Kicking off our year-end issue themed People Make Travel Go Round, Raini Hamdi invites three leaders to pen their thoughts on winning people through personalised acts

Changing consumer behaviour, really?

HANS LERCH
A partner at Abercrombie & Kent, Lerch is himself a demanding customer – and has always been and always will be. The customer, says Lerch, has not changed, and therefore there will always be space for companies that provide personalised service

When was it that consumers changed? When did it come to people’s mind that buying a US$9,000 Hermès handbag in the morning and a pair of Levis for 30 bucks in the afternoon was perfectly fine? That etiquette did not matter that much or do not matter at all. Was it 30 years ago, 40 years ago? And what else has changed with customers, i.e. with us people, since?

Nothing! And I mean: Nothing!

I often eat in the same restaurants. The waiters know me and they call me by my name when I walk in. I drink expensive wines, I tip them well, they give me outstanding, personalised service and I love it. Swiss (International Air Lines, SWISS) does the same thing. I’m a Black cardholder, in the top 100 of 17 million clients, and they call me by my name 20 times before I’m seated. It’s embarrassing but it feels good.

I live in Zurich, so what do I do if I want to spend my weekend in Vienna? I book my flight on the Internet, like everybody else. I call the GM of the Sacher hotel to book me a room and I call the Steirereck to reserve my table. It’s among the 10 best restaurants in the world and they know me there. Do I need a travel agent? Would that enhance the experience? No. Do I get personalised service? Yes. The last link in the chain provides that, although since I’m an experienced traveller I use other channels to book my trip.

Why is Abercrombie & Kent successful in luxury travel? It’s because of the brand and personalised service, as almost everything else can be copied. FIT clients are treated like royalty when they book, when they travel and after they have returned.

I know of another company in the UK which specialises in city breaks, a product which almost everybody book online. This company has many knowledgeable travel consultants who know the destinations well. Clients book the good old-fashioned way, by phone, and the consultant quotes the good old-fashioned way, by hand, whilst on the phone! After a sale is made, the company concierge calls up the client and helps with booking opera tickets, good restaurant seats and whatever else that could enhance the experience. And what is the result? Thirty million pounds (US$45.5 million) turnover, a gross margin of close to 40 per cent and an EBIT margin of 15 per cent. Prices are high and operational costs too but it’s a very good business because of its highly competent and personalised service!

What has changed are the channels, opportunities to buy, information load, competition, the knowledge each individual today possesses, thanks to the societies we live in and thanks to the changes the Internet has created over the years. But has the individual, the person, the client, the consumer, you and me, really changed that much? I seriously don’t believe that. We mortals still look for what we have been looking for all along. Appreciation. Recognition.
Because we are clients, whether we buy luxury or anything else.

Have a heart, not a CRM system

LINDSEY UEBERROTH
The president & CEO of Preferred Hotels & Resorts encounters an experience that makes her ponder what personalisation is not. In this inspiring essay, she pens the true meaning and acts of personalised service

I travel approximately 150 days a year, logging hundreds of hours on airplanes. I recently boarded a flight and was unceremoniously handed an index card by the flight attendant stating that I had just passed the one million mile threshold on that airline. There were no words of congratulation, no glass of champagne, or any attempt to make me feel special.

What should have been a momentous occasion honouring my loyalty to this airline only brought a sense of depression and disappointment, and made me reflect on the importance and power of personalisation.

Personalisation is taking the extra time to understand what matters to someone and showing them you care. There is a fine line between personalisation and personal intrusion, but when done right, tailored approaches create a desire to come back, to commit, and to care – key sentiments that are incredibly important to me when I think about our hotel partners, associates and guests.

Preferred Hotels & Resorts has built a culture around celebrating our associates’ successes to show them that we appreciate their dedication to helping our business succeed, and to create a work environment that fosters trust, loyalty and emotion beyond a pay check. I personally recognise every associate’s birthday or milestone anniversary with the company and reach out to celebrate major life events like a long-awaited marriage proposal. Marking these occasions that are happening inside and outside of the office makes the difference in having associates feel like Preferred Hotels & Resorts is a company they enjoy working with, not just a “job.”

