Marriott Hotels Marketing Strategy & Recommendations - Free Sample

Question: Discuss about the Marketing Strategy of Marriott Hotels. Answer: Marketing Strategy Marriott Hotels believes that the hotel and hospitality industries must focus on the social media strategy. They use twitter a lot to solve the queries of customers and share the new and data about their hotel sing many other social networking sites. In each country, the Marriott Hotels focus on the marketing depending on the customers and culture of the country. The marketing approach for this hotel industry is, one size fits all in which they conduct this approach to all the operations (Ritchie, Sun Tung, Ritchie, 2011). There are various types of marketing activities takes place in Marriott Hotels like advertising, marketing, branding, etc. on a national or international level. This hotel industry uses flexible techniques for the management of the customers depending on the nature and demand of them. According to the competition and change in the needs and wants of the customers, they also use to change their strategies and policies. The uniqueness of Marriott Hotels is that they use distinct and customized services to attract customers and to create a competitive advantage over the competitors (Agarwal, 2003). In todays business world, marketing is the relevant strategy. It is one of the first strategies that are adopted by all the organizations. It helps to make the product and service known to the target customers as well as other customers. In order to be successful in the hospitality industry, the marketing team of the Marriott hotels should understands the economic, social, legal, political, technology, demography, etc. (Brown, Dev, Lee, 2000) In order to develop on an international and global scale, they had created a portal of the customers with the partners of Pica9 and the Excella consulting. These companies are the automated portal for the marketing that helps to make the marketing materials customization in easy and cost effective manner. With the use of these portals, the managers are allowed to view the strategies of the brand, downloading of the templates of marketing, sharing of materials, and also the creation of collateral of customization marketing (Carroll, Siguaw, 2003). Marriott Hotels use latest technology and implement these technologies in all over the organization of Marriott. These technologies help to update the entire marketing strategies of the various targeted audience. The management of the hotel is done through the latest technological applications that allow the hotel to create a positive customized piece that can be supported in different types of languages (Dief, Font, 2010). Marriott Hotels is also concentrating on the various types of social media foe the unique branding and advertisement of the brand and brand positioning. It will help Marriott Hotels to research the destinations, travelling plans for the tourist, lodging options, etc. there are many other application used by Marriott Hotels for the brand works. They have also improved the methods through which the information is shared, collaboration of the corporate teams and also the global locations. It will allow the management of the marketing of Marriott Hotels to change the brand in according to the customers and the market need. Latest Marketing Strategy of Marriott Hotels Idea + Strategy + Marketing = Success Marriott Hotels is very choosy while picking up the strategies for their organization. First of all, they identify the business plan of the company. They also look forward to the plan and the process through which they analyze the requirement and demands of the customers and the market. They also perform the activities related to the business audit of the company to identify the finance required for the business and its operations. Audit provides the information regarding the internal and external environment of the company. It also helps to find the business opportunities for the company. This process is done of the basis of qualitative and quantitative basis to measure and to examine the performance of the business. It considers time if the strategy of the hotel are not effectively implemented on the organization. Market Segmentation, Targeting and Brand Positioning Strategies of Marriott Hotels Segmentation The process of segmentation refers to the division of the customers according to the needs and wants of the customers, their purchasing power and the expectations of them. They believe in providing hosting services to their customers and to cater all sorts of segments of the market. This is the reason the policies and strategies are flexible and comfortable. The first segment is the customers who want luxury and demand for high comfort. They have rich expectations and the policies framed for this segment is the most expensive services. The second segment is also the extremely rich and luxurious customers who want luxurious suites, private portions, exotic food, beautiful views, etc. the third segment is the customers who belong to the local communities who are the customers who do not look for the accommodation. Instead of accommodation, they look forward to the other types f services provide by Marriott hotel. Targeting There is a particular criterion according to which Marriott hotels to target the audience of them. They use certain criterion to identify and