Marketing Essentials for Hospitality

MARKETING
ESSENTIALS FOR
HOSPITALITY

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1 Roles and Responsibilities of marketing function within the organisation.......................3
P2 Relation of roles and responsibility of marketing to wider organisational context..........6
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................7
P3 Ways in which different hospitality organisations apply marketing mix to marketing
planning process to achieve business objectives....................................................................7
P4 Basic marketing plan for the organisation to meet business objectives..........................10
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is the set of activities and processes which helps in delivering and
communicating the information to the customers, clients or partners regarding the product or
service being offered by the company. It helps in promoting the goods or services so that
potential buyers are attracted towards the organisation. In hospitality industry, the importance of
marketing has increased over the time due to rise in competition level (Baker and Magnini,
2016). The companies uses marketing process to follow the steps to identify the problems or
needs of the customers, analysis the opportunities available in market and to create materials of
marketing to reach the target audience. The organisation chosen for this report is Savoy Hotel,
situated in Central London, England. It was the first luxury hotel opened in UK in 1889. This
report shall cover the roles and responsibilities of marketing in hospitality industry together with
its inter-relationship with other functional units. Further it will include the marketing mix of the
company and its competitor and a strategic marketing plan of the organisation.
TASK 1
P1 Roles and Responsibilities of marketing function within the organisation
Marketing is an integral function of an organisation as it helps in building the brand so
that customers are attracted towards the offerings of the company (Caragher, 2016). A consistent
brand recognition is essential for a hospitality industry as this sector is also made up from
tourism so a continuous campaign of brand awareness is necessary to maintain customer loyalty
as well as to attract potential customers. Savoy Hotel uses different marketing strategies to
promote its services so that it can maintain good relationship with past customers and can attract
new ones. The marketing department of Savoy Hotel plays many role and responsibilities in
order to communicate and promote its service to large number of people so that its organisational
goals are achieved.
Roles and responsibilities of marketing is discussed below-
Roles-
The marketing department of Savoy Hotel plays a vital role in advertising its organisation
so that it can reach the new level of success and growth. The roles are as follows-
 Market Research- The marketing of a hotel is a complex process. Customers look into
many factors before choosing a hotel to avail services. The Marketing department of

Savoy Hotel identify the key factors that will help in shaping the appeal of hotel to
customers. It continuously monitor the reviews of customers and follow up with the past
customers and travel industry to improve in its services and also helps in identifying the
new trends like current prices, improved facility to business travellers, etc.
 Distribution of goods and services- The marketing unit of Savoy Hotel uses different
channels to provide services to the customers. It promotes its luxurious service on social
media platform, home website or through other intermediaries. The marketing unit either
uses short channel, that is, offering services from hotel to customer directly or uses long
channel by involving intermediaries like travel agents in the process.
 Finance- The money spend on the marketing the hotel services are huge. Without
promoting the services, customers cannot be attracted due to number of competitors in
the market (Eletxigerra, Barrutia and Echebarria, 2018). The marketing department of
Savoy Hotel manages the funds allocated by the finance department in such a way that it
does not exceed the budget as well as the effective promotional strategy is also adopted to
promote the services (Chandiok and Sharma, 2017). Adapting the right price- The marketing department of Savoy Hotel ensures that the
right price is allocated to the services being offered by the organisation after detailed
market research on customer demands, competitors strategy, new trends, etc.
Responsibilities-
After playing important roles in hotel industry, there are many responsibilities of the
marketing department of Savoy Hotel which it need to fulfil to achieve the organisational goals.
These responsibilities ensure that the role of the marketing is performed well. The
responsibilities act as mandatory requirements which are to be performed so that the Hotel can
work with customer centric approach and communicate to the customers what they needed and
demanded.
 Matching product/service with customer requirement- The marketing head is firstly
responsible to identify the customer requirements and then take steps to fulfil it after
matching it with its services available. He/She is responsible for creating a balance
between the services offered and the requirement of customers. The Hotel ensure that
after the market research, it bring such services into its hotel which satisfy their demand
so that loyal customer base is built.

