Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Customer Journey
Customer Journey
Customer journey is a customer’s trajectory indicating how they move through different
stages while interacting with a brand or product category. Hotel, as a product category, is
a section of service industry that deals with guest accommodation. The explosive
popularity of the Internet and social media largely revolutionizes the hotel industry
landscape. In order to stay close to the customers and understand what the best strategy is
to interact and connect with them, mapping customers’ journey is essential for hotel brands
In-depth interview and survey are chosen as two research methods for mapping customer
In order to explore customer behaviors and the reasons behind them, in-depth interview, a
qualitative research technique was conducted (Appendix 1). 9 interviewees with rich hotel
booking experience were approached, including students, employees and retired people,
with an age range from 20 to 70. In addition, a survey including 10 questions was conducted
as well (Appendix 2). After circulating the survey via WeChat, WhatsApp, Facebook and
algorithm that clusters observations based on the mean of the distance between different
points, was used to segment the respondents based on their reaction to question 4, in which
they were asked to give scores to eight attributes of a hotel which indicates their importance
The results from in-depth interview suggested that in need recognition stage, vacations
and business trips are the most common factors that trigger people’s needs for hotels. For
vacations, people tend to satisfy their needs for relaxation and special experience. 5 out of
9 people greatly value the quality, comfort and amenities like fitness centers and coffee
makers, while others don’t due to limited travel budget. For business trips, all interviewees
give priority to convenience (e.g., distance to conferences). Usually their expectations for
hotel conditions are lower under this circumstance. In information search stage, when
asked about the hotels in mind, interviewees generally searched from their past
experiences, and chain hotels such as Marriott and Holiday Inn were usually in their mind.
When asked for reasons, people mentioned that with frequent advertisements and
ubiquitous broadbands, they have strong impressions of these chain hotels and believe in
their consistent quality. For external search, aggregator websites like TripAdvisor are
absolutely the biggest winner. People search via these websites for hotel comparison and
also information like hotel reviews, deals, flight tickets and travel tips. 2 out of 9
interviewees also search in Google Maps to compare the distances to their destinations. In
amenities, including breakfasts and coffee makers, are the aspects that all interviewees
would care about. Whereas, the weights that people put in these attributions vary a lot under
different travel purposes, and they also make adjustments according to their travel
companions’ demands. When traveling alone, people tend to have relatively basic needs,
but when traveling with partners, especially with families, their requirements for hotels
would be higher. In the purchase stage, while one interviewee prefers to view plenty of
hotels (i.e., 20 - 50) and enjoy the comparing process before making the final decision,
others tend to have a limited choice set within 5 options and would get fatigued with more
choices. In the post-purchase stage, people rarely use social media to share their
experiences of hotels, instead, they go back to the websites where they book the hotels to
leave reviews if necessary. Interviewees who don’t have the habit to make comments
would only do so if the condition is instantly lower than their expectations. Terrible service
and cleanliness are the common triggers for them to make negative comments, irrespective
Among five stages, interviewees present similar patterns in information search and post-
purchase, but different needs can trigger different requirements and evaluation for the hotel
(2) Survey
In terms of survey results, after applying K-means clustering method to the dataset, two
segments were found. In the first segment, Price attribute got the highest group mean,
Staff, and lastly, Room Condition. This group of customers have high price sensitivity,
value the experience they had with a hotel and prefer hotels that have loyalty program.
