Hilton Hotels Corp. plans to move about half of its 3,000-member reservations workforce out of centralized offices by the end of next year in an effort the hotel company said would both improve the quality of its reservations team and reduce its carbon footprint.
Under the Hilton@Home program, the chain expects to double the 800 reservations agents who already work from home by the end of 2009, said Russ Olivier, senior vice president for Hilton reservations and customer care. Having that high of a percentage working from home is an industry first, he said.
At-home agents are able to work seamlessly with the call centers through Hilton-provided technology, and agent training eventually will be completely virtual, he said. The shift was done in part to attract a higher-caliber workforce, according to Hilton. There's already an early indication of customer service scores rising as a result, he said.
For now, most of the at-home reservations agents are working in the United States. As Hilton increases its international presence, however, the program will help the company by having reservations agents in all the countries where it operates, Olivier said. Hilton's focus is becoming increasingly international, with Jonathan Gray, senior managing director of Hilton owner The Blackstone Group, expecting the chain to have a 50/50 split between domestic and international properties within five years
(BTNonline, June 9)."Outside of the United States, it's going to be critical for us," Olivier said. "We couldn't afford to put a support center in every country."
The initiative also enables Hilton to report a smaller carbon footprint with fewer employees commuting, Olivier said. Both hoteliers and buyers report that green questions are making more frequent appearances on hotel requests for proposals, and the National Business Travel Association added such questions to its modular RFP last year.
Hilton also said some of its sales force is working from home, although that initiative has been in place for several years.