Briefing: Global employers need to rethink recruitment

A new report from CEB has revealed that 1 in 5 new hires are “bad” or a “regretted decision”. Staff are of vital importance to the success of a business and the recruitment process can be an important factor in the way a new recruit behaves, according to the CEB SHL Global Assessment Trends Report, first published in November 2014. The report states that; ‘New hires who report a positive candidate experience apply 15% more discretionary effort and are 38% more likely to stay with the organisation.’

Does more attention need to be paid to recruitment in hospitality? Our experts give their insight:

Global employers are finding it difficult to find and keep talent. A survey by Towers Watson found that 65% of respondents were experiencing problems attracting ‘top performers’ and 64% had problems attracting ‘high-potential employees’. It also highlights that employee career development could be paid more attention as only, ‘27% say their organisations monitor the effectiveness of their career management programmes.’

According to the research base pay/salary, job security, and career advancement opportunities were the top three things mentioned by employees that attract them to new roles. However when business leaders were surveyed they only ranked job security 7th suggesting that there is a lack of recruitment understanding across employers.

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Video clips produced by ybc.hpgcms.wpengine.com for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.

Briefing: Hotels struggle to follow trend for personalisation

Companies using personalised marketing have experienced an average uplift in sales of 19% according to research. Personal customer service has always been key in hospitality; ‘A warm and sincere greeting using the guest’s name’ is step one of the Ritz Carlton’s three steps to service. With the increase in data that is being collected from guests, hotels should be able to recognise guests from previous stays and personalise service towards them, but it is not easy. Figures from UNWTO show that there were 1087 million international tourists in 2013 and 6 billion domestic tourists worldwide. With so many different faces passing through the doors it is hard for hoteliers to distinguish individual customer profiles as our experts discuss in this week’s briefing:

Many hotel brands have loyalty programs, which can help them keep a profile of each guest but even within this there are many people to keep track of. Hilton HHonors is Hilton Worldwide’s loyalty programme, which has 42 million members. IHG has 161 million guests nights per annum and its reward club has 82.4 million members globally.

Research shows that 78% of consumers feel that personalised marketing content leads to a deeper relationship with a brand. Personalisation is also used in online retail. 60% of consumers prefer it when online store remembers their contact details and purchase information. In a survey by Oracle 54% of retail consumers said personalisation was important. With customer service becoming more personalised across the board this will continue to be a challenge for hospitality to figure out.

If you’ve been sent to this page and you’re not yet on the circulation list to receive these regular briefings and you would like to sign up, you can do see here. It’s free.

Video clips produced by ybc.hpgcms.wpengine.com for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.

Briefing: 2015 could be a tipping point for mobile commerce

30% of travel will be booked on mobile devices in 2015 according to Expedia. Mobile and tablet usage is set to grow further in all industries this year following 2014 during which the number of people owning both a smartphone and a tablet in Europe more than doubled to 48%. eMarketer predict that in 2015 half of digital travel researchers will use mobiles as well as PCs, while Gartner predicts that by 2018 more that 50% of users will use a tablet or a smartphone first for all online activities.

In the following videos industry insiders explain how mobile devices are being used in hospitality today:

Criteo’s report State of Mobile Commerce Q4 2014 shows that at the end of 2014 mobile accounted for 30% of ecommerce transactions in the US.  Smartphones have overtaken tablets in mobile transactions in the US, although there are currently higher conversion rates on tablets than mobile. The difference is being attributed to the larger screen size and the fact that not all websites are designed for easy mobile use. Criteo’s global research shows that Japan is the most advanced mobile shopping market with 49% of retail transactions being done on mobile there. The UK is not far behind this at 41% and the US is at 27%.

2014 saw an increase in hospitality companies using apps. Mobile only companies such as Hotel Tonight have grown, and more sophisticated approaches to mobile commerce are emerging. Expedia’s Scratchpad software is designed to help customers use the Expedia website across multiple devices. Apps can be used to show hotel information and process bookings. They can also be used to enhance the guest experience inside the hotel or for travel around the area. In America 33% of hotels now offer an app for their guests. According to Expedia almost 1 in 5 travellers globally have checked into a hotel on their mobile for business purposes, with around 15 percent having done so for a leisure trip. Mobile technology is sure to be integrated yet further in of all aspects of the travel and hospitality experience over the next 12 months and will continue to be a focus point for the industry.

If you’ve been sent to this page and you’re not yet on the circulation list to receive these regular briefings and you would like to sign up, you can do see here. It’s free.

Video clips produced by ybc.hpgcms.wpengine.com for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.

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