 Creating product promotional channel- The marketing department of Savoy Hotel
must ensure that a proper promotional channel is being used to promote its services. The
promotional channels may include regular discounts on booking, additional services like
pool, gym, etc. must be provided to attract more customers, social media platforms,
reviews on travel agency websites and many more (Dost and et. al., 2019).
 Relationship marketing- The marketing unit of Savoy Hotel must adapt the changing
role of marketing by focusing more on customer engagement for long term rather than on
customer acquisition. It shall focus on providing best customer experience by studying
the new trends and demands of customers and then providing it on time (Kandampully
and Solnet, 2019).
 Customer value exchange- The marketing head must focus on increasing the value
exchange between the hotel and its customers so that long term success is ensured. Value
exchange refers to sales transaction between hotel and customers and if it goes well then
there is customer satisfaction which shall result in successful marketing strategy .
P2 Roles and responsibility of marketing to the wider organisational context
Every organisation has different department and they have their roles to play which are
inter-dependent on each other to function effectively and efficiently. The marketing department
also plays its role in relation to other functionaries to ensure smooth performance of the
organisation. The other departments of Savoy hotel are-
 Finance department- The main role of this department is to manage the funds of the
organisation and allocate the budget to each department to ensure smooth running of
business. This unit significantly undertakes its function and manage the finance of the
organisation. They contribute to the success of the organisation as their focus is on profit
maximisation and decrease in the cost. The finance department assures that sufficient
funds are allocated to marketing department so that it can promote and advertise the hotel
in effective manner to attract target audience (Kumar, Shankar and Aljohani, 2019).
 Human resource department- This department plays an important role in recruiting the
skilled and qualified employees into the organisation so that the Hotel is able to achieve
its objectives and goals on time. This unit ensures that talent is flooded into the Hotel and
it can attain all its desired goals in efficient manner. They contribute in the workplace by
screening the talent in the hotel and bring out the best from them. The human resource

unit provides creative and skilled staff to the marketing unit so that it can promote its
services creatively and effectively to maintain good relationship with past customers and
can attract new guests by different promotional tactics.
 Research and development department- This department is allotted with a duty to
conduct deep and detailed study. For Savoy hotel, this department is entrusted with
responsibility to conduct market research to identify the demands of the customers
together with new technological advancements for providing better experience to
customers. The hotels have customer centric approach and they work according to their
trends, demands and needs so in order to work according to the customers, this unit
contributes in analysing the market conditions so that the functioning of the hotel can be
turned towards the consumers. The marketing unit communicate with this department to
study the research conducted by this unit so that it can make such marketing strategies
which will help in generating more revenue by attracting more customers.
Relation of Roles and responsibilities to business environment
There are internal and external business environments to which the roles and
responsibilities of the marketing unit relates.
Internal environment-
 Present service needs- The marketing unit must play their roles and responsibilities in
such a way that they can analyse the lacunas in the services. The main role of marketing
is market research. The research should be done in such a way that current problems are
identified on time so that better services are offered to customers to bring satisfaction to
them. Future needs- It shall also focus on identifying the future needs of the services so that
the organisation is well prepared in advance to cope up with the future challenges. The
marketing department of savoy Hotel conduct market research so that it can effectively
identify the future needs of the customers and plan accordingly to fulfil them so that it
can attract more potential customers.
External environment-
 Current and potential customers- The marketing unit must play their vital roles in such
a way that they can identify and analyse the demands and needs of the customers. They

