Opportunities and Challenges of Digital Marketing in Hospitality Industry

This article discusses the opportunities and challenges of digital marketing in the hospitality industry. It explores the influence of the digital environment on the industry and evaluates the digital tools, platforms, and channels adopted by distinguished hospitality organizations. The article also provides insights on arranging digital marketing activities and building multi-channel capabilities in the hospitality sector.

Hospitality digital
marketing

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................1
Illustrate opportunities, challenges and influence of the digital environment in an hospitality
industry...................................................................................................................................1
LO 2 ................................................................................................................................................4
Evaluate digital tools, platforms and channels adopted by distinguish hospitality................4
LO 3.................................................................................................................................................9
Evaluate how to arrange digital marketing activities and build multi-channel capabilities in a
hospitality organizations ........................................................................................................9
LO 4...............................................................................................................................................10
Examine methods of monitoring and measuring digital marketing effectively monitoring and
measuring techniques...........................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Digital marketing has raised the sales ratio of hospitality sector tremendously. By using
effective marketing tools and techniques hospitality industry can grow smoothly in the global
market (Alghizzawi, 2019). Management need to keep eye on the changing trend in the
marketing trends so that innovative goods and services can be commercialized easily to their
targeted customers. This step directly assist in gaining set goals and objectives in the specified
time duration. Ineffective marketing methods bring huge monetary loss to the hospitality sector
which is a negative mark for the business. For the completion of the report Hilton is undertaken.
It is a American international hostility firm which is suited in Tysons Corner, United Kingdom.
Conrad Hilton founded this successful organization in the year May 31, 1919. This assignment
covers, types of marketing channels used to serve communication objectives in Hilton.
Marketing communication plan is prepared so that communication objectives can be full filled.
For given condition communication objective has been designed. Additionally, distinguish tools
and techniques are executed for measuring digital marketing.
LO 1
Illustrate opportunities, challenges and influence of the digital environment in an hospitality
industry.
Digital marketing refers to as using online based technologies such as, laptop, mobile
phones, desktop computers and so on in order to commercialize product and services in the
global market. By this targeted customers are attracted which results in uplifting overall
productivity and profitability ratio which is a positive sign for the hospitality sector business. On
the other hand digital landscape is explained as, regularly emerging digital media which are,
pay-per- click, search engine marketing, social media marketing, content marketing, web
development, influencer marketing, podcasting and many more (Amatulli and Stoppani, 2019).
The drivers of digital marketing opportunities in hospitality sector are as follows:
Websites: Through this first impression on the customers is created when they are
visiting it. This is drivers of digital marketing opportunities in hospitality sector because it will
help the client to future proceeds with the search or not. By using attractive design and eye
catching content writing, sufficient information etc. push the customers to purchase the goods
and services offered by Hilton.
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Social Media channels: It is digital marketing practices adopted by almost every
organization operating in the global market. This is drivers of digital marketing opportunities in
hospitality sector because by this large customer base can be raised for the goods and services
offered by hospitality sector. There are many social media like, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn,
Pinterest, You- tube and many more platform are there where paid or unpaid advertisements can
be done and set goals and objectives of Hilton can be attained easily.
The differences between online and offline marketing concepts are explained under:
Particulars Online marketing concepts Offline marketing concepts
Meaning In this case, goods and
services are commercialized
on various social sites like,
Facebook, Pinterest, You-
tube, Twitter (Bilro and
Guerreiro, 2019). Here,
promotion is done by either by
paid or unpaid advertisements.
This is a advertising tactics
which is published out of the
internet like, on radio, banners
on road side, posters on public
walls etc.
Benefits It is more benefiting because
today's youth is more active on
social networking sites and
rely more on their views and
comments for the goods and
services offered by the
hospitality sector.
This beneficial because
literacy rate in many nation is
less so by adverting product
and services on banners,
television, newspaper etc.
large customer can be attracted
towards it . Which raises their
sales ratio tremendously.
