Introduction
Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts is one of the most developed hospitality companies with a global presence. The international character of this hospitality company shows that its leaders can adapt to clients’ requirements from different countries and provide them with high-quality services depending on their diverse needs. This paper focuses on the effective frameworks and strategies required to build and successfully manage a customer-centric tourism and hospitality business. It is possible to state that Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts is an excellent example of the successful customer relationship management strategies that allow managers to support the high quality of hospitality services the organization provides to its clients.
Importance of CRM in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry
For this paper, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, the hospitality business, is chosen as an example of the effective management model. Its vision is focused on providing clients with high-quality hospitality services internationally (Four Seasons, 2021). The company’s mission is to establish connections between people, as the representatives of the business state in the hotel review. The hotel representatives describe their mission in the following words:
“Whether you work with us, stay with us, live with us, or discover with us, we believe our purpose is to create impressions that will stay with you for a lifetime. It comes from our belief that life is richer when we truly connect to the people and the world around us” (Pougnet, 2022).
Therefore, the client-centered approach to business is essential in the mission and vision of the described company.
The peculiar detail is that the value statement has a similar meaning to the corporation’s mission and vision. It is possible to describe the value statement of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts using the following quote from the press release: “Hospitality businesses are built upon one golden rule: treating others as you wish to be treated yourselves” (Pougnet, 2022). These words correlate with the basic principles of customer relationship management, and practice shows that it allows Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts to achieve good results in the hospitality business.
The evaluation of these statements in the context of the Ashridge model shows that the goals set by the company are concise, rational, and correspond to the needs of all stakeholders. They focus mainly on providing high-quality services to customers, which is a critical element in the hospitality business. At the same time, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts aim to support balanced relationships with its employees, allowing the company to retain them and keep their motivation for practical work (Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, 2022). In all cases, relationships between people are a critical part of the company’s business strategy, which is a crucial element of performance.
The power strategy must adequately reflect clients’ needs, allowing businesses to respond to upcoming challenges. The mission statement should answer the questions about the goals the company pursues and its place on the market and understand the satisfaction level of clients, employees, and business owners (Blokdyk, 2019). According to the Ashridge model, four main components constitute the organization’s mission statement, including its goals, norms of behavior, values, and strategy (Blokdyk, 2019). These points allow the company’s mission statement to be concise and reflect the essential elements of business performance. Therefore, the Ashridge model analyzes the company’s mission statement from rational and utilitarian points of view, emphasizing its value and practical application.
The mission statement of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts reflects clients’ needs and satisfies their requirements. It is realistic and rational, which allows the implementation of these recommendations in practical experience. Pursuing clients’ needs, providing them with high-quality services, and treating customers and employees appropriately and respectfully will enable managers to implement the strategic plan. It states that customer relationship management strategically emphasizes client satisfaction and pursues utilitarian principles.
Critical Analysis
It is essential to establish long-term value in relationship management with clients. In other words, people should receive a positive impression from using the particular service, which guarantees that they will return to it in the future and recommend it to their acquaintances (Kaleka and Morgan, 2017). The peculiar detail is that many tourism and hospitality organizations do not regard long-term value as a necessary detail in their interaction with clients, paying more attention to the instant economic profit (Komarčević, Dimić, and Čelik, 2017). It is usually the result of the company’s inability to understand the general picture of the industry and to elaborate the required strategic framework to adapt their CRM to the organization’s needs.
It is possible to discuss the strategic framework of the hospitality business in the context of Gartner’s 8 CRM building blocks that increase the changes for positive business performance. This approach allows leaders to find a balanced strategic plan between the client’s needs and the organization’s interests. The first step in Gartner’s strategy is the company’s vision, which includes its value proposition, market position, and leadership (Keay, 2018). The business needs to understand whether their services are in demand on the market and what is the actual cost of their work (Keay, 2018). Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts already have 119 hotels worldwide, 44 residencies in major international resorts, and are represented in 47 countries, proving the assumption that the company is in demand in the hospitality business. In addition, Four Seasons is traditionally at the top of all ratings connected with prestigious hotels according to industry awards, traveler’s reviews, and clients’ polls (Four Seasons, 2021). This information allows us to state that the choice of strategic management in Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts is practical.
The strategy includes such elements as effective interaction with clients and within the organization, segments of the company, and objectives the leaders set in their work. The excellent division of the organization into parts allows leaders to divide responsibilities and provide customers with a better level of service (Keay, 2018). It is impossible without prior strategic planning due to the significant number of people who work in the company and the number of customers who use it. Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts provides clients with an individual approach to their needs, and the highest quality of services is the company’s competitive advantage (Four Seasons, 2021). Communication is essential in understanding clients’ needs and coordinating the actions of all employees who work in Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.
The discussed organization copes with all aspects according to Gardner’s classification. Its customer experience consists of communication with the client, collaboration, and customer feedback, analyzing their satisfaction level with the provided services, monitoring business performance, and understanding the requirements (Keay, 2018). It allows leaders to avoid illusions in evaluating the company’s business performance and to clearly understand the weak and the strong sides in providing services to clients. Organizational collaboration in Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts includes such elements as suppliers and partners, employee communication, compensations, competencies, and skills the employees have, customers’ understanding of the services they need, and the company’s structure and culture (Keay, 2018). Its processes include knowledge management and the customer life cycle (Liu, 2019). Information and insight into the organization analyzes the acquired data on business performance (Liu, 2019). Technology refers to the infrastructure the company uses to provide its services to clients (Keay, 2018). Metrics feature components such as the cost to serve, loyalty, satisfaction, retention, and value (Keay, 2018). These concepts allow managers to evaluate the business performance realistically to understand their initiatives’ effectiveness and elaborate improved strategic plans.
The hospitality business has followed a strategic approach regarding its CRM management. Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts show that customer value-oriented management influences financial results (Fernández and Moraga, 2017). Its profit and popularity increased due to the client-centered approach they promote. For example, people recommend the hotel to others, and the number of people who visit it increases. Customer relationship management campaigns also have positive social effects (Ascarza et al., 2017). For instance, CRM management principles promote positive behavior and raise the norms of politeness in the sphere.
Conclusions
Estimating the importance of a strategic management approach to CRM is a critical component of the practical work of the organization. Business leaders evaluate the strong and weak sides of the company’s performance using the strategic tools and results of the surveys. Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts is growing actively, and the company has opened new hotels in various countries, showing its effective strategic management. The investigation shows that most clients are satisfied with the hospitality services Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts provides, and the company has a reputation as a luxurious place to visit. In other words, a client-centered approach the company promotes as its primary principle in business improves the quality of the hotels’ services. This approach determines how the employees and managers cope with the daily responsibilities at the workplace and communicate with clients and co-workers. As a result, with its orientation on the client’s needs, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts has become a positive example for other companies in the hospitality business that might enhance their policies and actions.
Reference List
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