We dedicate the same level of personalisation to our hotel partners by celebrating every contract renewal with a bottle of champagne and a note of thanks for their continuous trust and partnership. More importantly are the random acts of thoughtfulness that show we value them as so much more than a client, which could be mailing a copy of a great book to the client who is an avid reader, to sending an Uber credit to someone who recently undertook a two-hour commute as a respite from the daily drive.

These same small acts of recognition go a long way with guests staying in our hotels. I have countless stories of little touches that have made me feel at home when I am literally thousands of miles way. One of my favourite examples is when The Jefferson Hotel in Washington, D.C. placed a framed picture of my dog in the room along with homemade biscuits that I could take back home because they knew how much I missed her and how much she would appreciate the treats. And when Wequasset Resort in Cape Cod gave me a room amenity of Bumble & Bumble shampoo and conditioner because it noticed I travel with my own and was running out of them.

These memorable experiences had nothing to do with a fancy high-tech CRM system. At the end of the day, authentic personalisation comes down to a person taking the time to notice and to execute on the little things that are important to someone.

While I won’t hold my breathe that the next flight attendant I encounter will somehow know I never want the peanuts, I will be forever appreciative of all the little efforts when it comes to personalisation.

Lipstick and WhatsApp messages go together

WILLIAM HEINECKE
The founder, CEO and chairman of Minor Group still gets a lipstick message on the mirror (it’s not what you think) and this simple, old-fashioned act – along with today’s technology – gives him a lot to hope for in the industry’s continued capability to deliver personalised service

PERSONALISATION has always been a fundamental aspect of the luxury hospitality industry but never more so than today.

As technology has advanced and made the world much more instant, so has the need for hoteliers to make use of it to fully personalise their guests’ experiences. Whether it is allowing all of our hotels to know that a guest’s favourite drink is a Tanqueray gin and tonic because he orders it every evening at sunset when staying in one of our hotels, or giving guests the ability to contact one of our hotel GMs directly through email or WhatsApp, today’s world allows for more personalisation and helps us to know and understand our customers better.

We all have our own needs and wants, our own desire for personalisation, but these needs and wants are exactly that – personal. How we recognise that, allow it to flourish and remember it, will continue to set us apart from what other organisations are doing. Personalisation is the key to making a luxury hotel successful. We all have good beds, loyalty programmes, spas and restaurants but it is the emotional connection with the people that makes the difference.

I was recently on a trip to the Maldives and the team at the hotel had taken the time to write ‘welcome back’ to Cathy and I in lipstick on the bathroom mirror in our room. Not only does this make me feel good but I know that the team has taken the time (the rarest commodity we have) to do something that we will appreciate and make us feel special.

Personalisation is also important for our team members. The more the teams feel like they are part of a big family and that we know what is important to them, the more they will be inspired to deliver great experiences for our guests. The Heinecke Foundation scholarships were born out of us wanting to understand and support our most important assets – our people and the most important part of their lives, their children and their education.

In the coming months, Anantara will celebrate its 15th birthday. The brand has come from a very humble beginning on the beaches of Hua Hin in Thailand, and has since expanded into deserts, jungles and cities, growing into a collection of 34 luxury hotels and resorts in 10 countries – with two new countries to be added soon with Anantara resorts opening in Sri Lanka and Oman. Anantara was born in response to the emergence of discerning travellers seeking luxury with a sense of indigenous discovery. During the last 15 years the way people travel and experience the world has changed but Anantara continues to satisfy guest desires to connect deeply and personally with their travel destinations.

Have the demands of our guests changed over the last 15 years? Not necessarily. Travel trends have changed but the hospitality industry is still effectively the same – people still want incredible experiences. Technology has helped improve the guest experience but our people are still the most important part of the success of our brands and our company, and it’s our people who consistently ensure that our guests enjoy a fully personalised experience every time they stay at our hotels and resorts.

This article was first published in TTG Asia, December 11, 2015 issue, on page 8. To read more, please view our digital edition or click here to subscribe.