Marketing Strategies for Budget Hotels

This assignment explores various marketing strategies employed by budget hotels to attract customers. It delves into promotional techniques, the application of construal-level theory, value analysis, employee job satisfaction, and the role of social media in promoting these establishments. The analysis draws upon academic research, industry examples like Expedia and The Beachfront Motel, and expert opinions to provide a comprehensive understanding of effective marketing approaches for budget hotels.

Running Head: MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS 1
Marketing and Digital Communications:
Ocean City Plaza Motel

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Executive Summary
Promotional mix plan is a component of marketing mix strategy, which is implemented by an
organization to introduce its new products and services in the market. An organization develops
its promotional plan with some specific objectives, like; to create brand image, to enhance brand
presence, to gain competitive advantage and to develop customer loyalty. The major objective of
this report is to prepare the marketing and communication plan for Ocean City Plaza Motel,
which is situated in Sydney, Australia. The report describes various advertising and promotional
processes, which are used by this motel. These processes and techniques are such as; personal
selling, sales promotion, advertising and events. The organization is creating significant value by
focusing on different components, like; marketing, management, and infrastructure and customer
satisfaction. From the report analysis, it can be said that Ocean City Motel is performing its
promotional activities effectively. It will be able to gain more competitors than its competitors in
Australian Hospitality industry.

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Table of Contents
Background......................................................................................................................................3
Aim...............................................................................................................................................3
Product or Service Overview.......................................................................................................4
Target Audiences.........................................................................................................................4
Competitive Analysis...................................................................................................................4
Justification for better value.........................................................................................................5
Research Methods............................................................................................................................5
Current Value Analysis....................................................................................................................6
Value perceived by customers and competitor’s value................................................................6
Current Value Proposition...........................................................................................................6
Marketing Promotional Plan............................................................................................................8
Communication mix elements objectives........................................................................................8
Advertising...............................................................................................................................8
Sales promotion......................................................................................................................10
Personal Selling......................................................................................................................10
Events and sponsorships.........................................................................................................10
Promotional Budget...................................................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................13

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Background
Aim
This report aims to include all the components and strategies of promotional plan, which are used
by Ocean City Plaza Motel to approach its target audiences. By using these techniques, the
company will be generating service value in the future.
Product or Service Overview
Ocean City Plaza is a well-established motel, which is located as a beachfront motel at Bondi
beach, Sydney, Australia. The Motel is making every effort to make guests comfortable and
satisfied. It is facing and adjacent to the beach and located near to the bus stop. Ocean City Plaza
is the motel, which is attracting its target audiences by offering best hospitality and
accommodation amenities. In its menu, it is offering food from 25 different areas, including
vegetarian, non-vegetarian, healthy and dietary food and other demanding options from
customers. Top features of Ocean City Plaza include effectively managed check-in and check-
out operations, Helipad, swimming pools, parking space, restaurant, and rooftop live café etc. To
attract its target customers, company is providing many offers like; discount on air ticket, pick
and drop services from stations and airport, car rental services, Gym facility, bar, laundry
services etc. The organization offers the rooms and space for the people, who want to spend time
with their friends and families, business professionals searching for a space to hold business
meeting and honeymooners (Beachfrontmotel.com.au. 2017).
Target Audiences
For its accommodation and hospitality services, Ocean City Plaza Motel is targeting the
customers, who wish to spend good time with their friends and families. Moreover, it is focusing
on the business professionals and organizations by providing space for business meetings and
reunion parties. In addition to above, other target audiences are couples, honeymooners, and
fishermen. Ocean City Plaza Motel is offering different categories of rooms according to
customer budget and requirements. For its target market, the major strategy of the organization is
to develop this motel into a popular destination choice for local and outside people, who are
reaching Sydney for leisure and business purposes (Assaf, & Agbola, 2014).