must research the market trends in such a way that a balance is created between
customer's needs and financial target of the Savoy Hotel.
 Competition- The competitors are threat to the organisation. The Savoy hotel has many
competitors in the market so the responsibility of marketing team increases to fight the
competition in fair manner by identifying their strategies to attract customers and also the
services offered by them. Likewise the Savoy hotel can make changes in its trends to
attract potential customers and to retain existing customer's loyalty.
 Suppliers- The marketing department must have a smooth communication with its
suppliers so that it can order the raw materials or products that are needed by the
organisation to avoid wastage and loss of funds. It shall study the market and create brand
awareness in such a way that Savoy Hotel is able to provide better services to its
customers after identifying the demands in the market (Kim and Kim, 2018).
M1 Analysis of the roles and responsibilities of marketing in context to marketing environment
The marketing plays an important role in communicating and promoting the services of
the organisation. In context to Savoy Hotel, the marketing department undergoes various roles
and responsibilities which contribute to the marketing environment which is discussed below-
 Political environment- The marketing unit of Savoy hotel perform their roles and
responsibilities keeping in mind the laws and policies in order to avoid any legal
consequences. It distribute its services in ethical manner to the customer so that there is
not hardships faced by the hotel. It charges tax according to the law.
 Technological environment- The marketing department of savoy hotel perform its roles
and responsibilities by using the technological advancement so that it can attract high
potential customers through its services. In order to keep up with the allocate funds, it
analysis the technological environment so that it can work according to the allocated
budget.
 Economic environment- The savoy Hotel is a huge organisation which has many
employees working for the success of the hotel. The marketing department in some or the
other way affect the economic environment as it has to undergo its roles according to the
budget. As more employee means increase disposable income, the hotel contributes in
economy through employing more staff.

 Social environment- The Hotel Savoy works according to the demand and need of the
customers. It has customer centric approach so it has to turn its functioning according to
guest and introduce such services time to time in order to keep up with their demands.
The marketing department perform its role of market research by scrutinising the needs
of the customers and promote the offering in such a way that it attracts more customers.
This factor affect the working of the hotel.
 Environmental- The marketing unit of savoy hotel ensures that its roles and
responsibilities are performed keeping in mind the environmental factor so that its
activities do not harm the environment and nature.
 Legal environment- The savoy hotel ensures that it comply with all the laws and policies
so that there is no legal consequences. In order to perform its roles effectively, the
marketing unit ensure that its activities are within the framework of legal rules and
regulations.
Analysis of significance of interrelationships between marketing and other functional units.
In order to perform the roles and responsibilities of the marketing unit, this department
work with other department so that it can organisational goals are achieved effectively. The
significance of the inter relationships between marketing and other departments is discussed
below-
 Finance- This department contribute to the success of the company as it focuses on profit
maximisation and cost decline. This unit effectively manage the funds of the hotel and
allocate budget to each. The marketing function also gets the funds from this unit and
perform its roles effectively.
 Human resource- This unit recruit the skilled and knowledgable staff to the organisation
so that organisational goals are attained efficiently. The marketing unit of Hotel savoy
gets the creative and skilled staff after the hard work of the HR department and perform
their roles in a productive way..
 R&D – This department conduct research on the trends of the customers. The marketing
unit conduct market research with the help of this unit and perform their roles effectively.
The marketing department of savoy hotel works with this department and collectively
contribute to organisational goals.

TASK 2
P3 Ways in which different hospitality organisations apply marketing mix to marketing planning
process to achieve business objectives.
The marketing mix is a strategy adopted by the organisations to promote its services in
the market. It includes 7Ps that help the company to identify the effective ways for
communicating its products and services. The hospitality industry uses this 7Ps concept as
marketing strategy.
The 7Ps of marketing mix for hospitality industry are- Product- It refers to the services being offered by the hospitality industry to its customers
for satisfying their needs. For this ground, it is important that services are developed and
adapted in such a way that it meets the demands of customers. Price- It refers to the amount which is being charged for the services being availed by the
customers. This element is important in this sector because it is used to measure the
degree of quality service being offered by the organisation. Place- It is the technique of distribution channel used by the hotels and restaurants to
provide facilities to customers to meet their expectations. It may include the electronic
media like emails, post, etc. or search engines like booking.com. Promotion- It refers to the tactics used by the businesses to promote its services which is
being offered by the organisations. It may include advertising, personal selling, direct
marketing, etc. while connecting to large number of audience, the companies can use
integrated marketing communication tools which enables different features for different
customers. People- It includes the staff or the workforce of the organisation that offers services to
the customers and interact with them to fulfil their demands. Physical evidence- It is way to convert the intangible product in tangible component. It
includes the checking guest check out and check ins, handling the enquiries.
 Process- It is the flow of activities which are undertaken to deliver the service to the
customers. It may include payment systems, training procedures for staff or induction for
employees ( Neuninger, 2017).
The marketing mix for Savoy Hotel together with its comparison with its competitor Inter
Continental Hotel is as follows-

