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Introduction

Marketing In Tourism and Hospitality Businesses Contents Summary........................................................................................3 1. Introduction.................................................................................4 1.1 Current Market Situation....................................................4 2. Customers..................................................................................5 3. Marketing Information.................................................................6 4. Key opportunities........................................................................7 5. Objectives and Issues................................................................8 6. Marketing Strategy.....................................................................9 6.1 Product..............................................................................9 6.2 Price..................................................................................9 6.3 Place..................................................................................9 6.4 Promotion..........................................................................9 6.5 Competitive Response.....................................................11 7. Budget.......................................................................................11 8. Controls.....................................................................................11 9. Conclusion and Recommendation............................................12 Bibliography..................................................................................13 Appendices Appendix 1 - PESTE analysis................................................15 Appendix 2 - Porter's Five Forces analysis............................17 Appendix 3 - Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs............................18 Appendix 4 - SWOT analysis.................................................19 Appendix 5 - Competitor's products and prices......................20 Appendix 6 - Specific product package and pricing...............21 Appendix 7 - Pitch for feature article in Red Magazine..........22 Appendix 8 - Samples of promotional material.......................23 Appendix 9 - Budget...............................................................27 Summary This is a marketing report for the boutique hotel chain Hotel du Vin (HdV). After analysing the current market situation and customer segments served by HdV, the report notes the strength of HdV's food and beverage operation, identifying the need to focus on the accommodation side of the business. The marketing strategy aims to increase the average occupancy rate for 2011 to 80% by means of a sales promotion targeting the couples market. A monthly budget is estimated and the necessary controls and recommendations explained. 1. Introduction HdV is a 4* boutique hotel chain comprising of 14 hotels across England and Scotland. HdV is owned by MWB Group Holdings who also own the Malmaison hotel chain. Founded in Winchester in 1994 by a Master Sommelier, HdV was developed with a unique business concept of a devotion to wine. HdV is a lifestyle hotel with stronger emphasis on the customer experience than the tangible product, which itself is intended to be luxurious, stylish and elegant. A signature feature and strength of HdV is its bistro style destination restaurants; Food and Beverage departments are very successful, accounting for around 55% of total HdV business. HdV operates in the boutique hotel sector which has seen significant growth over the last decade (Aggett, 2007). ...read more.

Middle

Controls When taking reservations staff must ask customers where they heard about the promotion. This will help management to assess the efficacy of different methods of promotion. Sales statistics should be monitored on a monthly basis and used to assess and, if necessary, adjust pricing of the product according to demand. Computer systems already in place should be used to track the proportions of new and returning customers using this promotion. This will increase HdV's understanding of customer desires and preferences. An inventory of flyers at each hotel should be taken weekly in order to have sufficient quantity and not to order surplus. 9. Conclusions and Recommendations The head chef will need to be consulted in order to devise and plan the romantic room service breakfast. Employees must be informed of the details of this sales promotion in order to respond to customer enquiries satisfactorily. The promotion must be entered into the computer systems. The promotion must be detailed on the HdV website and must be changed immediately if aspects of the promotion are changed to avoid customer dissatisfaction. There must be good communication between departments to ensure guests receive the correct service. The strategy should not cause many implementation problems for management, as it requires merely informative and not technical training for staff. The marketing strategy outlined in this report is based on the analysis of consumers and competitors relevant to the market at present. However the changing economic and demographic situation means that this strategy may become inappropriate. It is important continuously to assess consumer needs and competitors' strategies in order to adapt and develop appropriate strategies over the coming years. Word Count: 2410 Bibliography Aggett, M. (2007) What has influenced growth in the UK's boutique hotel sector? International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 19 No. 2, pp.169-77. Anhar, L. (2001) The Definition of Boutique Hotels [online] Available from : <http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4010409.search?query=lucienne+anhar+boutique+hotel> BBC News (2010) ...read more.

Conclusion

It is likely that HdV can provide internal printing and thus this is an upper limit for the cost of sending the greetings cards Flyers Flyers are to be given to HdV restaurant guests with their bill (one flyer per table). The average HdV bistro has 80 covers, which across all 14 hotels is an estimated 1120 covers and 2240 covers per day when lunch and dinner is included. Based on an average occupancy of 50% with the average table having 3 covers the estimated number of flyers need for the year would be 130,000. Flyers will be printed monthly in order for changes in price and other details to be made according to monthly assessments of the promotion. The number of remaining flyers should also be reported each month and order quantities adjusted accordingly. www.ukflyers.com charges �295 per 10,000 flyers. Hence, according to an estimated need for 130,000 flyers the cost for the year will be �3835. Decanter Magazine Decanter magazine charges �3,410 for a full page colour advertisement and offers a discount of 6% if 3 bookings a made (Robinson, 2010). Thus if HdV publishes an advertisement every other month the total cost for the year will be �9,616. Sunday Times Magazine The Sunday Times Magazine charges �14,175 for a half page advertisement (nicommercial.com, 2010). Advertisements would be printed the first weekend of February, the first weekend of March, the first and third weekends of September in order to try to encourage sales for February, March, October and November. Jan Feb March April May June July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Cost "Happy New Year" greeting card x �4,992 "Merry Christmas" greeting card x �4,992 Feature article in Red Magazine x �0 Advertisement in Sunday Times Magazine x x x �56,700 Advertisement in Decanter Magazine x x x �9,616 Flyers x x x X x x x x x x x x �3,835 Total �76,135 ?? ?? ?? ?? 2 ...read more.

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