GEI PORTAL TRAINING

TIP: Be sure to view this document on your computer as there are hyper-links to tutorials and other documents.

Table of Contents
Introduction
Overview Page
o Filters Panel
Guests Page
Trends Page/Rankings
Explore Page
Monitor Page
HOT Alerts
GEI F&B In-Stay
Resources Page
Taking Action
Customer Experience Index (CEI)

Want to learn more?

This document is intended to serve as an overview of the GEI, CEI, and Brand Health programs. If you have questions or
are interested in learning more:
o Check out GEI Portal Resources page
o Contact geihelp@starwoodhotels.com

INTRODUCTION
The GEI Survey is sent to all guests 24-48 hours after check-out, as long as there is a valid email address attached to the
reservation record, and the guest did not stay on an excluded rate plan (e.g. StarHOT). For more information about the
Post-Stay Guest Communication process and excluded rate plans, please click here.

Properties that consistently meet and exceed guest expectations (as measured by Ratings & Reviews and GEI) perform
better in the market, (as measured by higher ADRI and higher RPI) and see higher SPG Occupancy compared to those
hotels that do not meet guest expectations.
You can see copies of the guest surveys by clicking the links below:
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The latest questions in the GEI survey can be found on the GEI homepage on StarwoodOne, click here.
The latest questions in the F&B In-stay survey can be found on the GEI homepage on StarwoodOne, click here.
The latest questions in the SPG App Keyless survey can be found on the GEI homepage on StarwoodOne, click here.
The latest questions in the CEI Post-Event survey can be found on the GEI homepage on StarwoodOne, click here.

OVERVIEW PAGE
After saving your selections in the Filters Panel, the data will be reflected on the Overview Page. For more information
on how to select specific Filters, see page 5.
1) Click on the orange icon for GEI Portal notifications and important announcements from the GEI Team.
2) Check filters you selected from the Filters Panel.
3) See your Static YTD Loyalty Composite trend.

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The Loyalty Composite trends are the only static chart on the Overview Page, all other data is linked to the Filters Panel.
Click the orange GEI Action Planning Sheet button to download your propertys GEI Action Worksheet. Please note if
the button is grey, you likely have more than one brand selected in your filters panel, as GEI Key Drivers are brand
specific. To download the GEI Action Worksheet, you must select one brand or one property at a time. For more
information on the Action Worksheets, search our GEI Action Worksheet training in the Development Center on
StarwoodONE.

At the bottom on the Overview Page is the Property Summary table. This table includes:

Hot Alerts received by status (for example, New, In Progress, Resolved)

WOW alerts received
GEI Post-Stay survey completes
Average Loyalty Composite score and change score from the year end of the previous year
Scores for the GEI Fundamentals These items have the biggest impact on the guest experience and should
always be a top area of focus
o
o
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Room Condition % disappointment (i.e. % of guests who indicate the Condition of their room was almost as or
worse than expected)
Staff Responsiveness % disappointment (i.e. % of guest who indicate that the Staff Responsiveness was almost as
or worse than expected)
GEI Cleanliness % of yes (i.e. % of guests who say yes, their room and bathroom were clean)

YTD Brand Health scores

FILTERS PANEL
The Filters panel allows you to filter your data in many ways (e.g. time period or guest type).
To open your Filters panel, click the Filter icon
in the upper-right hand corner of the Overview, Guests, Trends,
Explore or Monitor page. Some frequently used filter options are highlighted/described below. Please note, as a single
property user, you may not have access to all the filters shown below.

Set the date period for

your data

Check box(es) for specific

brand or division OR search
by hotel name(s) or Starlink
ID(s)

Check box(es) for

specific SPG tier(s)

Search by customer/account
name or SET ID number. For
more details on Customer
Filters, see Customer Experience
Index (CEI) section

Click the orange Save button in the lower right-hand corner of the Filters panel to apply your selection to your GEI
data. Once you Save on the Filters panel, the data that appears on every page of the GEI Portal is linked only to data
tied to your specific filters (for example, the date range youve selected, the properties you selected, etc.).

