Impact of Digital Transformation on Hospitality A Case Study of Hilton Hotels

Industry Overview

ODigitalization has brought a huge change in the hospitality sector and improved the ways by which the hotels, holiday resorts, parks and restaurants work. It has been observed that the digital transformation has made a rapid growth in the hospitality sectors as people get easy access to quick check-ins and one touch payment options, virtual assistance platforms, direct online bookings and smart in room technologies. However; the refinements of the hotel services and facilities hang on the administration by the hospitality industries (Khetsuriani, 2020). New technology of digitalization has made the work of the hotels and restaurants hassle-free and without any trouble. The study thus focuses on the working of the hotel Hilton with the adaptation of digitalization. Calculated and deliberated improvement has revived the administering power over the subject matters (Ristova and Dimitrov, 2019). Hilton is among the avant-garde of the international hotel brands that depends mostly on the digital technology in their proffer to engross and absorb their precious digitally connected customers who finds ways to interact through the use of applications, smart phones, tablets before the staying, during their stay and after their stay in the renowned hotel.

Analysis of the Digital Transformation Efforts:

Hotel Hilton in the UK has spread its long chain like a giant and has put enough effort in the digital transformation so that it can grab its precious customers the whole year round (Marr.2017). The sector has made the service accessibility easy for the customers worldwide which has been warmly welcomed by all the people. The digital execution of the eminent hotel chain of Hilton could be done by focusing on the following works:

Implementation of the new technologies:

The implementation of the new technologies in the Hilton hotel group has immensely affected the enhancement of the business globally (Cascio and Boudreau. 2016). Market strategies in the present day recommend all the sectors internationally to embrace the IT technology to boost up the business exceptionally (Wirtz and Lovelock.2016). The dissemination of the Information Technologies has increased the coherence, productivity, quality and pliability of the Hilton group of hotels with which the services are supplied to their customers at its best.

Cloud marketing: The Hilton hotel group has adopted the web marketing facility to provide their online customer a clear view of the services they can get on the website. As in the present days customers rely on the photos and the reviews they get to see on the website (Kostyra et al.2016). New technologies have given the hospitality sector a strong medium through which they can provide with all the necessary information required by their valuable customers. Nevertheless it is seen that the negative reviews adversely affect the views of the new customers (Kapoor et al.2016). This has hampered slightly in the business of the Hilton groups.

Cybernetic and electronic information: The Hilton group of hotels finds it more easy and secure to keep all the information regarding their valuable assets, liabilities, details of their precious customers in a cybernetic and electronic manner. This method has very successfully helped the renowned hotel to keep a trace with the earlier records in a very easy and reliable method (Tracy.2019). At the same time it helps the hotel sector to store all the crucial and the urgent data securely. The lost data also gets easily back up through the use of electronic information. On the other hand it has been recorded that computers have been culpable in the formulation of all sorts of internal matters of the Hilton hotel range like the employee details, working slot details, customers’ details and so on.

Security coverage: As opined by Konkolewsky.(2017),the innovative technology has brought forward a diversity of security coverage for the hospitality sector. The Hilton hotel group, UK also relies a lot on the security coverage presented by the innovative technologies. The security surveillance cameras and the improved server services help to keep an eye on the working status of the hotel sector for 24 hours (Bourikas et al.2018). Moreover; the Hilton-hotel sector depends on digitalized technology to secure its important documents and details of the customers, employees and the stakeholders to reduce the risks of thefts and other offensive deeds.

New business model:

The Hilton Hotel who has grown worldwide with the diverse facilities and high rated services has adopted new business models for showcasing their best services and hospitality internationally (Akbar and Tracogna.2018). The new business model of the Hilton Group of hotels divides their services based on the preference of their customers and the quality of the services. The hotel organization through their enlargement and augmentation with the passage of time regales to a large number of business sectors and customer types.

