Analysis of Consumer Behavior and Decision Making: Hospitality Sector

This report examines consumer behavior within the hospitality industry, focusing on factors influencing customer attitudes and purchase decisions, with Holiday Inn as a case study. It analyzes social, personal, cultural, and psychological influences, alongside the impact of digital technology on consumer trends. The report defines the customer decision-making process, maps purchasing paths, and highlights the value of this for marketers. It contrasts B2B and B2C decision-making, explores market research approaches, and outlines how marketers can influence customer choices at various stages. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of understanding and adapting to consumer behavior to achieve business success in the hospitality sector.

HOSPITALITY
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
AND INSIGHT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Describe various social, personal, cultural and psychological factors which impacts the
attitude and behaviour of customers in hospitality sector .....................................................1
P2 Mention how trends of customers are changing due to the influence of digital technology 1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................1
P3 Define the stages for customer decision making journey and map purchasing path for
selected hospitality service ....................................................................................................1
P4 Describe the value for marketers to map a purchasing path and acknowledging decision
making of the customers.........................................................................................................3
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................4
P5 Contrast and compare differences in decision making processes associated with B2B and
B2C, including hospitality examples......................................................................................4
P6 Mention various approaches to conduct market research and different research methods to
understand decision making...................................................................................................5
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................6
P7 Analyse how the marketers can impact various stages of decision making, involving
hospitality examples ..............................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
CB also known as Consumer Behaviour refers to attitude and perception of customers or
individual regarding the purchase of products, goods or services. If behaviour of the customers is
good towards offerings of company, this means their business is performing well. Behaviour of
consumers is associated with customer's actions in marketplace and reason behind those
behaviours (Shih, and Ke, 2014). This assignment report is prepared in context with Holiday
Inn, a America based hotel chain which is owned by Britain. This hotel is a subsidiary of
Intercontinental hotel groups and headquartered in Buckinghamshire, UK. This hotel mainly
serves in European, Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific region. This report is going to mention
about different circumstances and their impact on the customer behaviour along with their
attitudes. Changes in customer trends due to digital technology are discussed. Also, stages to
customer decision-making and appropriate purchasing path will be explored. At last, role of
marketers in impacting customer decision making is discussed.
TASK 1
P1 Describe various social, personal, cultural & psychological factors which impacts attitude
and behaviour of customers in hospitality sector
(Covered in PPT)
P2 Mention how trends of customers are changing due to the influence of digitalisation of
technology
(Covered in PPT)
TASK 2
P3 Define aspects for customer decision making process and present purchasing way for selected
hospitality service
Customer decision-making is a process where individuals take decision if they are
interested in buying an offering of a firm or not. There exist multiple factors and stages which
has a deep impact on CB (Shaw, McMaster and Newholm, 2016). Below are mentioned some
stages related with customer's decision-making journey:
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Illustration 1: Consumer decision making process
(Source: Aspects of CDM. 2016.)
 Need Recognition: This is the foremost stage where consumers analyse as well as
identify & acknowledge their needs according to their expectations.
 Searching and gathering informatio: After analysing their needs, clients will start
collecting information about all those products and services which can serve their
purpose though online, digital and traditional media (Petersen, Kushwaha and Kumar,
2015).
 Evaluation the alternatives : Here, screening of all alternatives will be done so that
most desired service or product can be selected in terms of durability, time and cost.
 Actual Purchase of product: In this aspect, customer will purchase most suitable
product so that their expectation can be fulfilled without any compromise.
 Post-purchase evaluation (PPE): It is the final stage in which end user decide if
purchasing product of service of a company is useful or not. If satisfaction level of
customers is less they will not purchase the same product again in future.
There exist some stages which are followed by customers while mapping a purchasing
path. These stages are discussed below:
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 Pre purchase: Here, the customers will identify those hotels where they want to stay for
their vacations or business purpose. To collect information about different hotels, internet
and newspapers can be used.
 Purchase: After analysing all the hotels, customers will select a hotel such as Holiday
Inn as their utmost choice so that all their needs can be fulfilled properly. Holiday inn is a
four star hotel which offer standardised service to customers (Nagengast and et. al.,
2014).
 Receive: Here, customers are using the chosen service or product. In case of Holiday Inn,
at this stage customers will be staying there and demand services as per their choice and
requirement.
