Consumer Decision Making and Impact of Digital Technology in Hospitality Industry

This report explores the stages of consumer decision making and the impact of digital technology on consumer trends in the hospitality industry. It investigates different cultural, social, personal, and psychological factors that influence consumer behavior. It also compares and contrasts B2B and B2C decision making and discusses different approaches to market research.

REPORT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
P1 Investigate different cultural, social, personal and psychological factors.............................3
P2 Explore consumer trends are changing impact by digital technology...................................4
P3 Examine the stages of the consumer decision making...........................................................5
P4 The importance for marketers to map a path for purchasing.................................................6
P5 Compare and contrast B2B and B2C decision making..........................................................7
P6 Different approaches and method through which market research can be conducted...........9
P7 How marketer can influence the different stage of the tourism decision..............................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Consumer decision making process involves the consumers to identify their needs, gather
information, evaluate alternatives and then make their buying decision. Hilton hotel is the global
brand of the hotel in the world. Hilton hotel was founded in the year 1919 by the founder Conrad
Hilton. This report highlights the meaning of the consumer behaviour and the different factor
which used to influence the consumer behaviour. After that the report has highlighted the impact
of digital technology on the consumer trend in hospitality industry. After that the report has
highlighted consumer decision making stage and purchase map. After that the report has
highlighted the importance consumer decision making stage and purchase map. After that the
report has highlight difference between B2B and B2C decision making. In the end the report has
highlighted was through which marketer can influence the decision making process of the
consumer.
MAIN BODY
P1 Investigate different cultural, social, personal and psychological factors.
Consumer behaviour is the type of the study about the customers, groups or organizations
select, buy, use, and dispose ideas, goods, and services to satisfy their needs and wants. It refers
to the actions of the consumers in the marketplace and the underlying motives for those actions.
There are many factor which used to affect the consumer behaviour in the long run of the
business. Some of the factor are as follows:
Cultural factor: Cultural factor are the factor which are related to the ideas, customs and
social behaviour of a society. As cultural factor are the combination of set of basic values,
perceptions, wants and behaviours that are "learned" by a consumer (Bowie, and et.al., 2016). So
customer always look for the product which used to prevail the culture touch in it as they are
more familiar of the culture in which they have grown up.
Personal factor: Personal factor used to involve the factor like age, occupations, social,
economic and lifestyle or gender of the consumer. As all the person used to desire of a luxurious
life they generally used to make the decision of buying the product on the basis of their standard
and the need which are prevailing in the market.
Social Factor: Social factor are the factor which includes a reference of group, family
and social status. These factors too affect the buying behaviour of consumers. As every

consumer in the market always look to maintain the good amount of the respect in the society as
a result the consumer with the higher respect always try to consume more luxurious to maintain
the position in the society irrespective of there need.
Physiological factor: Physiological factor are the factor which used to includes change
to the brain structure due to injuries, extended periods of inactivity, or physical stress. As this
factor used to increase the level of the motivation and learning of the customer. (Brunt, Horner
and Semley, 2017) Consumer always look to purchase more product from the market as compare
to the past.
P2 Explore consumer trends are changing impact by digital technology.
Digital technology are the combination of electronic tools, system and resources which
used to impact and influence the operation of the business very positively in the organization. In
the rapidly changing environment there is a good trend of digital technology in the hospitality
industry. This has also influence the consumer trend in the organization. Some of the change
which has brought by the digital platform on the consumer trend are as follows:
Consumer convenience and peace of mind: It is one of the biggest growing trend in the
tourism industry as customer are more addicted toward using the technology to select the hotel
which they are looking to visit to satisfy there need (Dolega and et.al., 2019.). As a result there is
a good trend in the tourism industry that all the customer in today's era used to take the help of
the technology to book the different tickets and hotels.
Customer are more cautious about the customer lifestyle: As technology has opened
the bigger market for the customer to have a better view of the option and choose the best
alternative out of them. It has eventually increase the lifestyle expectation of the consumer in the
market as all the customer in the market in today's era always look for the hotel which can help
them in improving the level of the lifestyle in the organization.
Customer support: It is the another big trend in the tourism industry which is brought
by the expansion of the digital technology. As all the consumer in the market always look for the
hotel which used to offer the good amount of the customer support in the organization (Fyall
and et.al., 2019). As this help the customer in getting the good inbound information at the time
when customer feels any sort of the concern at the time of availing the service of the hotel or
after availing the service. As customer service used to keep the customer in touch with the hotel
at every time.

