Integrated Marketing Communication in Hospitality Industry: A Case Study of Macdonald Hotel

This report discusses the impact of integrated marketing communication in the hospitality sector with a case study of Macdonald Hotel. It evaluates the current marketing communication channels, designs communication objectives, and creates an integrated marketing communication plan. It also provides communication strategies to achieve objectives. The report covers various marketing communication tools and methods, communication channels adopted by Macdonald Hotel, and the communication objectives pursued by the hotel. It also includes a detailed integrated marketing communication plan of Macdonald Hotel and the content appropriate to the channel and communication objectives.

Integrated Hospitality
Marketing
Communications

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
TASK ..............................................................................................................................................4
P1 Evaluate the current marketing communications situation and channels of the resort,
identifying the tools, channels and the methods in use...............................................................4
M1 Critically evaluate how marketing channels of communication are integrated within a
range of hospitality organizations to add value and maximize resources making use of the
relevant marketing models..........................................................................................................5
D1 Make valid judgments about how marketing channels add value using specific hospitality
organizational examples to demonstrate how they serve communication objectives.................6
P2 Design communication objectives for a given hospitality organizational situation and
provide justifications for the selection and integration of communications channels chosen....6
M2 Evaluate the application of the communication objectives in relation to the marketing
communications mix and the hospitality business objectives.....................................................7
D2 Create a valid and detailed integrated marketing communications plan that appropriately
integrates multiple communication channels, has SMART objectives and tactics to meet the
overall marketing and business objectives..................................................................................7
P3 Design and produce content appropriate to the channel and communication objectives......8
M3 and D3 Determine the communication strategies that can be used to help achieve these
objectives.....................................................................................................................................9
P4 Critically evaluate an integrated marketing communications plan in relation to the
communication strategy, channel choice, creative content.......................................................10
M4 Critique and review the success of the monitoring and impact of the integrated marketing
communications plan................................................................................................................11
D4 Provide appropriate and justified recommendations for improving the integrated
marketing communications plan to maximize revenue and successfully meet both
communication and business objectives...................................................................................11
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
The process of integrated marketing communication is the technique that helps the
organisation”s stakeholder to develop the relationship among themselves. At the time of
evaluation of marketing performance integrated marketing communication has positive influence
that can be tested by the innovation orientation which act as a driver of the process. In the
modern era which is full of digitalisation, as a manager have realized the importance of
enhancing the new information technology and advertising. Therefore the report below will
widely cover the impact on integrated marketing communication in the hospitality sector as it is
the method through which message can be conveyed across varied channels in order to drive the
high customer engagement(Altinay and Arici, 2021). The report will be prepared on the
Macdonald Hotel which is a 3.7 star and was brought up through the stakeholders by the
management in 2003 in a management buyout facilitated by Bank of Scotland. The report will
cover various marketing communication channels along with the objectives and the content
involved. The report will also cover the justifications with respect to any improvements in the
way of communication.
TASK
P1 Evaluate the current marketing communications situation and channels of the resort,
identifying the tools, channels and the methods in use.
In hospitality sector, the services to be offered successfully and appropriately, requires a good
and robust marketing communication channel. This therefore plays a major role in delivering the
messages. A marketing communication channel is also considered as a channel that act as a
source to communicate between two intermediaries that hospitality business uses to transfer the
promotional messages. Overall this medium depicts the connecting capacity of business to its
audience. For MacDonald Hotel marketing communication channel is the foundation on which
the hotel's marketing activities resist.
Different marketing communication tools and methods-
 Advertising
- this tool is useful in gaining the attention of public towards any specific product or
service(Ampountolas, Shaw and James, 2019). Using social media channels as source of

