Digital Customer Centricity in Hospitality

Responsabile: Manuela De Carlo

Anno 2017

This report was designed to provide a ground for an initial understanding of the impact of CRM Hoxell within the hotels that are adopting the solution.

Four properties were in fact considered eligible for this study. Selection criteria included: (i) properties using Hoxell (back end and front end) for at least one year (the data of the installation of last component was chosen as indication of a ‘pre Hoxell’ and ‘post Hoxell’ periods); (ii) management willing to engage in a qualitative phase with semi-structured interviews; (iii) organizations willing to share relevant data with the research team.

The research design was then built around the perception of customer centricity of each single organization which should be reflected into customers’ evaluation on TripAdvisor.com, and access to the Hoxell platform (from the organization perspective) and a higher customers’ value perception. The study uses a mix methods approach (qualitative interviews, statistical analysis on average guest’s ratings, automated text analysis on reviews, reputation analysis – thanks to the partnership with Travelappeal.com – and analytics analysis) towards the definition of impact as a multidimensional construct.

Results from the interviews, shows that guests appreciate the personalization options (front end) offered by the tool to make their holiday unique, staff members are made more accountable for the overall customers’ experience and the organization is perceived to be more efficient. Looking at the average rating of the properties, there is a clear increase in the customers’ rating after the Hoxell adoption and in some cases there is a clear shift of the discussions in social media towards staff excellence. Additionally, the study of analytics shed lights on the relationship between Hoxell usage in the analysed hotels and the commitment towards customer centricity of the organization and the customers’ average rating on TripAdvisor.com