P3 Examine the stages of the consumer decision making.
Consumer decision making is the process in which the consumer decides what to purchase to
satisfy there need in the market. Consumer in general used to make the decision in the
organization by looking at the trend in the market and the need they are looking to satisfy.
Consumer decision making stages are as follows:
Need
Recognition
Information
search
Evaluation of
alternatives
Purchase
Decision
Post purchase
Behaviour
It is the stage of
the consumer
where consumer
recognized a need
of going to the
hotel, and looking
to book the ticket
for the same. It is
the first stage of
the consumer
decision making.
It is the stage
where consumer
used to search
for the
information
about the hotel
from the website
of hotel or
google.
Consumer used
to search for the
different hotel
available in the
location which
can help them in
satisfying the
need which is
posses by them.
It is the stage
where the
consumer after
collecting the
information
about the
different hotel
used to evaluate
all of them on
the basis of the
different need
of the customer
in the market.
Consumer at
this stage used
to compare the
facilities which
is offered by
one hotel with
the other in the
nation.
It is the stage
where after going
through all the
information which
has been collected
the consumer used
to decide the best
hotel in the
industry which can
help the consumer
in satisfying the
different need in
the market
(Gibson and
Parkman, 2018).
This stage is the
combination of
few factor such as
price, benefits and
offering.
This is the last stage
of the consumer
decision making in
which the consumer
after making the
purchase used to
evaluate is the
decision taken by
the consumer to
select the hotel is
able to satisfy the
need of the
consumer or not.

Path to purchase
Path to purchase model is the combination and the different series of channel which are used by
the hilton hotel to convert the consumer of the hotel to make a purchase. These channel used to
include the variety of the step which is taken by the hotel (Higgins-Desbiolles, Moskwa and
Wijesinghe, 2019). Channels includes emails, apps, search engines, brands' websites, loyalty
programs, review channels and social networks.
P4 The importance for marketers to map a path for purchasing.
As explained in the above section also that the hospitality industry is the industry which
used to see the huge amount of the competition. As number of the organization in the hospitality
industry of UK is to high. As a result marketer in the Hospitality industry used to organize the
different market research in the market to understand the consumer decision-making and to
locate the purchase map of the organization. Some of the benefit which is brought by both the
activities are as follows:
Customer awareness: It is one of the biggest benefit which is brought by purchase plan
in the hospitality industry. As this map help the marketer in understanding the customer segment
which has to be targeted by the hospitality with the help of the different marketing tool so that all
the customer in the market who is in need is touch by the hotel to offer the different product and
services of the organization.

Product Development: It is the another mainInvestigate different cultural, social,
personal and psychological factors. importance which is brought by making the purchase map in
the organization. Marketer generally used to understand the need of the customer and pass on the
same information to the production department of the organization. On the basis of the same the
hotel used to develop the product or adopt the new services in the hotel (Hobman, and et.al.,
2016). So with the help of the same organization can satisfy the need of the customer.
Performance measuring: As there are many different department such as casino,
restaurant and accommodation all used to come together to serve the customer to satisfy there
need. It sometime get difficult for the hotel to measure the performance of the business but
purchase map and the decision making stage help the marketer in taking the customer
expectation as a basis to compare with the actual performance of the business. This help the hotel
in finding out the deviation and hotel used to take the different steps to fulfil this deviation to
improve the performance of the hotel in the industry.
Planning and Scheduling: Understanding the consumer decision making and the
purchase map used to help the marketer in getting the support at the time of making the plan and
scheduling the different activity in the organization. As understanding consumer decision
making and the purchase map help the marketer and the hotel in understanding the tool which
can be used in the market (Huang, and Miao, L., 2016.). On the basis of the same the marketer
can make a different plan in the organization and schedule the different activity of the
organization.
P5 Compare and contrast B2B and B2C decision making
Business to consumer (B2C): Business to consumer refers to the process of selling product and
services directly to the consumer in the market, with the help of promoting the product of the
company directly to the consumer in the market and asking to them to avail the services.
Business to Business(B2B): Business to Business is the type of the situation in the market in
which one business in the market used to make the transaction with the other business to provide
the best services to the consumer in the market.
Firm operating in the hospitality industry generally used to make both B2B and B2C
transaction in the organization to carry out the operation of the business in the long run. There is
a huge sort of difference in between the B2B decision making and B2C decision making.
Basis Business to consumer (B2C) Business to business (B2B)