advertising, hospitality industry showcases its classy infrastructure and lavish services that
creates the awareness of particular hotel.
• Public relations
- In context to hospitality industry, this tool develops the strong relationships with the visitors
that has biggest influence on the selection ratio of the hotels. It also assist in providing the most
unique experience as possible. This henceforth can make the brand strong. This facilitates the
hotels not only at the time of low season but all around year.
• Sales promotion
- In reference to the hospitality industry, this is used by the hotels for developing the campaigns
for a short period of time to create or attract the interest among the people for the service(Derqui,
2020). This encourages the guest to visit the hotel again and again.
• Direct response
- this is the most common tool used as a marketing communication channel as it has direct on the
type of service to be offered.
• Events and sponsorship
- This relates to the method of advertising the hotel brand through sponsoring or support the
events financially in replacement of brand exposure. By conducting the events like business
meeting, weddings and any celebration, hotels achieve success in form of attracting more clients.
• Point of sale
- This is the direct collection of orders of guest and purchases that generated from different
purchases and is charged directly to room of guest.
• Digital media
- this relates to the use of social media by the hospitality industry that engages the customer and
recognize their needs and help hotels in interacting with the guest before and after the vacation
experience.
• Packaging
- This act as a marketing communication tool in the hospitality industry as hotels in this respect
provides the combination of certain products or services all together as a package to its guests.
• Personal sales- this relates to the direct interaction with the customer that is face to face. It
helps the hotels in influencing the customer in an extraordinary way to buy their services .

Communication channel adopted by Macdonald Hotel-
The hotel has been constantly using the exhaustive advertisement channel in addition to
Television, radio and magazines(Enke and Borchers, 2021). The company has also made some
crucial billboards through sponsoring the events like some commonwealth games and conducting
of events like weddings and parties and also some official events. Macdonald Hotel therefore
has increased the use of social media with respect to widening of influence as the hotel believes
that word of mouth will not create that publicity that social media can made.
M1 Critically evaluate how marketing channels of communication are integrated within a range
of hospitality organizations to add value and maximize resources making use of the
relevant marketing models
Organization today in the hospitality industry make use of not only single marketing
communication channel but a blend of that in order to communicate the significant messages and
recommend the guest to prefer their brand(Ganguly, Talukdar and Chatterjee, 2019). Therefore
marketing communication is an important component. The hotels implemented the concepts of
integrated marketing communication in the appetite of advertising so that by blending the
different promotional tools can be offer services at different and unique level.
D1 Make valid judgments about how marketing channels add value using specific hospitality
organizational examples to demonstrate how they serve communication objectives
Selecting the most appropriate communication channel is the difficult decision to make in the
hospitality industry. Because each tool has its own pros and cons. The only reason to select one
is that it must meet the objectives that is urged from the communication channel. It is
recommended to Macdonald Hotel to use email as a channel because it is more a professional
medium and guest will expect the information with respect to services offered.
P2 Design communication objectives for a given hospitality organizational situation and provide
justifications for the selection and integration of communications channels chosen
Communication objectives refers to method of setting of targets that needs to be achieved
through communication. The more proper will be the communication the more easy transfer
ability of information to the guest to whom the communication will be made. The reason that

increasing the customer base and making profits is on which the social front of the hospitality
industry is based.
The objective of Macdonald Hotel with respect to its communication channel are-
1. Creating awareness- for hospitality industry it is utmost important to aware the
customers of its offerings(García-Santiago, 2022). Proper communication of important
message is the only effective way to promote the services offered and is used by the
Macdonald Hotel.
2. Interest creation- This is the transfer of client from information to interest in the
services. This can be achieved with the communication. The more expressed and clear
communication, the most guest will take interest as aimed by the Macdonald Hotel.
3. Promoting the brand or services- The activities included by Macdonald Hotel as a
communication channel like marketing, advertising, public relations and also customer
education so the communication plays an important role in channelizing the
activities(Guillet, 2020).
4. Organization of the Resources- the resources used by Macdonald Hotel in context to
financial resources, material resources and also human resources are considered part of
organisation as it adds value, communication here comes into play an an important role in
managing these resources.
5. Increased Efficiency- workforce are the asset to organisation therefore its efficiency is at
top priority, so it is required for the managers of Macdonald Hotel to communicate the
strategies and practices in clear and exciting term and also in the best personalised
manner.
Some more objectives were pursued by Macdonald Hotel in implementing the marketing
communication channel-
 To bring dynamism on the ground of hotel.
 To provide the effective facilitation of policies.
 To discourage the emerging chaos and the scope of ambiguity.
 To provide the Facts rather than just Impression

