Hospitality Digital Marketing

This document discusses the concept of hospitality digital marketing and its importance in the growth and development of the hospitality industry. It explores the key digital tools, platforms, and channels used by organizations and compares their digital presence. The document also provides insights on customer lifecycle stages and the growth of online booking and e-commerce. The case study focuses on Hilton hotel and its digital marketing strategies.

Hospitality Digital
Marketing

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
Develop the digital marketing report on Hilton hotel and require to provide an environmental
analysis in detail manner.............................................................................................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
Key digital tools, platforms and channels used by various organisations and comparing its
digital presence............................................................................................................................4
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
Develop a plan for digital marketing activities to support Hilton Hotel.....................................7
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................9
Methods to evaluate, monitor and measure digital marketing effectiveness..............................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Hospitality digital marketing states building and keeping the business presence online. It
can be an activity of performing all the business activities and operations by using digital tools
and techniques. Concept of digital marketing was introduced in 1900s and since this method
have modified the face of doing business. It is beneficial to develop diverse segment of company
within new consumer base are generated to maximise profit and revenue of the company
(Adeyinka-Ojo and Abdullah, 2019). This written document is supported to Hilton which offer
hospitality services and products like hotel and resort. This organisation was incorporated in
1919 by Concord Hilton and headquartered in Mc Lean, US. This report carried forward on the
basis of diverse growth options and challenges in current market. In addition to it, impact of
digital technology impact the hotel organisations. Apart form this, it is crucial for organisation to
determine and control digital actions in effective manner for smooth functioning of the firm.
Digital marketing plan is effective to the hotel to develop the sales and productivity for a long
time frame.
TASK 1
Develop the digital marketing report on Hilton hotel and require to provide an environmental
analysis in detail manner
Digital marketing and digital landscape
Digital marketing is an activity of marketing of goods and services of a company by
utilising digital technology like internet, social media, mobile phone apps, web advertising,
display advertising and by using other digital medium. Digital landscape is a aggregated name
for websites, email, social networks, mobile device, video etc. these tools assist in sells of the
products and services of an organisation.
Drivers of digital marketing opportunities
Use of social media tool- In current era, make development in business of organisations,
management use different digital marketing tools like social media, email marketing and other.
For example, in Hilton hotel if the management use social media tool like Facebook, Instagram,
Twitter and others to create awareness about the products and services of hospitality organisation
(Buhalis and Sinarta, 2019). This marketing tool provide growth option to respective firm in term
of maximising customer base or getting attention of number of customers. Because now these
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days people use these social media tool so if company promote its products by using these tools
then help in provide growth opportunity or company and apart form it, it is cost effective.
Evolution of technology- It is another driver of digital marketing which create growth
opportunity for the business of a hospitality company. Now these days, new technologies are
evolute day by day so by using advance and artificial intelligence, the firm can make
development in its business. For instant, in Hilton hotel, the management of the company can use
technology to book the rooms and check-in or check-out services (De Pelsmacker, Van Tilburg
and Holthof, 2018). It will create growth opportunity for the firm because due to self check-in or
check-out service customer will not be wait in queues and administration also not hire a
employees for booking.
Differences among online and offline marketing concepts
Basis Online marketing Offline marketing
Meaning It is the activity of leveraging web
supported channels to transfer
information and message about
organisation's brand, products and
services to its target audiences.
It is a process to create brand
awareness and reach till
consumer to fulfil the needs of
potential clients of a company.
Tools There are different tools that an
organisation use to promote its
products like website, blog, social
media, email marketing, content
marketing and others
Diverse tool which utilised by
company for publicity of its
products are TV, radio, brochure,
banners, news paper and posters
etc.
Cost Less costly because the tool of online
marketing are cost effective (Fine,
Gironda and Petrescu, 2017).
It is cost consuming because
making billboards, banners, radio
advertising all consume more
cost.
Benefits of digital marketing
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Digital marketing is beneficial fro growth and development of different business
companies and business organisations. There are some benefits of digital marketing in context of
Hilton hotel are described as below:
Glob reach- It is the major advantage of digital marketing to different companies who
operate their business in different sectors. With the utilisation of digital tool, the administration
of Hilton can operate its business at global level in different nations of the world and offer its
products and services to its international customers (Gibson and Parkman, 2018). It will help in
maximising profit and productivity of the company.
Lower cost- Another benefit of use of digital marketing is that those digital tools that are
used by organisations for publicity of goods and services are cost effective. In Hilton, by using
digital marketing tool, the management of company can save cost which it invest in promotion of
its products and services.
