Acknowledgement

This report would not be possible if not for the support and guidance of certain individuals.

First of all we would like to thank our course facilitator Dr. K. Kajendra for his valuable support and

guidance.

Then we would like to give our sincere gratitude to Mr. Nilanka Perera, Sales and Marketing executive at

Hilton Colombo Residence.

Further we would like to thank the staff of Hilton Colombo Residence for spending their valuable time

and helping us in collecting information.

Last but not least we would like to thank our parents and friends who helped us in numerous ways to

make this report a success.

1

Table of content

1. Introduction………………………………………………………………………………..3

2. Company profile………………………………………………………………………….4

3. Information gathering process…………………………………………………….8

4. Storing and analyzing data…………………………………………………………..12

5. Delivering information………………………………………………………………...15

6. Integrated front office………………………………………………………………….16

7. Practices of relationship marketing……………………………………………...18

2

1. Introduction

This report has been prepared to fulfill the requirements of the Customer Relationship Management

course offered by the BBA degree programme at the Faculty of Management and Finance, University of

Colombo.

This work is a result of a lot of research and effort on this subject undertaken by our group members to

meet the requirements. We have logically presented most of the areas of CRM through findings gathered

by the company visit to Hilton Colombo Residence.

Customer Relationship Management is a company-wide business strategy designed to reduce costs and

increase profitability by solidifying customer satisfaction, loyalty, and advocacy.

CRM is vital to any organization in today’s dynamic and volatile business world. This emphasizes the

importance of building long term relationships to attract and retain customers.

This report has identified the main aspects of CRM practices at Hilton Colombo Residence.

The report identifies the areas of information gathering process, storing and analysis of data, delivery of

information, integrated front office and the practices of relationship marketing in detail.

3

2. COMPANY PROFILE

Name Union Residencies (Pvt) Ltd – (Hilton Colombo Residencies)

Industry Travel and Leisure

Scale of Operations  Is a part of Hilton Worldwide comprising of 3750 hotels in 84

countries including hotel brands such as: Waldorf Astoria Hotels and

Resorts, Conrad Hotels & Resorts, Hilton Garden Inn etc.

Date of Incorporation 1992

Address P.O. Box 2000 200, Union Place, Colombo 2,

Sri Lanka

No. of Employees 239

Management and Ownership Hilton Colombo Residence managed by Hilton International and

owned by Union Residencies (Pvt) Ltd is the only full service "all

suite" residence in Colombo.

Vision “ To fulfill the earth with the light and warmth of hospitality”

Mission “ We will be the prominent global hospitality company – the first

choice of guests, team members and owners alike”

4

Values Hospitality - Deliver exceptional guest experiences

Integrity - Do the right thing, all the time

Leadership - Leaders in our industry and communities

Teamwork - Team players in everything we do

Ownership - Owners of our actions and decisions

Now - Operate with a sense of urgency and discipline

Services and facilities Hilton Colombo Residence has;

Full-service spa

Health club

Indoor pool

Steam room

Sauna.

Fitness center- Facilities are also made for kickboxing, yoga and

karate. Fitness Center also houses Tennis court and squash courts.

Business amenities include;

Business center

Small meeting rooms

Technology helpdesk.

It further offers a restaurant, a coffee shop/café, a poolside bar,

and a bar/lounge.

Event facilities consist of; Ballroom, Hilton Colombo

Residence's Union Ballroom is well set for weddings and

banquets, for it can accommodate up to 200 people for banquet

and can also be converted into smaller rooms.

The staff can arrange event catering, business services,

limo/town car service, and tour assistance.

5

Additional amenities include spa services, tennis courts, and a

fitness facility.

Map of the Hilton Colombo Residence

6

Organizational Chart

The full organizational Chart of Hilton Colombo Residence was not disclosed by the company as it was

considered to be sensitive information. A partial organization chart is displayed below according to the

Front Office Manger Mr. Suranga Balasuriya of Hilton Colombo Residence.

7

Board of Directors

Front Office

Food & Beverages

Engineering

Marketing

Business Development

Merchandising

Finance

Accounting

Purchasing & stores

IT

Human Resources

Training & Development

Employee Relations

Security

General Manager

Customer profile

Long term Residents Corporate clients Walk in customers

Stakeholders Customers Employees Shareholders Managers Government

3. Information Gathering Process

Front Office staff (Front Desk Employees) is responsible for gathering information about the

customers.

