Radisson Hotels were started in 1962 by Curt Carlson who bought one Radisson Hotel in Minnesota at the time (Schroeder, 2006). By 1998, Mr. Carlson had expanded to over 300 Radisson Hotel locations in multiple countries around the world (Schroeder, 2006). One of the ways that the Radisson Hotels were able to grow at such a phenomenal rate is its focus on the customer’s experience. Radisson Hotels implemented a “Stay your own way” advertising campaign in order to enhance the focus on the customer (2008). They have also developed global partners in order to move into other countries quickly and successfully.
The Radisson Hotel organization has also chosen to market with technology by implementing such things as the fully integrated guest information system, product distribution system, and the customerKARE system (Schroeder, 2006). They have also implemented control measures to track employee and guest satisfaction globally.
Radisson Hotels defines their service guarantee very clearly through five strategies that must be focused on. These strategies are a focus on the customer, to provide individualized marketing and services, to develop hotels in key locations, to leverage the Carlson companies, and to strengthen global brand presence (Schroeder, 2006).
One of the key ways that the Radisson Hotels implements their service guarantee is through the “Yes I Can” training program (2008). This program empowers the front line employees to take of situations for the customer without long chains of command to deal with first. This program encompasses the organizations service philosophy and allows the front line employees to meet the needs and wants of the individual customer.
In an organization of this magnitude utilizing fully integrated technology is a necessity in today’s fast paced and global society. Radisson Hotels found that by utilizing a world wide reservation system, which provided instant access to availability at any of the Radisson locations worldwide (2008). This made reservations much simpler for the customer, travel agents, and businesses trying to book rooms in multiple places on a regular basis. Since this was the first of its kind, it gave Radisson Hotels a competitive advantage.
Technology can also be utilized to accelerate the improvement of service quality through what Radisson Hotels calls the CustomerKARE System. This system allows employees of any of the worldwide Radisson Hotels to access information on customer service expectations of specific customers. This allows the customers to receive the same service that they had expected at any other Radisson that they had stayed at. This system also allowed the marketing department to instantaneously notice trends and other demographic information for certain geographic locations.
Radisson Hotels has implemented an “Express Yourself” (Schroeder, 2006) pre-arrival check in system to allow customers the convenience of checking in without spending time at the front desk. In order to improve measurement of customer service, Radisson Hotels could implement a self check out computer system that asks a few quick quality and service questions as the check out process is completed.
Radisson Hotels could also implement a call back to ensure the customers received what they were expecting once their stay is completed. This would help to solidify loyalty out of a customer because when the customer knows that the hotel cares enough to call and make sure they were satisfied without any provocation, the customer is more likely to continue staying at those hotels.
The case study suggests that employee satisfaction can be linked to customer satisfaction (Schroeder, 2006) therefore, accurate measurement and control of customer satisfaction will be critical to having satisfied employees. Another way to measure employee satisfaction would be to have surveys that the employees must fill out once a month when they receive their paycheck. This would be another control mechanism for customer satisfaction as well.
Many web sites have information available about the Radisson Hotels that provide unbiased information and reviews about individual Radisson Hotel franchises across the globe. For example, on tripadvisor.com information was able to be found regarding the Radisson Hotel in Bangkok. Basic room and service information is provided along with reviews from customers. Radisson employees can utilize sites like this one to read reviews that actual customers are posting. This is a wonderful control mechanism for driving the commitment to service quality worldwide at Radisson Hotels.
With the implementation of all the new service quality programs, Radisson Hotels had to implement an extensive training program to solidify the new brand strategy to all of the franchised worldwide. Also, once the training programs are completed, follow up must continue on a regular basis to ensure that the new quality and service standards are being utilized. This will help to align the entire organization from the top management team all the way down to the bell hop.
This case was full of interesting information about how the Radisson Hotels grew so quickly and with a mindset of the customer first and has thrived. The five strategies that were implemented at the Radisson Hotels were critical to it staying on top of the competition through a competitive advantage of superior customer service. The technology utilized to integrate all of the Radisson Hotels worldwide is critical to the success of the 100% Service Guarantee (Schroeder, 2006).
Based on reviewing the company website along with several reviews on tripadvisor.com, I feel that all of the programs implemented by the Radisson Hotels are excellent and helping daily to improve customer satisfaction and loyalty. One recommendation that I would make to the Radisson Hotels is that customer satisfaction cards placed in the rooms is not sufficient information to ascertain what most of the customers are feeling. Most of the time people will only fill those cards out in a room if they have something to complain about.
Therefore, I would suggest implementing a customer satisfaction survey into the checking out process. This would save the customer the time of completing this on their own and it would allow for a more accurate view of the service quality being received all across the globe. Aside from this small suggestion I feel that the Radisson Hotels should continue down the path they are on because they are making great strides toward being number one.
References
tripadvisor, (2008). Radisson Hotel Bangkok. Retrieved August 5, 2008, from tripadvisor.com Web site: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g293916-d305548-Reviews-Radisson_Hotel_Bangkok-Bangkok.html
(2008). The Radisson Story. Retrieved August 5, 2008, from Radisson Hotels & Resorts Web site: http://www.radisson.com/aboutus/story.jsp
Schroeder, R.G. (2008). Operations Management. New York, NY: McGraw- Hill Companies
