Hospitality executives recognize privacy concerns

Kevin Ferguson

Thursday, April 5, 2001 | 11:32 a.m.

Hospitality executives and analysts see mobile phones, the Internet and other techno-gadgets as a way to better track their customers' habits in order to better serve them. But they also agree there is a sliding curve where too much data-collecting of the customer could appear intrusive and make them "flee for the exits."

The Internet should be one of several components to a hospitality business's way of extending it's brand to its audience, PricewaterhouseCooper managing partner John Schweisberger said in a panel discussion during last week's Millennium Hospitality Summit conference in Las Vegas.

Many of the web-based hospitality businesses that have survived the shake-out of the dot-coms are re-inventing their approach to better attract and retain customers who still may seem wary of e-commerce.

Chris Soder, president of the hotel division of Priceline.com, said the nearly four-year-old business's problem early on was that it focused more on customer acquisition rather than customer retention.

Now, the company that became known for it's "name your own price for airline tickets" is placing a stronger emphasis on customer service.

Soder said despite the perception of web-based hotel wholesalers crashing along with a lot of the Internet Economy, Priceline is still "alive." He said it averages booking 40,000 hotel room nights per week.

Priceline's stock, which trades on the Nasdaq Stock Market, lost more than 97 percent of its peak value when the Internet-bubble burst in the past year.

Harrah's Entertainment Inc. of Las Vegas, which is considered a leader in technology in the hotel-casino industry, uses its player's loyalty card system to learn their customers' habits, such as what hotel amenities they prefer. In exchange for that information, customers earn discounted meals, rooms and shows.

John Boushy, Harrah's chief information officer, said this system is important for the hotels to establish broad and deep relationships with its customers.

In response to consumer privacy concerns, a question raised by a reporter in the audience, Boushy said: "We don't collect any information our customers don't want us to collect. In addition, we don't sell our databases to anyone."

Schweisberger said it's important for customers to feel secure in offering their personal information online to hotel and airline companies in order for e-commmerce to thrive.

"Otherwise, customers will flee for the exits as fast as possible if they feel their information is used in a negative way," Schweisberger said.

He noted that travel and hotel websites that have e-commerce capabilities can simplify the reservation process for customers, who in the past typically called 800 numbers.

"Call centers may have some information customers want, but for extensive information, like booking spa reservations or golf tee times, you may have to go through two or three (phone) transfers," Schweisberger said.

Boushy said he sees the future of mobile phone technology eliminating things hotel guests hate to do, such as waiting in line to check in.

"As you are at the airport, you can notify the hotel that you are on your way through mobile commerce and they can have your (room) key ready," Boushy said. "Depending on how much people embrace this, I think wireless capabilities will be pervasive (in the near future)."

When panel moderator Paul Garity of KPMG asked Soder when Priceline will venture into mobile commerce, Soder said it won't be very soon.

"I don't think (the industry) has the mechanism quite yet for wireless devices to interact with the web correctly just yet," Soder said.

Soder said the wireless web is difficult to navigate, similarly to how the wired web was before Netscape Navigator's web browser was invented in the early 1990s.