The 4 Most Important Customer Experience Trends

Mood Media Study: The Four Most Important Customer Experience Trends in the CXHoReCa Industry

Mood Media – a global customer experience leader – in collaboration with experts from over 100 countries, has released another Trendbook revealing global trends in improving the quality of customer experiences in the HoReCa industry.

The company compared initiatives undertaken over five years, by large chains as well as independent operators, and by luxury brands as well as more budget-friendly ones. The global perspective revealed a surprisingly dynamic evolution of key customer experiences in hotels and restaurants.

Mood Media presented a publication on trends in the HoReCa industry, focusing on examining the challenges and opportunities of Customer Experience in various types of hotels and restaurants across five continents. The company examined industry best practices through the lens of four main global trends: personalisation, brand immersion, community, and convenience. It turns out that the industry, as a result of the dynamic development of the e-commerce market, must react extremely quickly and find new ways to improve its customers' constantly evolving experiences.

- Customer experience is currently undergoing a profound change, and brands are facing the digitalisation of the so-called customer journey. The challenge is the ability to meet the expectations of perfectly educated consumers who want everything to have an immediate effect. We are delighted to be able to share knowledge about global best practices and examples worth following in the face of changing customer experiences in the HoReCa sector. Our goal as a global organisation is to provide information and advice to our clients on the best local and global practices and trends – so as to improve customer experience in every industry across different destinations – says Valentina Candeloro, International Marketing Director at Mood Media.

The HoReCa industry is undergoing a significant transformation, which is not without impact on the services provided. The emergence of players such as Airbnb on the market quickly put the industry under pressure to introduce new technologies. To provide exceptional customer experience, leading representatives of the sector have therefore begun to democratise solutions such as robots, artificial intelligence, and already widespread tablets.

Transformation of the Hotel Industry

Transformation of the Hotel Industry

It turns out that the hotel industry responds efficiently to changing realities. Mood Media identified four main global tendencies visible in the way industry brands serve their customers:

Brand Immersion

Brand Immersion

Immersion is a natural customer experience trend in hospitality. Customers seek opportunities for personal development, access to unique culinary experiences, or escape from the daily routine through unique forms of leisure. One of the responses of resorts to this trend is, for example, the creation of places that blend into wild nature as deeply as possible. Examples include properties without roofs or walls, such as The Null Stern hotel in Switzerland, or portable cabins at the foot of mountains. Increasingly, hotels also offer customers the opportunity to view a room before their trip – using virtual reality.

Community

Community

Brands must become part of their customers' daily lives and build real communities. While the concept of community is somewhat integral to the hospitality sector, it is taking on new forms today. Customers care about physical experiences, which means hotels have a significant role to play in social life. For example, in India, the OYO chain has become a true ambassador of local culture. Elsewhere, hotels create open spaces for tourists and locals, and many also provide co-working spaces and even libraries. In Mexico, some hostels offer a programme for IT developers with a 12-week training programme and business coaching, while in Australia, urban villages are being created that combine residential, work, industry meeting, training, design, and entertainment spaces.

Personalisation

Personalisation

It is not yet clear whether personalisation is the most important trend, but interesting issues are emerging here, such as: bespoke sleeping (choice of mattress type and firmness, blackout blinds, herbal teas, etc.), paying for a hotel as much as one deems fair rather than a set price, or choosing a room suited to one's mood. Today, every smallest detail can be determined by the customer's choice.

Convenience

Convenience

If there is one thing guests ask for, it is that they want to check in to a hotel, shop, choose food, or head out to the city or into nature more easily, quickly, and simply. Technology allows hotels to streamline back-of-house functions (some even have an automated room cleaning system), as well as enable customers to control their experiences using appropriate tools. So-called on-demand hotels with an easy booking system, automatic concierge, a phone serving as a key, integrated speakers for ordering services offered by the hotel, or an electronic wristband that replaces a wallet and provides access to activities – these are just some examples of this global trend.

Reinventing Restaurants

Due to the enormous growth of the food delivery market, traditional restaurants are all the more forced to reinvent customer experience – so as to give customers a good reason to go out for dinner and create a memorable experience. Beyond the powerful effect of Instagram, which already has a table reservation option via Quandoo, restaurants today have tools at their disposal to meet customers' demand for speed and simplicity. Restaurant examples of the four main trends are extremely fascinating:

1) Brand Immersion
It encompasses chefs, but also décor and, of course, engaging all the senses. Restaurateurs do not hesitate to incorporate art and virtual reality, such as the Japanese restaurant Tree By Naked Yoyogi Park. At Zhen Wei Fang in New York, all the senses are heightened thanks to a digital scene featuring robots and virtual reality, while at Inamo in London, tables become a centre of entertainment.

2) Community
A restaurant is above all a social place. Retail outlets with dining spaces have emerged that reflect this trend. Other initiatives show how to strengthen the social element – an experiment conducted in Japan enabled people with disabilities to work in restaurants through the use of assistive robots. Meanwhile, a Brazilian restaurant began using blockchain to ensure transparency regarding the origin of the meat served, and McDonald's opened a location in Chicago with trees incorporated into its interior. Daloveroo, on the other hand, opened its first brick-and-mortar location in Hong Kong.

3) Convenience
Restaurants are becoming increasingly automated – from waiter service to chefs around the world. For example, in China, Xcafé opened by JD.com has robots in both the dining room and the kitchen. In Boston, robots serve healthy and affordable meals. Voice recognition or voice control programmes are becoming the norm at American drive-throughs. Other examples show how simple eating out has turned into a unique experience involving, for example, displaying augmented reality menus on tables, or express service for time-limited travellers at airports, as in the case of the OTG chain.

4) Personalisation
Technology also plays an enormous role here. It is a trend that operates on various levels – dishes tailored to taste, personalised menus, weather-appropriate menus, voice-controlled ordering, or completely unusual dishes and ingredients. 3D printing is still at early stages, but it is already being used in preparing desserts. In the USA, virtual reality is increasingly being used to order personalised burgers and sandwiches.

- The Polish HoReCa industry is also undergoing a visible transformation, mainly involving the digitalisation of its offering. Largely millennials, but especially younger generations, expect immediate interaction in a two-way dialogue with both restaurant and hotel brands. In addition to well-selling sensory marketing services in this sector, we are seeing growing interest in innovative mobile solutions that engage consumers and provide brands with valuable information about their customers – says Aleksandra Potrykus – Wincza, Country Manager Poland & Baltics at Mood.

Methodology

In this study, the key was the perspective of the consumer returning to a hotel or restaurant and the assessment of what has changed compared to the state five years ago. The aim of the trendbook is to understand what is the lever of a full and effective customer experience in hospitality and gastronomy by indicating particularly significant examples of restaurants and hotels from around the world.
To download the trendbook, visit: moodmedia.co.uk/hospitalitytrendbook

Summary

Mood Media, a global customer experience leader, published a Trendbook for the HoReCa industry, in which it identified four key trends: personalisation, brand immersion, community, and convenience. The analysis covered the practices of hotels and restaurants across five continents, showing the evolution in response to pressure from the e-commerce market and new players such as Airbnb.

Among the examples of innovation were wall-less hotels in Switzerland, restaurants with robots in China, and the use of blockchain in Brazil. Importantly, the Polish branch of Mood Media also observes the sector's transformation towards the digitalisation of services.