M2 Evaluate the application of the communication objectives in relation to the marketing
communications mix and the hospitality business objectives.
With respect to integrated marketing communication, its objectives are applied for easy
implementation of the same. In context to hospitality industry which is full of competitors,
therefore different hotels use different techniques and tools to reach the audience. The
communication objectives that can be transfer of main message to targeted audience and develop
a service that leads. Creating new ways to compete well and influencing the buying decisions.
The objectives therefore needs to be SMART that is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant
and timely(Ivanov and Webster, 2019.).
D2 Create a valid and detailed integrated marketing communications plan that appropriately
integrates multiple communication channels, has SMART objectives and tactics to meet
the overall marketing and business objectives
A market communication plan is also called as strategy that is required to aware the target
audience about the service offered. It is considered as one segment of marketing plan.
An in depth integrated marketing communication plan of Macdonald Hotel-
 Identification of target audience- the Macdonald Hotel believes that offering all would
make no sense and will not help in creating a bigger image. Therefore it first target the
audience that requires the services offered by hotel
 Define unique selling preposition- it makes the hotel to standalone and different from
the rest of hotels existing in the UK. Macdonald Hotel considers to have the USP in
order to get return from the customer in way of success like good revenue, word of mouth
promotion, bigger customer base and also the good position in the market.
 Provide solution to the problems of guest- this is related to the matching of customer
problems with the services offered. Macdonald Hotel in this context creates a table of
service solutions that matches with the problem of customer and also share this with the
staff in order to create a message that will showcase the issues of clients.
 Selecting channels to deliver the message- the channels used by Macdonald Hotel for
the communication is act as a base for goals that it wants to attain and also the customer
preferences(Pandey, Nayal and Rathore, 2020). This includes the development of own
website and publishing of appropriate content of hotel on the blog.

 Measure the result at the end- when done with the implementation, its the time to
inspect the results. The metrics drawn will provide the Macdonald Hotel about the
performance level from the services offered.
P3 Design and produce content appropriate to the channel and communication objectives
For creating an effective channel of communication it requires the involvement of contents like
the Website, blog, email, SEO, Pay per click advertising in context to Macdonald Hotel(Mensah
and Amenuvor, 2022). For the purpose of fulfillment of goals with respect to communication the
hotel works on several areas- Designing and producing of website- Being the website a first place where most of
customer prefers to look at is an important source of communication about the offerings
of company. Therefore Macdonald Hotel offers the contact services and support services
to the guest and also the fair of rooms depends on the category choose by the guest. The
website therefore needs to be attractive and updated. Designing and producing of Blog- as content marketing has now become a one of the
most favored and acceptable communication tool and is considered among the most
powerful communication trends in the world. Therefore Macdonald Hotel creates a
successful blog with the aim of retaining the customers and also repeat and also provide
the private villas to someone which is not provided by any other hotel Designing and producing of SEO- this helps the hospitality industry to produce the
organic and continuous outcomes that differs from traditional methods of
communication. Macdonald Hotel consider SEO as the best solution to acquire the high
return on investment and also high valued online presence.
 Designing and producing of social media advertising- now a days people spent more
time on social media. This act as channel of communication in wider term. Macdonald
Hotel therefore covers the services offered through creating a video that includes the
interior of hotel, pool side and a different site for the dinner. This in return help in
attracting the public greatly.
M3 and D3 Determine the communication strategies that can be used to help achieve these
objectives.
In respect to communication strategies of hospitality industry, will include the more time to be
invested in training the staff on what are to ways to connect with customers. This initiates from

