CRM ON TAJ PALACE HOTEL

Hotels & Tourism Industry

According to the tourism ministry, 4.4 million tourists visited India in 2009 and demand will soar to 10 million in the year 2010 - to accommodate 350 million domestic travellers

India ranks 18th in business travel and will be among the top 5 in this decade

Hotels today are implementing innovative ways to capture demand, lower operating costs, and defer maintenance, renovation and expansion activities

'Hotel Industry in India' is set to grow at 15% a year.

Background of Taj Palace

Mr. Jamsetji.N.Tata was the founder and opened first hotel The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, Bombay in 1903

Taj Hotels Resort and Palaces comprises more than 60 hotels in 45 locations across India with an additional 15 international hotels in the Malaysia, United Kingdom, United States of America, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Africa, the Middle East and Australia

1978-82:  Taj launched in Delhi with its luxury hotel - Taj Mahal Hotel. Located 10 minutes from the Airport, 10 minutes from down town situated

amidst 6 acres of landscaped greenery Taj Palace hotel including the finest cuisine in town. On request in-room

fax, E-mail facility, Laptop computer, background information on major Indian industries, plus on line accessibility to world business information is available.

There are six restaurants and a bar in the hotel to offer its guests. To name the few are Orient Express, Isfahan, The Tea House of the August Moon, Handi and My Kind of Place.

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Segmentation

1. Normal guest

2. VIP3. VVIP4. VVVIP

Few elite celebrities, media people, travel agents, political leaders, regular guests, Taj advance plus card holders, big business men, gusts with complaint records

STATIONS OF EXPERIENCE Pre-Arrival

Reservations: During the reservation a preference sheet is mailed to capture the details and to enhance the stay experience.

Airport pick-up: An airport representative is sent along with a chauffeur holding a placard

Arrival◦ Welcome at the lobby: Royal welcome by the guards in typical Rajasthani Attire.

◦ Royal Welcome for Groups: Special arrangements for groups are made. A huge caravan of Elephants, camels , horses along with a professional band is called for the reception of the group.

◦ ATG( Aarti, Tiki and Garlanding):

◦ Welcome Drinks upon arrival

Check-in◦ Escorting

◦ Welcome Letter

◦ Room Orientation

Cont’d Experience during stay

◦ Heritage walk

◦ Special Occasion Celebration

◦ City tour by vintage car

◦ Cultural music and dance

◦ Unique dinner experience

◦ Grand Wedding

◦ Other Facilities

Check Out◦ Feedback Form at time of Turn Down

◦ Souvenir: A fragrant incense stick wrapped in a satin cloth is gifted to the customers as a souvenir.

General CRM Picture

CRM used in Taj Palace Hotel

1. Guest preference sheet:

• At the time of the reservation a preference sheet is sent across to the guest along with the reservation conformation mail

• This is primarily to capture the various preferences of the customer such as food habits (Diabetic/ Low fat etc.), special needs etc. It also asks if the customer is coming on a special occasion or not and arrangements are made accordingly made on the visit

e.g. If the guest is coming on a honeymoon or anniversary the room is decorated accordingly, cake is placed in the room etc.

Cont’d2. Complaint Handling Software:

• This is another important tool in improving the service of the hotel and to capture guest complaints. If a complaint is registered by a customer it is updated on the software.

• Gradually as the time lapses the status displayed turn from green to yellow and ultimately red. This status can be seen by any of the managers as the software is connected to the central server. A daily Action Taken Report is generated which is signed by the operational head.

3. Fidelio:

•Fidelio is the property management system used by Indian Hotels Company Limited. Although it is used for various functions but it also plays an important role in the CRM processes of the hotel.

• It is used for saving the profile, preferences and special information (Anniversary, Birthday, allergies etc.) related to the guest on a central server.

•This information is accessible to all the Taj properties; therefore, whenever there is a repeat customer the hotel staff already has all the necessary information enabling them to delight the customer by personalized service.

4. Wow card:

•This is a special instrument used by personal butlers for recording guest preferences & other important information related to the guest.

•This is a small booklet which is carried by the staff at all times and whenever they get any information which can be useful in the future to please the customer, they simple record it here.

•This information is further uploaded on the PMS making it accessible to all. 

5. GRE Courtesy call:

•Once the guest is in the hotel and stayed for sometime (a day or two) a courtesy call is made by the guest relationship executive during the evening hours.

•This is just to know about the guest’s experience and how can it be improved in case there is some difficulty being faced by him/her.

• In case there is a complaint it is uploaded on the CRM software and further processes are followed as mentioned above.

6. Room Feedback form:

During the evening service/ Turn- down service a feedback form is placed on the bed to know about the customer experiences.

 

7. GSTS (Guest Satisfaction Tracking system):

Post departure an automated mail from the central server is sent to the guest requesting to fill up a feedback form. There are various heads covering the various stations of experiences which are scored on a Likert Scale. This information is quantified to highlight the areas of concern. This score is also used as a measure of performance of a hotel unit. There are few loopholes in the system such as• Email ids not updated which automatically stops the guest from giving the feedback.• Guest profile not saved intentionally.

Loyalty Programmes of Taj Hotel Taj Inner Circle Programme: The Taj Inner Circle is the frequent guest programme of Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces. Besides a bouquet of benefits, as a member one can earn points when they stay or stop by for a meal at one of their restaurants at participating Taj Hotels in India and abroad.