GUESTS PAGE
The Guests page contains details from completed guest surveys and allows you to search for specific surveys based on
Guest Name or Survey ID number:

Type full or partial guest

name or GfK Survey ID
number

Sort by clicking on
column headers

Hot Alert Status

Home: post-stay;
Knife/Fork: F&B;
Key: SPG App keyless;
Bell: SPG App in-room dining
Hot alert status will be flagged underneath
the appropriate touch point survey. (Blue
Star = WOW Alert, Green = resolved, Yellow
= In progress, Red = New)

When you click on any guest name, the row will expand to show you even greater detail of the survey questions
answered.

Guest demographics and

survey questionnaire
answers

Below is even greater detail of an expanded view of a guest survey:

In this example, the survey was

completed in the SPG App. Click on
areas to further expand for details.

Hot Alert status will be flagged under the

various touch point survey icons and you
can read hot alert activity related to the
individual survey

To download guest level data to Excel, click the orange Data Download button at the bottom of the Guests page.

The screen to the left will pop-up asking you to select the variables that
you would like to download.

1. Choose the survey data variables by clicking the box next to the
variable you are interested in and click Download.
2. When your download is ready, another pop-up window will
appear.
3. Once the Excel sheet has opened, you will see all guests details
and survey responses related to the specific filters you set on
the Filters panel.
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For more information on the batch download, click here.

TRENDS PAGE
The Trends page allows you to analyze trends by each survey question (e.g. Cleanliness), and see where
property/properties rank and compare to different groups of properties by using the Compare Me Against function. It
also allows you to compare across different demographics with the Compare My function.
BEST PRACTICE: CLEANLINESS TREND Set goals for beating your best each month!
To view your Cleanliness Trend:
1. Go to your Filter panel by clicking on the filter icon
and selecting the date range you are interested in (for
example, August 31, 2013 to September 1, 2015)
2. Next, go to the Trends page, choose from the drop down menu Other Outcomes and expand it
3. Select Cleanliness (% Yes is the default)

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4. Click
button
5. Select Month view

Sheraton XYZ

Note: the Trends page is linked to the date range that you select on the
Filters panel (e.g. August 31, 2013 to September 1, 2015). The hyperlinks
on the graph (e.g. Week, Month, Quarter, Year) will only change the
horizontal (X) axis of the graph.

To run comparisons against different groups, open the comparison groups to choose the group of properties you want
to compare against (for example, Division, Brand, Division and Brand, etc.). For example, if your filter is set to only one
property (Sheraton XYZ) and you want to compare it to all Sheratons Globally, click on the period of time you want to
compare against

Sheraton XYZ

Choose a time period by clicking in the box next to the option you are interested in (e.g. past 3 months or YTD). A red
line will populate reflecting the comparison score for the time period you selected. The property ranking within this
particular group will appear next to the graph.

EXPLORE PAGE
The Explore page is where you can view overall results from each survey question in one place at a high level, and also
drill down into a particular metric for further analysis and comparison.
The Explore page includes all survey questions with a 5-point scale (e.g. worse than expected, almost as expected, etc.)
or Yes/No scale (e.g. cleanliness). GSI legacy questions that are on a 10-point scale, such as Loyalty Composite, Overall
Satisfaction, Likelihood to Return, and Likelihood to Recommend are not included on this page.

