Marketing Plan for Corporate Customers at Sofitel Hotel and Resort Sydney

Running Head: MARKETING PLAN
Marketing Plan for Corporate Customers at Sofitel Hotel and Resort Sydney
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MARKETING PLAN 2
Table of Content
Table of Content........................................................................................................................................2
Executive Summary...................................................................................................................................4
Organization..............................................................................................................................................4
Review of Products and Services..............................................................................................................5
Current Product Offerings.......................................................................................................................5
Location..................................................................................................................................................6
Market Position.....................................................................................................................................6
Promotional Activities...........................................................................................................................7
External Environment...............................................................................................................................8
PESTEL Analysis..................................................................................................................................8
Competitive Analysis.............................................................................................................................9
Commercial Partner Analysis...............................................................................................................9
Market and Consumer Research........................................................................................................10
International Visitors......................................................................................................................10
Domestic Overnight Visitors...............................................................................................................11
Internal Environment.............................................................................................................................12
SWOT Analysis....................................................................................................................................12
SWOT Analysis....................................................................................................................................12
Organizational Structure....................................................................................................................14
...............................................................................................................................................................14
Internal Research................................................................................................................................15
Segmentation and Targeting...............................................................................................................16
Sofitel Target Markets........................................................................................................................16
Objectives and Goals...............................................................................................................................17
Objectives.............................................................................................................................................17
Overview of Marketing Strategies and Tactics.................................................................................18
Action Plan...........................................................................................................................................18
Product/Service....................................................................................................................................18
Pricing..................................................................................................................................................18

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Place - Distribution..............................................................................................................................19
Promotion - Sales Strategies...............................................................................................................19
References................................................................................................................................................24

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Executive Summary
Sofitel Hotel and Resort Sydney is an exotic hotel situated at the strategic Sydney Central
Business District. The hotel is renowned for providing contemporary hotel and resort services
that are adapted to the modern demand of the hospitality industry, thus addressing the needs of
versatile customers that appreciate excellence, quality and beauty. The hotel competes with 10
other five star hotels in Sydney with only one of them located in the CBD. The Sofitel Hotel
provides 590 stylish guestrooms that include about 35 luxurious suites, with panoramic views of
the city. The hotel provides conferencing facilities with its grand Magnifique Ballroom hosting
up-to 450 people. In this marketing plan we examine the internal and external environments that
the hotel operates in. The marketing plan targets corporate travellers with the objective of
increasing the number of their bookings by 15 percent in the next one year; launching new
products that specifically cater for their needs and device new ways of communicating with this
market segment. The 4P marketing mix will be employed in achieving these objectives, which
shall be reviewed based on the Key Performance Indicators specified on the marketing plan.
Organization
Sofitel Hotel and Resort Sydney, is one of the most exotic hotels in Darling Habour. The
hotel was opened in 2017, thereby becoming making it the first international luxury hotel in
Sydney’s Central Business District. The $ 500 million hotel plays a crucial role in the current
revitalization of the Darling Habour precinct. It is also credited for heralding the renaissance of
new development of hotels in Sydney with about 40 other hotels scheduled to the constructed
and launched in the next decade in the quest to support the growth of tourism in the country.
Richard Francis-Jones, who is Sydney’s renowned multi-award winning architect, designed the

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hotel. The structure of the hotel is characterized by an imposing glass exterior of 35 stories that
feature triangular accents, which essentially represents sails. Their blue exterior and striking red
ochre are a tribute to the various indigenous clans of the Eora ethnic nations that have for
centuries lived at Tumbalong, which is now known as the Darling Harbour. (Sofitel Luxury
Hotels, 2017)
Review of Products and Services
Current Product Offerings
The Sofitel Hotel and Resort Sydney provides 590 stylish guestrooms that include about
35 luxurious suites, most of which provide the visitors with a panoramic view of the city. More
importantly, all the guest rooms have floor-to-ceiling windows that provide the view of the
Darling Harbor. The suites have in-bath television sets, luxurious soaking tubs and double
shower heads for the ethereal pampering experience. At the pinnacle of the hotel there is the
Bellerive suites that have a butler pantry, living room and dining rooms. Furthermore, three
signature restaurant and sophisticated pubs have anchored the hotel as the ideal place in Sydney
to meet for a memorable dining experience or a drink. The hotel can also provide facilities for
holding any kind of meeting considering its grand Magnifique Ballroom that can host up-to 450
people; the events could include gala dinners, haute couture fashion shows, conferences and
large-scale meetings all supported with state-of-art audio-visual technology (Sofitel Luxury
Hotels, 2017). These facilities makes Sofitel Hotel and Restaurant Sydney one of the most
competitive in the Australian industry.

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Location
The Sofitel Hotel and Resort Sydney is situated near the new dynamic International
Convention Center and a short drive from the nearby shopping center. Sofitel Hotel is also a five
minutes’ walk from the Central Business District of Sydney, where the pre-historic Pryrmont
Bridge is located. There are ferries from the Darling Habour that one can take and enjoy an
ethereal sail under the iconic Harbour Bridge to the Sydney Opera House and then to the Circular
Quay. More importantly, for those visitors from abroad or across Australia, Sofitel Hotel is
strategically located about a half an hour from the Sydeny Kingsford-Smith Airport, where there
are rental vehicles, private transfers and limousines that shuttle to and from the airport to the
hotel. (Sofitel Hotel & Resort, 2018)
The entrance into Sofitel Hotel and Resort Sydney is a stylish porte-cochere that leads the
guests into the building. There are guestrooms and public spaces in the insider, which also pay
tribute to the hotel’s maritime location and the industries that, were previously located at the site.
The extensive use of timber in constructing these places, the use of sandstone motifs and ropes in
the carpets all represent the robust wharf heritage of Sydney. However, whole appreciating the
historical importance of the hotel’s location, its cutting-edge design invariably places the hotel at
the center of the habour’s future (Sofitel Luxury Hotels, 2017).
Market Position
The Sofitel Hotel and Resort brand is recognized worldwide, with a presence in a total of
five continents and in about 40 countries. The brand is reputable for providing contemporary
hotel and resort services that are adapted to the modern demand of the hospitality industry,
thereby catering to the needs of versatile customers that appreciate excellence, quality and