target their audience. These criteria may include accessible, measurable, actionable, substantial, and many types of personal and demographic characteristics of the population. They find it suitable to group their target customers according to the geographical and personal characters. There are two groups of customers who belong to Marriott hotel that are the potential customers and current customers. The current customers are the one who are already taking services from Marriott hotel and the potential customers who may or may not take services from this hotel. Positioning According to the each segment and targeted customers, there is a requirement to position the brand image in the mind of customers. It takes place through identifying the demand and desires of the customers and adds the features and characteristics to each of the segment. The example for this is for the business meetings, Marriott hotel target business people and the professionals. For the travelers and tourist, they positioned the sites, locations, etc. (Enz, Canina, and Walsh, 2001) Marketing mix and 4 Ps of Marriott hotels Marketing mix of Marriott hotels is very complex as we know that this hotel industry is dealing are many countries like USA, Argentina, Thailand, and many more countries. The hotels of Marriott are located in all kind of places like near airports, highways, centers of the city, etc. Marriott use different marketing strategies to attract more customers. This study will help us to create a better understanding about the marketing policies and strategies framed by the Marriott so that they can over a large part of the market. The hotel and tourism industry is one of the most developing sectors of the world (Gummesson, 2002). Product/Services There are various types of services provided by Marriott hotel to the groups of people across the world. It can be lodging services, resorts, spas, salons, facilitating services, hotels, check in and checkout services, hospitality services, boutique hotels, banquet halls, marriage halls, etc. these all are the core services of Marriott hotel that can be provided by almost every hotel industry. he additional services like FB services, leisure services, accommodation services, food and beverages services, management, etc. the extra and the main brands that are offered by Marriott hotel are full-service lodging, extended- service lodging, select-service lodging, grate Americas park, time shares, etc. (Karlsson, Kuttainen, Pitt, Spyropoulou, 2005). The main product of Marriott hotel and industry is in the form of services provided by them. There are different types of service provided by Marriott hotel. They can be tangible and intangible in nature which collectively form the products offered by the Marriott hotel. The core services of the Marriott hotel is the lodging services element with many other facilities like valet, reception, rooms, auxiliary service, restaurants, gardens, play rooms, gym, etc. the other supporting services includes check in services and facilitating service. Facilitating services are the services that are needed by the customers to effectively consume the core services. These services are not included in the core services but help to add value and create distinction in the core services. They are mandatory and compulsory and they have more importance than core services now days. The expansion of the services comprises of three basic characters that are accessibility, participation and interaction with the services orgnaistaion like Marriott hotels. These services are combining with the core product (Choi, Kimes, 2002). Pricing Strategies of Marriott hotels The pricing strategies of this hotel are to increase the sale of the product and service produced in the company. Their motive is to sell the right goods and services to the right customers at a right time. There are few guidelines and principles according to which the pricing of the goods and services takes place that is related to the Marriott hotel management and its matched properties. The guidelines for the pricing is benchmarking and standardized rate positioning, the single image inventory, a good amount of discount rates to the customers, and also the routine performance tracking of the customers. The strategy and policies of the pricing is takes place is a way that it provides revenues to the company and benefits to the customers also (Vallen, Vallen, 2009). Marriott hotel tries to use their full potential in determining the final price of their services for the customers. The prices are decided so that they can earn more profits and revenue in the company along with the brand image for the company. the strategy for pricing helps to determine the sales and purchases done by Marriott hotel and it is depend on various types of variable like promotion takes place for the sale campaign, fixed amount of investment, budget of the company, quantity break, a particular vendor quote, the prices prevailing for the entry in the hotel, combination of various types of orders, lines, shipments, invoice data and information gathered from shipment, etc. the maintenance and pricing management of Marriott hotels always tries to prevent the pricing errors by automating the system and setup for the pricing (Wernick, Von Glinow, 2012). Marriott hotel generally determines the pricing according to demand curve and estimating the price with the