Use of digital marketing in various sectors
Now these days digital marketing use by various companies of different sectors to
familiar their potential clients about their new and existing products and services. In hospitality
sector with the use of it the management of organisations can create brand awareness by using
marketing and digital promotional tool. For example, Hilton can use social media, email
marketing, web advertisement to create awareness about the company so that people will aware
with it. By offering mobile application to book the room it can make effective engagement with
its customers in term of offering easy and effective way to take the benefits of services of this
hospitality firm.
Importance of customer insight and understanding
In current era customers are highly used social media tool so digital marketing is
important insight of customer. Now these people are not prefer to read new paper they use
mobile application to go through or update with daily news. So it beneficial to Hilton or other
hospitality firm to use digital marketing tool in their business to promote their products and
services and attract customers. By using social media, internet, web advertisement, the firm can
easily connect with their customer and provide information to them which they seek about a
firm. Customer insight is important for a company because they are main source of the growth of
their business (Guaracino and Salvato, 2017). So by using those tools of digital marketing which
are highly used by target audiences company can engage with its potential client.
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TASK 2
Key digital tools, platforms and channels used by various organisations and comparing its digital
presence
There are several digital tools, platforms and channels that are used by numerous business
organisations for their growth and development. In context of Hilton, the management of
respective firm use different tools and channels of digital marketing for increasing profit and
enhancing productivity (Gursoy, 2018). The description of some tools, that used by respective
company in its business, are as below:
Use of digital platforms and internet for revenue generation
Official website- In current era, it has become more famous to method to have website as
it offer more data in context of hotel presence in market. This traditional system of booking hotel
and resorts is entirely changed cause of website designing. Regarding Hilton hotel, the
administration team has to execute their website and make it more appealing as to make effective
impression on the minds of customer. Moreover, hotel has to remove traditional method and
bookmarking and mobile marketing to get attention of numerous customers. To maximise
revenue, the management of respective company must invest time and fund to develop the plan
of actions for web designing presence. They must use search engine and develop the ranking by
offering effective customer services.
Social media- It is an essential and crucial tool of digital marketing and it play an
important role in profit maximisation and revenue generation. In Hilton hotel, the management
of the company use this tool as creating awareness about the products and services which is
offered by it. So that people familiar with the brand and for creating awareness they provide their
ads through FaceBook, Instagram, Twitter and web advertisement. Apart from it they also used
YouTube and create videos. It is crucial in getting attention of customer and maximising sales of
the company (Haneef, 2017). This is most widely used tool by various hospitality companies
because it has low cost advertisement. It is n effective source of making engagement with
customer and productiveness of organisation.
Role of digital marketing communications
Improve customer experience- Digital marketing communication play an important role
in growth and development of a business in term of improving consumer experiences. There are
different digital marketing communication tools that are used by Hilton Hotel to create
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awareness about its services. For example, social media, email, web advertisement etc. are some
digital tool of marketing communication and they are able to provide accurate and deep
information about organisations services to target audiences. With the help of these combination
techniques they can have an effective experience and develop their past experiences due to get
deep and clear information.
Resolving issues and queries- These digital marketing communication also help in
solving customers queries and provide them right information about products and services of the
company. In Hilton hotel, by using digital tools of marketing communication, customer service
executive can provide right information to them and offering 24/7 hour services to them so that
they can get relevant solution regarding their issue (Hudson and Hudson, 2017). It will assist in
making good relations with customers and attracting them so that the firm can make
enhancement in its customer base.
Different types of digital tools and hardware
Digital marketing tools is an incredible marketing tool that are permitting organisation to
deliver and share their message to customers and getting information about consumers needs and
demands. There are different digital marketing tools that can be used by Hilton to make growth
and enhancement in its business. The description of some digital tools are described as below:
Content marketing- It is an effective tool of marketing that consists the creation and
transfer of online material like videos, blogs and social media posts that does not explicitly
promote a brand but is intended to stimulate interest in its products or services. In Hilton, hotel
with the help of this tool, the management can make videos of hotel to aware its customers about
services of this company. It will assist in engaging customers with the firm and also help in
surviving the respective firm in hospitality industry in smooth way.
Search engine optimisation- It is a tool of marketing the product and services of a
company. It is an activity of optimising company website to get organic, unpaid, traffic from
search engine. This digital marketing tool is one of the only marketing channel that when set up
effectively, can continue to pay dividends over time (Ivanov and Webster, 2019). In Hilton hotel,
with the utilisation of this marketing tool company can provide better user expedience to
customer. It is also beneficial to company also because it consist low advertising cost and
provide accurate information to consumers.
