Hospitality Consumer Behaviour and Insight

The report covers discussion about different cultural, social, factors which influence consumer attitudes and behaviour and also about consumer trends which changes impact of digital technology. In addition to this, the report will cover analysis about stages of consumer decision making journey and also about importance for marketers to map a path to purchase. Moreover, the report cover discussion about differences of hospitality decision making process and about different approaches to market research and methods of research.

Hospitality Consumer
Behaviour and Insight

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
Evaluate about dissimilar social, cultural, psychological and personal which influence
consumer attitudes and behaviour in hospitality context.......................................................3
Explain in which manner due to impact of digital technology consumer trends are changing ..4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
Evaluate stages of decision making journey of customer and map a path for purchasing a
particular hospitality service ..................................................................................................5
Explain why is it necessary for marketers to map a path to purchase and about understanding
of decision-making related to consumer in hospitality sector ...............................................8
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
Contrast key differences and compare decision making process of B2C and B2B with
hospitality examples ..............................................................................................................9
Examine about different approaches to market research and methods of research used in terms
of understanding decision-making process .........................................................................11
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................11
Evaluate how marketers influence stages of hospitality decision making process with
particular example ...............................................................................................................11
Evaluate how marketers are responding to the decision-making process, applying relevant
examples from the hospitality sector....................................................................................12
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Consumer behaviour is basically study of organisations and individuals in terms of their
choices, purchase, services, experiences and ideas in order to assure about preferences and
requirements. In hospitality sector it is very important to consider about behaviour of consumers
because on the basis of that company can either grow into positive terms or decline in some
aspects(Chang and et.al., 2016).In the present report, Marriott International Inc is taken into
consideration. It is an organisation which is multinational company that operates, licenses and
franchises including residential, hotel and timeshare properties. It is headquartered in Maryland.
The present report will cover discussion about different cultural, social, factors which influence
consumer attitudes and behaviour and also about consumer trends which changes impact of
digital technology. In addition to this, the report will cover analysis about stages of consumer
decision making journey and also about importance for marketers to map a path to purchase.
Moreover, the report cover discussion about differences of hospitality decision making process
and about different approaches to market research and methods of research.
MAIN BODY
TASK 1
Evaluate about dissimilar social, cultural, psychological and personal which influence consumer
attitudes and behaviour in hospitality context
Consumer behaviour is basically related to consumer activities which is associated with
use, purchase and disposal of goods and services. It includes consumer's mental, emotional and
behaviour responses which determine, proceed and follow these activities. There are some
important factors which influences consumer attitudes and behaviour and it is defined into
following manner:
Cultural Factor: This factor has very strong influence over consumer buying behaviour.
It basically includes needs, values, wants, preferences and perceptions that are observed and
learned by consumer from their near family members and other important people around them
(Volgger and Huang., 2019). With respect to Marriott International Inc, they follow proper
evaluation of background of customers culture at the time of delivering their quality services.

This factor also includes subculture and social class where majorly customers of Marriott
International are from rich background and also from business class. The sub culture people are
those who are from dominant culture which emphasises on common interest, job related ethics
background and geographic location. With respect to Marriott International, the hospitality team
scrutinise customer background on the basis of religion, ethics, food preferences and others. So
these customers class plays a very important role in terms of uplifting their performance at
international level.
Social factor: This factor defines about buying behaviour of consumer in terms of group,
family, status and role. With respect to Marriott International, they consider social aspect while
considering customers on the basis of their identity. Social factor basically includes reference
groups, family and roles and status(Hemsley-Brown and Alnawas., 2016). The customers of
Marriott International Inc basically from rich background and majorly from business class and
they consider this hotel due its prestigious services.
Personal Factor: This factor basically includes age, occupation, economic situation,
lifestyle and personality and self-concept. With respect to Marriott International Inc, they only
approaches for those consumers whose standard of living is high and have enough buying
capacity for affording these qualitative services.
Psychological Factor: This factor includes motivation, perception, learning and attitudes
and beliefs. With respect to Marriott International Inc, consumers have perception about the
hotel that they provide qualitative services and also have some standard in the market according
to its financial position as well as their other aspects. That's why consumer makes some decision
of purchasing of services on the basis of considering these parameters.
Explain in which manner due to impact of digital technology consumer trends are changing
Consumer trend are the behaviours and habits which currently prevail among consumers
of goods and services. These are formed on the basis of attitudes, new behaviours, expectations
and new opinions. Consumer trends are highly impact due to digital technology and basically it
consist of systems, electronic tools, resources and devices which generate, process and store
data. Examples of digital technology includes social media, online games, mobile phones and
multimedia. Digital technology plays a very important role in terms of influencing the changing
consumer behaviour.