the time when guest enter the hotel and explore each and every section requires the greeting
manner, serving and also caring of them(Myers West, 2018). As it affects the impression on
customer. This can be related to both whether digital or traditional. The communication strategy
used by the Macdonald Hotel that will help in achieving the objectives-
 In order to communicate effectively and efficiently, it takes regular feedback from the
guest visiting. This will help in over viewing the experience of guest and will be helpful
for communicating in future.
 Social media plays an active role in effective communication of the services offered.
Constant pacing with the people online helps to know the demand prior to their visit and
also implementing the same in prior way.
 The hotel is therefore keeping in priority the non verbal communication and along with
this maintaining the tone while communicating, voice quality and most importantly the
positioning and movement of body while communicating.
The issues with respect to social media faced by Macdonald Hotel-
As a beginner, it is difficult to understand the social media in depth . This adversely affects the
loyalty of customer(Raja, 2020). If any wrong or negative comment posted by guest due to
experience of bad service, may provide the negative publicity
The issues with respect to choosing of channel by Macdonald Hotel-
selecting the most appropriate channel to communicate is not an easy task and therefore requires
proper guidance in selecting the best one. Problems faced is lack of skills and also interference of
the competitors in wider term.
P4 Critically evaluate an integrated marketing communications plan in relation to the
communication strategy, channel choice, creative content.
The process through which involves strategic planning, market research, communication with
customers, selections of appropriate marketing channel with budgeting for generation of revenue
is an integrated marketing communication plan. In current time, there is development in business
with the era of digitization which has increased the communication among customers for
effective changes in the business. The satisfaction of customers plays a major role for growth and
development of a company. Therefore, it is very important for the company to have interaction
with the customers in order to have an influential change in the organization. There are several
aspects of integrated marketing plan which are mentioned below:

 Communication strategy – The organization of Macdonald Hotel adopts a multi-
channel communication strategy to develop strong relations with its customers. There
are different kinds of customers who interact in different ways in order to enhance the
communication among them(Schultz, 2020). The Hotel uses the mode of online, print,
video conferencing and other forms of technology for increasing the communication
among the customers. It works in partnership with its communication agency by
producing two employee magazines. Macdonald Hotel uses different modes to
communicate with its customers through T.V, print media, radio, online media and
advertisement in order to value their communication with its customers. There is an
internal communication team that works for the enhancement of communication for
development in its business.
 Channel choice – The organization of Macdonald Hotel uses the social media channel
choice strategy in order to attract its customers. There are various social media channels
like Instagram, Facebook and other social media channels in order to directly engage
with its customers which in turn allow the public to easily get its access. It is very
important to use internal and external modes of communication for generation of profit
in the business of organization(Senanu and Anning-Dorson, 2022). These channels
helps in achieving the goals and objectives of a company for the growth in business. The
organization believes in regularly upgrading its services with different offers and
schemes to attract its customers.
 Creative content – The organization of Macdonald Hotel uses various means and
styles to enhance the creativity of its content in order to engage the customers. The
organization uses the several articles, videos and other sources of media to attract and
retain its customers. The creativity in its animation of Mickey Mouse especially attracts
lot of children who help in growing the assets of the hotel. There is customization in the
entire infrastructure of the hotel which attracts customers to experience their exclusive
services with its great hospitality. The hotel also enhances its creative content by
providing its valuable services with exciting offers for the enjoyment of customers. The
different source of content such as social media content, videos, posts on social media
helps in attracting a huge number of customers.

M4 Critique and review the success of the monitoring and impact of the integrated marketing
communications plan
Integrated marketing communication is considered as an internal strategic tool that improves the
brand from inside the industry. The successful implementation of the plan depends on the clarity
with respect to who target audience is and particularly the needs and preferences of the audience.
Therefore it is recommended for the hotels to exceed the providing of satisfaction level of
services offered beyond the customer desired. So different components of communication mix is
to be used.
D4 Provide appropriate and justified recommendations for improving the integrated marketing
communications plan to maximize revenue and successfully meet both communication and
business objectives
In order to improve the integrated marketing communication plan, it is recommended to keep the
communications real that it needs to be truth rather fake. The promise made through the different
channels should be fulfilled that in return will maximize the profits largely. The purpose for
which plan is prepared should be cleared and also the prior assessment of the obstacles and
emergencies(Swani, Brown and Mudambi, 2020). Because this identification will help not only
in enhancing the communication plan but also achievement of communication and business
objectives.
CONCLUSION
An integrated marketing needs to be very effective that depicts the useful information through its
various sources of communication channel. The report has covered the various channels used by
the Macdonald Hotel in order to communicate the message in clear and exciting terms. The
report has covered the justification and recommendation on the objectives pursued by the
hospitality industry mentioned above. Furthermore, it also provided the overview of different
communication strategies.

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