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Competitive Analysis
Ocean City Plaza Motel in Sydney is facing intense competition from several leading hospitality
organizations in the area, i.e. QT Bondi, Adina Bondi Beach and Hotel Bondi. As compared to
its competitors, this motel is offering all the above mentioned services at affordable rates. At
Ocean City Plaza, there is an availability of different room categories, like; single rooms, double
rooms and family size also. Other competitors are not providing all services and amenities as
Ocean City Plaza is offering in this beach area (Bergin-Seers, & Jago, 2007).
Justification for better value
The organization will look for improving its brand value, so that it can increase its customer
base. The marketers of Ocean City Plaza Motel can provide more offers and discounts for
attracting local and overseas people towards its hospitality services. By extending its target
market, the motel can cover bachelors, who are reaching Australia for education and holiday
purpose.
Research Methods
Methodology is a step by step process, which is developed for attaining a research objective. For
this research, both primary and secondary research methods will be used. Research study will be
conducted through questionnaire for understanding the preferences and needs of customers
towards beach adjacent motel. This questionnaire form will be arranged in a manner to know
about the expectations of people. It will assist the organization in formulating an appropriate
marketing and business strategy. Primary data will be collected by circulating this questionnaire
among 500 guests of beach front motel and distributing this all over the city to above 18 years
old age people. This questionnaire will be divided in three sections, from which first section will
include the demographic variables and second part will be related to different factors of
promotion mix. It will have five point ratings indicating satisfaction level of customers. The
comparative weights will be given from one to five, where five will be the highest rank, i.e.
highly satisfied at beach front motel (Bruni, Cassia, & Magno, 2017).
Moreover, secondary data will be gathered from internet, competitors’ websites, journals of
hospitality management, journals of marketing, business review and business magazines.
Furthermore, this beachfront motel will use STP (Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning) to

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understand and approach its customers. It can use different variables of segmentation approach
such as; demographic, geographic, psychographic and behavioral. By focusing on these
characteristics, the organization will prefer to target its audiences and develop marketing
strategies. In the case of secondary data collection, the motel will check the validity and
reliability of sources. In addition to this, it will consider the ethical and legal aspects, while
delivering the brand message to its target audiences (Chen, Liu, & Chang, 2013).
Current Value Analysis
Value analysis is a systematic process, which is developed by an organization to assess each and
every product feature. It is used by an organization to ensure that the product or service cost is
appropriate according to its functions (Miles, 2015). For the services, it can be stated that what
service offerings should be minimized and maximized according to requirement of customers.
Value perceived by customers and competitor’s value
Customer perceived value is the value, which shows the different between customer analysis of
the advantages and costs of a product or service, when it is compared with its competitors. This
value is directly related to the sales of company’s products and services. Ocean City Plaza Motel
is serving the customers with its best accommodation and hospitality services, which are
available on affordable prices (Expedia, 2017). Primary target customers of this firm are business
travelers, leisure travelers, honeymooners, fishermen etc. For improving its value, the motel has
offered the hospitality services according to the needs and demands of customers. There are
different categories of rooms like; single rooms, double rooms and family size rooms. All of
these rooms are managed as per the affordability of guests.
As discussed above, Ocean City Plaza Motel is confronting competition from various players,
i.e. QT Bondi, Adina Bondi Beach and Hotel Bondi. These competitors are also offering similar
services in Sydney, Australia. Adina Bondi Beach Motel is one of the biggest competitors of
Ocean City Plaza Motel. It is also a beachfront motel and situated in nearby area. It also provides
different categories of rooms like; single room to more than 5 people. These competitors of
Ocean City Motel are implementing different strategies to advertise and promote its services all
over the world. It is using social media and other methods of promotion for attracting the
customers towards its hospitality services (Johnson, Culp III, & Bridge, 2016).

