Introduction
Any company relies on its customers to generate revenue. It is therefore very important to establish a strong working relationship with them. In the hotel industry for example, the management deals directly with the client and any unresolved dispute between the two can lead to the hotel incurring major losses.
It is therefore important for the management to implement a customer relationship management strategy to maintain a good relationship with its customers. The strategy is important to offer satisfactory services that lead to increased sales in the hotel (Wenderoth 23). A new hotel being established should put up a workable strategy that will help it capture the customers from other competing hotels.
Case Study: Carlton Hotel Saudi Arabia
Carlton Hotel is strategically located in the heart of the capital city in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain. Being a new entrant into the competitive market of Saudi Arabia, Carlton has adopted unique features that make it more outstanding from its competitors.
The location is ideal for customers to access it at any time. Carlton offers a unique model of comfort that is only experienced in a first class hotel. The rooms have been built strategically to enable the guest have the most impressive views of the city. The interior and exterior design of the hotel reflects the culture of the people of Saudi Arabia mixed with a touch of international art.
However, despite the beautiful aspect of the hotel and its ideal location, the management has implemented a customer relationship strategies that have made the services offered at the hotel exceptional. This has made the hotel to be one of the leading hotels in Saudi Arabia with the competitors unable to keep up with its pace.
The Service Marketing Used By Carlton Hotel
The service marketing adopted by Carlton Hotel to maintain its customers is unique hence making the venture successful. For a business to successfully market its services, there are things that it should consider. These factors are known as the 3 P’s that comprise the marketing mix of a service (Hoffman and Bateson 43). The first factor that should be considered is the people to deliver the services. Carlton Hotel has employed the best workforce to deal with the customers.
All the employees from the different departments in the hotel possess the required training to enable them deliver their services appropriately. This is an important aspect to consider as most of judgments by a customer are based on the services received from the staff. Carlton’s management ensures that the staff members are friendly and any dispute between a member of the staff and a customer is resolved amicably. The other factor is the process involved to get that service.
Carlton has made it their policy to make the process of dealing with customers simple and efficient (Rabinowitz and Rex 54). There is a department that deals with any problems that arises at any time hence fostering customer loyalty. The physical evidence is the other marketing mix that has enabled Carlton Hotel to stay ahead in the competitive market. The hotel as earlier said is clean, well designed and strategically located. (Zeithami, Bitner and Gremier 33).
Application Of Customer Relationship Management
Besides offering fantastic services to its client, Carlton Hotel have established a working relationship model with the customers to ensure that they enjoy the services offered at the hotel. The model adopted by Carlton Hotel has been divided into three parts. The operational part ensures that the services have been advertised to the public to make them aware of its existence (Peppers and Rogers 12). The sales and marketing team has been well trained to encompass all the character traits of an excellent customer service.
They handle any complaints or questions from clients and ensure that the client preferences and habits are recorded. This ensures that the favorable service is always available to the customer at any given time. The hotel has also installed a state of art customer relationship management software that deals directly with the clients. The software enables information of the customers calling the hotel to be stored hence making it easy for the management to serve their clients without confusion.
This is one aspect that keeps on attracting clients to Carlton Hotel. The co-operational part ensures that the management stays in constant contact with the customers. They have managed to do this by sending grateful messages to their guests through emails and to notify them of any changes at the hotels. The clients therefore feel emotionally attached to the hotel hence become regulars (Nagdeman 12).
Conclusion
Carlton Hotel has achieved its vision of being among the leading hotel in Saudi Arabia. This is due to its ability of evaluating and implementing the required service marketing in the industry. This has seen the hotel expand rapidly to cater for its increasing clientele over the few months that it has been in operation.
Being situated in a Muslim region, it has managed to balance itself so as to meet the needs of clients from different religious backgrounds. It is therefore very important for any hotel management to critically evaluate and understand all the service marketing issues before implementing them. This is essential for the management to keep a good working relationship with the customer at all times. This not only increases the hotel’s revenue but also helps it maintain the required standard to place it ahead of its competitors.
Works Cited
Hoffman, Douglas and Bateson, John. Service Marketing: Concepts, Strategies, & Cases. USA: South-Western Cengage Learning, 2008. Print.
Nagdeman, Jay. The professional’s guide to financial services marketing: Bite-sized Insights for creating Effective Approaches. New Jersey: John Wiley& Sons, 2009. Print.
Peppers, Don and Rogers, Martha. Managing Customer Relationships: a strategic framework. New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc, 2010. Print.
Rabinowitz, Eric and Rex, Karin. Nurturing Customer Relationships. New York: Compendium Publishing, 2006. Print.
Wenderoth, Martin. Particulars in the Marketing Mix for Service Operations. Germany: Grin Verlag, 2007. Print.
Zeithami, Valerie, Bitner, Mary and Gremier, Dwayne. Services Marketing. 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2008. Print.