Long term exposure It is a never ending process
and can render long-term
exposure to their potential
customers if executed
effectively.
It work for certain period of
time as long as organization
pay for it to the broadcaster
(Buhalis and Sinarta, 2019).
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The key benefits of digital marketing for hospitality organization are stated as under:
 Hospitality business can be developed easily in short time duration with the help of
digital marketing. This is because large customers base is aware about the innovative
product and services offered by Hilton in the global market.
 Digital marketing is cost effective way to commercialize product and services of Hilton
worldwide. By this huge profit can be maximized.
 Hospitality is benefited by digital marketing because through this Hilton can directly
target their ideal buyer . Due to which set goals are accomplished on time.
 With the support of SEO and local SEO Hilton is able to identify more qualified buyers
online. This helps the organization to come up with more innovative idea in order to turn
them as loyal customers towards their offering.
The use of digital marketing by various sectors within hospitality industry are stated as under:
Food and Beverages: Digital marketing helps in raising sales ratio of food and
beverages department because of the effective content marketing. By this large customers are
attracted towards the Hilton's food and beverages offered by them. It raised their brand
awareness as well (COJOCEA and COROŞ, 2018).
Travel and Tourism: The share of revenue generation has raised because of digital
marketing. Through this more employee engagement is possible in order to meet the emerging
needs of the customers on priority level. Through content marketing ratio of visitors towards
travel and tourism offers has raised rapidly that results in brand awareness among people.
Consumer insight is explained as, interpretation followed by management in order to gain
in-depth understanding regarding how customer think and feel about their goods and services
(Schuckert and Law, 2015). Importance of consumer insight is that it aid firm to better
understand what their customer is demanding. Additionally, it helps in framing appropriate
digital marketing activities so that productive outcomes can be gained easily.
The raise of online consumer power challenges digital marketing because clients are
demanding customers attract towards those goods and services which are more eye catching and
are attention seekers. It challenges Digital marketing because Hilton need to modify their digital
marketing idea accordingly.
The growth of micro moments refers to as, searching gap between customers and internet
or the time moment while answering the questions is termed as micro moment. The growth of
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the micro moment is directly influencing Hilton in specific on the accommodation sector because
more the time spend on the search engine regarding firm more better decision can be taken by
them. It leads in attainment of set goals and objectives in the specified time duration (Gibson and
Parkman, 2018).
LO 2
Evaluate digital tools, platforms and channels adopted by distinguish hospitality
There are various digital tools which can be adopted by Hilton in order to raise the sales
ratio of their good and services in the global market. Effective digital tools directly or indirectly
helps the business associates to gain competitive advantages against rivalry in cut throat
competitive world which is a positive mark for the business. Depending upon the type of
hospitality business distinguish digital tools, channels and platforms are used by the management
so that formulated goals and objectives can be attained in the set deadline. 7 ps of marketing is
used by Hilton in order to commercialize their product and services in the international market
which are elaborated as under:
Product: Goods and services are designed by organization by understanding the
emerging needs and preferences of the customers. By doing so end users expectation level can be
achieved easily. Hilton is designing product by scanning the external environment so that
chances of failure reduces to a large extent and desire results can be achieved. Those products
sales ratio is raising who is able to draw the attention of the customers more (Griesmayr, 2019).
Price: By examining the competitors prices organization must design their pricing
strategy accordingly. It directly assist in creating tough bench mark for others in the intense
competitive world. Affordable cost should be set so that customers can easily consume it easily.
Hilton is using skinning pricing tactics for their product and services in order to gain huge
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revenue. This helps the organization to be in the leading position among rivalry.
Illustration 1: 7p's of marketing
Source: 7p's of marketing
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Place: Business can grow and develop successfully in the global market when its goods
and services in offered in proper place. In the competitive era Hiltion's goods are available on
both places online and offline (Grotte, 2018). By this large customer base for the goods and
services are raised. Selection of proper place helps the business associates to grow rapidly in
short timer duration.