Due to evolution of digital technology, it has drastically changed the way consumers not
only perceive brands but also the way they purchase goods and services of this industry. Due to
introduction of digital technology, consumers can book their services and access information
about it by sitting in any corner of the world. With intense use of digital technology, consumers
feel like more connected and tools used by consumers also help in terms of giving consumer
satisfaction(Li and et.al., 2017). Digital technology also help in terms of gathering information
about brands and products by combining offline and online resources. So on the basis of
information consumers easily take decision for buying the services. With respect to Marriott
International Inc, they provide their services on online basis where consumers can book services
through this online mode. For giving best services to their customers, they use antimicrobial
technology in the touch screen glass which is powered by ultraviolet light to kill bacteria and
viruses.
They have provided such kind of services where before departure, guests have to use
kiosks for contactless checkout and to view their folio. The hotel has provided certain digital
aspects with respect to booking a room, personalised mobile experience and app-satisfaction. By
providing these kind of services to their customers they give an base and comfort zone to their
customers. Smart devices also help in terms of making their journey and using services into
smarter manner. By promoting services on online basis through social media platforms also gives
consumers an ease to take decision in terms of booking services of Marriott International Inc. In
this way, consumer trends are changing due to impact of digital technology.
TASK 2
Evaluate stages of decision making journey of customer and map a path for purchasing a
particular hospitality service
Consumer decision making journey is a process of circular nature which focuses on adding
customer loyalty and building advocacy as well. It basically talks about those steps which
consumer follows and it initiates with awareness of product for becoming a loyal
customer(Guillet and Mohammed., 2015).

According to consumer decision making process in Marriott International Inc it helps in terms of
scrutinizing the services which fulfils needs and wants of consumers. Consumer decision making
process is defined into following manner:
 Problem recognition: In the first stage of decision making process it recognises
about need for services and products. This need recognition can be prompted at
internal and external level which results into the same response and want as well. In
terms of Marriott International Inc, they have to face challenges at the time of
BREXIT.
 Information search: In this second stage, when need has been recognised of consumer
decision making process which presumes about collection of information related to
required products and services or need by internal sources from outside market
environment(Mariani and Borghi., 2021).In terms of Marriott International Inc,
company has to collect proper data and information so that they can further proceed
to face this challenge and find out solution for it.
 Alternative evaluation: In this stage, prospective buyers have developed a criteria
for what they want in a product. They weigh against the comparable alternatives of
prospective choices (Chen and Law., 2016). In terms of Marriott International Inc,
they have to analyse that what exactly their customers want and also need to analyse
about preferences of their choices provided by the company.
 Purchase decision: This stage talks about consumer final purchasing decision. Once
consumers have gathered proper information and get feedback from previous
customers then they take final decision of purchasing the services.