Mainly they gather all the customer information from the registration card, call centers and web

sites.

When the customer directly comes to the hotel without accessing the reserving through online

from websites, a registration card is given to the customer asking following information.

Name

Address

Contact details(contact number)

Number of visits

Date of birth

E-mail

Previous comments

Preferences

Issues experienced

Personal Information

Title: * First Name : *Last Name: *

E-mail Address : * ( Correspondence E-mail address )

Alternative E-mail :( Second e-mail address,if any )

Telephone No (Office): *

Telephone No (Home):

Mobile Number Please advise Mobile Phone Number to receive SMS Message from us incase we are unable

to reach you by email or by phone.

Fax No :

Correspondent Address :

8

*----- Personal Inf

*

Country Residing: *

Nationality : *

* Indicates Mandatory Field

The registration form for online reservations can be shown below.

Hilton Colombo - Sri Lanka

Reservation Details

Room Type: *

Occupancy : *

Number of room required : *

Number of Adult(s) occupying room : * Extra Bed : Yes No

Number of Children : (Only Below 12 if any ) Age of Children :

Indicate here for any special request ( extra bed, bed types preferred, connecting room, etc.)

Date of check in : *    Date of check out: *

* Indicates Mandatory Field

Flight Information

9

http://southtravels subject,from,First reservations@so Hilton Colombo Sr subject,from,First

http://w w w .south

break* *----- Reservation

Please select one:

Please select one :

1

0

break* *----- Flight Inform

Flight name and no. (Arrival) :  

Time of Arrival :  

Flight name and no.(Departure) :  

Time of Departure :  

From where you got to know us?

* Indicates Mandatory Field

After obtaining all the above customer information by the front desk employees they take copies

and keep them attached together and then they manually entering the data to a system called

“OnQTm”

OnQ system

This is the main technology used by the Hilton Colombo Residence for their information

gathering process.

OnQ is the Hiltons family of hotels’ proprietary technology platform that integrates

multiple capabilities on to one system to support hotel reservation and sales, guest service

and operations.

This is an excel based, worldwide official system which provides following services to

the organization.

Providing the reservation access through the internet, call center and hotel.

Collect information about personal preferences, where they have stayed, how many times, room

type information etc.

Maintaining the information relating to the revenue maximization and sales.

Including what rooms should be selling based on demand.

Property, including;

Operational capabilities (like checking people in and out)

Sending bills

When to clean rooms

10

Please select from the list :

Send

Close out bills etc.

Ownership information – including share information

Guests can access their reservations via websites and select a room with features that best suit their needs.

Since guest information is stored within the online personal account the hotel does not need to collect the

same information at check in.Once the guest checks in remotely via the web, the hotel notified

electronically of the pending arrival.

The hotels front desk then completes all pre-arrivals and check in processes.

Once the registration is done manually or online, if changes required then it can be done as relevant and it

is automatically saved in the system itself.

Confidentially is maintained through the registration card.

i.e. when the visitor asking the customers room number, first the front desk staff contact with the

customer through the registration card and if the agreed only room number given to the visitor.

Main three divisions of the Hilton Colombo Residence are the;

Business development unit

Front office

Finance department

All the employees who worked in these three departments can access the information gathered.

11

4. Storing and analyzing data

Classification of customers

In the OnQ customer database at Hilton they have classified customers namely in to 3 categories;

Long term Residents

Corporate clients

Walk in customers

Information available in the customer database

In Each sub category there is common information available for customers as well as for the internal use

of the organization. The data which is company specified would be confidential, and only authorized

parties would have the access to such data. Information available in the On Q customer database at Hilton

Colombo residencies consists of number of tables containg different types of information about both

customers and the hotel.

Hotel information

Name of the hotel

City, country

Number of stars

Address

Phone number

Accreditation

Room service information

Room category – single room, double rooms ,suits

Room facilities

Prices – depending on the season, duration etc.