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Current Value Proposition
There are some important factors, which can be used to analyze the current value of Ocean City
Plaza Motel. These factors are such as; management, marketing, infrastructure and customer
satisfaction. Ocean City Plaza Motel needs to consider these components as they can create
positive customer perception towards its hospitality services. After comparing the services of this
motel with existing competitors, it is founded that Ocean Plaza is offering unique and more
services than its competitors (Yang, Zhang, & Mattila, 2016). It has positioned itself as luxury
hospitality service provider at affordable rates according to the spending of customers. For
creating its value, Ocean City Plaza Motel will focus on some important factors, which are stated
below;
Marketing
Marketing is one of the important factors for approaching the customers effectively. Ocean City
Plaza Motel is focusing on its marketing and promotional processes by implementing effective
strategies. The organization has analyzed that its competitors, like; QT Bondi, Adina Bondi
Beach and Hotel Bondi are proliferating their hospitality services on social media networking
sites and internet. In today’s business world, internet and social media are renovating the
demands and supply of tourism. Ocean City Motel is implementing effective marketing and
strategies for promoting its services and enhancing brand image among people. It will use
different modes for promoting its hospitality services (Kim, Kim, Kim, & Magnini, 2016).
Effective marketing will create a positive brand image among Australian and overseas
population.
Infrastructure
Nowadays, people are becoming very conscious about environment and related issues. In this
era, the Ocean City Plaza Motel is committing about its infrastructure. The hotel building is built
by considering the green and eco-friendly infrastructure aspect. Under this component, the
organization will focus on providing different amenities like; LCD TV, free Wi-Fi, heater, air
conditioner etc. It will operate the whole premise by solar energy with the objective of
environment protection.
Management

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Effective management of all the processes and operations is very important for developing value
of an organization. If an organization wants to attain growth and success, then it needs to manage
the business environment and activities. This beach front motel will manage all its operations
and processes effectively. Primarily, it will manage the environmental attributes of the tourist
destinations and hotel premises. It is very important for attracting the customers and encouraging
their interests towards its hospitality services (Kitchen, & Burgmann, 2010).
Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty
Customer satisfaction and loyalty are two significant factors for generating value of hospitality
services. If the customers will be satisfied with the motel’s services, they will recommend this
motel to their friends and relatives. Ocean City Motel is offering its services at affordable prices
and allocating the rooms according to guests’ requirement and spending. The management at
beachfront motel believes that it is very important to satisfy the customers and develop brand
loyalty towards its hospitality services. At this motel, the staff is customer friendly and they
trained properly for fulfilling the needs and demands of guests. It will be beneficial for the
growth of organization and it will be able to increase customers’ repeat intention to visit the
motel again (Litvin, & Dowling, 2016).
Thus, the motel has created the value for its hospitality services by considering the above
mentioned components. Currently, it is able to generate value and attract customers towards its
accommodation services.
Marketing Promotional Plan
Marketing promotional plan of an organization is an important section in its overall marketing
plan, when it introduces its new products and services in market. This plan is developed by
incorporating different promotional and advertising strategies. It is an important component of
marketing mix along with product, price, place, people, processes and physical environment. The
foremost objective of promotional mix plan is to communicate the company’s message to target
population in an effective manner. Ocean City Plaza is adopting different offline and online
promotional methods like; sales promotion, personal selling, advertising and events and
sponsorships (McPhail, Patiar, Herington, Creed, & Davidson, 2015). This motel is adopting
these communication mix elements with different aims. These elements are stated below;

MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS 9
Communication mix elements objectives
Ocean City Plaza Motel will implement these promotional mix elements with specific objectives,
which are given below;
Advertising
Advertising is the most significant approach under marketing and communication program,
through which company can reach to large customer base. When a company introduces its new
products and services, it focuses on advertising methods and its modes. Under Advertising
method, Ocean City Plaza Motel will implement different media to share its brand message to
customers. Different media, adopted by Ocean City Plaza Motel are stated below;
Print Media
Under advertising technique, print media is a significant way to approach the target audiences.
Ocean City Plaza Motel will adopt this media for enhancing organizational presence. This
hospitality organization can give ads about its services in print media elements such as; posters,
newspaper and magazines (Sandstrom, 2016). The organization will post the ads in the most
circulated newspapers in Australia. This will be the most approachable way because most of the
population read the newspaper. In addition to this, it can publish the ads in magazines also,
because women prefer to read magazines. It will display the offers and discounts in a smart
manner.
Traditional and broadcasting Media
In addition to print media, the organization will adopt traditional media to deliver its product
message to target population. Under this, it will use various platforms such as; TV and radio. The
people, who do not use internet applications and social media networking sites, they can be
contacted by the use of traditional media. The organization will partner with different TV
channels and give the ads in most attractive way. In this advertisement, the motel can
communicate its amenities and services by displaying the pictures and videos (Singh, & Kumar,
2015).
Online Media

