Cornell Hospitality Research Summit Presenters Outline the Path to Guest Satisfaction
March 22, 2013 - A series of presentations at the Cornell Hospitality Research Summit drilled into the best methods of ensuring customer satisfaction and developing service excellence, with the goal of improving revenues and promoting customer loyalty.
A series of presentations at the Cornell Hospitality Research Summit drilled into the best methods of ensuring customer satisfaction and developing service excellence, with the goal of improving revenues and promoting customer loyalty. The new proceedings, “Cornell Hospitality Research Summit 2012: Building Service Excellence for Customer Satisfaction,” by Glenn Withiam, is available at no charge from the Cornell Center for Hospitality Research, which produced the Summit.
While most hoteliers inherently understand the connection between service excellence and customer satisfaction, a study by PKF Hospitality Research demonstrated how tightly the two are related. Beyond that, guest satisfaction depends on a well-kept property. Inadequate capital expenditures (capex) in recent years have caused satisfaction issues for some hotels, while others have benefited by maintaining capex. Employees' attitudes are essential to guest satisfaction, and the pacing, continuity, and order of service procedures are also important. Service is far more important in determining the guest-purchase decision than even price and location. Well-designed marketing research provides the keys to providing guest value and earning their loyalty.
A series of presentations on revenue management revealed that hotels have not gone as far as they might with integrating revenue management systems to make pricing decisions. Advanced revenue management information is available through internet analytics, in addition to traditional methods. Two chains that have developed new revenue management decision systems are Hilton Worldwide and InterContinental Hotels Group. Both are using a data driven approach to achieve price optimization. Data for pricing decisions includes calculating the difference between revenue forecasts and actual revenue, and one analysis is to determine the reasons for any discrepancies. Hotels should not ignore the strategic use of distribution channels, including GDS-based approaches.
About The Center for Hospitality Research
A unit of the Cornell School of Hotel Administration, The Center for Hospitality Research (CHR) sponsors research designed to improve practices in the hospitality industry. Under the lead of the center's 75 corporate affiliates, experienced scholars work closely with business executives to discover new insights into strategic, managerial and operating practices. The center also publishes the award-winning hospitality journal, the Cornell Hospitality Quarterly. To learn more about the center and its projects, visit www.chr.cornell.edu.
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