Besides, they don’t care much about staff and room condition (Appendix 3). Judged by
The second segment on average thinks highly of the room condition in a hotel, as well as
if they have nice and responsive staff. Transportation is the third most important attribute,
while the price is the least important element that they would pay attention to (Appendix
The results from the survey suggested that more people, especially females in the age group
of 18-25 and 26-35, are willing to spend a few days as compared to a day or a month to
search for a hotel. Same ratio of male to female is observed in the category of 18-25 age
group, who are willing to search for a day as well as a few weeks. But in the age group of
36-45, more females are willing to spend time in search varying from a day, a few days or
a few weeks (Appendix 5). Almost 61% of the savers and 54% of enjoyers consider
vacation as their top most need for staying at a hotel. The second need being ‘Business’
4. Conclusion
In conclusion, based on the findings from the customer journey, in order to obtain optimal
number of hotel bookings, it is necessary to segment the customers into two groups: one is
Savers segment who are price sensitive, and the other is Enjoyer segment who value
experience and service, and to develop targeting strategies that uniquely addresses the
5. Recommendations
Saver and Enjoyer customers both value transportation, therefore, we suggest hotel CMO
to (1) provide transportation services from the hotel to nearby attractions, public
transportation and airports which can make travelling easier also more affordable. If the
hotel CMO is to target Saver segment, we suggest them to (2) provide Saver various price
discounts like regular coupon, holiday special deal, redeemable points from previous stay
and so on; (3) promote deals and offers on review sites like Expedia, TripAdvisor and
If hotel CMO wants to target Enjoyer Segment, we suggest them to (4) focus on superior
quality service, such as assigning a personal butler/staff so that customers’ requests are
satisfied in a timely manner; (5) ensure that all the amenities like fitness, coffee maker and
breakfast is available; provide an online virtual reality tour about the place of stay to show
what they can expect during their stay (room size, no. of beds , amenities etc.) as most of
the people in this segment rely on the hotel’s website for making booking decisions.
(Appendix 7)
6. Limitations
The number of people who have taken this survey is limited (around 150) and the number
of segments that are identified may be more if the survey is extended to a broader group of
people. Besides, the sample itself is not random enough considering most of the
respondents are in the age group of 18-25 . Furthermore, respondents are not entirely open
customers could be probed further to know how they have a wide social circle, and
marketing strategies can be developed around it; Third party data like Flight booking
patterns and shopping behavior of these people if made available could further enhance
Stage 4 Purchase
13. If you are traveling with other people, when you decide to purchase, will you make the
decision by yourself, or discuss it with your partners?
14. When you discuss your options with your partners, what aspects do you usually talk
about? What aspects will cause an argument?
15. If you make a decision for a group without consulting them: Do you care about other
people’s needs? Why do you think you can make this decision for them?
16. When choosing hotels, do you prefer to choose from limited options (i.e., less than 5
candidates) or choose from a list of many different hotels?
17. Do you feel tired of making decisions?
Stage 5 Post-Purchase
18. Will you leave feedback online after your trip?
19. What will make you leave negative comments?
20. What aspects do you evaluate most when you giving feedback?
21. Where do you go to leave those comments?
22. Are you willing to recommend that hotel to your friends or post a review on your social
media?
Appendix 2. Questionnaire:
1. Under what circumstances will you book a hotel?
A. Business travel
B. Vacation or holiday
C. Experience of Stay (Ambience, Great Views, pool, spa and suite facilities)
D. Others
3. How much time do you take to search for the hotels before booking one?
A. Within 1 day
B. Few days
C. Few weeks
D. A month
4. How do you evaluate each of the below options when you choose a Hotel?
i. Price
ii. Location
iii. Transportation (To Attractions, Conferences etc.)
iv. Caring and Responsive Staff
v. Amenities (Gym, Spa, Parking etc.)
vi. Room condition (eg. cleanliness, comfort)
vii. Past Experiences
viii. Loyalty Programs
6. In terms of Quality (Amenities, Room Cleanliness, Staff responsiveness) how do you rate
the following brands?
f. Intercontinental
g. Hilton
h. Courtyard By Marriott
i. Holiday Inn
j. Super 8
7. What hotel did you stay in your most recent visit, please indicate:
8. How would you rate your experience in stars of the most recent visit?
A. 1 star
B. 2 stars
C. 3 stars
D. 4 stars
E. 5 stars
12. Generally, how much money are you willing to pay for staying in a hotel (per person per
day)?
A. $0 - $50
B. $51 - $100
C. $101 - $150
D. $151 - $200
E. > $200
Appendix 3. Saver Group Mean: