Starwood Preferred Guest - six sigma suggestions for spg.com

Here's my six sigma suggestions for your web sites.


1. Please display *all* rates when I lookup rates at the branded web sites, including SET corp rates, leisure rates, AAA rates, AARP, govt, internet-only and any promotional rates without requiring us to enter special codes, clear out SET numbers and recheck the 'leisure' rates box. It's really ok if certain rates have certain requirements .. we know which one's we can use which we can't. (For good examples of this, check out marriott.com or travelweb.com)

2. The confirmation email is too busy and difficult to find the pertinent information for frequent travelers. Please change the format to list the pertinent details in list form on the top of the mail message such as:

- Confirmation Number: xxx
- Property name, address, telephone, fax#
- Check-in-Date: xxx
- Check-out-date: xxx
- Number of nights:
- Rate(s) and rate plans and room type
- Cancellation Policy
- Credit Card Guarantee for late arrival, etc.

All the rest of the text can go below this, so that all we need to do is print off the first page of the email to carry with us, and the information is easy to find and use. The current confirmation email has important information including dates of stay embedded as text inside paragraphs and is too hard to find when you need the information quickly.

Thank you for your consideration,
David



[This message has been edited by LIH Prem (edited 06-25-2002).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by LIH Prem:
&lt;snip&gt;
2. The confirmation email is too busy and difficult to find the pertinent information for frequent travelers.
&lt;snip&gt;</font>

Or look at SPG's existing cancellation email message as an example of how the confirmation message should also be....

I've always found ironic how the confirmation email is so verbose it is hard to find the pertinent stuff, whereas the cancellation message is concise and to the point.

Now I realize this is the Voice of the Customer, but I don't really see this as a Six Sigma issue. SPG, most likely prioritizes their Six Sigma projects based on cost savings. I would guess that they most likely have a set return based on hard dollars and soft dollars.

What I would like or hope that they would do is look at the whole cycle time of the customer (us) from reservation, to check in, the actual stay, and the checkout process and even the point posting.


Maybe we can help them out, I know we are always looking for Six Sigma projects and are constantly asking the customer and employees for ideas:

What are the defects?
Why are the defects there?
How do we fix these defects?
What are the cost savings to SPG? How do these projects once completed help the bottom line. Remember we need to help spg's bottom line for this to be considered.

I agree with the poster that the website needs much reworking, although I don't know if they can quantify how much business they lose by this not so great website. therefore they may not consider this a high priority six sigma process. I would bet that they are looking at processes within SPG, like procurement, finance, construction, HR, payroll, housekeeping, maintenence.. things you can quantify.

Just my 3 spg points worth

[This message has been edited by TrojanHorse (edited 06-26-2002).]

For the tech illiterate among us, can someone please explain what Six Sigma is? By the way, I do find LIH Prem's comments right one. I also wish SPG would drop all the glitzy graphics and just provide a fast, efficient interface. You can have a graphically attractive web site without moving and overly colourful pictures and other gimmicks.

I know this is a bit lengthy (sorry about that) for this board but if you really want to know about S.S., this should give you and idea. I've selected what I think might be of interest and how it might be applied at SPG. Now i work in aerospace and do not have any knowledge of how the hotel industry operates especially behind the scenes so this is pure speculation as to the relative usefulness to spg.

Here are some cut and pastes from a file I use at work:

Six Sigma is a structured and disciplined, data-driven process for improving business performance. The Six Sigma methodology concentrates on reducing variability in processes. Sigma is a statistical term that measures how far a given process deviates from customer requirements and a measure of process capability.

Six Sigma Focuses on Eliminating the Causes of Defects Within a Process, Not Just the Defects Themselves


What are the steps in applying Six Sigma?

The fundamental objective of the Six Sigma methodology is the implementation of a measurement-based strategy that focuses on process improvement and variation reduction through the implementation of Six Sigma improvement projects. This is accomplished through the use of two Six Sigma methodologies: DMAIC and DFSS. The Six Sigma DMAIC process is an improvement system for existing processes that fail to meet customer requirements, focusing on the elimination of errors and defects.


The Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) process is used to develop new products or processes at Six Sigma quality levels. It can also be employed if a current process requires more than just incremental improvement. Whereas DMAIC is focused on eliminating defects, DFSS is about preventing defects and errors by designing new product, services, and processes that meet customer needs.


What is the cost of poor quality?

Traditional quality costs included rejects, warranty, rework, scrap, and inspection. However, additional costs of poor quality include lost sales, more rework, expediting costs, long cycle times, excess inventory, late delivery, and lost customer loyalty.

The cost of quality for a company with a sigma level of three (66,807 defects per million) is 25-40% of sales. A four sigma (6,210 DPM) company typically spends 15-25% of sales, which is the industry average. World class (Six Sigma) will reduce this amount to less than 1%.

Why should companies focus on the process rather than the final outcome?
A process is the way we work. Final outcomes (or results) are dictated by what happens during the process. When better processes are created, they eliminate opportunities for defects before they occur. By focusing on the process, we see ways to improve and provide more and better products at lower cost, and improve customer satisfaction.

How does Six Sigma apply to a service organization?

Six Sigma concentrates on reducing variability in any process in both manufacturing and service organizations. If a service process generates a lot of wasted effort, the result is similar to a manufacturing process that generates defective parts…an unhappy customer


<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Shareholder:
For the tech illiterate among us, can someone please explain what Six Sigma is? By the way, I do find LIH Prem's comments right one. I also wish SPG would drop all the glitzy graphics and just provide a fast, efficient interface. You can have a graphically attractive web site without moving and overly colourful pictures and other gimmicks.</font>

Thank you for your web site feedback. We do take it seriously and we find it to be a valuable resource. I have passed the information in this thread on to our Marketing Department and our programmers. As to whether the web site feedback we receive will be used as part of a six sigma project.......I leave that to the six sigma experts.

Best Regards

Dave
Technical Department Head/ Back-Up Lurker, E-Communications Department
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Starwood Lurker:
Best Regards

Dave
Technical Department Head/ Back-Up Lurker, E-Communications Department
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide </font>

Wow -- a "Back-Up Lurker" !

Welcome, Dave...

TrojanHorse: Thank you for the explanation.

If I could, I would retitle the thread as "Customer Satisfaction issues with spg.com"

In theory, at least, it does cost more money for the additional bandwidth required because we have to do extra searches to find the absolute best rate. Each of those searches is more involved than one http(s) request and reply. In my case, in my quest to maintain my status and take advantage of my status, I'm willing to do that, but how many non-elite visitors simply do a comparison of normal rates at marriott.com vs normal rates at spg.com and walk away because they haven't been offered the best rates on the first screen on spg.com? I have no way of measuring that.

-David

Wow a back up lurker, I wonder if that was a six sigma project...

If so now that was a Quick Win

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by LIH Prem:
... including SET corp rates, leisure rates, AAA rates, AARP, govt, internet-only and any promotional rates without requiring us to enter special codes, clear out SET numbers and recheck the 'leisure' rates box.
</font>

What is SET or SET rates?

Negotiated corporate discount or group affiliation discount rates.