Consumer life cycle stages of digital adoption
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Consumer life cycle is a term that defines the different phases a customer goes through
when they are analysing, purchasing, utilising and remaining loyal to a specific product and
service. The stages of this cycle are described as below in context of Hilton hotel in term of
digital adoption:
Awareness- It is the first phase of this cycle and in it, if the management of Hilton hotel
use new digital technology then they create awareness about it (Kandampully, Zhang and
Jaakkola, 2018). So that they can make effective relation with consumer and the target audiences
can easily find it.
Engagement-
Evaluation- It is the nets phase of consumer life cycle analysis in it, after engaging with
promoting and social media marketing channels they make evaluation that what channel is
effective. For example, they monitor different tools like company website and mobile
application to take benefits of services then they evaluate that mobile application is an effective
tool and with the help of it they can get deep information about company and its services.
Purchase- In it after finding out effective tool of marketing the customer purchase the
services and products of the company by utilisation of this tool. For instant, in context of Hilton
hotel, if customer determine that with the help of mobile application they easily get information
then they use this tool to take the benefits of services that offer by respective firm like book the
room and pay for them.
Product and support experience- In this phase customer analyse their experiences of that
services whom benefits are taken by them. For example, if the consumer book the room then
they take all the advantages of the services which are offered by the company. It offer them
positive and negative experience. If the experience of customers are good then they again
purchase the services of hospitality firm.
Bonding- It is the final phase, if the company offer effective services to its customer and
treat them in good way (Kannan, 2017). Then, they customer convert in to loyal consumer
which help in making and effective bind among organisation and customers.
Growth of online booking and e-commerce
. In current time, people are highly busy in their work and so they prefer online booking
and e-commerce to book their room. At present time technology is also much developed so
people do not want to waste their time by in term of stand in queue and book room. Most of
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organisations like Hilton hotel use different technology and offer online booking service to it
potential customers. The client can book their room through organisation’s mobile application
and company website. These digital tools make easy booking process and make development in
online booking and e-commerce by attracting customer for the utilisation of digital technology.
TASK 3
Develop a plan for digital marketing activities to support Hilton Hotel
(a) Luxury business division
Identify the channel
This is intrinsic step in which a company analyse or understand the tool for reaching
customer in an effective and efficient way. Moreover, context of Hilton hotel, they are responded
as an active individual in term of utilising digital marketing plate from to make expansion in its
marketing function in hospitality sector (Kotler and et. al., 2017). In UK, most of the population
is working so it can be analysed that they prefer or use online source and diverse website
application to gather information related to organisation’s service, products and brand etc. In
addition to it, customers also attracted towards services that are offered by hospitality
organisations like Hilton. It will assist in attaining the business objective of the respective in
effective manner in set time duration. In term of making business expansion, the management of
this hotel find out some marketing tool like social media, web ads, video marketing etc. With the
assistance of these marketing tool, Hilton hotel can administrate its luxury business sales in
effective manner and can get attention of numerous target audiences cross wise the world.
Developing objective
After finding out channels and tools, another step is to set objective to develop the all over
execution of company in a better way. In reference to Hilton hotel, the main objective of is to
maximise the sales in luxury business by 20% within 8 months of time frame. Along with it, the
main motive of this hospitality company is to maximisation in the profitability of double portion
of its present net profit (Leite and Azevedo, 2017). Apart from it, the organisation is also
considered the quality of luxury services so that consumer shows their interest in taking the
benefits of their services.
Determine target audiences
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It is the nest stage, in the management of the respect company find out its consumer to
develop market share and size or make their contribution in term of improving the brand image
between rivals in a better manner. In reference to Hilton hotel, the administration of the firm
basically concentrate on quality and pricing strategy of the services that are offered by them to
their potential customers (Nayyar and et. al., 2018). Moreover, the management of the respective
company can target families who want to spend their holidays and vacations, businesspersons,
travellers etc. the main reason to chosen these people as target audiences is that number o people
of them are spend their time in internet that assist the respective firm in getting customer
attention regarding the brand.
Generation integration
It the last phase in which Hilton hotel takes an effort to integrate its online and offline
marketing communication tools. With the utilisation of these plans of action, it permits company
to maximise consumer purchasing power and also can ensure in context of contribution
regarding bringing customer experience in to digital age. In addition to it, by adopting different
tools, it drive Hilton hotel to aware with consumer needs and demands or encourage them to take
accurate and right action in term of improving the ability of gaining rivals benefits in an
amended manner.
