Customer relationship management for hotels in Hong Kong

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to investigate how hotels are implementing customer relationship management (CRM) practices at the property level. Design/methodology/approach – Semi‐structured in‐depth interviews were conducted with 45 hotel managers from 17 hotels. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using content analysis. Findings – All participating hotels have practices in place to manage customer relationships. The most commonly cited goal for CRM is guest retention. Evaluation and control are perceived as very important activities not only to create value for the customers, but also to track the performance of the guest contact departments and the customers' evaluations of the hotel/restaurant experiences. Research limitations/implications – The sample is probably biased towards hotels that are most interested in CRM and are heavily weighted towards higher tariff properties. Practical implications – The study modified Buttle's CRM value chain to analyze hotels' CRM practices. Results of the study provide a source for industry practitioners to compare and benchmark their practices and to obtain useful CRM ideas. Originality/value – CRM‐related research in the hotel industry has looked at a variety of specific practices and its role in achieving overall objectives at the corporate strategic level. Yet, no research has been done to investigate CRM practices at the property level for hotels using the CRM value chain.