12

Reservation information

Reservation ID

Customer ID

Reservation date

Room category

Arrival date

Departure date

Number of rooms which are currently available for bookings

Customer information

Name

Address

Telephone number

Email

Number of transactions

Most frequent transaction

Frequency of visits

Birthdays

Anniversaries

Techniques used in storing information

It’s a responsibility of the front office staff to manage and handle the customer database and they would

enter the data into the system manually. They use electronic storage of data instead of keeping them

manually. They have linked all their databases with the web so that it ensures they have backups if

something goes wrong with the computer system. The database can be updated as and when the new

information is identified. Mainly Hilton has being using barcodes and specified numbers and codes when

storing and retrieving data. Also the system has the ability to provide real-time updates to the customized

webpage when the customer contacts a customer service representative for a reservation.

13

Means of identifying customer preference and needs

Customers are the central point of any organization. They are the resource upon which the success of the

business depends. Therefore identifying customer’s preferences and needs would support Hilton

residencies by

Increasing repeat transactions.

To retain customers and build loyalty

Increase revenue

o Ensure survival.

Customer data analysis provides businesses with greater insight and relevant data that can be used to

offer service in a more consistent manner. Depending on the requirements of the top management

Hilton uses different techniques to analyze its customer data. Such techniques would be as follows;

Segmentation of customers- they mainly categorize customers into 4 types known as Residence,

Weddings, Business and other. Patterns and trends of customers under each category can be

separately identified through segmentation.

RFM –Recency, frequency, monetary value.

Data mining- analyzing large sets of data and thereby identifying customer patterns.

Behavior profiling- this helps them to identify the portion of customer with highest profitability

hence would be able to implement strategies to enhance their loyalty.

14

5. Delivering information

Channels used to deliver information

Hilton Colombo residencies mainly use the OnQ system as their main information delivery channel to

ensure the effective and efficient flow of information which is relevant and up to date. Departmental vise

information deliveries as well as information deliveries based on customer requirements are done through

the On Q system. For internal use they deliver information through an intranet system. Other than for

OnQ system and intranet there are other channels used by the Hilton Colombo residencies to deliver

information.

E-mail – mainly employees who don’t have access to the intranet would use emails as their

means of information delivery.

Internal newsletters and magazines

Staff briefings, meetings and other face-to-face communications methods

Manuals, guides and other printed resources- these are mainly used channels to deliver certain

information to the external customers and guests.

Parties involved in delivering process and to whom the information will be

delivered.

Front office staff, data analysts, IT executives, system developers and other software controllers are the

parties who are involved in the information delivery process.

The information collected will be provided to the front office staff, business development unit staff and

the finance department staff.

The other employees do not have the authority to look in to the customer details. This represents a higher

degree of confidentiality of customer information held by the company.

As mentioned above OnQ system is one of the major technologies used, then the facility of internet and

other networking technologies are most commonly used for an effective and efficient on time delivery of

information through an OnQ system.

15

6. Integrated Front Office

Integrated front office is the nerve centre or backbone of the Hilton Colombo Residence. All the enquiries

regarding the guests come to the front office. When they receive a guest enquiry they would first of all

speak with the relevant departments and try to address the enquiry. Once it is addressed the front office

staff does follow ups and gets the customer feedback. Through that process they try to ensure that each

guest in the Hilton Colombo Residence gets the promised level of service.

Apart from handling guest enquiries, the front office staff is also responsible for the following;

Welcoming the guests

Handling reservation requirements – online booking/ walking clients

Maintaining Room inventory – Room allocation

Placing amenities – Welcome gifts, Food baskets etc.

When a guest suddenly request for an extra bed, vegetarian meal, non smoking rooms etc., the front office

staff should ensure that their requirements are met immediately. For that they inform about the sudden

requests to the relevant departments and try to fulfill them in the best possible manner.

The composition and the number of staff in the front office can be identified as;

Front Office Staff

16

Front Office Mangers

5

Team Leaders

3

Receptionists (Customer Service Agents

5-6

Doormen/Bell boys

6-7

Magic Unit

Since the main responsibility of the front office staff is to handle guest enquiries, the Hilton Colombo

Residence has set up a MAGIC unit (Managing All Guest Incoming Calls) to handle all requests,

questions and problems. The MAGIC agents are available 24/7 to address any guest enquiry. The front

office staff uses the OnQ system to track and monitor guest requests, guest incoming calls, follow up calls

and feedback. In order the ease of customers to immediately contact the unit, a MAGIC Button has been

inserted in the telephone of every room.