(b) Active Holiday seekers
Identify the channel
It is the first step in which Hilton hotel take an initiative to make expansion of all over
profitability ratio of its travel department. With the high utilisation of online or internet
techniques among individuals, Hilton hotel make an attempt by using social media marketing
tools, ads by both online and offline way and email marketing as well as using search engine
optimisation. By using these techniques of marketing, the management of Hilton hotel can attract
number of consumers and can make improvement in the proficiency ratio between rivals.
Developing objectives
In it, Hilton hotel make an effort to analyse the market trends or rivalry and on the basis
of it, the management of respective firm implement best effective decision to accomplish pre-
defined sales target in granted time duration (Paavola, 2017). The objective that is design by
Hilton hotel in term of active holiday seekers is that “ to maximise the sales of the company by
15% in upcoming 6 months time duration. In this context major motive is to aggregate diverse
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values, culture, norms in context of creating good and healthy relation between enterprise and
consumers.
Determine target audiences
in this phase, Hilton hotel motioner it consumers who are interesting to take the
advantages of these kind of services of the company and make contribution in developing profit
and capability of of respective enterprise (Punchihewa, Gunawardena and Silva, 2017). The
management of Hilton hotel basically target families, youths and adults travellers because the
services like adventure tour, vacation tour package for families etc. offered by it. This will help
in making contribution in the growth and development of the company.
Generate integration
Cause of fast development of population who show their interest in multi channel
communication. It encourage Hilton hotel to integrate its different marketing communication tool
in context of dealing with competition in an creative manner. By using this plan of action, the
firm can make effective relation with its targets audiences and assist them to search out new
clients appropriate style. In addition to it, implementation of effective marking tools, assist in
acquiring reviews and response on the basis of their response from company's products and
services. With the assistance of this, it help in achieving them cutting edge execution among
rivals in an efficient way.
TASK 4
Methods to evaluate, monitor and measure digital marketing effectiveness
According to the above defined marketing plan for Hilton hotel market expansion that is luxury
business division and active holiday seekers. However, there are diverse kinds of methods
that assist Hilton hotel to measure, determine and evaluate the effectiveness of plan are
explained as under:
CTR( Click through rate)- It is a crucial way to analyse the efficaciousness of marketing tool
that assist Hilton hotel to measure the number of individuals in terms of visiting the websites
and also who took actions supported to seeing the services (Sigala and Gretzel, 2017). With
the assistance of this approach and concept, company can determine the attribute and
mindset of targeted consumer and also can take effective action to develop the buying
behaviour of clients in effective manner without any hindrance.
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Questionnaire- It is one of the tradition and old approach and method to collect information
from selected representatives in context of making effective determinations (Adeyinka-Ojo
and Abdullah, 2019). Therefore, in reference to Hilton hotel, by implementing this technique
of information gathering, the firm can aggregate relevant and accurate information and
opinion from chosen sample size and permitting them provide effective solution to develop
CONCLUSION
This has been concluded from the preceding described information that digital marketing plays
and crucial role in hospitality industry to maximise the sales and profitability of the firm.
Moreover, it assist hotel to get attention of number of consumer and it aid the industry by
taste and preferences of consumer in taking effective decisions to accomplish competitive
benefits. There are different tools and channels of digital marketing that can be used by
the administration of the firm to make strong relation with customer, creating awareness
about brand and increasing profit and productivity. In addition to it, diverse method by
which hotel can evaluate the digital marketing tool as to devise an effective marketing
campaign as short fail of expectations an fail to provide an effective outcome from all
efficacious efforts.
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REFERENCES
Books & Journals
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De Pelsmacker, P., Van Tilburg, S. and Holthof, C., 2018. Digital marketing strategies, online
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Fine, M.B., Gironda, J. and Petrescu, M., 2017. Prosumer motivations for electronic word-of-
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Gibson, P. and Parkman, R., 2018. Cruise operations management: hospitality perspectives.
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Guaracino, J. and Salvato, E., 2017. Handbook of LGBT tourism and hospitality: a guide for
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Gursoy, D. ed., 2018. The Routledge handbook of hospitality marketing. Routledge.
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Hudson, S. and Hudson, L., 2017. Marketing for tourism, hospitality & events: a global &
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Kandampully, J., Zhang, T.C. and Jaakkola, E., 2018. Customer experience management in
hospitality. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Kannan, P.K., 2017. Digital marketing: A framework, review and research agenda. International
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Kotler, P. and et. al., 2017. Marketing for hospitality and tourism.
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