Marketing Mix and Hospitality Industry

This assignment discusses the concept of marketing mix and its application in the hospitality industry. It highlights the various departments involved in hotel management, including front office, housekeeping, food and beverage, and marketing. The marketing mix is a crucial tool for hotels to effectively promote their services and understand customer needs.

Hospitality Marketing
Essentials

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Explain the key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function within a selected
hospitality organisation..........................................................................................................1
P2 Discuss how roles and responsibilities of marketing relate to the wider organisational
context....................................................................................................................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................7
P3 Compare the ways in which different hospitality organisations apply the marketing mix to
the marketing planning process to achieve business objectives.............................................7
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
P4 Produce a basic marketing plan for a hospitality organisation to meet marketing objectives
................................................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Marketing refers to the process or set of activities that is associated with purchasing and
selling of goods and services. It is the set of processes and institutions for developing,
communicating, delivering as well as exchanging offerings that provides some value to
customers, society and partners at large (Al-Ekam and et. al., 2012). In today's competitive
business environment, use of marketing tool helps company in attaining high sales and profit
ratios. In the present assignment, chosen organisation is Travelodge Hotels Limited which is a
United Kingdom based company that deals in hotels and hospitality sector. This assignment
covers different roles of marketing and its interrelationship with other functional units. It also
covers the ways in which hospitality organisations utilize marketing mix elements to attain
overall business objectives. At last, a basic marketing plan is developed to meet specified
objectives in this project.
TASK 1
P1 Explain the key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function within a selected
hospitality organisation
In today's competitive business environment, marketing plays a crucial role in success
and growth of organisation. It helps in developing brand image of company and placing its goods
and services in minds of potential and existing clients. In hospitality industry, good reputation is
the key factor on which success of any hotel rely. Effective marketing campaigns helps company
in providing competitive advantage in market over competitors. Travelodge Hotels Limited is
one of the well known hotel in United Kingdom. Various marketing activities are performed by
firm in order to gain attention of large number of customers. It provides an opportunity to hotel
to communicate with market(Functions of marketing. 2018). Different roles and responsibilities
are associated with marketing function that helps company in improving its sales ratios and
profitability in market. These functions assists hotel in effectively communicating about its
products and services such as room rates, facilities provided by firm, easy check in - check out
services etc. All this assists hotel in attracting and maintaining large base of consumers. Key
roles and responsibilities of marketing function in Travelodge Hotels Limited are defined in the
below mentioned table:
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Roles &
Responsibilities
How is it executed in Travelodge Hotels Limited
Conduct market
research
Hotels may be selected by customers on the basis of its location, access to
rail, road or air travel, its image in hospitality sector, price of rooms,
provided facilities etc. All these factors are considered by customers before
selecting a hotel to stay. Marketing department of Travelodge Hotels
Limited helps in identifying those variables that shapes the appeal of hotel
to customers. It is the responsibility of marketing team to monitor reviews
of clients on hotel websites in order to determine its strengths and
weaknesses (Campbell and Martin, 2015). Marketing department of hotel
plays vital role in determining prevailing trends of market that could affect
firm like increasing demand of low cost accommodation, better facilities
for travellers etc. An extensive research is conducted by marketing manager
of Travelodge Hotels Limited in order to get proper understanding of those
factors that encourage customers to choose a specific hotel or service. By
interacting with guests, taking their feedbacks and review industry data,
marketing department enables hotel in effectively meeting all needs and
demands of customers and satisfy them. In this way, this function helps
hotel in increasing growth and profitability of Travelodge Hotels Limited.
Creating brand
awareness among
customers
For every hospitality organisation, brand awareness is a crucial factor that
assists in attracting large group of customers. Its customers does not have
any knowledge about product and services, they can not buy it. So, in
creating brand awareness among customers, this function of marketing
department plays vital role (Baker and Magnini, 2016). Manager of
Travelodge Hotels Limited ensure that their websites are updated on regular
basis and contains all the informations in detail such as accommodation
rates, location, facilities etc., so that customers gets aware about hotel and
its product and services. This assists hotel in access to more number of
people and maintain large customer base which in turn helps in improving
profitability and brand image of hotel.
