Thursday, April 12, 2018

4 Occasions When Serviced Apartments in Melbourne Are Your Best Choice



If you have kept an eye on the hospitality industry the raging debate centred on Hotels versus Serviced Apartments wouldn’t have escaped your sharp eyes. The reason for this debate is quite obvious as serviced apartments around the world are giving hotels a run for their money. Likewise serviced apartments in Melbourne have grabbed a large share of the market in the last decade and the business continues to grow briskly. In fact the competition is such intense that many of the leading hotel groups are busy giving shape to strategies of having their own serviced apartments and not loose competition to smaller players! This is quite turnaround from the time not too long ago very few in the mainline hotel business would take serviced apartments seriously. All that serviced apartments in Melbourne were expected to do was cater to the surplus.

So what has fuelled the growth of serviced apartments in Melbourne and other places in the world? The reasons for this are many but the primary reason driving this growth is the fact that serviced apartments do offer a home away from home experience to the guests. There is more space on offer and of course the choice to live the way one would is at his or her home. Let us share with you four scenarios where a serviced apartment would serve as ideal place to stay for you and your family.

You are travelling with kids

Did you feel like abandoning your last vacation after your kids started throwing tantrums? Don’t blame the little angels but your decision to cramp them in a small hotel room. Travelling with kids can be quite a challenge and most parents have had their ugly experiences during vacations. After long hours of touring kids hate to find themselves cramped in small hotel rooms with their movements restricted. If you can’t pay for a large hotel suit you have to bear their grumpiness! You can avoid all that by choosing a serviced apartment in Melbourne on your next visit. Since serviced apartments are built like homes with a large living area your kids would immediately developing a liking for the property. Let them play around in the large space and let out their energy as you relax and plan out your schedule for the next day in the comfort of a nice and cosy bedroom.

You are relocating to Melbourne

Melbourne is considered to be among the biggest economic hubs in the Southern Hemisphere. Being a centre for business and trade it attracts professionals from all over the country and around the world who relocate to this city for better career prospects. If you are one who is relocating to Melbourne it would be a great choice to book yourself into a serviced apartment than a hotel. To start with you will get a home like environment which is something that you would wish for in a new city.  Also if it takes a little more time than expected to find a permanent accommodation to match your taste you would be saving a lot on the higher tariffs you would otherwise have had to pay at hotels.

You are on a long business trip

Long business trips aren’t easy especially when you have to stay at a hotel. It denies you of not only your privacy but peace of mind too. Every morning you would have wake up to a busy lobby and return to a crowded space in the evening. This is surely the last thing you need when you have hectic day at the job. Unless you are willing to shut yourself into your tiny room there is surely no respite from the crowd. Serviced apartments let you relax in a calm and peaceful environment and prepare for the next day’s grinding.

You are travelling in a large group

Have you planned a family reunion in Melbourne or coming here in a large group to be a part of this city’s sporting and cultural extravaganza? There is little fun staying in separate rooms at a hotel when all of you can pack into an apartment or two depending on the number of people travelling together. It is an ideal scenario as you can eat, drink and sleep together and make the most out of your time with each other.
If you belong to any of these groups and are planning a trip to Melbourne we at Serviced Apartments Melbourne would make you experience this city’s best hospitality. We have apartments across the city with most of them located in and around the Southbank area and suit every budget and taste. 


Tuesday, April 10, 2018

How The Inaugural Australian Customer Experience Awards Will Be A Game Changer?

While customer experience awards aren’t new, it has never been as important for businesses to take part in such awards as it is today. In a business world that is becoming more competitive with every passing year, these awards hold great importance for brands, as well as for their customers. Today, information on the Internet, especially social media, is part of a common discourse, as brands are increasingly identified with the perception that is built around them. Great products and services can fail if negative perception is built around a brand, and customer experience has become the sole yardstick to judge the success or failure of a brand. Businesses that succeed are those who listen to their customers and shape their products and services to fulfil these aspirations.

