mini bar (since I don't drink) and in exchange be given free HSIA and use of the business centre for printing and photocopies. Assuming that I am a large consumer of F&B is wrong. Assuming that as a Road-warrior I am burning the midnight oil (which I often do) and would need business type services (such as at 0100 when the broadband connection failed and the helper had gone home at 11pm) would have been much more realistic and visionary. At least give me the choice! One night, I met another guest in the bar who without initially knowing who I am, and what I do, echoed this sentiment 150%.

Thinking (as the industry does as a whole) that I prefer to consume on an a la carte basis for my business services instead of making this an all-in-one business buffet is wrong. It's also wrong to position me as a cash cow, especially knowing that the general market sentiment is gloomy and uncertain as the threat of war looms large day by day. CRM in this case should mean Clever and Resourceful Management.

Internet access and business services should be higher on the list of priorities a hotel offers to people whom they know are staying with them to do business. It's no longer good enough being a home away from home you also need to be an office away from office helping support me on my mission. This hotel has about four different comment cards you can fill up and one is specifically designated for 'in room business services' so I better print this out, fold it up and stick it inside the nice yellow envelope for the invisible management to (possibly) contemplate and action.

How can hotels believe I can be there at 3pm in the afternoon to take tea, or at 5pm in the evening for cocktails, when more than likely I'm in a business meeting, or in my room doing emails (as I am now). Actually, to be honest, I did struggle on one day to do this, and combined several meeting together with some business associates just to check it out. It's also a shame that the 2-floor Executive Lounge only had 2 plasma TV's in the upper section which serves breakfast, and not the lower one open for the rest of the day. Don't they think you might want to watch CNN or Fashion TV in the event you can drag yourself away from your work?

One of the conference speakers this formula will definitely not apply to is: Edwin Yeow, Joint Managing Director/Senior Vice President - Marketing, Banyan Tree Hotel and Resorts who differentiated his brand in one of the sessions as "romance in the seclusion of your own pool villa". That's a very clear positioning statement if I ever heard one!

In all fairness to the hotel, I liked the chocolate and mint candies on the desk; I also found the front line staff to be some of the most attentive, hard working and courteous that I have come into contact with in a very long while. But did I witness any 'management by walking about' measuring the heartbeat of the customer - I don't think so. Did I see people come out from hiding behind the omnipresent fluorescent yellow comment card (which probably ends up in the Bermuda Triangle of the service experience) rather than leave the service delivery to the lowest paid member of staff? No.

How can you possibly hope to get close to your customers if you don't speak to them and help in the delivery of the brand promise? I suppose you'll just rely on those expensively priced mechanical CRM solutions (that I came to see) that have all the bells and whistles, and try very hard to make a guest look like a pie chart - you'll also rely upon profiling guests (such as security organizations try to do with terrorists) and take that good old dartboard approach in the hope of getting it right.

But just consider this - maybe it's time to put the F&B Manager in charge of rooms - they seem to be more creative, visible, and have a handle on what's going on….and after all, they say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach.

© [email protected]
March 2003
First appeared in Hotel Asia Pacific

Terence Ronson
Managing Director
Pertlink Limited