 Post-purchase: In this stage, the consumers will identify if Holiday Inn is capable to
provide expected services or not. If hotel has provided satisfactory service to customers
then they will prefer repeat visits otherwise they will switch their preference to other
hotel.
P4 Describe the value for marketers to present a purchasing path and acknowledging decision
making of the end users
Main goal of business firms is to make the satisfaction level of customer at higher scale
so that sales and revenues are earned in appropriate manner. It is essential for business in
Holiday Inn to map a path to purchase. Importance associated with this aspect is mentioned
below:
 Increases ROI: Map to purchasing path benefits in acknowledging expectation and
purchasing pattern of customers. By this, targeting customers in right manner is easy.
This will helps Holiday Inn in earning high revenues and profits due to which ROI will
also increase.
 Unifying consumer information: Mapping purchasing path helps Holiday Inn in
arranging information and data of customers in systematic manner. By this, aligning
needs of people in different sections is easy. By this, each customer can be given
expected service without any compromise (Mortimer, Bougoure and Fazal‐E‐Hasan,
2015).
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Also, mapping for purchasing path helps a company to understand different levels which
are faced by customers at the time of product purchase. Some of these levels are discussed
beneath:
 Extensive problem solving: Here, customers takes longest time to purchase products as
they have no idea about the offerings of company.
 LPS (Limited Problem Solving): In this, customers already know about entities with
offerings of a firm and other present alternatives. Here, Holiday inn need to put extra
efforts to grab attention of Customers (Mihaela, 2015).
 Routine problem solving: In this level, customers purchases a product for large number
of time and they don't require additional efforts from company.
TASK 3
P5 Differentiate decision making processes associated with B2B and B2C, including hospitality
examples
B2B and B2C are two ways by which an organisation can perform commercial
transactions. In B2B, a company tries to sell their offerings to another company whereas in B2C,
an organisation tries to sell their maximised services and products to their customers.
Comparison in B2B and B2C are stated below:
Basis Business to business Business to customers
Meaning
In this aspect, commercial transaction
takes place between two companies.
For example, Holiday Inn purchases
their linen and tissues from linen
making organisations.
Here, commercial transactions are
carried out between organisation and
customers. For instance, Holiday Inn
provide accommodation, meals,
beverages. Transportation facilities to
their customers.
Customer
Potential customers in B2B are other
organisations which required the
products or services of Holiday Inn to
manage their business more desirably
(Iqbal, 2015).
In B2C, targeted customers are the
people which prefers to travel,
business persons, families and other
individual which stays at concerned
hotel or use their services.
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Relationship
In B2B, manager of Holiday Inn is
needed to maintain relationship with
the manufactures, wholesalers and
suppliers so that no shortage of
materials and resources can be faced.
Here, relation with customers are
needed to be maintained so that
offerings of Holiday Inn can be sold
properly and high revenues can be
earned.
P6 Mention various methods to conduct MR and different research methods to understand
decision making
Organisation cannot perform their functions as well as operations in appropriate manner
without MR. Market research is very essential for a company as it benefits them to identify
and acknowledge the changing demands & requirements of customers in a proper way.
There exist different approaches and methods to conduct research. In context with Holiday
Inn, these approaches are listed below:
Market research for Business to Business: In this kind of research, a company perform
research to analyse the needs of other organisations so that a business contract can be signed with
them. In this context manager in Holiday Inn can use secondary resources to collect information
about other companies. With the help of secondary research, all information about a firm can be
acknowledged. In this context, different source to collect information are stated below:
 Government agencies: Collection of data via governmental agencies and officials is the
best way to gather authentic information about another company. This source will help
Holiday Inn in identifying trade and laws related information of different firms
(Hofacker, Malthouse and Sultan, 2016).
 Internet: By using internet, official website of a company can be checked so that all
important data about them can be attained properly. Also, internet will help manager of
cornered hotel in analysing reputation of another organisations so that they can decide if
wooing them for business is beneficial or not.
Market Research for Business to customers: In this research, response and
expectations of customers towards the offerings of company is identified so that required
changes can be carried out properly. Also, this research will help Holiday Inn in identifying the
changing needs of customers so that they can be provided modern products (Gargiulo, Natale
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and Russo, 2015). In this context, primary research method is best as it helps in collecting latest
information about customers without any ambiguity. Sources in this context are written below:
 Questionnaire: This will help the manager in acknowledging choice of customers from a
group of alternatives. By this, preference of maximum customers can be given priority.