MARKETING MIX SAVOY HOTEL INTERCONTINENTAL
HOTEL
Product This hotels covers 3 areas for
providing prime quality luxury
service to its customers, which
are accommodation, food and
beverages and recreational
activities. It is also open for
special purposes like wedding,
meetings and events.
This hotel is a multinational
hotel with high quality
products. It deals in 3 areas
which are accommodation,
food and beverages and
recreational activities.
Price It uses premium pricing
strategy to attract high scale
and elite class of people from
across the world. It sometimes
uses psychological pricing also
to attract customers.
It uses hybrid strategy for
pricing to add maximum value
to its services. It has divided
the market into different
segments according to guest's
standard of living, that is, high
class, luxury and midscale.
Place It is situated in London and is
one of the most famous hotel
in London. It uses many
channels to bring on the
customer like walk in
reservations, online bookings
worldwide through travel
portals or agents..
IHG hotel has been situated in
more than 100 countries. It is
easily accessible to the
consumers. The IHG uses
many channels to attract
customers like travel agents,
online travel portals, hotel
website booking system, etc.
Promotion This hotel uses traditional
promotional techniques like
advertisement, radio,
newspaper, etc. to promote its
services. It is a very famous
Traditionally, this hotel uses
word of mouth to promote its
services but after the
technology advancements, it
sponsors travel agents to get

MARKETING MIX SAVOY HOTEL INTERCONTINENTAL
HOTEL
hotel in London so it only
needs word of mouth to attract
customers (Purvis, 2016).
the customers. It uses digital
marketing like online reviews,
social media platforms, etc. to
understand the customer
demands and attract them to
avail service.
People The Savoy Hotel recruits
highly skilled and
knowledgable staff to maintain
its status. It focuses on
providing timely training to its
workforce so that services are
offered efficiently.
The staff employed in IHG is
trained and skilful. It focus on
people development and
building so that strong
customer relationship is build.
Physical evidence The hotel has a high quality
interior to attract customers. It
has a luxury atmosphere which
makes customers comfortable
and relaxed.
The IHG has a store
atmosphere which is creative
and exciting. It has unique
packaging with vibrant colours
which changes timely. It has
attractive logo which defines
confidence, aspiration and
ambition for consumers.
Process The process used by the Savoy
Hotel is fully automatic. It
focuses on providing easy to
use services to its guests so
that they can have best
experience while staying and
availing services in hotel.
The hotel uses systematic and
organised processes which are
well communicated to
employees and they are well
trained to use them. It
maintains quality in all its
operations for which standard

MARKETING MIX SAVOY HOTEL INTERCONTINENTAL
HOTEL
policies are maintained
(Solimun and Fernandes,
2018).
Reflection
From the above comparison of marketing mix of two competitive hotels, I believe that
the Savoy Hotel has attractive services which helps in retaining its customer loyalty. As there is
only one hotel of Savoy, this makes its management to work effectively for the growth of the
hotel as they need to solely focus on one organisation. On the other hand, I believe that Inter
Continental hotel has expanded its services in more than 100 countries, it has larger business and
customers who are loyal enough to only avail its services. Both are competitive in their own zone
and works towards their continuous growth and success effectively.
P4 Basic marketing plan for the organisation to meet business objectives.
Covered in PPT.
Reflection
From the above marketing plan, I believe that this plan will help the Savoy Hotel in
expanding its operation in new place. By analysing its competition position and inner strength
and weakness, I found that the hotel will be able to grow efficiently in its new place by capturing
new customers from its attractive services. The objectives shall be achieved through existing
loyal customers and new ones shall be attracted to contribute in Savoy Hotel's success.

CONCLUSION
It is concluded from the above report that marketing is an essential function for an
organisation. In hospitality industry, marketing plays an important role in maintaining a
company's stability due to high level of competition. There are many roles and responsibilities of
marketing unit in Savoy hotel which need to fulfilled well on time so that the business objectives
are achieved. Further, one of the marketing strategy called marketing mix helps the organisation
in identifying the customer's needs and demand. Further it is concluded that an effective
marketing plan can help Savoy Hotel in expanding its operation in new city of UK which will
help in generating high revenues and profits for the company.

REFERENCES
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