Customer Driven Learning at the Radisson
Customer-Driven Learning at Radisson Hotels Worldwide
Radisson Hotels began in the early 1900s in Minneapolis by incorporating a partnership with the dry-good store which was next door to the hotel. For many years this wise entrepreneurial move summoned millions of people to the downtown Minneapolis area, greatly boosting the economy in this area (Hotel Online, 1998). By 1997, the “growth at any cost” strategy of Radisson was diminishing their quality and blurring the focus of customer satisfaction to align with hotel owners. Radisson’s president, Brian Stage and executive vice president, Maureen O’Hanlon realized the detrimental effects this strategy had, not only on their hotel quality but on their brand image as well and decided to take several initiatives in 1997 and 1998 (Schroeder, 2008). These initiatives were to be more customer-focused and earn Radisson Hotels Worldwide the reputation of a “customer-driven learning organization.” The model was to change from “growth at any cost” to “champion of the guests.” To make this change, the 100% guest satisfaction guarantee program was devised. It was the responsibility of Sue Geurs, recently appointed Director of this program, to improve Radisson’s overall service quality through analysis of all the factors that affected operations, e.g. financial justification, marketing with technology. To support this new strategy, a fully integrated guest information system was developed that included the three “pillars” of information technology as described by Schroeder (2008); the Curtis-C system worldwide distribution (reservation) system, the customer database (Customer-KARE Systems), and the Harmony property management system. In 2007 Radisson had 400 hotel locations in 63 countries where they had implemented several initiatives with the goal of obtaining and retaining satisfied customers. Although this proved to be a success, O’Hanlon and Stage questioned if there were other avenues that they
Radisson Hotels began in the early 1900s in Minneapolis by incorporating a partnership with the dry-good store which was next door to the hotel. For many years this wise entrepreneurial move summoned millions of people to the downtown Minneapolis area, greatly boosting the economy in this area (Hotel Online, 1998). By 1997, the “growth at any cost” strategy of Radisson was diminishing their quality and blurring the focus of customer satisfaction to align with hotel owners. Radisson’s president, Brian Stage and executive vice president, Maureen O’Hanlon realized the detrimental effects this strategy had, not only on their hotel quality but on their brand image as well and decided to take several initiatives in 1997 and 1998 (Schroeder, 2008). These initiatives were to be more customer-focused and earn Radisson Hotels Worldwide the reputation of a “customer-driven learning organization.” The model was to change from “growth at any cost” to “champion of the guests.” To make this change, the 100% guest satisfaction guarantee program was devised. It was the responsibility of Sue Geurs, recently appointed Director of this program, to improve Radisson’s overall service quality through analysis of all the factors that affected operations, e.g. financial justification, marketing with technology. To support this new strategy, a fully integrated guest information system was developed that included the three “pillars” of information technology as described by Schroeder (2008); the Curtis-C system worldwide distribution (reservation) system, the customer database (Customer-KARE Systems), and the Harmony property management system. In 2007 Radisson had 400 hotel locations in 63 countries where they had implemented several initiatives with the goal of obtaining and retaining satisfied customers. Although this proved to be a success, O’Hanlon and Stage questioned if there were other avenues that they