Hilton Grand Vacations puts the fun in teamwork to improve customer service and satisfaction with Microsoft Teams

“A guest asked if we had information on proper handwashing procedures,” says Alli, Front Desk Agent and On the Job Trainer (OJT) at Hilton Grand Vacations. “We had received a PowerPoint from our cleaning and sanitization partner, EcoLab, that outlined the best way to wash your hands. I gave her a copy and we talked about it. In my job, I’m here to be everything our members need, and in these times, you just want to be a constant for people, so they know that it will be OK. I can do that because I’m backed up by information and product knowledge at the click of a button.” 

As all Hilton Grand Vacations team members would, Alli enacted the company’s vision: “inspiring people to go further and share more.” She did so during an unprecedented health crisis because Hilton Grand Vacations had embarked on a workplace transformation journey deploying the digital tools in Microsoft 365 that everyone embraced, including its virtual collaboration solution, Microsoft Teams.

Driving customer satisfaction by enhancing team member engagement with Teams

Hilton Grand Vacations, a leading global player in vacation ownership properties, always looks for ways to enhance the team member experience. To deliver a modern workplace, Hilton Grand Vacations engaged its 8,800+ team members across 55 properties worldwide—and saw a direct business value. 

“In the hospitality business, it’s all about team member engagement—it’s the secret sauce,” says Kevin Speidel, Senior Vice-President, Resort Operations at Hilton Grand Vacations. “The more that we can access and share information, the easier it is for us to deliver that vacation promise. With Teams, our team members are very engaged.” 

This is especially true as Hilton Grand Vacations uses Teams to connect frontline workers, housekeepers, front desk clerks, and food and beverage team members with the rest of the company. “We’re laser-focused on our Medallia survey guest satisfaction scores. We increase team member engagement through connecting in Teams,” says Speidel. “Our customer service and satisfaction levels have never been higher.”

Managed by Medallia, Satisfaction and Loyalty Tracking (SALT) surveys collect owner and guest feedback daily, feedback that used to be posted on a bulletin board. Today, all team members can see how they’re performing by accessing feedback in Teams. They can make immediate decisions to improve a guest’s experience. “Frontline workers actively engage, clicking on a link to get straight to feedback data and see how we are performing,” says Speidel. 

According to Michael Magnelli, General Manager at Las Palmeras, a Hilton Grand Vacations Club, SALT scores at Las Palmeras have risen over the last two years. “Las Palmeras has gone from being middle of the pack across Hilton Grand Vacations to being among the top,” he reports. “We share the feedback with members on Teams, and they are engaged and inspired to go that extra mile for our guests.”

Responding to COVID-19 with Teams to help resorts reopen quickly and safely 

When the time came in March for everyone to move from home to work, Hilton Grand Vacations team members took advantage of its virtual collaboration solution to revise the company’s standard operating procedures and create Enhanced Care Guidelines. “Teams was transformative for the COVID-19 challenge,” says Speidel. “We went from operating at 95 percent occupancy across the entire portfolio to effectively shutting down, trying to conserve and maintain assets during a suspension of operations.” 

“We realized we needed to do business differently going forward,” adds Magnelli. “Once we had our Enhanced Care Guidelines ready, we used Teams to efficiently introduce them to all our resorts.” When Las Palmeras reopened in May after a few days of onsite training, everyone readied themselves to welcome back team members in a safe environment. “We went right back to our high standards for service, but the many changes we made meant that we could still show our heart, but from a distance,” says Magnelli. “Thanks to Teams, we had the opportunity to open on the early side, when you compare us to some of our peers.” 

“And our owners have said that, too, overwhelmingly,” adds Speidel. “They feel safe to resume travel, which is great, and our team members felt safe to welcome them back.”

Sharing and accessing information to boost service 

Now that team members enjoy better access to the people and information they need, and the sharing of best practices, customers feel a direct impact on service—another way the new workplace supports the company’s people-centric culture. “The culture here is phenomenal,” says Lauren George, Director of Corporate Communications at Hilton Grand Vacations. “We are definitely in the people business. We put our club members, guests, and our team members first. The more ways we can enhance how we work together to keep our guests happy, the better.” 

As team members use digital workplace tools to connect, paper-based processes and email-centric communications no longer slow business or impede how team members create great customer experiences. “Seeing the communications as we transformed to Teams, it’s been a wonderful journey,” says Magnelli. “Teams opened the door to a global conversation that’s available to everyone, so they can start solving problems to improve customer care.”

Today, 94 percent of all resort operations team members access Teams on company laptops, check-in computers, and personal phones, so everyone easily finds the information they need to share expertise. The solution also provides an all-in-one approach to workplace apps that members use across the company, improving efficiency. 