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Promotion of
products and
services
Promotion is the most important function of marketing department as
growth and success of hotel is highly rely on it. Formulation of effective
promotion strategies helps organisation in promoting in goods and services
in market. Developing promotion is an important part of hotel marketing.
When there is need to increase occupancy during certain times of year when
the bookings are low, then promotion function of Travelodge Hotels
Limited play vital role in running special events like gourmet weekends,
offering one night extra stay when booking for a particular period. All these
promotional strategies assists hotel in attracting large number of guests and
encouraging them to visit hotel more (Dibb and Simkin, 2013).
Maintaining good
customer
relationship
To ensure high growth and stable revenue base, every organisation requires
to maintain strong customer relationship. This function helps Travelodge
Hotels Limited in developing customer loyalty programmes in which
customers who book hotel on regular basis gets rewarded. It assists hotel in
developing good relationship with customers and maintaining large
consumer base. They target corporate customers or individual who need
regular meeting facilities for numerous visiting clients or travelling staff.
P2 Discuss how roles and responsibilities of marketing relate to the wider organisational context
In an organisation, different departments work collectively to attain its predefined
objectives. In hospitality sector, distinct departments exist in hotel including food and beverages,
purchasing/ accounting, human resource management, reservation and front desk services. All
these departments are interrelated with marketing. In Travelodge Hotels Limited, roles and
responsibilities of marketing with other departments are defined below:
Food and beverages and marketing:
Main responsibility of food and beverage department in Travelodge Hotels Limited is to
prepare food for guests and maintain its quality. High quality food with good taste helps hotel
in attracting large group of customers. Marketing department is responsible to identify needs and
preferences of customers regarding food and communicate it to food and beverage department.
This further assist chefs in preparing food as per the requirements of clients (Draelos, 2010).
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Human resource management and marketing:
The main responsibility of human resource department is to recruit and hire skilled
candidates within organisation who has ability to accomplish objectives of company. In context
of Travelodge Hotels Limited, it is the responsibility of human resource department to identify
need of employees within firm and hire skilled chefs, stewards and other staff members on the
basis of their academic qualifications and knowledge. Manager identify manpower needs for
each department and make job descriptions. Marketing department of Travelodge Hotels Limited
has responsibility to communicate about vacant positions to people. It assists them in gathering
large talent pool among which the best candidates are selected by manager. Selection of skilled
candidates help hotel in providing high quality services to guests which results in increasing its
profit (Eslinger, 2014)(Hsu, 2011).
Front desk services and marketing:
Front desk is considered as revenue centre of hotel as guests visit first to front office
during check in and pay fee to stay in hotel. The main responsibility of this department is to
handle guests and interact with them. They arrange rooms for guest, dealing with their requests
like change room, providing extra facility etc., handle their check in – check out etc. At the time
of check out, feedback forms are provided to guests by hotel to get them fill. This data is
analysed by marketing department of Travelodge Hotels Limited to get understanding about
needs of customers and what they want. This information is provided to front desk so that
improvements can be made in their services, if required and demands of customers can be
fulfilled.
Reservation and marketing:
Reservation is one of the important department in any hotel as it is responsible to handle
room reservations. In Travelodge Hotels Limited, reservation department decides about when to
stop accepting reservations or when to allow rooms overbooking. For making reservations,
internet, websites, walk in etc. are use. Here, marketing department plays crucial role in updating
all the information regarding room rates, occupancy etc. on websites so that all the informations
can be provide to customers. During peak seasons, when occupancy is full in hotel, marketing
department helps in encouraging guests to book their room first. This assists Travelodge Hotels
Limited in having full occupancy all year round (Lancaster and Massingham, 2010).
Accounting and marketing:
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In order to carry out day to day operations of hotel, accounting department plays crucial
role. Huge amount of money is required in promoting products and services in market and
carrying out promotional activities of hotel. Accounting department of Travelodge Hotels
Limited prepares budget for marketing department to carry out their activities in appropriate
way. Marketing and accounts divisions of hotel work collectively with coordination so that its
predetermined objectives can be attain.
