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Author(s):
Panteleeva Elena, Associate Professor, +7 495 772 8592, epanteleeva@hse.ru
Andrey Boyko, General manager of hotel of Corporate University of Sberbank,
Andreyboyko76@gmail.com
Approved by the meeting of the Marketing of Firm Department «___» September 2015
Head of the Marketing of Firm Department ___________________[O.K. Oyner]
Moscow, 2015
National Research University - Higher School of Economics
This document may not be reproduced or redistributed by other Departments of the University
without permission of the Authors.
Course Summary
In a fast-changing business environment companies need to rethink their business models and redefine
their relationships with their customers. Since customer is the main source of companies’ revenue
every hotel should position their customers at a center of its business. This means hotels should
understand their customers’ needs and preferences and be able to offer them not only new, high quality
services but also staging memorable experiences.
This course will cover few basic aspects of customer-centric approach. First, we will discover the
phenomena of customer-centricity and consider how this approach is realized by hotel industry
players. Second, we will address the issues how to gain customer understanding and use this
information and knowledge in a development of customer-centric strategy. Third, we will discuss how
hotels might create a customer-centric culture and motivate their employees to be truly customer-
oriented. Special attention will be paid to an assessment of different outcomes of the implementation
of customer-centric approach in hotel industry.
Course Goals
The main goal of this course is to develop a complex representation of basic principles of
customer-centricity in hotel industry and provide students with a ‘tool box’ applicable for the
implementation of customer-centric approach in hotel business.
To facilitate an achievement of this main goal we set a number of sub-goals as follows:
To know the basic principles of customer-centricity;
To understand the specifics of hotel business;
To understand the new rules of value creation and to identify the main factors influencing
customer-firm interactions in hotel business;
To realize the main changes in customer behavior;
To be able to analyze an interactions between a hotel and their customers in every touch point;
To realize the roles employees play in customer-centric organizations;
To evaluate hotels’ customer-centric organization maturity;
To identify the outcomes of the implementation of customer-centric approach in hotel industry.
National Research University - Higher School of Economics
Course Schedule
Classroom
Total
activities
№ Topic amount
Lectur Semin Self-Study
of hours
es ars
1 Introduction: Customer centricity as a path to 34 4 - 30
growth in a hotel industry
2 Customer-centric strategy 52 4 6 42
3 Customer-centric culture and internal 16 2 4 10
marketing
4 How to attract and retain customers: modern 40 6 8 26
practices in hotel industry
TOTAL 144 16 20 108
** Parameters specify the format of the testing (written, oral, test, computer test, and so on),
timing, volume, deadlines, time devoted to self-study, etc.]
Grading Criteria
The grade scale for single assessment as well as for the final grade complies to regular Higher
School of Economics grade system and is as follows:
1 Failed
2 Failed
3 Failed
4 Pass standing
National Research University - Higher School of Economics
5 Pass standing
6 Good
7 Good
8 Excellent
9 Excellent
10 Excellent
8. Pine II B. Joseph, Gilmore, James H. (1998), Welcome to the experience economy. Harvard
Business Review, Jul-Aug. P.97-105.
9. Sheth J.N., Sisodia R.S., Sharma A. (2000), The antecedents and consequences of customer-
centric marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. Vol.28. No.1. P.55-66.
10. The journey toward greater customer centricity. Ernst&Young. 2013.
http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/The_journey_toward_greater_customer_centricit
y_-_US/$FILE/Customer_Centricity_Paper_29_April_Final_US.pdf
5. Kasavana M.L. Managing Front Office Operations. American Hotel & Lodging Educational
Institute. 9th Ed. 2013.
6. Kotler P.R., Bowen J.T. Marketing for hospitality and tourism. Prentice Hall, 2013.
Part 4. How to attract and retain customers: modern practices in hotel industry
Offensive and defensive marketing. Customer service: definition, standards, personalization, 10-step
customer service process. Guest service check-list. Managing hotel reputation: brand promises,
integrated marketing communications. Servicescape and e-servicescape. Customer-centric pricing.