Definition Transaction which occur
between the hotel and
consumer in the nation is
known as a Business to
consumer transaction.
Example: Hilton hotel offers
the accommodation service to
consumer it is a Business to
consumer transaction.
Business to business ia a
transaction which used to take
place between the two
organization in the industry.
Example: Hilton hotel has
taken the decision to purchase
the pillow cover from new
trader this is a B2B
transaction.
Focus At the time of carrying out the
B2C transaction the main
focus of the hotel is to satisfy
the need of the customer in the
market. As all the decision are
taken by centring the customer
in the organization (Ji and
King, 2018).
The main focus of the
company in carrying out the
Business to business decision
making cycle is to improve the
efficiency of the business
operation or to get the support
to increase the product line of
the company. So that it can be
offered after words to the
consumer in the market.
Type of Decision-making Business to consumer decision
are the decision which are
taken in the organization by
looking at the short term goal
of the business. For example
Hilton hotel has decided to
offer discount to the customer
at the time of the festival.
Business to business decision
are the decision which are
taken by the organization by
looking at the long term goal
of the business. For example:
Hilton hotel has joined the
hand with the marketing
company to market the
different offering of the
company in the market.

P6 Different approaches and method through which market research can be conducted
Market research is the process in which the marketer in the hotel generally used to
evaluate the market of the industry and the trend which is present in the market. On the basis of
the same the marketer used to identify the different needs and the wants of the consumer in the
market. Generally the marketer in the organization used to conduct the market research on the
regular basis so that they are able to gather the different information regarding the consumer and
different trend prevailing in the market.
Survey: It is one of the common way through which the marketer can conduct the market
research in the market. In this approach the marketer used to prepare the questionnaire which
used to contain the variety of the open and close ended question. After that the researcher used to
select the number of the respondent from the total population and used to ask them to fill the
questionnaire (Kim, Lee and Fairhurst, 2017). After that marketer used to interoperate the result
of the survey and try to find out the different information from the market and try to link the
same with the operation of the business.
Interview: It is the another approach or method of the market research in which the
organization used to hire a interviewer who used to go to the respondent and used to ask the
different question regarding the services, trend and offering of the hotel in the market. On the
basis of the different answer of the respondent they used to find out the information from the
market.
Observation: It is the type of the market research method in which the marketer in the
organization used to select the group of the respondent from the market and used to observe the
activity of the respondent and also different competitor in the organization. On the basis of the
same marketer used to find out the information from the market. This approach used to provide
more relevant result in the market but at the same time this approach is very difficult to apply in
the hotel.
P7 How marketer can influence the different stage of the tourism decision
As explained before also that all the consumer used to follow the consumer decision
making stage model to make the different decision in the organization. At the same time there

are many different type of the activity which are also performed by the marketer to influence the
consumer decision making in the organization.
Need recognition: Marketer in Hilton hotel always used to promote the new and unique
offering of the organization in front of the market. This generally help the marketer in sending
the message to the customer in the market that they are in need of the something, which
eventually help the marketer in creating the need for the marketer in the market.
Information search: It is the stage in which the consumer used to search for the
information which can be used to satisfy the need (Dolega and et.al., 2019.). Hilton Marketer at
this stage used to list the different information of the organization on the different website and
used to maintain the website of the company on the regular basis. So that the customer find it
easy to get the access to the different information of the hotel very easily from the market.
Evaluation of Alternative: It is the stage where customer used to evaluate the different
alternative which is available in front of them and select the best out of them. Hilton marketer in
this stage has to make sure that they used to present the offering of the hotel in such a way that
the customer used to feel that it is the win-win situation for them so that they are drive to avail
the service of the organization.
Purchasing: It is the stage where the customer used to make the decision about the
service they are looking to avail. At this stage the Marketer in Hilton hotel used to give the
training to the employee in the organization to give the best on sell service to the costumer so
that they feel joyed to avail the services.
Post purchase behaviour: It is the stage where the customer used to evaluate the
decision of choosing the organization. Marketer at this place has to make sure that they used to
be in touch with the customer on the regular basis so that the hotel pass on the message to the
customer that the hotel used to care about them, which will eventually result in seeing the
customer again in the hotel (Gibson and Parkman, 2018).
CONCLUSION
After going through the above report it has been summarized that social, personal and
psychological factor used to have a great impact on the consumer behaviour. After that the report
has summarized that there is a huge change in the consumer trend due to the digital technology.
After that the report has summarized that consumer decision stage and purchase map help the
consumer in understanding the consumer need, expectation and product development in the

organization. After that the report has highlighted the difference in B2B and B2C decision
making of the organization. After that the report has summarised that there are many different
approach and method through which market research can be conducted in the organization. In
the end the report has summarised that with the help of the different activity such as promotion
and distribution marketer can influence the decision making of the consumer in the market.

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Online
Purchase Map. 2019. [ONLINE]. Available through <https://nepa.com/path-to-purchase-
snake_blog/>