% Dark green + % Light green = Top

2 positive (e.g. better than
expected or much better than
expected)
% Dark red + % Light red = Bottom 2
negative (e.g. almost as expected
and worse than expected)
Note: % Neutral is not displayed
here and therefore total will not
add up to 100%

Its important to note that Word of Mouth is on a yes/no scale and is linked to the definitions below:
Positive Word Of Mouth (i.e., guest told others something good about experience)
yes = is a positive rating
no = is a negative rating
Negative Word Of Mouth (i.e., guest told others something bad about experience)
yes = is a negative rating
no = is a positive rating

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Below are the various 5 point response scales and how they relate to the graph shading on the Explore page:
Worse than
Expected

Almost as
Expected

Same as Expected

Better than
Expected

Much Better than

Expected

Very little to no
confidence

Little confidence

Somewhat
confident

Confident

Very confident

Disagree

Somewhat
disagree

Agree

Agree very much

Completely agree

Low 2 box %

Top 2 box %

To drill down on a specific survey item, click on one of the areas within one of the bars.

Click on one specific part of the bar

to drill down

In this example, clicking on the Light Green section of the Overall Expectations bar will bring you to a bar chart
depicting your propertys/properties Better than Expected results compared to your brand/brands.
This is a view for a single property user who only has access to his/her own brand (in this example, Sheraton)
This will show that you are now in Overview > All Brands

All represents your property

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This is a view for an above-property user who has access to all brands and set filters to multiple hotels across all brands
(for example, an entire division)

This will show that you are now in Overview > All Brands

All represents the set of properties based on your filter

To drill-down further, click on any of the bars in the bar chart. For example, if you click on the Luxury Collection bar,
you will be brought to a bar chart that compares Luxury Collection across all the divisions. These drill-downs are predefined.

This will show that you are now in Overview > Luxury
Collection>All Divisions

You can click on any part of the graph (i.e., low 2 box, most negative, negative, positive, most positive, top 2 box). The
drill-down of data offered here is:
Overview Brand Division Gender Reasons For Stay
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To look at comparisons against different groups, open the comparison groups under Compare Me Against or
Compare My to choose the group of properties you want to compare against, similar to the Trends page (see Trends
page section on page 8 for more on Compare Me/My)

Finally, users can quickly go to a filtered list of Guests based on selections made in the Explore page. Click on the orange
Show me a list button on top right of graph.

You will be brought to the Guests page, based on what you had selected on the Explore page. For example, if on the
Explore page you clicked on the % of guests that selected Worse than Expected, you will now be able to view guests who
provided this rating. You can also export to Excel by clicking the orange Data Download button on the Guests page.

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MONITOR PAGE
Below is a high level overview of the various reports available on the Monitor page

Download Detail Report (Trends Summary report): Month by month tracking and ranking for all GEI survey questions for
your property
Portfolio Rollup Report: Provides above-property users month by month view for various sections of the GEI survey
across multiple properties. Use the Loyalty Composite dropdown menu to select the section of the GEI Survey you would
like to download in the Portfolio Roll-Up Report (please note, this report is only available for above property users)
Portfolio Key Driver Heat Map: Provides above-property users a view of key drivers for multiple properties (please note,
this report is only available for above property users)
Portfolio and Property Welcome Reports: Provides an overview of key GEI metrics related to the hotel check-in
experience

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HOT ALERTS
How do I respond to a Hot Alert? How do I change the status of a Hot Alert?
Reminder:
A Hot Alert is triggered on the basis of one question: Q5. Overall, compared to your expectations of what a hotel
experience can and should be, would you say that your experience at [Prop] was: much better than expected, better
than expected, same as expected, almost as expected or worse than expected?)
If the guest selects "Worse than expected" a hot alert message is triggered. Important Note: Hot Alerts do not impact
Loyalty Composite scores since the question they are based on is not part of the Loyalty Composite.

To change the status of a Hot Alert, follow these steps:

1. Login to the GEI Portal through StarwoodOne / eTools.
2. Go to the Guests tab.
3. A red box in the Alerts column means that the guest has indicated that their overall experience was Worse than
expected.

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4. When you click on the guest name, this is what youll see. To view more information on the Hot Alert, click on
the guests name.

5. From this page, you can email the guest directly, by clicking on the guests email address on the left hand side.

sampleguest@email.com.com

6. Clicking on the email address will generate a new email message in Outlook. (Note: the subject line in your email
will populate to read Regarding Your Stay at {Property Name}
7.