Housekeeping and marketing department:
Main responsibility of this division is to maintain cleanliness and tidiness of room and
refill supplies in room at regular basis. This department plays crucial role in Travelodge Hotels
Limited in maintaining its good image in minds of customers. Each guest who visit and stay in
hotel wants proper cleanliness in rooms and other areas (Lane, 2014). Marketing department
plays vital role in communicating queries of guests related to room service to housekeeping staff
which assists them in making improvements in services and providing clean and tidy room to
guests.
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Illustration 1: Different departments in Hotel

(Source: Organisational Chart, 2018)
TASK 2
P3 Compare the ways in which different hospitality organisations apply the marketing mix to the
marketing planning process to achieve business objectives
Marketing mix includes set of actions of tactics that businesses utilize to promote its
product or brand in market (Marketing Mix. 2018). This tool helps Travelodge Hotels Limited in
understanding what the service or product can offer and in which manner successful product
offering can be plan. The 7P's of marketing mix includes product, price, place, promotion,
people, process and physical evidence. Application of marketing mix in two different hospitality
organisation in attaining their business objectives are defined below:
Marketing
mix elements
Travelodge Hotels Limited Hotel Premier Inn
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Illustration 2: Organisational Chart of Hospitality Industry

Product The products of Travelodge Hotels
Limited includes clean rooms, food,
comfortable beds, banquet bar, 24*7
room services, gift shops etc. In order to
gain high competitive advantage, some
additional products and services are also
offered by hotel like free magazines
and newspapers for business travellers,
Wi-Fi facilities etc.
Main product of hotel Premier Inn is
clean and fresh rooms. Apart from
this, various other products are also
provided by hotel to its guests like
newspaper, mini refrigerator, wake up
alarm, satellite TV etc. Food and
drink facility is also offered to guests
who come for meetings (Malhotra,
Birks and Wills, 2013).
Price The pricing strategies of company are
formulated on the basis of loaction, size,
time of year and other feature. This
means that at the time of peak season,
hotel charge high prices from its
customers for accommodation, while in
low season, hotel cut down prices of
their rooms in order to attract more
customers.
As the hotel is targeting corporate
families and upper class people
premium pricing strategy is used by
company. Firm set high prices for its
products and services and provides
value to customers for which they are
willing to pay. The guests are demand
immaculate services and products and
are ready to pay for getting the
privilege.
Place Travelodge is a budget hotel that
currently operates over 450 hotels in
Spain, Ireland and United Kingdom. As
firm growing very fast, it is planning to
operate over 1000 hotels by year 2020.
This will assist company in maximizing
its market share and achieving high
growth in market.
Premier Inn is one of the well known
British hotel chain which operates
around 785 hotels with approximately
72,000 rooms in variety of locations.
All its hotels are situated in prime
locations including suburbs, city
centres and airports (Martin,
Campbell and Harmsen, 2014).
Promotion Effective promotional tools are used by
hotel in order to promote its products
and services in market. Sales promotion,
For increasing brand awareness and
creating high brand recall, various
campaigns are organised by hotel. In
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advertisement etc. are utilised to
promote its products. Travelodge Hotels
Limited also provides discounts on
online booking by websites or mobile
phones to customers in order to promote
its brand name (Moons and et. al. ,
2010).
order to effectively promote its
products and services, hotel make its
websites attractive and use
advertisements and public relations
for communicating its brand name
and attracting more number of clients.
People The hotel is emphasize on hiring skilled
and experienced employees in order to
ensure that high quality services can be
offered to customers from the moment
they check in till they check out.
Skilled and highly qualified
employees are selected by hotel so
that they enable to provide effective
services to customers and satisfy
them.
Process Travelodge ensures that similar
processes are used in all its hotels for
providing services to customers.
Effective room booking process is used
by company that makes it easy for
customers to book their rooms.
For providing quality services to
customers, high end technological
processes are used by Hotel Premier
Inn. They use self check-in check-out
process which saves time of
customers.