Promotion: Goods and services should be promoted with the help of digital platform so
that emerging needs of the customers can be full-filled accordingly. Effective promotion strategy
helps to raise overall productivity and profitability ratio tremendously. Organization adopts
promotion tools as per their business working structure. Ineffective promotion tools bring huge
financial loss to the management which influence the business activities negatively.
Physical evidence: Trust is build when goods and services are felt and touched by the
customers. Hiltion's food and beverages and services can be felted and tasted easily by visiting
the place. It helps the business administration to compete with its competitors in the open market
place.
People: Product and services can be successful in the market till the time it is meeting the
expectation level of the people. Organization should come up with those goods and services
which are capable enough to satisfy people needs and preferences. Business associates must
work on the feedbacks and review given by customers so that they can be assured that they are
valuable for firm. By doing so more loyal and trustworthy client can be build towards Hiltion's
product and services.
Process: It raises when demand for the goods and services raises accordingly. The
process of product raises when there is tremendous demand of Hiltion's goods in the global
market. Modern tools and techniques can be adopted by the management in order to raises the
process of production. By this switching rate of customers towards other brand can be reduced to
a large extent (Inanc–Demir and Kozak, 2019).
The distinguish types of digital tools and digital hardware (e-readers, desktop computers,
laptop computers, mobile phones, tablet computers and many more) helps in uplifting hospitality
marketing because all this tools act as backbone and support organization to advertise their
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goods and services effectively in the open market place. By this targeted customers can easily be
attracted towards innovative product and services offered by Hilton in the global market.
Consumer life cycle stages of digital adoption is a graphical model that explains
technological implementation procedure by community. It has four stages which are, ascent,
maturity, research and development and decline. Adoption of these technologies has been further
classified into chronological demographics which are, innovators, early adopters, early majority,
late majority and laggards. The various stages are illustrated as under:
Research and development: Here, risk are taken to expense in new tools and
techniques.
Ascent Phase: In this case, it involves the time frame from the goods invention to the
point to completion and cost is completely recovered.
Source: Product life-cycle and adoption, 2020
Maturity Stage: People of the society are accepting the new innovation and are able to
capture huge market share as well as are raising demand in the global market (Kandampully and
Jaakkola, 2018).
Decline phase: Here, profit amount is not gained any more.
The chronological demographics are illustrated as under:
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Innovators : It is risk oriented for those who are keen interested in development of
technology.
Early adopters: Here, they are highly adoptable to new technology.
Early majority: In this type of consumer life cycle stage they are more open to new idea
but wait to notice the reaction before investing (Shabani and Hassan, 2018).
Late majority: It is bit conservative and need to convinced before investing in any new
field.
Laggards: Small section of people which involves older and illiterate person who resist
to take risk and are interested in investing in new and fresh idea if it is well-established.
The growth of online booking and e-commerce has raised the business revenue
maximization ratio. It has raised the trend of providing 24/7 hour services to their customers. The
facility of online booking and e-commerce has make the work easier. Hilton is now ten percent
of their revenues in e-commerce. It has raised the demand of the goods and services in the
market.
LO 3
Evaluate how to arrange digital marketing activities and build multi-channel capabilities in a
hospitality organizations
Digital marketing activities helps the hospitality sector to gain competitive advantages
again t rivalry prevailing in the international market. Commercialization of goods and services
should be through digital marketing in order to achieve the sales targets in the set deadline. This
also helps the business administration to compete with other competitors prevailing in the open
market place as well Hilton can stand competitive among all its rivalry in the cut throat
competitive world.
Omni channel is cross channel content tactics which business administration adopts in the
working premises in order to enhance their customer experience. By this more healthy and strong
relation s can be build among employer and employees (Kriechbaumer and Teare, 2019). There
are distinguish omni channels in hospitality industry which are, sales, customer service and
marketing.
Challenges in text messaging channels: It is very essential to provide best customer
service to the customers in order to bind them for longer time duration with hospitality industry.
