Marketing & Management: Analysis of XYZ Hotel's Marketing Mix

This report provides an analysis of the marketing mix employed by XYZ Hotel, a premium hotel chain. It delves into the hotel's positioning strategy, which focuses on high quality and high pricing to attract an elite clientele. The report examines the competitive pricing strategy used to set rates based on competitor analysis, detailing the factors considered in this approach. Furthermore, it discusses the development and monitoring of an Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) program, including the use of online and offline advertising, consumer surveys, and recall tests to measure effectiveness. The implementation of communication strategies, emphasizing emotional appeals and the selection of appropriate media channels, is also covered. The report concludes that marketing plays a crucial role in enhancing a hotel's value and attracting customers, highlighting the importance of a well-defined and executed marketing mix.

Running head: MARKETING & MANAGEMENT
MARKETING & MANAGEMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
This report throws light on the marketing mix of a chosen hotel. Components of the
marketing mix ranging from positioning and pricing strategy to IMC and communications
strategy have been discussed.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Positioning Strategy of the Hotel...........................................................................................3
Pricing strategy.......................................................................................................................4
Advertising expenditure.........................................................................................................5
Implementation of communication strategies........................................................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................7
References..................................................................................................................................8
Appendix....................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
Marketing Mix plays an important role in determining the various tools that a
company can use to convey its brand to the consumers (Jobber & Ellis-Chadwick, 2012).
This report is based on the marketing mix of Xyz hotels. Xyz hotel is a premium hotel located
in various counties in the world. Marketing concepts such as Positioning, Pricing, IMC and
the communication strategy have been elaborated upon.
Discussion
Positioning Strategy of the Hotel
Positioning can be defined as the perception of the particular brand in the minds of the
consumer. Positioning also helps the customers to distinguish between the various other
products available from their competitors. In order to position a particular brand in the market
the company tries to emphasize on the unique features of their brand and form a suitable
image whether luxurious, premium or high end).This positioning is done with the help of a
market mix. The marketing manager should make sure that the company has a good
positioning in the market. Once the brand has established and achieved a strong position then
it is difficult to change the image.
There are various kinds of positioning strategy as discussed above ranging from
Product characteristics, price quality approach, and cultural symbol approach to competitor
approach and product class approach (Czinkota & Ronkainen, 2013).
The chosen strategy for the hotel Xyz has been high quality high price strategy.
High-Price-High Quality Strategy

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Some companies price their products or services higher than their competition to
create a perceived value. This strategy works well with the elite group of consumers who tend
to get attracted to the premium services offered. They are concerned with the quality of
services being provided even if they have to pay a higher price. The high price and high
quality helps to have an impact on the positioning of the hotels as a high-end brand and
premium hotel.
The hotel is using the pricing as an effective took to position their hotel differently
from other group of hotels present in the market and leave its mark. (Refer to Figure 1.)
Pricing strategy
A pricing strategy can be defined as a method whereby a company chooses the
appropriate pricing system to sell its products (Hollensen, 2015). There can be various
motives behind setting up a particular price. The price can be set in order to maximize
profitability or to gain the market. The firm`s decision about the pricing helps the consumers
to determine whether they want to attend a hotel or not. There is a certain group of consumers
who are extremely selective regarding the hotels they visit.
The high-end hotels generally tend to follow a Premium pricing technique where the
price of services is generally kept high and thus creating favorable perceptions among the
buyers based on the price. This often tends to create the impression that with better price
comes better quality.
However, the hotel XYZ uses a competitive pricing strategy to set its rates based on
how much the competitors are charging. This method is generally applied in cases where the
hotels engage in similar services since services can differ from hotel to hotel, while the
attributes remain the same (Huang & Sarigöllü, 2014).

