When you think of top travel destinations around the world, Dubai is hard to ignore. Aside from its impressive urban landscape which includes the world’s tallest building, biggest shopping mall and largest man-made island, the city is a thriving, multi-cultural metropolis. Majid Al Futtaim is a Dubai-based Emirati company that includes 13 major entertainment and retail focused hotels, serving 1.6 million guests annually.
One of the biggest challenges guest experience teams face when serving large volumes of guests, is delivering personalized guest experiences. To that end, Majid Al Futtaim chose to work with Local Measure with the specific goals of driving guest satisfaction, reducing negative online reviews and capturing guest insights.
Majid Al Futtaim develops hotels connected or close to shopping malls, such as the World famous Mall of the Emirates, that offer guests great value and a convenient experience. A highly international clientele means that the hotels must meet the highest standards of hospitality, which involves knowing exactly what each guest expects and needs - before they check-out.
Prior to using Local Measure’s real-time guest feedback tool, the guest relations team was only getting feedback after check-out. Omayma Mourai, Majid Al Futtaim Properties’ Manager for Marketing and Customer Experience, Hotels, explained “Not all guests are very vocal when they want to say something. Also, often they simply don’t have time to talk or relay a comment on an issue or our services.”
“Not all guests are very vocal when they want to say something. Also, often they simply don’t have time to talk or relay a comment on an issue or our services.”
The group tried Local Measure Pulse at five of their properties, and after confirming the success, rolled it out across the whole group. The Pulse feedback screen, which displays on the guest computer or mobile device as they log in to the hotel’s Wi-Fi, asks them to leave feedback on their experience. Guests choose between 1-5 emojis to rate their customer satisfaction level. A low score creates a follow-up page asking for a comment and their room number. One Front Office Manager said “We believe that Pulse fills [the feedback] gap and enables us to collect feedback at the right time to quickly resolve any issues”.
There have been improvements in efficiency as well. Time that was previously spent replying to concerns or requests is more productively used to respond to Pulses and take action. “Getting feedback while the guest is still in-house gives us the opportunity to promptly act on resolving any comment or issue during the stay.”
“Getting feedback while the guest is still in-house gives us the opportunity to promptly act on resolving any comment or issue during the stay.”
The group currently receives and handles about 400 Pulses each month per hotel, compared to 150 post-stay guest satisfaction surveys. To handle the feedback, the hotel has set up streamlined processes. The guest experience manager on the AM shift, followed respectively by the evening and night shift duty managers, take responsibility for regularly checking pulse feedback responses.
With Local Measure open on their desktops and iPads, managers can actively monitor incoming Pulses and immediately resolve issues and respond to low scores.
The positive impact of the new system is noted daily in the way that the guest experience teams are able to create hyper-personalized experiences that surpass guest expectations – and which translate into higher guest satisfaction scores. Ms Mourai explained, “A perfect example was a couple who commented on missing their kids. We know that most video calls are blocked in their country, but with our IT team’s help we were able to set up a video call so they could talk to their children. The parents were extremely happy and appreciative.”
“Pulse is definitely a game-changer when taking the guest journey to the next level on a larger extent. It is a transformative customer feedback platform that helps improve guest experience and minimize the occurrence of negative reviews. It is also a great tool to gather relevant guest information and guest preferences that will help us to create great moments and unique experiences for our guests.”
Local Measure is a customer experience platform for the hospitality and retail industry, allowing businesses to collect real-time customer feedback from within their venue and take immediate action to improve the customer experience. For more information, click here.