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Satisfied customers dies more mouth publicity which creates brand awareness in the market. It is
not easy to meet the emerging needs of the customers various challenges are faced by Hilton.
Management need to work on the feedbacks and review collected from client in order to assure
that for hospitality industry customers are on priority level and does all possible things to stand
up to their expected level. Dis-satisfied customer creates rumour regarding the Hilton food and
beverages quality. This directly affect their profit maximization ratio. This influence the
customers satisfaction level because if customer service are not appealing then they switch to
other brand in order to full-fill the demand. By this organization's market value decreases
gradually in the international market.
Challenges in social media marketing: In the era of competitive world where each and
and every organization is marketing their innovative goods and services in creative way.
Marketing plays a significant role in making the business successful in the global market. Before
marketing Hiltion's goods and services in the intense competitive world it is mandatory to scan
the external environment so that deserving outcomes can be attained smoothly. It impact the
customers satisfaction level because ineffective marketing does not attract customers to purchase
it despite of the fact that goods is very attractive. Client are more pushed to purchase those
products which are eye catching (Nayyar and Suseendran, 2018).
Challenges in websites: Companies sales ratio can be uplifted when advertisement of
the goods and services are done appropriately in the global market. By using effective
promotional tactics Hiltion's goods and services can easily identify their potential customers. By
this goodwill can be raised in the eyes of the customers. By this huge revenue can be maximized
which can be further used for growth and development of the hospitality business in the intense
competitive world. However, sales ratio influence customer satisfaction because lower the sales
volume raises the question regarding quality of the offerings while, high sales ratio provide
satisfaction that right value is paid for the purchased product and services.
LO 4
Examine methods of monitoring and measuring digital marketing effectively monitoring and
measuring techniques
Hospitality industry day to day working can be measured and monitored by using
distinguish tools and techniques such as, key Performance Indicator (KPI), Check list, Bench
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marketing so on. With the help of this productivity and profitability of the organization can be
improved easily. According to the organization structure various structure are used by the top
level management in their working premises. Below are some of the tools and techniques used
by business associates to monitor the performance of the hospitality sector on daily basis. The
brief expatiation of points are done as follows:
Key performance Indicator (KPIs): It is widely used for measuring performance of
business administration and weak area can be identified easily. It assist business associates to
upgrade the loop holes for productive results in cut throat competitive world. Numerous benefits
are key performance indicator are, customer satisfaction, return on investments, sales, cost
control, profit, human resource management and so on. Example: Hiltion adopts key
performance indicator within business premises so as to examine the factors that aid in
enhancing overall workforce performance, develop a standardized set of processes and metrics,
gain independent perspective about how well you perform compared to distinguish companies
and many more. It can be done by handling valuable human capital in proper manner.
Bench marking: Here, comparison is dome among to different business performance. By
this who is the market leader can be identified easily in the global market. Comparison is done of
those companies who are operating their business in the same industry. Additionally,
management gets an idea where, they are standing in the market and in which loop areas they
need to improve to be in the leading position. Some of the benefits of bench marking are, enables
mindset and culture of continuous improvements, set performance expectations, drill down into
performance gaps to identify area for upliftment and many more.
Example: Hilton's performance is compare with Marriott. Both are top leading retail companies
across the globe. By comparison both of them work effectively and efficiently and customers are
served with high quality goods and services
Check list: It is another method adopted by Hilton in order to monitor and measure the
performance of employees at work place. By this improvements can be done in the loop holes in
order to attain productive outcomes in the set deadline. Top level management can examine the
performance of employees on daily basis in order to be competitive among it's rivalry. There are
distinguish benefits of checklist which can be gained by business administration such as, search
your goals faster, saves time and money, make delegation easier and so on (Zsarnoczky, 2018).
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All the above tools and techniques helps the organization to compete with their
competitors prevailing in the open market place. By this organization is able to gain competitive
advantages against rivalry.
