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Laura Goldwyn, the director of global food and beverage (F&B) marketing at the luxury hotel chain Mandarin Oriental, kicked off our chat with an anecdote about her retail experience when buying a suit for her wedding.<\/p>\n
The in-store customer service at the shop, which Goldwyn did not name, was nothing out of the ordinary.<\/p>\n
That changed, however, when she encountered a rather inconvenient mishap.<\/p>\n
While making her way to the car, Goldwyn noticed the wheel of the pram she had been resting the suit on had rubbed against the suit bag, leaving black oil stains all over it.<\/p>\n
Her local dry cleaner could not help due to the nature of the fabric.<\/p>\n
When she returned the suit to the shop, an assistant \u2013 who had been in fashion for over 30 years \u2013 knew exactly how to fix the stains and offered to take it home and personally care for it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI burst into tears,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a lot. And from that moment on, I will always buy suits from that brand. That level of personal service stays with you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Goldwyn now oversees the marketing and commercial strategy for Mandarin Oriental\u2019s food and beverage business, focusing on the 250 bars, restaurants and event spaces across the company\u2019s 45 hotels worldwide.<\/p>\n
While the hospitality sector differs from retail, she believes all brands are ultimately aiming for the same goal she experienced with her wedding suit: \u201ccreating ultra-personalised, authentic experiences that make customers feel seen.\u201d<\/p>\n
The importance of customer experience<\/strong><\/p>\n Guest experience comes first at the Mandarin Oriental, and there are four key factors that make up what an exceptional guest experience really means. For Goldwyn, there are four key factors that make up what an exceptional guest experience really means.<\/p>\n It starts with energy.<\/p>\n \u201cThe moment you step into a bar or restaurant, before you\u2019ve tasted the food, sat down, or even really taken in the space, you feel whether there\u2019s an energy there or not,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cA huge amount of our focus goes into creating that sense of vibe, and a lot of that comes down to our people.\u201d<\/p>\n It is then about ensuring Mandarin Oriental\u2019s people are obsessed with its guests and welcoming them as if they were coming into their own home.<\/p>\n \u201cFor us, our bars and restaurants are the soul of our hotels, so it\u2019s critical that our people are the ones creating and circulating that energy. That\u2019s probably the single most important thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Then, of course, there is the product itself.<\/p>\n The Group ensures that the menus are exceptional and that the staff are genuinely proud of the food and drink they are putting out.<\/p>\n \u201cAre we showcasing real craftsmanship in how a dish is plated or how a drink is poured? That pride shows up in everything, whether it\u2019s celebrating local cuisine or pushing into more innovative, experimental territory in certain environments,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n The final element, for Goldwyn, is anticipatory service, knowing what a guest wants before they have to ask for it.<\/p>\n \u201cThat means having a high level of emotional intelligence, understanding how guests move through our spaces and anticipating their needs in a way that feels intuitive rather than intrusive.\u201d<\/p>\n The food and beverage sector itself acts as a marketing tool for Mandarin Oriental as it is often the first and most frequent touchpoint and therefore the main gateway into the brand.<\/p>\n For that reason, the customer journey must be flawless.<\/p>\n \u201cThe number of customers we touch through food and beverage is far greater than the number who stay in our hotels,\u201d Goldwyn adds.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause of that, F&B becomes the voice and, I would argue, the soul of the brand.\u201d<\/p>\n Loyalty \u2013 a huge focus for retailers \u2013 is built through focusing on the quality and long-term nature of customer experience at Mandarin Oriental.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have some really lovely anecdotal examples of guests who started their relationship with us through food and beverage.<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe they first came for an anniversary dinner when they were newly married, and over time they\u2019ve grown with the brand and are now some of our regular suite guests.<\/p>\n \u201cThat idea of people growing up with Mandarin Oriental is something I find incredibly exciting, and it really underlines the role food and beverage plays in shaping the long-term customer journey.\u201d<\/p>\n The brand deliberately goes against traditional loyalty points programmes that competitors may adopt to move away from purely transactional engagement.<\/p>\n \u201cFor us, service is the real pillar of loyalty,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople come back because they\u2019ve had an exceptional experience, and that\u2019s usually because of a person they\u2019ve connected with \u2013 someone who\u2019s made them feel genuinely seen.<\/p>\n \u201cHospitality is naturally well-positioned to deliver that kind of experience, but I do believe retailers can do it too because I don\u2019t think loyalty is fundamentally different across the two sectors at all.\u201d<\/p>\n Events can also create memorable in-person moments for potential and pre-existing customers, but from a luxury hospitality point of view, Goldwyn feels that less value needs to be placed on creating events just to be present in the IRL space, and that more importance should be put on designing events where there is a true consumption moment that will genuinely resonate with consumers.