Hilton

Mike Gathright is a driven global operations executive with a reputation for leading projects that improve quality and providing top-notch customer service. He excels in creating plans for delivering exceptional customer service, choosing and developing top people, and boosting productivity by fostering efficient collaboration among various business units.

1. According to recent reports, consumer spending continues to be targeted toward unique travel and hospitality experiences. As the senior vice president and head of customer experience at Hilton, what according to you, are some innovative trends that hotels can leverage to attract a strong customer base?

That’s absolutely right: people continue to seek out unique and immersive travel and hospitality experiences. At Hilton, we’re listening closely to our guests and customers to evolve with their changing needs. In our recent trends report, The 2023 Traveler: Emerging Trends that are Innovating the Travel Experience, we spotlighted the areas, including the importance of experiences, that are driving our industry forward and attracting strong customer bases. These include:

• People will turn to travel for deeper, more engaging, human experiences and connections: This year, travelers will focus on travel to create deeper connections with family, friends, colleagues, customers, cultures and the planet. With this in mind, we’re able to provide guests with engaging experiences, like celebrity chef culinary weekends, which are popular in destinations like Los Cabos, Mexico and Almancil, Portugal. We also are reinvigorating Hilton Honors Experiences with new exclusive artist and celebrity events that enable Hilton Honors members to redeem their Points for once-in-a[1]lifetime, members only experiences.

• People will recognize travel as an essential part of their wellness routine: Overall wellness remains a priority for consumers and will be top of mind when it comes to traveling. To meet this need, last year we announced a new, industry first partnership with Peloton and all hotels across Hilton’s U.S. hotel portfolio will feature at least one Peloton Bike in their fitness center, providing guests with a more holistic wellness experience. As a testament to our commitment, we recently expanded the Peloton partnership to Puerto Rico, Germany, the U.K. and participating properties in Canada.

• Travelers will want to be taken care of more than ever: Hilton anticipates travelers will have a renewed appreciation for the most basic tenant of hospitality: to be cared for. Whether making Hilton Honors members feel valued for their loyalty through automated upgrades to Luxury, Lifestyle and Full Service brands, incorporating innovative design elements to elevate the stay, or offering a “pet friendly” booking filter so guests can easily bring their beloved pet companions on a trip with them, Hilton is prioritizing the basic tenant of hospitality.

• Travelers want frictionless travel innovations that are both technology and human-led: There were many unexpected friction points for travelers coming out of 2022, and guests continue to be in search of the most logical and purposeful solutions. Hilton is offering solutions to ease any pain points that may come with traveling like Digital Key, which allows users to bypass the front desk and go straight to their room; Digital Key Share, enhancing the Digital Key and stay experience by allowing guests to share their Digital Key via the Hilton Honors app; an EV charger search function on Hilton.com; and Confirmed Connecting Rooms, an industry first that allows guests to confirm their connected rooms at the time of booking.

2. Finding your hotel target market is one of the most effective ways of growing your business. What would you say are some of the best industry practices in finding and establishing an ideal target demographic?

Hilton is always evaluating the needs of guests to ensure we are offering the very best brands and services that travelers expect today. Our aim is to serve any guest, anywhere in the world, for any travel need they may have. In the last 15 years, we more than doubled our brand portfolio organically and created a range of brands from midscale to luxury to everything in between. However, from a digital innovation standpoint, we look at things more holistically.

As one of the leading and fastest growing hospitality companies, it’s our duty to continue to enhance the guest experience. We look at the general pain points across the board, whether its check-in times or team member interactions, and develop innovative solutions that ease those friction points.

" The digitization of travel is propelling the industry innovations forward, impacting the inspiration and booking experience for travelers and further removing the tension points of travel "

At Hilton, we have a brand for everyone. While we continued to innovate over the years to meet the evolving needs of guests, we remain equally committed to the core tenets of hospitality: Guests now and in the future will seek out a friendly, reliable experience. As trends emerge and tech advances, our team members will always remain focused on delivering a great stay.

3. AI is seeing an increasing amount of use in the travel and hospitality industry, including in customer service tasks, revenue management, and digital concierges. What are your thoughts on the use of technology in travel and hospitality and how it affects the industry moving forward?

 At Hilton, we have always been hyper-focused on meeting the evolving needs and preferences of our guests and inspiring travelers. We are embracing the fact that we have entered a new golden age of travel where innovations are accelerating at a faster speed alongside customer demand. As noted before, our recent trends report spotlighted how travelers are gravitating towards both digital and human[1]led solutions that can help reduce travel’s strongest tension points.

The digitization of travel is propelling the industry innovations forward, impacting the inspiration and booking experience for travelers and further removing the tension points of travel. We develop and introduce technological advancements not only for guests, but also to create efficiencies for on-property team members to enable them to focus more on the irreplaceable in-person hospitality and human connections that guests crave.

 4. Before your stint at Hilton, what were some of the previous experiences that empowered you to gain deep expertise in project management, relationship building, global support, and customer service?

Prior to Hilton, I spent five years as Head of Americas Customer Service & Global Support Services for Amazon. com and the first 13 years of my career with Capital One Financial where I held various leadership roles across the credit card, auto finance and mortgage businesses.

Throughout my career, I have had the privilege to learn and grow at global, customer-obsessed companies, but the importance of understanding the individual customer experience was installed in me at a young age from my parents who worked in healthcare. It’s critical to empower your team members to be solution-oriented and even more so to remove the organizational barriers that prevent the implementation of customer-centric solutions.

5. On an ending note, what is your advice for other senior leaders and CXOs working in the travel and hospitality sector?

At the end of the day, the hospitality sector is a business of people serving people. Therefore, senior leaders and CXOs must remain focused on the ever-evolving needs of the customer along their entire journey, as well as how to elevate every aspect of their stay. That’s why Hilton launched our first global brand platform,” Hilton. For the Stay,” to double-down on our philosophy that whether it’s a night, an event or even just for a cup of coffee, Hilton team members are committed to making sure you can get the most out of your stay. Do you need to bring your furry friend along? We have a solution for that. Do you need a connecting room for children or friends travelling with you? We have a solve for that. By being customer-centric, this positions us to differentiate the guest experience and drive loyalty to our brands, bringing guests back in another day, for another stay.

And finally, hospitality leaders should remember to have fun! People do their best work when they are truly engaged and passionate about the task at hand. This is a fundamental truth across any company or industry. I find that every day provides new opportunities to think differently about how to best support our customers. And as travel and hospitality continues to evolve, so will we to best meet their needs.