Marketing of Brookfield hotel

c) How has the “Brookfield” grown? (Discuss with reference to customer retention strategies)

The hotel was opened in 1972 with only 6 bedrooms. The need of hotel at this time was great and that is why Mister Gibson decided to open a hotel. He bought a small house and for 12 months creates the Brookfield hotel. The first staffs of the hotel were the owners – Mr. and Mrs. Gibson. They worked night and day to satisfy the customers needs. Mr. Gibson is a smart businessman. He took money from the bank and develops the hotel in 1977. He bought the house to the left and increases the number of the rooms of the hotel. He did not take more money from the bank until he has paid out his previous loan.

In the early 90’s the need of development was so great, that the owner was forced to take a new loan from the bank and to made the hotel bigger. He bought the house next door and once again increases the number of the hotel rooms to 40.

The management of the hotel is a very good one. The strategy for customer retention is to make the hotel a very comfortable one. The quality of the rooms is very high. The owner did not want to make an ordinary hotel. He wants and makes a very nice looking small family-owned hotel. He chose the customization of the service he delivers rather than the standardization. He wants the clients to feel like home. Most of the clients are regular guests. The staff and the owner know the names of their regular clients and talk to them on first name. As mentioned above the staff is almost the same for many years now.

2. Corporate Culture/HRM

Summarize with examples:

1. What you feel are the “Corporate Culture”/Staff Value at the Brookfield?

“An organizational culture is the pattern of shared values and beliefs that gives members of an organization meaning, providing them with the rules for behavior in the organization”.

In Brookfield hotel the corporate value is at a very high level. Every single person working there is totally devoted to the hotel. They love to work there. Some of the personnel work there for many many years. Amanda the front office clerk works there for 16 years. Every customer of the hotel knows her and expects to see her at the reception desk every time she/he is a hotel guest. The head chef works there for 12 years now, the pastry chef – 10 years, the restaurant manger – for 3 years, but he had work there before. Some of the waitresses work there for 5 years. The management selects the staff not by experience, but by personality, which is very important criteria for a hotel like Brookfield, because they rely on customization rather than standardization. A very good indication of the good attitude of the staff towards the clients is that they always greet them. The staff is always smiling, happy and polite with the clients of Brookfield hotel.

The atmosphere in the hotel is friendly. Every one work like a true team. The most valuable thing in the Brookfield Hotel is the staff retention. On one hand the hotel needs these people – he wants to keep the staff because the customers are regular and they know the staff. On the other hand the staff also like to work there. The work is different from an ordinary hotel because this is a small one, family hotel, but managed from professionals. As one of the personnel said:’Brookfield hotel is a unique place to work’

2. What are the marketing implications of this?

One of the major marketing implications of the corporate culture/staff value of the Brookfield hotel is that people feel like home in the hotel. It is very important, because most of the clients are wealthy persons, who wants everything to be perfect, to be like home. That is why they want to see every time the same staff, so they can chat with them friendly. Another important marketing implication of the staff value is in the restaurant.

3) Customer Base/Segmentation

1. Observe which segments the hotel caters for. (Include corporate segments as well)?

The hotel caters for business clients, there are a lot of functions organized in the Brookfield, and there are a lot of weddings also. Also some of the rooms are organized specially for honeymooners. In the hotel lot meetings are organized almost every week.

For the segmentation of Brookfield hotel the most important thing n my opinion is the fact that most of the clients are regular and loyal clients. They go to Brookfield hotel no matter what the other hotels provide like facilities, prices and so on. These people prefer the customization in the Brookfield hotel. They want to be treated like friends in the hotel, they want to talk to the others on first name.

According to the film, I think that the people who come to Brookfield are above average people, who prefer nice and quiet place for relaxation.

2. Explain how you would go about conducting a segmentation study.

If I have to conduct a segmentation study about the Brookfield hotel, I think that the most proper way to do it is to make first an age segmentation. Most of the guests of the Brookfield hotel are relatively old people – above 50 years of age, who prefer quite and nice places to relax. As mentioned above, there are a lot of honeymooners who come to the hotel. Then I think it is important to make income segmentation. Because the hotel is not cheap and it does not have any sporting facilities for example, I think that people who come to the hotel are above average in the income they receive.

And at the final segmentation that is needed to be made is the social class segmentation. I think that from what was said above, it is obvious that the clients of the Brookfield hotel are in the lower uppers.

4) Competition and Positioning

а) Outline which are the main competitor hotels to “The Brookfield”

 The main competitor hotels of “The Brookfield hotel ” are:

1. Hilton Portsmouth,

The Hilton Portsmouth is a two star hotel situated in the north of the city and offers excellent accommodation. The hotel has superb facilities, including an indoor swimming pool, sauna, steam room, mini gym and outside all-weather tennis court. The price per person per night is £43.00. The single supplement Monday to Sunday £20.00

2. Portsmouth Marriott Hotel

Located on the South Coast, this two star hotel is close to Port Solent and Porchester Castle. The price per Person Per Night is £42.002. Тhe single supplement from Monday to Sunday is £20.00

               

3) The White Horse

This is a three star hotel which is very similar to the Brookfield hotel. It has 8 rooms and a lot of guest facilities in contrast to the Brookfield hotel. It has: Garden/outdoor play area, Spa Facilities: massage, aromatherapy, Barber/Beauty Services
Business Facilities: Flip Charts

The prices of the rooms start from 85 pounds per night per person2.

