Hilton’s new ‘stay score’ system provides holistic customer view

Hilton Hotels & Resorts introduced a ‘stay score’ system that collates feedback across the guest journey as part of its voice of customer program transformation.

The stay score work forms part of its wider upgrade, which has so far seen 75,000 unique users who have collectively made 7. 5 million page views on the platform.

Its shortened post-day survey is generating higher completion rates and the shift to a five-point scale has proven to be more intuitive for guests, according to Hilton’s director of guest insights, Anthony Jahanbakhsh.

Jahanbakhsh told a recent Sydney Qualtrics X4 audience the guest experience metric is a composite score that analyses “guest feedback with a focus on key operational areas, ensuring that our metrics are both comprehensive and actionable.”

Guests’ insights bought into the platform include calls, chatbot interactions, email and messaging during and after a guest’s stay, in-app, and from digital surveys.

“The stay score evaluates critical aspects of the guest experience, including staff friendliness, speed of service and food and beverage quality.

“By monitoring these components, we can pinpoint areas where we excel and I didn't identify opportunities for improvement. 

“Now, this continuous monitoring and measurement are essential for maintaining high standards and consistently delivering exceptional guest experience,” Jahanbakhsh said

Jahanbakhsh said the metric provides “a clear, holistic view of the guest journey, enabling us to make data-driven decisions that enhance service quality and guest satisfaction. “

“By aligning our operational metrics with this new composite score, we ensure that every team member is focused on what truly matters to our guests, driving continuous improvement across all of our nearly 8000 properties.”

Part of the digital transformation was partly spurred on by Covid-19 leading to a deep dive analysis to help manage the pandemic climate.

“During the pandemic, we saw a dramatic decline in post-stay survey volume and also guest satisfaction scores. This, of course, was a critical issue because guest satisfaction is directly linked to business performance,” Jahanbakhsh said.

He said part of the challenge was that Hilton’s legacy tools and approaches were not delivering the insights and the capabilities required. 

“Response rates for surveys were declining, making it harder to gather critical feedback from our guests.  Surveys were sent to guests after the checkout, leaving no opportunity to recover the stay while guests were still on property.

“Ultimately, Hilton's ability was significantly hindered by our lack of consistent approaches to in stay customer communication, actionable customer insights, our antiquated approach emphasized post day surveys, neglected important in stay actions that could ultimately enhance the guest experience.”

Jahanbakhsh also said the siloed approach to data created an environment “where data wasn't effectively integrated, analysed, or even used to its full potential.”

“We realised that to move forward, we needed to overhaul the feedback systems, processes, strategies and integrate them into a cohesive, actionable framework that would allow us to respond swiftly and efficiently to guests' needs.”

This was achieved by adapting four pillars titled listen, contextualise, measure and act under its Voice of Customer program.

Jahanbakhsh explained the transformation “required us to rethink our entire approach to capturing and listening to guest feedback, ensuring that every single piece of data that we were capturing could be turned into actionable insights”.

To tackle declining customer feedback the company introduced micro surveys and integrated various data sources into a single platform, backed by Qualtrics.

“This included surveys, contact centre calls, messages, and review site data.  This integration allows us to break down those siloed data centres that I was talking about before, and actually allow us to analyse guest sentiment across multiple channels,” Jahanbakhsh said.

Jahanbakhsh also mentioned the team “adopted a five-star approach to simplifying our feedback metrics and develop simplified dashboards that are easier for on property and corporate team members to use”.

“By collecting more feedback during the stay and providing easier-to-use tools, we enabled our properties to address issues in real-time and prevent common problems from reoccurring. 

“This proactive approach ensures that we can make it right for our guests before, during and after their stay, enhancing their overall experience and driving loyalty.”

Jahanbakhsh said its VOC program and four-pillar approach to the transformation “has positioned us to be better to meet the evolving needs of our guests and to continue our legacy of innovation in the hospitality industry.”

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