Training

The Hilton Colombo Residence carries out the following training for its F.O. staff on a day today basis.

Carry out E-learning courses for customer service agents and duty managers to provide an

understanding about the customer and their requirements.

OnQ training is given to all F.O. staff to track and monitor guest related information and

enquiries.

Huddles-Everyday each department get together and discuss a situation or scenario related to

customers.

E.g. How to approach a customer who is in bad health?

In each department there is a departmental trainer who is responsible for carrying out training

sessions.

17

Handling Customer Complaints

In addition to the above mentioned duties, Customer complaints are also handled by the MAGIC unit or

the front office staff. When a customer makes a complaint the Front Office Manger will carry out an

inquiry immediately and directly reports it to the General Manager. The Front office manger will

immediately apologize from the customer and ensure that the problem is solved. After that the complaint

will be recorded in the OnQ system as a log problem and the staff ensures that such problem will not rise

again.

7. Practices of relationship marketing

Customer Loyalty Programmes – Hilton

The following loyalty programmes are being offered to the customers of Hilton Colombo residencies and

the Hilton chain as a whole.

H Honors

o This is a loyalty scheme offered to the Hilton chain as a whole where by each customer is

given a unique number at the time of their visit. Through the assignment of such a

number customer details can be recorded and can be accessed by the chain as a whole.

This will increase the level of convenience to the customer as when he/she visits a hotel

in the same chain; the same information does not have to be provided again and again as

the chain maintains a database with the relevant information.

o This will also lead to improved customer satisfaction as this will ensure that customer

preferences are satisfied in an individual basis with the information gathered and shared.

Doubling the H Honors

o The loyal customers are given the opportunity to double the H Honors by offering highly

attractive rates and by providing double points for stays.

On line offerings – Advance Purchase Rates

o For advance bookings made before 15 days, a discount of 15% will be provided.

18

Special offerings to B2B customers

o The company enters into agreements with the B2B customers who uses the facilities of

the hotel at regular intervals. A fixed rate which is lower that the general rate will be

offered to these customers. These agreements will be entered into by the sales and the

business development departments of the company.

Olympic games in London

o The “come with us Sweepstakes” offer will give one lucky winner free accommodation

in the visit to London next year to watch the Olympic Games.

Extended Escape

o The customers can extend their stay at the hotel while reducing the rates by 25% if a

minimum of 2 nights have been spent at the hotel.

Means used to improve service quality

Customer service is a very important aspect of the hotel industry. Guests of hotels interact with the

employees at all hours of the day and night and depend on them for a variety of needs. Hilton has brought

up several actions to ensure continuous improved service quality. Out of which they have given employee

training the highest consideration.

Train and retrain your employees on the importance of offering good customer service.

Evaluating employees

Rewarding employees with better performance

Publicly recognize employees who are mentioned specifically by guests as offering a positive

experience and exhibiting excellent customer service

Enhance standards of facilities.

They also use the concept of SERVQUAL model.

19

Feedback mechanisms used in measuring service quality

Hilton hotel chain practices obtaining customer feedbacks as one of the crucial aspects of improving

service quality. Placing a suggestion box on the help desk, conducting customer satisfaction surveys,

having a complaint section are the current mechanisms used by this organization.

Once they gather customer feedbacks they identify the negative feedbacks, rank them according to the

highest number of complaints and carry out necessary improvements to enhance quality. They ensure the

effectiveness of their corrective implementations through another survey with the same set of customers

who gave the negative feedbacks.

Practice of Relationship Marketing

Relationship marketing of Hilton Colombo Residencies can be elaborated based on the following

components of the relationship marketing orientation.

Trust

Bonding

Communication

Shared Values

Empathy

Reciprocity

1. Trust

The brand “HILTON” is a world renowned brand through which it’s quality, superiority

and class is clearly communicated to the customers. This clearly creates a trust in the

customer’s mind regarding the services of the company.

The high image possessed by Hilton Colombo Residencies also enables the customers to

build trust on this company.

20

The confidentiality of customer information collected is ensured by restricting such

information only to the:

i. Front Office staff

ii. Business Development Department

iii. Finance Department. This will create a trust on the customer’s mind regarding

the confidentiality of their personal and other information.