Customer satisfaction and loyalty. Hotel rewards programs. Customer loyalty and profitability.
Customer experience: why it matters in a hotel industry? Customer experience mapping. Customer
experience management (CEM): implications for a hotel industry. Do hotels need CEM? Models of
total customer experience (TCE). Customer role in delivering service. Value co-creation: the benefits
for hotels and their clients. Co-creation best practice in hotel industry. Social media: definition and
basic characteristics. Social media classifications. Social media as a new model of customer-firm
interaction in the hotel industry.
Assignments:
1. In-class discussion of mini-case studies “Co-creation in hotels”.
2. Group project, part 4
Readings:
1. Berry L., Carbone L.P. (2007). Build loyalty through experience management, www.asq.org
2. Cross R.G., Dixit A. (2005). Customer-centric pricing: The surprising secret of profitability. //
Business Horizons, 48. P.483-491.
3. Kasavana M.L. Managing Front Office Operations. American Hotel & Lodging Educational
Institute. 9th Ed. 2013.
4. Kotler P.R., Bowen J.T. Marketing for hospitality and tourism. Prentice Hall, 2013.
5. Kumar V., Rajan B. (2009). Profitable customer management: Measuring and maximizing
customer lifetime value, Management Accounting Quarterly. Spring. Vol.10. No.3. P.1-18.
6. Nykiel R.A. Marketing in the Hospitality Industry. Educational Institute. 5th Ed. 2012.
7. Thompson R.G. Hooked on customers: The five habits of legendary customer-centric
companies. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. 2014.
8. Williams, D. (2010). Social co-creation, Forrester Research, July 9,
http://www.forrester.com/rb/Research/social_co-creation/q/id/57129/t/2
Educational Technologies
The theoretical underpinning will be provided to ensure that the major learning goals will be
met through a combination of lectures, facilitated discussions of articles and case studies and group
presentations. Case study materials and group project activities are used to assist students to apply
theoretical frameworks to practical situations.
Students' Guidelines
Group project “Lifestyle hotels: How to be customer-centric”:
This is a crosscutting project combining all the themes of the course. It requires from students
both analytical and creative capabilities. The assignment (including the list of lifestyle hotel chains)
and all necessary materials are provided by the teacher at the beginning of the course but the choice of
a particular hotel should be made by groups themselves (for instance, they may choose W Saint-
Petersburg within W hotel chain).
The group will be divided on mini-groups containing 4-5 students, and every mini-group will
receive a particular hotel chain as an object for the further study. After that they should choose a hotel.
National Research University - Higher School of Economics
The project itself consists of 4 parts in accordance with the course structure. After completion
of every part of the course students should present the results of their study containing the answers to
the questions provided by the instructor. Sample questions for the preparation of the project’s ‘building
blocks’:
1. Who are the valued customers of the hotel (strategic segments)?
2. Value proposition of the hotel
3. Compare value proposition of the internal and external brand. Do they match each other?
4. Which internal marketing instruments the hotel use to retain their employees? How it
motivates their employees?
5. How hotel enhances the service culture?
6. Develop a static TCE model for the hotel. Give explanations about every touchpoint.
7. Based on TCE model give recommendations on customer experience improvement.
8. Etc.
Every mini-group is expected to spend an effort to complete this project all within the course
schedule.
Grading Procedures
The Diploma Certificate contains the Course final grade, which is calculated by the following
formula:
Kotler P.R., Bowen J.T. Marketing for hospitality and tourism. Prentice Hall, 2013. [Russian version
might be used]
Required Reading
1. Abbey J.R. Hospitality Sales and Marketing. American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute.
5th Ed. 2008.
2. Berry L.L., The Employee as Customer // Journal of Retail Banking. 1981. Vol.3. No.1. P.33-
40.