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Ocean City Plaza Motel can implement online means for promoting and advertising its
hospitality services. The organization will use different social networking sites, like; Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram etc. for promoting its services. It is the most profitable way to advertise its
services, because most of the people are actively using internet and its applications. By the use of
these sites, Ocean City Plaza Motel can share their discounts and offers to the target audience. It
can create a page on Facebook and place the motel’s pictures and videos. Using these modes of
promotion and advertising, Ocean City Plaza Motel can know about the feedbacks of guests
towards its accommodation and hospitality services (Sigala, 2015).
Sales promotion
For approaching its customers, Ocean City Plaza Motel will adopt sales promotion technique. By
the use of this technique, the organization will be able to encourage the customers to use its
hospitality and accommodation services. The main objective of this method is to increase the
service demands among people. Sales promotion is the most effective method for enticing target
people by offering them major discounts and other offers on actual amount of booking. In the
lean season, this method can be used, when the arrival of guests is very low. By the use of this
technique, the company will able to provide the rooms on cheaper rates than its competitors in
Australian industry. This will support the firm in attaining more comparative advantage over
other players in Australian industry (The Beachfront Motel, 2017). By giving offers and
discounts, Ocean City Plaza Motel can enlarge its customer base and enhance its presence
worldwide.
Personal Selling
Personal selling is one of the most important methods, through which an organization can use its
employees to promote the services through personal contact with target audiences. Ocean City
Plaza can adopt personal selling, when the guests are staying in hotel rooms. The organization
will hire the knowledgeable, trained and experienced staff, so that they can deliver the services
effectively and fulfill the demands of guests. At Ocean City Plaza, this technique can be effective
and useful for enhancing its brand image among target population (Deeter-Schmelz, 2017).
Events and sponsorships
In addition to above promotional and communication techniques, the Ocean beachfront motel
will conduct different events. Through these events, the organization will be able to approach the
customers. It will organize the events and its customer executive will contact with the potential

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customers (Liana, & Alexander, 2012). By doing this, they can understand current needs and
preferences of people towards hospitality services. These events can be conducted in shopping
malls and other social gatherings.
Promotional Budget
To execute all the above given marketing and promotional strategies, the organization will create
an Integrated marketing communication (IMC) budget (Peng, Zhao, & Mattila, 2015). This
budget includes all the forecasted expenses on these promotional activities. IMC budget for
Ocean City Plaza Motel is created below;
IMC Budget (Ocean City Plaza Motel, Sydney )
Promotion Tools Amount
(in $)
Social/Digital Media Marketing
1. Facebook $6,300
2. Twitter $2,500
3. Instagram $4,700
Total Social Media $13,500
Online Display ads $5,800
E-mails $14,000
Online promotional Campaigns $21,000
Total Budget for Online Media $54,300
Print Media
1. Newspaper & Magazines $34,000
Total Print Media $34,000
Traditional and Broadcasting Media
1. TV Channels $55,000
2. Hoardings $22,000
Total $77,000
Personal Selling $6,500
Sales Promotion $2,400
Events and Sponsorships $4,500
Total Required Budget for Promotion $178,700

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Action Plan
For implementing this promotional mix plan, the motel needs to create an action plan. This
action plan will include all the actions, duration and concerned department (Sigala, 2015). The
action plan for Ocean City Plaza is stated below;
Activity Starting date End Date Responsible
Person
Related
Department
Establishing
communication
objectives
1/2/2018 - Senior managers
and top
executives
Senior level
management
Communicating
objectives with
the team
1/3/2018 - Board of
Directors
Top management
Choosing best
communication
mix elements
1/5/2018 - Marketing
managers
Marketing and
communication
division
Implementatio
n of
promotional
mix plan
1/6/2018 - Advertising and
communication
managers
Marketing
department
Conclusion
From the above report, it can be concluded that customer satisfaction and marketing are two
important components for creating and developing brand in service industry. It is very important
to formulate the marketing communication and promotional plan, when it introduces its products
and services in market. This report includes the discussion about the marketing and
communication plan for Ocean City Plaza Motel. This plan includes different communication
mix elements and promotional strategies, which can be used by the organization for approaching
the target market. By executing this plan, the organization will be able to reach to its target

MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS 13
audiences and entice towards its hospitality and accommodation services. Last section of report
includes IMC budget for implementing these strategies and tactics in the market.

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