 Post purchase: This is the last stage of consumer decision making process which
elaborates about consumer mapping behaviour and attitude after buying the products
and services. In this manner, it satisfies needs and expectations of their customers.
From the above analysis it has been observed that consumer decision making process follows
five stages. Customers nature is that they compare the services with others in terms of quality
and satisfaction level as well. Marketers of Marriott International Inc has to ensure about the
services quality which can impact on the decision making process of consumer.
Illustration : Consumer decision making process
Source : Consumer decision making process definition stages and examples

Explain why is it necessary for marketers to map a path to purchase and about understanding of
decision-making related to consumer in hospitality sector
Path to purchase refers to those series of channels that customer uses and are exposed to
use in order to convert into a purchase. It includes everything from emails search engines, brand
websites. It is important to map a path to purchase because it helps businesses to step into the
customers shoes and see the business from customer perspective(Cortez and et.al., 2018). It also
help organisation in terms of analysing where customers interact with its business. It is also
important because it focuses business on particular customer needs at different stages in the
buying process. This map also identifies that whether the customer journey is in logical order or
not. It also shows the gap between the desired customers experience and one that is received. It
also highlights about development priorities. It also help in terms of analysing the customer pain
points and in which manner customer experience can be improved. It also defines that what
prospective customers want in order to complete a purchase. With respect to Marriott
International Inc, they continuously work on evaluating and studying market for understanding
needs and requirements of their customers.
Marketers respond in different way in the each stage of consumer decision making.
Marketers need to have a strategy in order to respond towards needs of customers in each stage
of buying decision process. In the first stage of consumer decision making process, marketers
need to respond by capturing attention of target audience. Marketers can take step towards by
making the brand available on online searches and web materials(Carlson and et.al., 2015). In
the third stage, marketers can attract attention of customers through posting blogs, interactive
content and check lists as well. Marketers have to position the brand in the minds of customers
into positive manner so that people attract towards it on a large scale. With respect to Marriott
International Inc, marketers conduct such activities due to which consumers decision become
more simplified and to the point as well. Their focus is towards promoting their hotel through
social media and their website as well. They create a promo code to offer their guests by sharing
it on their hotel website.

TASK 3
Contrast key differences and compare decision making process of B2C and B2B with hospitality
examples
Basic B2B B2C
Meaning Under B2B businesses, it is a
kind of commercial transaction
where selling and purchase of
merchandise performed between
two business organisations
Under B2C businesses where products
and services are directly consumed by
end users. This kind of businesses sell
their services and goods to the final
consumer.
Customer This kind of businesses has been
conducted between two
companies and two business
venture. With respect to Marriott
International Inc, they discuss
with other hotels in terms of
opportunities and share
information for purpose of doing
business into effective manner.
In business to customer they deals
with unlimited customer who are
seeking for hospitality services. With
respect to Marriott International Inc,
they target those customers who are
from business class and from rich
background so that they avail their
qualitative services.
Focus These kind of businesses have
focus towards building strong
relationship with other
organisations and businesses so
that they help in negative
situations and maintain their
relationship for profit
maximisation purpose.
B2C businesses have focus towards
manufacturing of products in order to
fulfil needs and requirements of their
customers. In terms of Marriott
International Inc, they continuously
work on improving their services by
using new technologies in order to
attract large number of customers.
Merchandise Under Mariott International Inc, For creating merchandise this business

their business franchise is
commence towards venture of
large organisation.
has focus towards small organisations.
Relationship In this kind of business, the
relationship is with manufacturer,
retailer, supplier and whole seller
because they have major focus
towards business relationship
terms and also earn maximum
profit.
In this kind of business they have only
relationship between buyer and retailer
as they only deal in terms of product
attainment.
Decision making Decision making in this type of
business is planned and scrutinize
according to needs of business
Consumer majorly takes decision on
the basis of their requirements which
is necessary to be fulfilled by their
emotional mind set and desires as
well.
Target market Marketing team of Marriott
International Inc focus on luxury
travellers and business class
people and upper class people as
well in context of satisfying needs
of customer(Atwood, and
Morosan., 2015).
On the other hand, Business to
customer their target market is to
focuses in large and wide range of
property to attracting more customer
through their service quality
Buying Decision
process
As in terms of respective venture
of buying process which is more
in longer and different alternative
process to decide about how to
buy product and services
Through measuring of different
alternative in perspective of customer
are approach small steps to buying
product. As under Marriott
International Inc focuses on five factor
Recognition, Searching, Evaluation.
Examples Examples for business to business
case are promotion of market,
Examples of this business case are