Customer experience awards aren’t about the trophies that are handed out, but more about the road for the future. They provide a glimpse of customer aspirations, their likes, dislikes and the changes taking place below the radar. While Australians have seen many customer experience awards by different customer service bodies, 2018 will mark a special beginning, as CXlence is set to host its inaugural Customer Experience Awards in the month of October. We hold exclusive rights to the American Customer Satisfaction Index and we are proud to introduce this index Down Under for the first time ever.

Why CXlence’s Awards Are Special

As a business, the success of being able to gauge customer experience ultimately rests in the methodology that is applied to your surveys and how this data is evaluated. CXlence is proud to claim one of the most admired methodologies in the world. The American Customer Satisfaction Index has been used and perfected for more than two decades and is considered one of the best methodologies used to gauge the mood of customers. Compared to other awards, our methodology allows us to go beyond the regular questionnaires that only hint at customer moods. Rather, we help offer answers that businesses need to rise up to meet customer expectations and transform themselves into the most valued brands in their domain.

While most existing bodies restrict comparing businesses to those only in Australia, we believe in thinking bigger. In a globalised world where multi-national brands have made deep inroads into the Australian market and home-grown brands are reaching out to the world, benchmarking needs to be done both at the local as well as the global level. As part of our robust methodology, we let clients measure their CX performance with their competition here within the country as well as with their overseas competitors. This allows companies to approach the market with a global frame of mind, at the same time identifying the inherent factors that dictate customer expectations and satisfaction locally.

We take pride in the fact that the American Customer Satisfaction Index has always focused on keeping members updated with the latest trends in the market as well as those specific to their industry. This index allows businesses to keep a bird’s eye view on the market and be able to spot emerging trends earlier than their competitors.

Our Customer Experience Awards are set to shape the way that CX is measured and awarded, serving as a true game changer in the industry.

Monday, April 9, 2018

Customer Experience Awards Are More than the Prize



“What is the greatest incentive of taking part in customer experience awards?” As one of the leading bodies for customer service awards, we at CXlence are always asking this question. Most businesses that haven’t participated in these awards simply look at it as another award that offers publicity to the brand and serves as some kind of gratification for a business or team. The list of doubters isn’t small either, as many of these doubters term these awards to be ‘fixed,’ where businesses are rated and awarded on dubious ground. So, while award ceremonies may have its sceptics, they have proven to help businesses stay ahead of their competition.

To answer the first question we have raised here, customer service awards aren’t just a prize but rather a process that helps your business improve its products and services, develop a lasting relationship with the customer and above all become market leaders in a highly competitive ecosystem. While every business that takes part in this competition would like to win the coveted prize, there is a lot to be won and every participant in different award categories go on to emerge as a winner in different ways. Here’s how merely taking part in our awards can benefit your brand.

Knowing Your Customers

Every business thinks that it knows its customers, but that is far from the truth. As your business grows with time,so does your customer base. It can often be hard to put specific labels on your customers because they tend to come from diverse backgrounds, geographies, age groups and other demographics. As a business, you need to constantly identify with your consumer base, enabling you to serve them better. As a part of our job, we constantly map customers from different industries, thus providing interesting facts and figures about your customers that you may not have ever known.

Insights Into Customer Expectations

You may already have methods to generate feedback and information from your customers, but like all internal survey mechanisms, they may have limitations. And while customers are likely to offer feedback on your products and services, you aren’t likely to get comprehensive feedback on their aspirations and expectations. We provide value by offering third-party advice that can be used alongside things like internal surveys to help you deliver on customer expectations and keep your business moving forward.

Personalised Customer Surveys

While surveys are a great way to know the general mood of your customers, the quality of the feedback is dependent on how well the survey is done. If your products and services are diversified or if you have to reach out to a wide target audience, you need to personalise the way your feedback is gathered. With years of experience in managing surveys for our awards, we can guide you in personalising your surveys, enabling you to gather actionable intelligence that can be used for chalking out a future roadmap.

Each of these can go a long way in helping you take a leading position in a competitive market. And while everyone wants to take home a first-place prize, our awards can provide a wide range of value for your business.