Physical
evidence
For providing evidence of its services to
customers, Travelodge Hotels Limited
focuses on its attractive interiors, clean
rooms, well uniformed staff etc. They
provide everything branded to their
customers.
Physical evidence of hotel can be
seen by its good interiors, clean and
well furnished rooms, good
environment etc.
TASK 3
P4 Produce a basic marketing plan for a hospitality organisation to meet marketing objectives
Marketing plan refers to the formal document that outlines all the activities of
organisation related to marketing and promotion for upcoming year (Perreault, 2010). It states
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activities that are involved in attaining specific marketing objectives or goals within a set period
of time. Travelodge is introducing its premium economy rooms, named as “Super rooms” for
which a basic marketing plan is developed by company which is defined below:
Overview of Hotel:
Travelodge Hotels Limited is one of the well known hotel that operates in hospitality
sector. It is a budget hotel that is headquartered in Thame, England, United Kingdom. It
introducing its premium economy room which includes more modern residential décor along
with various other features.
Vision of hotel:
“To offer high quality services to customers and provide them value for which they pay”.
Mission statement of hotel:
“To create strong image of hotel in minds of customers by providing them excellent stay
experience and become that leading hotel of UK”.
Goals and objectives of hotel:
Main objectives of Travelodge Hotels Limited are:
 To maximise the market share from 20% by year 2023.
 To satisfy customers by providing them high quality services.
 To maintain large customer base by satisfying more number of customers.
 To increase sells and profit rations by 10% in next two years.
STP of Travelodge Hotels Limited:
Segmentation: Travelodge Hotels Limited segments its market on the basis of
demography. Firm segment market on the basis of income level and occupation of people.
Targeting: Travelodge Hotels Limited mainly targets on corporate and business class
people for providing its products and services.
Positioning: Hotel providing its services throughout the United Kingdom and positioning
its product by name of “Super rooms”.
SWOT analysis:
Strengths Weaknesses
 High brand recognition.
 Good reputation in market.
 Operations are influence because of
government policies.
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 In spite of strong brand recall, limited
market share.
Opportunities Threats
 Business expansion in other countries
 Use of high end technological
processes for providing services.
 Fierce competition in market.
 Stagnated growth.
Marketing strategy:
In order to gain high competitive advantage in market, different marketing strategies are
used by Travelodge Hotels Limited. They advertised their premium rooms through digital
marketing. Hotel also use TV advertisements for promoting its product in market. Firm also
focuses on its promotional campaigns, i.e., Travelodge Campaign in order to effectively market
its product and get attention of large number of customers.
Marketing budget:
Marketing budget
Particulars 1st year 2nd year 3rd year 4th year 5th year
Initial money 6000 8500 12000 14500 18350
Investment 12000 14000 25500 32000 13500
Total 6000 22500 37500 46500 31850
Marketing outlay
Promotion 6500 3200 4300 3300 3250
Advertisement 2200 2100 3300 2200 2000
Direct selling 4200 2500 6000 3000 4650
Total 12900 7800 13600 8500 9900
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Implementation:
In this, themarketing plan formulated by marketing manager of hotel is implemented
which helps in improving sales ratio of company and attracting more guests.
Monitoring and Control:
Manger carefully monitor all the activities in order to ensure that all are performing as
per the plan. This will help manager in assessing effectiveness of plan and taking corrective
actions if required (Wieser, 2012).
CONCLUSION
As per the above mentioned report, it has been concluded that marketing is one of the
important function that highly contributes in growth and success of hospitality organisation.
Marketing function has different roles and responsibilities including promotion, maintaining
good customer relationship, creating brand awareness and conducting market research. It helps
company in determining needs and preferences of customers which further assists in meeting and
satisfying their demands. Marketing mix is used by company to effectively promote its goods
and services in market and gets understanding about what can be offer in market. Marketing plan
is a blueprint that provides directions to marketing manager for their future course of actions
related to marketing of goods and services.
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REFERENCES
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<http://smallbusiness.chron.com/functions-marketing-business-32399.html>.
Marketing Mix. 2018. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.marketingteacher.com/marketing-mix/>.
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