3. Bowie D., Buttle F. Hospitality Marketing. Principles and practice. Routledge. 2nd Ed. 2011.
4. Cross R.G., Dixit A. (2005). Customer-centric pricing: The surprising secret of profitability. //
Business Horizons, 48. P.483-491.
5. Hudson S., Hudson L. Customer Service in Tourism and Hospitality. Goodfellow Publishers,
2012.
6. Galbraith J.R. Designing the Customer-Centric Organization: A Guide to Strategy, Structure
and Process. Jossey-Bass. 2007.
7. Kasavana M.L. Managing Front Office Operations. American Hotel & Lodging Educational
Institute. 9th Ed. 2013.
8. Kumar N. Marketing as strategy: Understanding the CEOs agenda for driving growth and
innovation. Harvard Business Press. 2004.
National Research University - Higher School of Economics
9. Kumar V., Rajan B. (2009). Profitable customer management: Measuring and maximizing
customer lifetime value, Management Accounting Quarterly. Spring. Vol.10. No.3. P.1-18.
10. Nykiel R.A. Marketing in the Hospitality Industry. Educational Institute. 5th Ed. 2012.
11. Pine II B. Joseph, Gilmore, James H. The Experience Economy: Work is theatre and every
business stage. Harvard Business School Press. 2nd Ed. 2011.
12. Sheth J.N., Sisodia R.S., Sharma A. The antecedents and consequences of customer-centric
marketing. // Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. Vol.28. No.1. 2000.
Supplementary Reading
1. Ahmed P. K., Rafiq M. Internal Marketing: Tools and Concepts for Customer-Focused Manage-
ment. Butterworth-Heinemann, 2002.
2. Bean J., Van Tyne S. The customer experience revolution: How companies like Apple, Amazon
and Starbucks have changed business forever. Raphel Marketing. 2011.
3. Fisk P. Customer genius… Becoming a customer-centric business. Capstone. 2009.
4. Handbook of hospitality marketing management / Oh H., Pizam A. Elsevier Ltd. 2008.
5. Kopelman R.E., et al. Interpreting the success of Zappos.com, Four Seasons, and Nordstrom:
Customer centricity is but one-third of the job. // Global Business and Organizational
Excellence. Sept/Oct. 2012.
6. Thompson R.G. Hooked on customers: The five habits of legendary customer-centric
companies. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. 2014.
Internet Resources
1. Experience Radar 2012: Customer insights for the US hospitality industry. PwC.
http://www.pwc.com/us/en/advisory/customer/publications/experience-radar-hospitality-us-
2012.jhtml
2. https://www.strglobal.com/
3. Williams, D. (2010). Social co-creation, Forrester Research, July 9,
http://www.forrester.com/rb/Research/social_co-creation/q/id/57129/t/2
Academic Integrity
13.1 Each student in this course is expected to abide by the Higher School of Economics’ Academic
Honesty Policy. Any work submitted by a student in this course for academic credit will be the
student's own work. For this course, collaboration is allowed in the process of group projects
preparation.
13.2 You are encouraged to study together and to discuss information and concepts covered in lecture
and the sections with other students. You can give "consulting" help to or receive "consulting"
help from such students. However, this permissible cooperation should never involve one student
having possession of a copy of all or part of work done by someone else, in the form of an e-
mail, an e-mail attachment file, a diskette, or a hard copy. Should copying occur, both the student
who copied work from another student and the student who gave material to be copied will both
automatically receive a zero for the assignment. Penalty for violation of this Policy can also be
extended to include failure of the course and University disciplinary action.
13.3 During final quiz, you must do your own work. Talking or discussion is not permitted during the
examination, nor may you compare papers, copy from others, or collaborate in any way. Any
collaborative behavior during the examination will result in failure of the test, and may lead to
failure of the course and University disciplinary action.
National Research University - Higher School of Economics