The company has adopted the strategy of “UNDER PROMISE and OVER DELIVERY”.

This ensures that the customers are always satisfied as they receive more service than

they expect. This will lead towards increased trust on the company operations and the

company as a whole.

2. Bonding

The company always tries to bond with the customers and as a result engages in the

provision of Surprise Birthday cakes, Chocolate boxes, Flowers etc. to the company’s

customers. This will create a feeling of being at home to the customers as they are mainly

long term residents.

The customers to bond with the employees of the company. This can be seen with the

ways in which the customers interact with the Hilton staff. The customers also tend to

share the food of their home countries they prepare when they are residing in the hotel.

Also souvenirs will also be gifted to their close staff members before their departure from

the hotel.

This clearly shows that Hilton clearly values its customers and the customer’s too build

good relationships with the staff through such bonding.

21

3. Communicate

The communications with the customers is mainly carried out through the use of the

“Magic Button”. This is a special button in their land lines to directly communicate with

the staff of the hotel conveniently and in a timely manner, regarding any request,

complaint or for any other need.

“HUDDLES” is another concept with in Hilton which is used to increase the

effectiveness through which communications with customers are carried out. This is a

training done daily to improve customer service. Non verbal communications are given

high priority at these sessions along with how to be more courteous to the valued

customers.

The staff is also trained to identify the frame of mind of the customer and to respond to

their needs accordingly. If a customer raises his/her voice during a conversation, it clearly

shows that the customer is dissatisfied due to some reason. The staff will indentify the

reason for such dissatisfaction and will attend to the need promptly.

The availability of a 24/7 call centre has also made communications between the

customers and the hotel convenient. The staff has been specially trained on how to

communicate with the customers while clearly demonstrating empathy.

The Hilton hotels have been integrated allowing easy communications between all the

hotels in the chain. Therefore when a customer who has previously visited a hotel goes in

to another in the Hilton chain, his or her preferences will be identified through the

integrated database and a personalized service can be given to the customer, increasing

customer loyalty and satisfaction.

22

4. Shared Values

There are specific brand building blocks that are common to the Hilton chain. These

concepts are applied throughout the chain to create a lasting experience to the Hilton

customers.

Personalize - Satisfying individual customer requirements to ensure maximum customer

pleasure

Hassle free – The experience with Hilton will be hassle free from the booking to departure

ensuring maximum fulfillment

Consistency – The service provided throughout the chain will be consistent to each and every

customer of each and every hotel in the chain

Creating a moment - The experience created with Hilton will be a memorable one for all of the

customers.

5. Empathy

Hilton Colombo Residencies caters to the needs of the customers by understanding their

needs and requirements entirely. The arranging of transport at check and baggage

handling out will be done to ensure customer convenience and to ensure an undisturbed

departure.

The customer complaints will be looked in to immediately to enable the customer to

enjoy the stay without any trouble.

The dietary requirements of the customers will be identified and meals will be prepared

accordingly and if a customer requests for an item which is not available in the hotel

kitchen, the hotel staff will go the extra mile to get that item from outside of the hotel

without denying the request of the customer.

The hotel resides many international residents who will be in the hotel for a long period.

The staff will time to time surprise such residents with platters of food of their countries.

Indian platters, Arabic platters are most common. This will help the residents to feel at

home even though they are far away from their home cou

23

Conclusion

Customer Relationship Management is a company-wide business strategy designed to reduce costs and

increase profitability by solidifying customer satisfaction, loyalty, and advocacy. The Hilton Colombo

residencies which operates as a service organization has major involvements with customers, hence

Customer Relationship Management practices plays a vital role at Hilton Colombo residencies.

Hilton combo residencies mainly use an OnQ system for managing their customer databases and delivery

of information. The front office is integrated to the other functions of the hotel to ensure a customized

offering to the customers. It is a vital function for the hotel industry as this is the central point of customer

contact. H Honors is the main loyalty scheme provided to the customers of the Hilton chain and customer

retention is ensured through this scheme and other loyalty schemes. Hilton obtains regular customer

feedbacks and is in the process of continuous service quality improvements.

The business context today is highly competitive, complex and dynamic. Therefore those who win

customers will ensure their survival where others will die out. Therefore it is proved that any

organization to exist, better customer relationships is a must.

24