business investment, partnership
etc.
textiles, groceries, household.
Examine about different approaches to market research and methods of research used in terms of
understanding decision-making process
In order to implement better decision making process, there are some methods used by
Marriott International Inc and it is defined into following manner:
Primary Method: Under this kind of method, researcher design the structure and data is
obtained on first hand basis. Researcher conducts research by themselves and data has been
collected on their behalf(Rather and Sharma., 2016). This type of research mean that directly go
to the source rather than relying on pre-existing samples. Examples of primary method includes
surveys, observations, interviews and ethnographic research.
Secondary Method: This type of research involves use data on existing basis. Existing data is
collated and summarised to increase the overall effectiveness of research. Secondary research
basically includes research materials published in research reports and similar documents.
With respect to Marriott International Inc, they have used primary method of research
which includes focus groups, online surveys and in-room questionnaires. This kind of method is
used by hotel because through this way they got real-time answers and real feedbacks from
customers as well.
TASK 4
Evaluate how marketers influence stages of hospitality decision making process with particular
example
There are basically five stages of consumer decision making process and marketers have
different strategy for each stage and they respond accordingly in this international market and it
is defined into following manner:
In the first stage of need recognition, they respond by capturing attention of target audience.
With respect to Marriott International Inc, marketers grab attention of audience by providing
exclusive services and offers due to which customers attract towards them on a large
scale(Goryushkina and et.al., 2019).

In the second stage, information can be grab through blogging post, videos , graphics etc.
The hotel also spread information through social media and also uses online platforms to grab
attention of customers. In the alternatives stage, customers generally compare with other options
so that they can avail best services(Abu-Alhaija and et.al., 2018). With respect to Marriott
International Inc, they create their brand image in such a manner that customers do not think
about other options and they avail their premium services as well. In the second last stage, of
decision making process the marketing is essential and strategy is straight forwards and to the
point. Last stage is post purchase behaviour of consumers which is very important where
Marriott International Inc majorly focuses on customers feedback and their posts on online basis
so that they can analyse how much customers are liking their services and what are their further
expectation from future perspective.
Evaluate how marketers are responding to the decision-making process, applying relevant
examples from the hospitality sector
 Need for recognition: It is that stage of consumer decision making where it is
required that analysis needs to be done in order to understand the requirements and
needs of customers(Bilro and et.al., 2019). With respect to Marriott International
Inc, it is necessary to understand customers requirements and activeness so that hotel
can understand their preferences into positive manner.
 Information search: For buying the services it is necessary to have appropriate
knowledge and information related to services. In terms of Marritott international inc
they share their information through social media platforms and through their website
as well.
 Option Evaluation: To getting ahead from information search after procuring overall
information with product and services customer would get distinguish with other
competitor's brand product. In terms of Marriott hotel company they generally help
their customers through online surveys and customer feedbacks so that customers
choose their hotel as their first preference.
 Purchase decision: According to this stage, after option evaluation consumer make
up their mind to influence product at time of purchase. They analyse on their decision
to rectify to buying product and additional strengthen. In terms of Marriott hotel the
customer decision making at the time to attract as well as convince the buyer.

 Post purchase evaluation: On the basis this last stage the customer behaviour of
decision making is executed at the time of purchased of product(Rather., 2018).
According to feedback of Marriott hotel customers, they make development and make
changes in their services according to changing period of time.
CONCLUSION
The above stated report concludes that consumer behaviour plays a very important role in
the hospitality sector. It has been concluded that cultural, social, personal factor influence on a
large scale on consumer behaviour. It has been determined that consumer trends are very
important which changes according to development in technology and procedures as well. There
are different stages consumer decision making process which is very important from context of
final decision making of purchase. It is really important for marketers to map a path to purchase
so that they can take appropriate decision into positive manner. So consumer behaviour plays a
very important role in terms of hospitality industry.

REFERENCES
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