Globally dispersed team members share best practices in the Resort General Manager, Teams Grand Champions, and Grand Impact Committee teams—a global forum for leadership to focus on customer appreciation, team member engagement, and community involvement. “With Teams, we’re opening up companywide conversations and putting problem solving and innovation onto a global stage,” says Magnelli. “Work doesn’t slow down, and it’s our members and guests who benefit the most.” 

The Learning and Development department uses Teams to disseminate training content for on the job (OTJ) trainers around the world. These frontline workers created their own global Teams environment to share expertise and build camaraderie. “I answered a question from another OTJ in our Las Vegas property about how long we should take for different types of check-ins,” says Alli. “Now, he’s up to speed on the different protocols. Then, because I love the chat feature in Teams so much, we not only continue to share best practices, but I’ve gained a new friend.” 

Cross-departmental teamwork is also on the rise. Today, Housekeeping and Engineering/Maintenance connect in Teams to troubleshoot operational issues. If something needs attention in a room, team members in housekeeping can take a picture on their phone and share that with someone in maintenance. “Instead of walking around the property trying to find each other, collaboration can happen instantly, and the rooms get attention faster,” says Magnelli. 

At Las Palmeras, team members use Teams to keep every aspect of the property running smoothly. Guest Services, Food and Beverage, Housekeeping, Engineering, Loss Prevention and Security, and Recreation all have departmental Teams sites. “We’re migrating everything that we can—phone lists and information we had in binders, paper files—into Teams,” says Magnelli. “We have a team called “Las Palmeras Daily Operations,” where departments share key information to respond quickly to our owners and guests. Our Las Palmeras All team has different channels that we use to keep our members informed. We ask them for feedback on best practices, OJT training, safety operations, and more. The more efficiently we share that information with staff, the faster we can make decisions to improve the guest experience.”

Improving members’ work experiences with automation

Thanks to the many apps available within the Teams environment, members stay productive all day, every day. “Using Teams as a platform allows us a single user interface to have all our applications running in one window,” says Moonish Badaloo, Director of Technology Operations for Hilton Grand Vacations. “Now, they have immediate access to bots like Salesforce or ServiceNow that enables team members to submit IT service requests within Teams. Having more apps at team members’ fingertips improves their work experience and increases productivity.” 

Hilton Grand Vacations also turned to Microsoft Power Platform to simplify governance over Teams usage. IT staff members use Power Automate to streamline the process where members create and name their Teams channels to ensure they conform to corporate naming conventions. “We also use Power Automate to review our Teams portfolio,” says Badaloo. “We send alerts to members when their Teams have been inactive for more than 30 days.”

Scheduling in Teams to empower team members to take control of their scheduling  

Teams gained popularity quickly at Hilton Grand Vacations in part because many people learned about the collaboration platform via its built-in scheduling app, Shifts. “Teams for us was inspired by Stan Soroka, our Chief Customer Officer, who challenged us to modernize our scheduling tool so that it was digital and on-the-go, empowering team members to take ownership of the scheduling process,” says Speidel. “It’s proved so successful that 95 percent of our people across operations are using the service.” 

Previously, managers spent hours compiling schedules in Excel, posting them on a board in the staff room, where individuals could make changes. Today, the entire process is digital. “The board is in Teams and everything happens instantaneously,” says Magnelli. “Shifts is a great way for managers to connect with their team members. The amount of time it’s saved for our leaders is impactful, so they are spending more time working in operations, or with our guests.” 

Today, team members like Alli can monitor their own schedules any time, swapping shifts if necessary. “Life happens,” she says. “I have Shifts always available on my phone in Teams. With Shifts, I communicate with my colleagues and we help take care of each other if someone needs to swap shifts. We can make sure the operation doesn’t suffer in any way.” 

As Alli juggles front desk responsibilities with teaching new hires and colleagues, she uses Shifts in Teams to keep her training schedule up to date and to communicate with trainees. “I often have trainees at different stages of their training,” she says. “But I don’t lose touch with them when they graduate. I check in with a recent graduate on Teams, even though she works at night. She asks me questions and I answer them and say, ‘Hey, remember you’re awesome!’” 

It’s just one more example of how staff at Hilton Grand Vacations enrich an already close-knit corporate culture. “Our team members have been asking for more advanced technology for a while now,” concludes Magnelli. “Teams is a wonderful way for us to provide that technology. I’m looking at a picture on our All Palmeras team environment, where we gave an award to a bartender. There’s the Food and Beverage Director and the award recipient and everyone’s celebrating, including one of our elite owners with two thumbs up. So, Teams becomes a way for us to engage not only our team members but to share the fun with our guests. It’s a perfect image of what we do every day.”

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