Member can earn points on their eligible spends on room, food and beverage, laundry, telephone and business centre. They can also earn points on their spends at the Taj Khazana boutiques located in select Taj Hotels in India. Redeem their points for room nights, memorable meals, and gift certificates redeemable at Taj Khazana, Taj Salon, Jiva Spa, and gifts from a hand-picked selection. Taj Advantage Plus: Taj Advantage Plus is the perfect programme for their valued corporate bookers in India and comes power-packed with great earning and redemption opportunities, special benefits and exciting offers. Enrolment to the programme is by invitation only. Taj Alliance Preferred Partner Programme: The Taj Alliance Preferred Partner Membership (TAPP Me) Programme has been designed exclusively for their partners in the travel trade in India. Enrolment to the programme is by invitation only.

Programme for Employees

Employee loyalty program called STARS, the 'Special Thanks and Recognition System‘ - was an initiative aimed at motivating employees through acknowledgements and rewards.

The STAR system also led to global recognition when the group bagged the 'Hermes Award' for 'Best Innovation in Human Resources' in the global hospitality industry.

Taj Group developed the 'Taj People Philosophy' (TPP) which helped the company boost the morale of its employees and improve service standards

Seranata Intraware

Connects all 75 hotel of Taj and have centralized software

The scenario or the problem◦ Problem of fragmented distributed information

◦ Problem of delicacy and missing of data

◦ Scalability Issues: incorporating new hotels in the chain involved consuming and time processing process

Cont’d

•The new solution has provided Taj hotels, resorts and palaces with a truly integrated central platform that streamlines all reservations, distribution and customer relationship management process. •The central reporting module provides key performance indicators and business analysis capabilities for all hotel area groups. •The new campaign management module supports Taj’s ongoing endeavour to win new customers and to encourage return business based on targeted campaigns to the existing customer base.

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•Don’t like green chilies in food.•Likes pitta cheese in sandwiches •Son name is Joval and daughter name is Alicia, keep a jar full of cookies every day for them.

Details• John Abraham likes rasgullas in supper.• Nana Patekar is fond of tawa fish fry.• Esha Deol prefers her room ash tray to be cleaned twice a day.• Anjelina Joli likes her beef steaks medium done.• Miss Chanda Kochhar (MD ICICI Bank) prefers sandwiches with

sides.• Besides a host of benefits guest earns points when they stay or stop

by for a meal at one of the restaurants of taj • 1 Point for every Rs 100 they spend on food and beverage • Each point is worth Rs 10. • The points are redeemable for holidays and memorable meals at the

Taj and for gifts from a hand-picked selection of merchandise.

Guest is having Birthday

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Guest 7 year kid’s favorite animal

is elephant

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A couple had fight in room.

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A business women after a hectic day, full of business meetings.

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Guest coming to hotel for honeymoon

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Financial Details Net profit Taj Hotels 06 = 183.78Cr

07 = 322.39Cr

Net profit Oberoi Hotels 06 = 188.81Cr 07 = 200.45Cr

Net profit ITC Hotels 06 = 73.17Cr 07 = 126.43Cr

Competition ITC Maurya Sheraton

◦ 1. Identification of all Customer Relationship management ‘vehicles’

◦ 2. Integration of these Customer Relationship management ‘vehicles’

DATA CAPTURE VEHICLES Maurya Sheraton has identified 5 such vehicles (from marketing point of

view) which are also the touch points for the hotel in the process of managing its Customer Relationship. These vehicles are:-◦ Field selling

◦ Loyalty Programs

◦ Distribution Points

◦ Web

◦ Call Centers

◦ Welcome Award - Rewarding Relationships

◦ Welcome Link- Bring home the rewards

◦ Sheraton Plus- The art of fine dining with a special edge

The Oberai Group of Hotels

CRM integrated in Sales and Marketing operation. They use a variety of after sales tactics for customer bonding and

loyalty. Co-operative and collaborative relationships with customers seem

to be the most prudent way to keep tracks their changing expectations and appropriately influencing it.

The Oberoi has ensured the above by the various ‘end user’ and ‘booker’ programs such as (Starkov, 2006)

◦ Top – The Oberoi Plus

◦ Connections – Bookers’ Program

◦ Food Festivals

◦ Tie-Ups

Future Outlook

•TAJ Group has already entered the low cost chain of hotels with its venture into Ginger Hotels. Hence, we as a group, decided to come up with a new service of TAJ which would be in accordance with what Taj stands for – high class and exclusivity.

•The new venture for TAJ would be a Cruise ship services. This has the following features:

1. Start cruises to popular domestic and international destinations. Eg: Goa, Sri Lanka, Singapore.

2. For international, only start with the South-east Asian countries and then expand to other international boundaries based on the success levels.

•Most of these customers have been patronages of TAJ Group for a long time and they will definitely appreciate this new line of services by TAJ.

Conclusion and Recommendation

Strict compliance to the SOPs Improvement in knowledge & skill set of employees Customer centric vis-à-vis profit centric approach Stopping unethical practices especially in seasons Treat all the customers equally Taking feedback not only from external customers but also the

internal customers i.e., the employees. Proper check on the hotel staff’s and processes’ efficiency by the

management, say by employing Mystery Customers. Keeping regular track of the sales data for further leads and follow

up

Presenters:Sahil NarangSirish Man AmatyaSuprita TamrakarShraddha Mukul