While it is recommended to respond to a Hot Alert, appropriate action is up to the individual property. We have
heard that guests feel appreciated and that their input is valued when hotels respond to their feedback. (Note:
EAME & LA operations are required to respond and resolve Hot Alerts in the Portal within 48 hours. As part of
the resolution process, hotels should record the internal and external follow up using the note function.)

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8. After contacting the guest, you can change the status of the Hot Alert from New or In progress to
Resolved. Changing the status within the portal helps your staff keep track of open items and understand what
actions have already been taken and how/if an issue has been resolved.

9. You can also write notes in the comment section of a Hot Alert to provide other staff members with details on
action taken to resolve the Hot Alert. This information is for internal property use and can only be seen by other
portal users who have access to your property.

If you need to dispute a Hot Alert or a GEI Survey, you can do so by contacting your GEI divisional contact below:
NA - Randal Savage (Randal.Savage@starwoodhotels.com)
EAME - Claudia Kurten (Claudia.kurten@starwoodhotels.com) and Fiona Mcardle (Fiona.Mcardle@starwoodhotels.com)
AP Nelli Yong (Nelli.Yong@starwoodhotels.com), Greater China Daisy Yu (daisy.yufang@starwoodhotels.com)
LA Valeria Nowotny (Valeria.Nowotny@starwoodhotels.com) and Nicolas Gonzalez
(Nicolas.Gonzalez@starwoodhotels.com)
SVO David Calvert (David.Calvert@starwoodhotels.com)
How do I change who receives Hot Alerts at my property?
Please submit additions or changes to GEIhelp@gfk.com. Include your property ID number, property name, as well as
the name, StarwoodONE ID and email address for each person who should receive Hot Alerts for your property.

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GEI F&B IN-STAY SURVEY

The F&B In-Stay survey gives leaders more insight into the F&B experience at their hotels. It gathers feedback from both
overnight hotel guests and local patrons, and provides more insight than the three F&B questions on the post-stay
survey. Additionally, responses can be analyzed on the GEI portal by venue and meal period.

GEI Survey Comparisons

F&B In-Stay Getting Started One Pager click here

How to View Property and Venue Summary from the In-Stay tab
Multiple Property Users:
1. Log-in to the GEI Portal
2. Go to the In-Stay tab
3. Under the Property/Venue Summary header, you will see a F&B Summary for each property you have access
to.

4. To download a list of completes and scores for every property within your access, click the download button in
the upper right hand corner of the summary chart.

Click here

5. In the downloaded excel file, the first tab will show each hotel followed by venue and meal period. The second
tab will show only the rolled up scores and completes for each property.
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RESOURCES PAGE
The Resources page of the GEI portal contains tutorials and fact sheets for specific topics. It also contains replays of
webinars and FAQs.

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TAKING ACTION
The below tools have been created in collaboration with property leaders to help drive action.
Check out the GEI Resources page and links below for additional information:

Rooms Filters: click here

Cleanliness Toolkit: click here
Brand Health Self-Inspection App: click here

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CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE INDEX (CEI)

The Customer Experience Index is Starwoods new, holistic measurement of customer experience serving all our B2B
segments group/MICE, corporate transient, and leisure. The GEI Team hosted a series of webinars to provide
background on the CEI initiative and share initial features and information about how to use CEI. To view a replay of the
roll-out webinars click here. To view a replay of the CEI Portal and Customer Filters demo webinars click here.
For answers to the most commonly asked questions during webinars or sent to the GEI help desk, click here.