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This concept is used by the Xyz hotel because it is not the only one operating in the
hotel industry. Hence, it is an important technique to determine the strategies of the other
hotels as well.
Their rates and amenities, refund policies and other relevant terms should be
determined and considered when pricing for self.
Calculation:
For calculating, the prices based on competitor pricing strategy a hotel needs have a
detailed insights and data
At first the services offered by the own company and the competitors need to be
compared. The comparison should be kept relevant.
Their charges as per the room size should be examined. The fact whether they charge
for telephones and wifi, should be analyzed. If yes, then how much does, they charge. Their
adjustment techniques for various lengths of stay should be understood. Their booking
charges as per own versus third party should also be examined (Al-Debi & Mustafa, 2014).
Advertising expenditure
Development of IMC program
Integrated Marketing Communications refers to the use of different kinds of
marketing tools, which help a firm in accomplishing their desired objectives in a manner that
all the tools convey the same message. Tools, which are used by the hotels, are
advertisements on tourist websites, internet promotions, public relations magazine flyers and
others.
Monitoring and analyzing the IMC program

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It is extremely important to analyze the efficiency of the marketing strategy because
marketing strategies involve huge costs and these costs will all go into waste if they are not
effective. An alternate strategy should be considered in cases where the present strategy
cannot be applied.
To measure the efficiencies of the advertisements the hotel can consider the given
methods:
 Consumer surveys- Online and offline surveys should be conducted every two months
to measure the percentage increase in the consumer awareness level and visit level
(Armstrong et al., 2015).
 Recall test- The customers can also be asked whether they recall seeing a particular
advertisement related to the hotel.
Online communication techniques should be monitored by analyzing the volume of
visitors on the company website and the number of likes and shares a post receives.
The increase in the number of visitors after the magazine flyers are given out should also
be measured.
Implementation of communication strategies
Advertisements take place both online and offline. Generally, two appeals are
followed by the hotels to attract customers. These appeals are the rational and the emotional
appeal. The rational appeal just tends to emphasize on the on the known data. On the other
hand, emotional appeal uses the power of different emotions like joy, nostalgia and pleasure.
For Xyz hotel, the emotional appeal should be applied. People should feel connected to the
hotel on a higher level (Mintz & Currim, 2013). Family could visit the hotel, relax, and

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pamper themselves. For the promotional campaign, a renowned personality like a well-
known actor could be asked to participate.
Important elements of a promotional campaign need to be considered before letting it
out to the customers:
 Medium: For Xyz hotel, internet television and magazine should be used for
advertising.
 Media vehicle: For Xyz, advertisements can be given in monthly luxurious magazines
like Cosmopolitan, Vogue and Travel magazines.
 Reach and Frequency: The advertisement of this hotel should be given once a month
on magazines and thrice a week on television (Mullins, Walker & Boyd Jr, 2012)
Social networking sites like Face book and Twitter could be used to promote the
hotel.
Conclusion
Therefore, from the discussion it can be said that marketing plays a key role in
determining the value of a hotel and plays a significant role in attracting customers for the
hotel.

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References
Al-Debi, H., & Mustafa, A. (2014). The Impact Of Services Marketing Mix 7P's In
Competitive Advantage To Five Stars Hotel-Case Study Amman, Jordan. In The
Clute Institute International Academic Conference Orlando, Florida, USA (pp. 39-
48).
Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Harker, M., & Brennan, R. (2015). Marketing: an introduction.
Pearson Education.
Czinkota, M. R., & Ronkainen, I. A. (2013). International marketing. Cengage Learning.
Hollensen, S. (2015). Marketing management: A relationship approach. Pearson Education.
Huang, R., & Sarigöllü, E. (2014). How brand awareness relates to market outcome, brand
equity, and the marketing mix. Leonidou, L. C., Leonidou, C. N., Fotiadis, T. A., &
Zeriti, A. (2013). Resources and capabilities as drivers of hotel environmental
marketing strategy: Implications for competitive advantage and performance. Tourism
Management, 35, 94-110..
Jobber, D., & Ellis-Chadwick, F. (2012). Principles and practice of marketing (No. 7th).
McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Mintz, O., & Currim, I. S. (2013). What drives managerial use of marketing and financial
metrics and does metric use affect performance of marketing-mix activities?. Journal
of Marketing, 77(2), 17-40.
Mullins, J., Walker, O. C., & Boyd Jr, H. W. (2012). Marketing management: A strategic
decision-making approach. McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

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Appendix
Expensive
Less Expensive
Moderate
Service
High
Service
Xyz Hotel
Figure 1: Positioning of Xyz Hotels