COURTESY OF MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL
With thousands of properties across the globe, Marriott works to accommodate the cultural needs of all of its guests.
if they received information about
their stay that was personalized,
reassuring and timely.
As a result of its pre-arrival service, Marriott can cater to guests’
special needs. For example, Muslim
guests have requested that Marriott place arrows pointing east toward Mecca in their rooms so they
may practice their daily prayers.
For a particular group of Japanese guests, Marriott included in
the room a welcome letter written in Japanese that identified a
Marriott global-sales liaison who
addressed any questions. Also in
the rooms were Japanese menus
and amenities.
“The sales manager on the account has established an ongoing
customer relationship that periodically keeps the customer contact
informed of Marriott’s diversity
efforts, including the hotel’s diversity achievement, since this was
an important factor to the customer choosing Marriott as its
preferred location,” says Kimo
Kippen, vice president, Learning
Center of Excellence.
Company:
MGM MIRAGE
Top 50 Rank: 39
Main Competitors: Harrah’s
Annual Revenue: $7 billion
Strategies: In-depth survey to really understand what all customers
want and follow-up diversity training
Payoff: Ninety percent of executives now trained; advertising-agency
staff also being trained
THE STORY: MGM MIRAGE owns
and operates 17 properties, including Mandalay Resort Group. Mandalay sends each guest a survey via
e-mail 48 hours after checkout. On
any given day, 1,500 guests check
out of Mandalay and the company
receives 500 completed surveys
per day, a 33 percent return rate.
Mandalay counts 40,000 surveys
in its database. The survey covers
significant demographics, including income, race, ethnicity, gender,
entertainment preferences and
experiences, dining experiences,
room experiences and money
spent at the resort.
“One of the things you have
to do first to excel in customer
service is to truly understand what
the customer wants,” says Scott
Voeller, vice president of hotel
marketing for Mandalay Bay. “One
of the things we found out is that
people want to get a cup of coffee
easily in the morning.”
Mandalay’s executives
considered where, when and what
type of coffee accurately reflects
the hotel’s image. Instant coffee
was not the answer. Voeller said
they are currently considering