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to be thoughtful and make them value-driven. Why would someone actually want to come to an event? I think it\u2019s about being very thoughtful about the what and the why first, and then making sure that the on-site experience is truly meaningful,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cLinking back to loyalty, people won\u2019t come to the next event if you haven\u2019t created something that really resonates with them because ultimately, you have to make sure it\u2019s seen as a really good investment of their time.\u201d<\/p>\n What marketers in retail can learn from Mandarin Oriental\u2019s use of AI<\/strong><\/p>\n It is no secret that generative AI has drastically changed customer expectations in the last few years.<\/p>\n For the hospitality sector and Mandarin Oriental specifically, Goldwyn believes consumers are expecting the same levels of personalisation, ease and speed that they receive from AI platforms.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause people can use those tools in their personal time to get things done, remove admin from their lives, and get instant answers, their expectations are changing,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re going to expect a similar level of service from us. If we\u2019re not keeping pace with what they can already do outside of our brand, then we have a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n Goldwyn feels that consumers have become far less patient when it comes to digital experiences.\u00a0Gone are the days of people trawling through brand websites and FAQs to find what they need.<\/p>\n \u201cWith in-person experiences, you still have a bit more room to play, but in the digital space, that patience level has dropped dramatically.\u201d<\/p>\n While many Mandarin Oriental guests book online, the Group\u2019s marketing team wants to ensure that when potential customers do engage with the brand online, the experience is as seamless as possible and caters to different types of customers.<\/p>\n \u201cFor us, it\u2019s about applying the same rigour we bring to offline service to the online experience, so that we\u2019re genuinely covering all bases,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n Zero-click search is also affecting online brand interaction. People are getting the information they need through AI chatbots and AI-powered search without landing on brand websites.<\/p>\n Goldwyn recognises that serving customers involves showing up in these moments with relevance.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re spending a lot of time thinking about how we do that in a way that\u2019s authentic, genuinely useful, and still maintains the integrity of the brand while staying visible and relevant.\u201d<\/p>\n Mandarin Oriental\u2019s credibility scores have become really predominant because AI agents have the capacity to scan far more results than a typical search, particularly reviews. For Goldwyn and her team this places even more importance on delivering exceptional experiences.<\/p>\n \u201cWe really have to make sure we\u2019re delivering that, because everything is connected.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re falling down in one place, it will eventually make you fall down in another. I don\u2019t think any of that is new \u2013 even in the offline world, that was still true \u2013 but now it\u2019s moving faster across different channels.\u201d<\/p>\n Goldwyn herself is fixated on the new SEO phenomenon, Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO), and she recognises the ways in which generative AI is changing the marketing funnel.<\/p>\n She believes that AI has collapsed the funnel into one place.<\/p>\n \u201cYou now have awareness, consideration and conversion happening in one machine at the same time for one customer.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, as a marketer, figuring out what that means for your product and your brand is incredibly important right now.\u201d<\/p>\n The technology is the biggest marketing evolution Goldwyn believes retail CMOs should be paying attention to right now.<\/p>\n While she says marketers should plan ahead or risk falling behind \u201cvery quickly\u201d, Goldwyn does, however, feel the industry should still be really careful in charging ahead with using AI agents for customer service.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the luxury space, where the sales journey is high touch, it will be particularly interesting to see how AI will be implemented,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re spending \u00a35,000 on a bag, for example, you usually want a lot more hand-holding and interaction than if you\u2019re buying a \u00a320 lipstick.\u201d<\/p>\n There is still variation in how comfortable people are with using these tools.<\/p>\n Marketers have to remember that while AI is a high-growth and important area, not everyone will meet brands where they want them, Goldwyn warns.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fundamentals are still the same: understand your customers, meet them where they want to be met, and serve different segments appropriately.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t just get carried away thinking, \u2018Gen AI is everything \u2013 we\u2019ll close all our call centres.\u2019 For some brands, that might work if they serve a very homogenous audience, but for others, it definitely won\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n For Goldwyn, while a lot is changing, the core of good marketing \u2013 understanding your customer, knowing what they need and what they are up to \u2013 remains fundamental.<\/p>\n \u201cWe still need experiences like the one I had with my wedding suit. We may just need to approach them in a slightly different way.\u201d<\/p>\n