• Luxury: Hotels under this segment provide services to the high end customers who seek luxury as their first priority. The Hilton chain provides these elite customers with their very best to make them satisfied and happy. The two hotel chains of this sector are the Wardorf Astoria Hotels and Resorts and the Conrad Hotels and Resorts, specially designed for the premium customers of the Hilton Group of hotels.
• Services: The full service serves the business with travels and locations often in the major city centers, however this section includes the Hilton hotels and resorts, which serves its customers as one of the most recognizable hotel sectors around the world, double tree Hilton and the embassy suites.
• Curio- A collection by Hilton- These sector of hotels both the business class customers as well as the leisure going customers. These sectors are mostly the midsized hotel ranges of the Hilton that provide services based on the customers affordability. The sector includes the Hilton garden inn, Hampton inn and the Hampton inn and suites.
• Extended stay suites: These sectors are mainly those who are to extend their stay in the hotels. The hotels truly think for their customers and offer a huge variety of services to grasp and hold their customers and provide them with the marvelous services and amenities to make them happy and satisfied.

New Customer Engagement Model:

According to an online review it has been observed that the Hilton range of hotels were the first to provide its customers with the online booking facilities (Morgan, 2020). Based on the population it has been recorded that due to the online facilities brought up by the Hilton group, the business has reached its apex in no time. With the new and the innovative technologies Hilton hotels have opened more than 4500 hotels around 100 countries globally. The ways by which the sector engages its new customers:

Hilton customers’ engagement strategy: For the Hilton group of hotels customers are their assets and they serve them with all the very best they can. To engage their customers the hotel provides them with the luxury services which attracts them and binds them to recommendations to more new customers.

Hilton’s approach to surprise and delight: The Hilton group of hotels attracts their customers with surprises and delights. They arrange surprise parties on birthdays and any special occasions for their trusted and elite customers. The hotel gives calls to their customers on their special occasions to send them a good wish that builds a strong bond between them and the customers.

New organizational cultures and mindset:

The Hilton hotel improves its cultures and mindset through the approach model of IBTEE.

The Hilton hotel range improves the business through the strategy of improving business through employee efficiency models. Here the following steps are followed accordingly: Step 1: Communicating need for changes: Here the hospitality sector focuses on surveying their customers to find the needs and the requirements and then move on to initiate the changes needed (Kotler et al.2016). The surveys are done through online feedback, quizzes and web promotion. This survey works as a strong weapon for the sector to initiate the required changes. Step 2: The next step involves facilitating participants through expert services. Accelerating the services through the opinions of the experts oozes the business with a throng (Ghosh.2018). It is always a clever act to take the expert's opinion before taking a leap in the big sea, where the Hilton hotel has to serve the customers globally with their magnificent services.

Step 3: The next step includes the grooming of the employees with the innovation ideas and technologies where they get to access the online business of the giant hotel range at ease, the grooming is very much necessary as the training of the employees would result in the proper yielding of customers throughout the year round (Espino.2017). Step 4: The last step includes the continuous evaluation and monitoring of the business through online surveys and executions. According to Lenka et al.(2017), digitalization plays a crucial role in all the steps as customers find this way more potential and easily accessible. After taking in many innovative steps it has been noted that still the well known brand Hilton Worldwide has to overcome many gaps and hurdles that may create glitches in the future of the business. Likewise

Increase in the competition level: The availability of all the required information about the hotel increases the risk factor of competitions as all the details are available to everybody. The competitor gets to access the information and in turn tries to develop better ideas for their own organizations.

Fluctuating mind state of customers : The fluctuating mind set of the customers attracts swings very often when they are availed with many other options at a reasonable rate. This can be a challenge for the Hilton Range of hotels as this can affect the annual revenue of the organization. Cyber crime: As opined by Cremer et al.(2017), the availability of the details about the hotels can raise a risk of cyber crimes as hackers can easily access the confidential data and can distort it at any level. This in turn can put a negative impact on the business of the hotel and increasing the risk factor immensely.

Recommendations:

The recommendations to improve the ways of innovations and initiative taken by the hospitality sector of the Hilton Worldwide can be listed below:

• The security of the internal data should be kept in a very confidential manner with reliable password locks and not accessible by all.
• A good knowledge of the competitors should be kept to hold the highest place in the hospitality sector.
• Easy availability of the innovative ways of getting in touch with the help desks can attract the customers at an alarming rate.
• Added facilities and services to the precious customers can hold them as assets of the hotel sectors for a longer period of time.
• Prompt answers to the queries of the valued customers can gain their trust and make them loyal customers for the lifetime.
Hence these recommendations can further enhance the business at its height for the Hilton worldwide.

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