The Brookfield hotel is a three star hotel, situated in the middle from Chichester and Portsmouth. It has a beautiful garden outside, which is color all year round. It has a nice restaurant “Hermitage” who has two daily menus, a very good wine menu, and 40 nice big rooms: single, double and honeymooners suits. The hotel does not possess any other facilities like fitness gyms, saunas, and so on. The prices for rooms start from 69,59 for a single room per person per night and goes to 130 pounds for the suit per person per night.

b) How does The Brookfield compete? How is Brookfield positioned?

“Positioning is the choice of where we want to compete and how we wish to compete”.  

The two steps for positioning are the following: 1) identifies the competitive advantages of the Brookfield hotel; 2) select the right competitive advantages.

Lets first see the advantages of the other three hotels mentioned above.

The first two hotels are only two stars, but they are cheaper and have some facilities in contrast to the Brookfield hotel. But in these hotels the attitude of the staff is not the same. There the standardization is greater then the customization. In the White Horse Hotel the prices are almost the same as in Brookfield hotel. In this hotel there are a lot of facilities for the guests. But again the standardization is greater then the customization.

The specific product attributes of the Brookfield hotel is its location. Situated between the Portsmouth and Chichester, the hotel can attract tourists from the both venues.

The main advantages of the Brookfield hotel over his competitors are its reputation among the guests, and the better service in the hotel. The hotel is very different from the Hilton Portsmouth for example. In Hilton the main part of the clients are businessmen who need to have the facilities Hilton provide. The other main competitor – Marriott Portsmouth is more a tourist type of hotel.

3. How would you conduct a positioning survey?
   

If I have to conduct a positioning study, I would make some kind of questionnaire. The hard thing is to make people fill the questionnaire in the four hotels in which the survey will take place. Another problem is how to compare the surveys in the four hotels, because to be a real survey same people should visit the four hotels. So my preposition is to invite two local journalists to sleep a night in each hotel and then to fill the questionnaires. The purpose of their stay in the hotel must be secret for the hotel authorities in order the survey to be fair.

The selection of the journalist is not a very big problem. I think that it does not matter where they work.

The questionnaire that they have to fill will be like this:

1. What do you thing about the services in the hotel:

1. excellent
2. very good
3. good
4. poor

2. Do you think the accommodation is good value for money?

a) YES                                                                b) NO

3. What do you think about the attitude of the staff?

1. they are friendly and always smile and can help you always
2. they are not very polite and their attitude depend  of their mood
3. they are rude

4. What do you think about the quality if the food in the restaurant?

1. It is a very good one
2. There is more that can be done
3. No comment

The results of this study can be summarized in the following positioning map:

As a conclusion of the positioning study I would say that service in the Brookfield hotel is good value for money. So if you have to spend a few days near Portsmouth or Chichester, I recommend visiting the Brookfield Hotel.

5) New Developments/new directions

1. If the Brookfield Hotel cannot add any more rooms how can the hotel improve its turnover and profitability?

In order to improve the turnover and the profitability, first of all the hotel has to maintain the standards, which it has till now. It has to maintain the same staff, because one reason why people come back in the Brookfield hotel is the staff.

The hotel has started to a new business – the wine business. I think that this is a very god start in order to increase the profitability. They supply not only their restaurant – The Hermitage, but also a lot of small and big restaurants in the area. If they continue to develop this business I think that they can make a lot of money. They can become the major wine suppliers to the hotels and the restaurants in the area.

To improve the turnover and the profitability, the Brookfield hotel can make advertisements in the local newspapers that they expect honeymooners to come to their hotel or that people can make weddings in the hotel. The advertisements can be colorful and should show the wonderful waterfall and the arch in the Brookfield garden, the beautiful apple tree and the bench under it and the all year round colorful garden.  

2. Assume that a decision has been made to acquire a new site. Outline the use of market research to help with catchment and location studies.

The most important thing that has to be done is to select the right location. This will be crucial for the development of a new hotel like Brookfield. It should again be somewhere in the countryside between two big cities in order to take clients from both towns.

The hotel will have the same name, which means that the standards in the original Brookfield hotel and the new one have to be the same. There is no room for compromises. Everything must be done professionally.

It is crucial that the core staff of the existing hotel remain the same. There should not be any changes in the Brookfield hotel. The staff for the second hotel should be selected with the same criteria. First the managers should look at the personality of the applicants, then his/her experience.

So in order the new hotel to be successful, there are several things that have to kept in the managers minds – to select the right location, to select the right personal. The standards in the new hotel have to be the same as in the original Brookfield Hotel.

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