I. CEI Post-event Survey

How does GfK receive property sample data to administer CEI post-event surveys?
There are 2 ways in which sample is received by GfK to send post-event surveys to customers: Manual and Automatic.
Depending on your propertys sales and catering system, your property falls into one of these categories below:
1) Automatic (ISAC and most Delphi versions): If your property is on ISAC or certain versions of Delphi, your data
is pulled automatically every Monday morning for the prior weeks events (Monday to Sunday). For example, on
September 21, 2015 automatic sample will contain events departed September 14 to 20. For ISAC, the client
name and email address is pulled from the Onsite Contact fields. If and only if the Onsite Contact Name field is
blank, the client name and email address is pulled from End User Account fields. For Delphi, the client name is
pulled from the End User Booking Contact field. There is no action you need to take if your property is in the
automatic sample process.
2) Manual (Opera, some Delphi versions and all other systems):
If your property manually uploads sample, GfK has a secure website where hotels can manually upload sample.
Files can be uploaded any day of the week; however, the deadline for each weeks deployment is Sunday night
11:00PM local property time. The following guide includes the URL and outlines the steps to upload manual
sample for CEI post-event survey: click here.
How does the customer receive the CEI post-event survey?
The CEI post-event survey invite will have a subject line CLIENT NAMEs event at PROPERTY NAME. and the email will
be coming from Starwoodcei@e1.surveys2.com. To view the CEI survey invite template, click here. To view the survey
invite template in other languages, you can find the translations on the GEI homepage on StarwoodONE.
What is a CEI Hot Alert?
A Hot Alert is triggered on the basis of one question in the post-event survey: Q01. Overall, compared to your
expectations, how would you rate your entire event experience? Much better than expected, Better than expected,
Same as expected, Almost as expected, Worse than expected, Don't know.
If the customer selects "Worse than expected," a hot alert email is triggered.

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CEI Hot Alerts are

triggered when a customer
rates their Overall
Expectations as worse
than expected

How will I receive a CEI Hot Alert?

When a Hot Alert is triggered, GfK will automatically generate
email containing the customer survey results, so you and your
property team can respond immediately. The Hot Alert email
be sent to your propertys designated distribution list with the
subject line: CEI Post-Event Survey Hot Alert.

an
will

The initial distribution list includes only Property GM/Hotel

Manager, DOS/DOSM, and Catering & Event Management leader(s).
ONLY GMs/Hotel Managers/DOSs/DOSMs/Catering & Event
Management Leaders - Please submit additions or changes to
CEIHelp@gfk.com. Include your property ID number, property
name, as well as the name and email address for each person
who should receive Hot Alerts for your property.

II. CEI Portal

Whats available in the CEI portal?
The CEI portal displays results from post-event surveys completed by customers. We launched the new, shorter postevent survey to our customers on August 24th in NA/EAME divisions and September 8th in LA/AP divisions. We began
data collection by retroactively surveying customers with events departed June 15th onward in NA/EAME and August 1st
onward in AP/LA. GfK, our CEI partner, deployed surveys according to sample data from your sales & catering system. All
completed surveys are available in the CEI portal.
How do I access the CEI portal?
To access the new CEI portal, click the CEI link in your E-tools menu on StarwoodONE. If you do not see the CEI link in
your E-tools menu on StarwoodONE, please email GEIHelp@starwoodhotels.com for access.
For a step-by-step guide on how to use the new CEI portal to gather customer data insights, click here.

III. Customer Filters

Customer Filters allows you to filter guest experience data (GEI data) by customer/account. Customer Filters are
available on the GEI Portal that is accessed through StarwoodONE E-tools. If you do not see the GEI link in your E-tools
menu on StarwoodONE, you can request access by emailing GEIHelp@starwoodhotels.com or filling out the GEI Access
Request form by clicking here.
How will a guest stay be tied to an Account Name or Set ID? How is the SET ID captured on the reservation record?
When a guest books their guestroom reservation with Starwood, the SET ID is captured on the reservation record if the
guest books a corporate negotiated rate. The SET ID is captured in the reservation/consumption record (not pulled from
the guest profile).
For a step-by-step guide on how to use Customer Filters to gather customer data insights, click here.

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