26 September 2014 378 words, 2 min. read

How 5-star hotels enhance the customer experience

By Pierre-Nicolas Schwab PhD in marketing, director of IntoTheMinds
Customers of 5-star hotels are more and more demanding and hard to satisfy. Top-tier hotels have to undergo costly renovations (in Paris alone several palaces like the Ritz and the Lutetia have closed for long periods of time to enable […]

Customers of 5-star hotels are more and more demanding and hard to satisfy. Top-tier hotels have to undergo costly renovations (in Paris alone several palaces like the Ritz and the Lutetia have closed for long periods of time to enable building works) and must be highly innovative to improve the satisfaction of the visitors and provide an unforgettable customer experience. The latter has become a grail for top-tier hotel which strive for differentiation to keep loyal customers.

We gathered a few examples of how far hotels can go …

The Snowhotel in Kirkenes (Norway) provides an luxury experience in a hotel build with snow and ice. They go a step further and provides also transportation with sled dogs to fit with the global concept. The Peninsula hotels are also very imaginative to please their customers. The Peninsula HongKong is famous for the 14 Rolls-Royce put at clients’ disposal to transport them. The Louis XIII in Macao had apparently some difficulties to cope with it and will have a fleet of 30 brand new Rolls-Royce when they open in 2016.

If Rolls-Royces are not exclusive enough what can you do ? Well, it seems that marketing consultants have provided some solution to other luxury resorts.

The Cheval Blanc resort in de Maldives belongs to LVMH and clients are transported with a private … seaplane. Less exclusive but also very unique is the transportation medium used by Zinghy Bay in Oman. The resort is proud of being isolated and difficult to reach. Actually you’ll have to paraglide if you want to check in.

Enhancing customer experience can be more subtle however and sometimes even difficult to notice. Luxury is in the details, isn’t it. No one seems to be so serious about customer experience than the Peninsula group. They have a team of 32 engineers based in Hong-Kong who study customers behaviors, imagine and develop the equipments that will make the lives of rich clients easier. At the heart of each room is a digital tablet packed with technology that allows customer to manage all the devices in the room. If you chose to relax in your private Spa, just push the button on the tablet and the light will adapt automatically and at the door a message will display to avoid disturbances.



Posted in Marketing.

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