CONCLUSION
From the above it can be concluded that digital marketing is playing vital in the growth of
the hospitality sector globally. Modern marketing tools helps the business to attract large number
of customers towards it in short time duration. By this set goals and objectives can be
accomplished easily which is a positive mark for the business. Difference between online and
offline marketing concepts are explained so that better understanding can be build. 7P's (product,
price, promotion, physical evidence, process, people and place) of marketing are briefly
explained so that organization is able to gain desire outcomes in the specified time duration.
Product life cycle and adoption is examined so as to make necessary changes in the loop holes.
Omni strategy is used by the business associates as it integrates communication, content and data
across company in order to deliver render seamless experience to the client.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Alghizzawi, M., 2019. The role of digital marketing in consumer behavior: A survey. Int. J. Inf.
Technol. Lang. Stud. 3(1). pp.24-31.
Amatulli, C., De Angelis, M. and Stoppani, A., 2019. Analyzing online reviews in hospitality:
data-driven opportunities for predicting the sharing of negative emotional
content. Current Issues in Tourism. 22(15). pp.1904-1917.
Bilro, R. G., Loureiro, S. M. C. and Guerreiro, J., 2019. Exploring online customer engagement
with hospitality products and its relationship with involvement, emotional states,
experience and brand advocacy. Journal of Hospitality Marketing &
Management. 28(2). pp.147-171.
Buhalis, D. and Sinarta, Y., 2019. Real-time co-creation and nowness service: lessons from
tourism and hospitality. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing. 36(5). pp.563-582.
COJOCEA, M. L. and COROŞ, M., 2018. Upscale And Luxury Hotels In Romania Facing
Digital Advocacy: Success Or Failure?. Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai, Negotia.
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Gibson, P. and Parkman, R., 2018. Cruise operations management: hospitality perspectives.
Routledge.
Griesmayr, C., 2019. Digital marketing in the hospitality industry: what influence does digital
platform economy have on the booking rates of the hotel industry.
Grotte, J., 2018, June. Future Challenges of the Hospitality Industry. In 7th Intentational
Conference on Torusim & Hospitality Management (pp. 11-25).
Inanc–Demir, M. and Kozak, M., 2019. Big Data and Its Supporting Elements: Implications for
tourism and hospitality marketing. In Big Data and Innovation in Tourism, Travel, and
Hospitality (pp. 213-223). Springer, Singapore.
Kandampully, J., Zhang, T. C. and Jaakkola, E., 2018. Customer experience management in
hospitality. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Kriechbaumer, F. and Teare, R., 2019. SOLOMO–Are hospitality SMEs able to move beyond
traditional websites in their digital marketing roadmap for Expo 2020?. Worldwide
Hospitality and Tourism Themes.
Nayyar, A., Mahapatra, B., Le, D. and Suseendran, G., 2018. Virtual Reality (VR) & Augmented
Reality (AR) technologies for tourism and hospitality industry. International Journal of
Engineering & Technology.7(2.21). pp.156-160.
Saxena, D. and Lamest, M., 2018. Information overload and coping strategies in the big data
context: Evidence from the hospitality sector. Journal of Information Science. 44(3).
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Shabani, N., Munir, A. and Hassan, A., 2018. E-Marketing via Augmented Reality: A Case Study
in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry. IEEE Potentials. 38(1). pp.43-47.
Schuckert, M., Liu, X. and Law, R., 2015. Hospitality and tourism online reviews: Recent trends
and future directions. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing. 32(5). pp.608-621.
Semeradova, T. and Vávrová, J. N., 2016. Using a systemic approach to assess Internet marketing
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Zsarnoczky, M., 2018. The digital future of the tourism & hospitality industry. Boston Hospitality
Review, 6.
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Online:
7p's of marketing 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.brandwellgr.com/blog/marketing/2017/12/24/what-is-marketing-mix-the-
4ps-7ps-and-4cs-of-marketing///
Product life cycle and adoption. 2020. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Product-life-cycle-and-adoption_fig1_264598083/
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