This will help the hotel in retaining customers for long time.
 Interviews: In this method, marketing team of Holiday Inn will ask multiple questions to
their customers via face to face meetings. By this, changing needs of customers can be
identified and they can be provided with right products and services.
TASK 4
P7 Analyse how the marketers can impact various aspects of decision making
In order to achieve expected success and growth, managing behaviour of customers is
essential for every organisation. This is because customers are the major earning source for an
organisation. In context with hospitality industry, a marketer is needed to evaluate every business
stage so that clients can be provided right services and overall profits of organisation will rise. In
case of Holiday Inn, the marketer plays an essential role as in influencing decisions of the
customers by implementing innovative strategies on regular basis. Manager in Holiday Inn is
already providing pick and drop facility to the clients at airports and other travelling stations so
that they can have comfortable experience with the hotel. This strategy of marketers in Holiday
Inn distinct the hotel from their rivals and helps them in gaining competitive advantage in
marketplace (Gargiulo, Natale and Russo, 2015).
Also, customised menu is offered to customers during their stay which motivates the
customers to have repeat visits. In this way, marketer in Holiday Inn impacts the decision-
making of customers and divert it positively towards the concerned hotel. Hence, it can be said
that Marketing manager of Holiday Inn is needed to adopt new strategies so that customised
services can be offered to clients according to their requirements. By this, right customers can be
targeted for the right product. Getting right product will allow the customers to think positive
about the hotel. By this, DM of customers can also be affected positively and profit as well as
revenue is gained by Holiday Inn.
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CONCLUSION
As per this assignment, it has been concluded that it is necessary for a company to check
the attitude and perception of customers towards their products on regular basis. Appropriate
behaviour of clients will assure high sales and revenues to the concerned company. Different
factors like cultural, social and psychological aspect influence the mind state of customers in
high manner. Changing trends related with hospitality industry are highly skilled staff,
technological advancement, high activeness of customers etc. Also, best approaches to carry out
market research are qualitative and qualitative approach. Also, it is acknowledged that market
research is essential for a firm as it assist in acknowledging the needs of end users appropriately.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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pp.127-146.
Bereznoy, A., 2019. Catching-up with supermajors: the technology factor in building the
competitive power of national oil companies from developing economies. Industry and
Innovation. 26(2). pp.127-157.
Egan, V., Hughes, N. and Palmer, E.J., 2015. Moral disengagement, the dark triad, and unethical
consumer attitudes. Personality and Individual Differences, 76, pp.123-128.
Gargiulo, C., Natale, A. and Russo, L., 2015, October. Smart community for the smart
governance of the urban environment. In 2015 IEEE First International Smart Cities
Conference (ISC2) (pp. 1-6). IEEE.
Hofacker, C. F., Malthouse, E. C. and Sultan, F., 2016. Big data and consumer behavior:
Imminent opportunities. Journal of Consumer Marketing.33(2). pp.89-97.
Iqbal, M., 2015. Consumer behaviour of organic food: a developing country
perspective. International Journal of Marketing and Business Communication. 4(4).
pp.58-67.
Mihaela, O.O.E., 2015. The influence of the integrated marketing communication on the
consumer buying behaviour. Procedia economics and finance, 23, pp.1446-1450.
Mortimer, G., Bougoure, U.S. and Fazal‐E‐Hasan, S., 2015. Development and validation of the
Self‐Gifting Consumer Behaviour scale. Journal of Consumer Behaviour. 14(3).
pp.165-179.
Nagengast and et. al., 2014. New insights in the moderating effect of switching costs on the
satisfaction–repurchase behavior link. Journal of retailing.90(3). pp.408-427.
Petersen, J.A., Kushwaha, T. and Kumar, V., 2015. Marketing communication strategies and
consumer financial decision making: The role of national culture. Journal of
Marketing, 79(1), pp.44-63.
Shaw, D., McMaster, R. and Newholm, T., 2016. Care and commitment in ethical consumption:
An exploration of the ‘attitude–behaviour gap’. Journal of Business Ethics. 136(2).
pp.251-265.
Shih, T. Y. and Ke, S.C., 2014. Determinates of financial behavior: insights into consumer
money attitudes and financial literacy. Service Business.8(2). pp.217-238.
Online
Difference Between B2B and B2C. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://keydifferences.com/difference-between-b2b-and-b2c.html>.
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