Not so fast...on the surface, there may not be much to differentiate one hotel or casino from another. But there are critical differences in customer / guest service, and that is what often separates hospitality industry leaders from industry followers.
To ensure that companies capitalize on this opportunity, KPMG's Customer Centric Management (CCM™) approach helps hotels, casinos, hospitality industry retailers, and others develop comprehensive systems that focus on managing guest behavior and guest requirements to differentiate their services and gain a competitive edge.
"Companies in the hospitality and gaming industries recognize that they need to improve their customer focus," says Saverio Scheri, a KPMG senior manager and co-leader of the firm's Gaming Practice. Hotels and casinos need to attract guests to their properties and then make the entire experience special."
That experience begins at the beginning, with the initial reservation
call to the hotel / casino or call center,
and continues through arrival, services during the stay, checkout,
and then marketing follow-up. Through its CCM™ approach, KPMG helps
clients develop state-of-the-art systems that capture, analyze, and then
use data to help hotels and casinos manage customer behavior and create
value for their owners.
"Most hotel and casino companies have the systems in place to better manage customer behavior." says Frank Nardozza, partner in charge of KPMG's Hospitality Practice. "The problem is, some of these systems are inadequate to meet these sophisticated needs, and others contain too much or unmanageable information. The secret is to have the right systems in place that wilt capture and analyze the necessary information and show companies how to best deploy their resources.
For example. one major hotel franchisor, at its own expense, is in the process of installing consistent front-office and property management systems throughout all of its properties, even though they are independently owned franchises. This system will enable the company to track guest patterns across properties and, perhaps more important, to cross-sell other company services, including car rental, consumer products, real estate brokerage, and other services.
Armed with good data, hotels and casinos can then make the necessary strategic, marketing, and sales decisions required for gaining or maintaining a competitive advantage and creating superior shareholder value.
"It's a buyer's market out there," Nardozza says. "Guests today are demanding greater value than ever for their money. However, armed with the right information, the right analyses, and the right products, hospitality companies can manage those same guests to create the greatest value to the company and to its shareholders."
As a result, each guest experience is critical. Leading properties are becoming increasingly effective at translating volumes of guest experience data into specific operational changes that will continue to improve customer service and value.
"Over the years, companies have focused on maintaining their operations systems," says Michael Speer, a senior manager and leader of the firm's Hospitality Systems and Technology Practice. "That has meant good reservation, front-desk. and catering and sales systems.
"But that is no longer enough. Today, companies are mining this data
for gems about customer preferences
and trends. In the end, it's all about harnessing the technology to
make the guests feel special and enhance the guest experience."
Building a customer-centric organization means establishing critical linkages between data acquisition, analysis, and delivery. For example, compiling data about guests - data warehousing - can be a useless, expensive exercise, unless the data is accessible to and actionable for front-line employees who interact directly with guests.
"It's not technology for technology's sake," explains Speer, who has designed CCM™ based systems for several major hotel chains. "It's a matter of providing solutions - putting information into the hands of people who need it and can act on it for the benefit of guests."
Uniquely, KPMG's CCM™ approach combines technology expertise with the softer side of change management. As companies move to a customer-centric approach, they will need to rethink customer and product strategy, reengineer the supporting financial management systems, and develop entirely new "business scorecards" to measure and reward performance. Along those lines, CCM™ carries over into traditional change management areas, including performance management systems and compensation.
At one gaming industry client, for example KPMG used its CCM™ approach to develop a new point-of-sale system and then provided tools to capture this information and report it more effectively. This, in turn, enabled the property to better serve guests during their stay and to make appropriate marketing decisions.
Other properties, especially casinos, have used CCM™ elements to maximize their growth opportunities. According to Scheri, a former gaming industry operations executive in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, more and more companies are discovering that hidden profit centers exist throughout their operations. For example, in the past, casinos essentially gave away rooms and food just to attract new guests, especially high rollers, and to motivate them to return to their facilities. Today, though, non-gaming areas are an increasing source of focus, as companies and hotels and casinos have discovered significant profit opportunities in rooms, food, shows, retail space, and other aspects of their properties.
The key, Scheri says, was capturing and then understanding guest preferences and patterns.
"This is not really an 'a-ha' area for CFOs and other senior managers," Scheri adds. "They have understood for a long time the importance of satisfying - even delighting - their guests. Now, by becoming customer-centric, they can put the technology, marketing, and people systems in place to capitalize on this important opportunity.
"Hotels and casinos today don't have a choice. They know they have to put the guest first in everything they do. If they are not already doing that, then they are behind. And then, it is not a matter of catching up. Rather, they need to leapfrog over the competition."
Despite the stiff competition in the industry, opportunities abound for companies to establish all-important brand loyalty among guests.
"To be an industry leader in the hotel and gaming industries." Speer says, "becoming customer-centric is what companies need to do. And, once they decide to do it, they need to do it right."
For, in the end, all the systems really matter little to the hotel or casino guest the ultimate end-user.
"It's all about how guests feel when they leave," Nardozza says. "If guests feel they have received good value for their dollar, they will come back over and over again."
The Real Estate Report is published by KPMG's National Real Estate, Hospitality, and Construction Practice. © 1998 by KPMG Peat Marwick LLP All rights reserved. For additional information email KPMG.
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