possible amount of the goods and services that Marriott hotel have sold within each possible price. It is estimated by the managers that at different level of cost, the different level of output is incurred. Many times, Marriott hotels cut and raise their benchmarked and standardized prices at times that depend on the possible conditions and situations. The pricing strategy of Marriott hotel I flexible and changeable that can be change according to the duration and also depending on the intent to change and competitors in the market (Myung, McClaren, Li, 2012). Promotional mix of Marriott hotels In order to remain in the competition, Marriott hotels are also using technology and internet in the promotion and advertisement of their hotels. As we know that the technology is changing and the advancement is coming in the technology every day. So this hotel industry has launched their own sites and extensive that provides clear information and details about the hotel and its management, the product and services available n the hotel for the customers, etc. the websites help and guide customers to make bookings online using internet for the rooms and any there services. The potential customers and the customers who are already dealing with Marriott hotels cover and pave the ways for the promotion campaign conducted by the Marriott hotels. The strategy for the promotion is generally formed to target the mass communication using publications of trade, print advertisements, and using internet, social websites, etc. They found direct mail campaigns as the most cost effective and easiest way to communicate about the promotional campaigns to reach to current and potential customers of Marriott hotels. It is way through which company can build long term and direct relationships with the customers, its local community. It helps Marriott hotels to have growth in the organization as the corporate activities will be generated in the organization (Li, 2008). With the promotion mix, the activities related to public relations which play a relevant role. The activities of promotion mix for Marriott hotels comprise of public relations, direct marketing and advertisement activities. The strategy of promotion mix is to target the customers through internet, advertisements, branding, etc. there are various types of brand workshops that help Marriott hotels to publish the advertisements, offers, deals, to the corporate, brand websites, property sites, etc. (Svensson, Svaeri, Einarsen, 2009). In this way, Marriott hotels indentifies that what tool is relevant to which group of customers, which tool is more effective and which one is not, how to deliver the tools in the most effective way. It also determines the better experiences of the customers that provide assurance of the consistency, marketing information and value. The promotional techniques are used for the attraction purpose and reminders for the customers. The promotion mix activities help to create awareness for the services offered by the Marriott hotels. So Marriott hotels globally utilized the promotional mix policies to attract a huge amount of customers and increase the revenue of the company (Line, Runyan, (2012). Place and Distribution mix for Marriott hotels The distribution process and channels in Marriott hotels go about via the connections along with the central reservation systems by leveraging the distribution electronic channels of communication. The support systems are the operations of the Marriott hotels. In this hotel, the central reserve system is simple connected directly to the direct connect for external channels. In the new and current markets of hotel industry, Marriott hotels is growing and developing just because of the enhancements in the inventory system of the distribution of infrastructure. There are may other additional activities and abilities that helps Marriott hotels to increase the speed of sales in the markets and side by side to lower the overall cost of the company (Okumus, 2002). Marriott hotels use a channel mix as it is relevant for h hospitality organization. There should be a mix of third party channel and direct channels. Each and every chain has its own pros and cons and different costs. It is very relevant for all the organizations to choose a distribution channel that helps to favor the stream of the sales and revenues in the organization. The revenues are not only important part but also to have a sustainable growth in the business organizations. So Marriott hotels firstly analyze the best distribution channels for their organization and then apply it to the entire Marriott Company on the world (Yoo, Lee, Bai, 2011). The other relevancy is to provide a reasonable and right price to their customers. The prices and services should remain uniform in all the Marriott hotels. It helps to earn more profits and revenues as compared to any other competitors. Marriott hotels must identify the right approach to determine the prices, monitoring of productions, and also benchmarking the results. If we observe, Marriott hotels use both direct and indirect methods of distribution. The indirect business is run though the online parties, the wholesalers, travel agencies, etc who are available throough internet. They also help to form the revenue for the company and for the leisure and provision for the customers. 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