Marketing Plan Analysis: Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney, Australia

This report provides a comprehensive marketing plan for the Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney, a five-star establishment facing competition in a thriving hotel market. It begins with an executive summary and table of contents, followed by a detailed situation analysis, including market needs, demographics, trends, and macro-environmental factors (PESTLE analysis). The report examines the company's mission, services, positioning, stakeholders, and SWOT analysis, along with a competitive analysis. The core of the report outlines the marketing strategy, including value proposition, critical issues, objectives, target market (corporate travelers), messaging, and branding. The marketing mix (product, pricing, place, promotion) is thoroughly discussed, encompassing advertising, public relations, and direct marketing. An action plan and control measures are also included, concluding with a summary of the key findings and recommendations for the hotel's marketing efforts. The report emphasizes the importance of promotional strategies, particularly in social media and event management, to achieve the marketing objectives and stay competitive in the Sydney hotel market.

Running head: CONTEMPORARY HOTEL MARKETING
Contemporary Hotel Marketing
Based on Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney
Student’s name:
Name of the University:
Author’s note:

1CONTEMPORARY HOTEL MARKETING
Executive Summary
This study focuses on marketing plan of Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney and this hotel falls under
the category of five-star hotel. In Sydney, the competition is high in the hotel business as there
are many others five-star hotels. In Australia, the hotel industry has been flourishing in last five
years and it is expecting to grow about 3% for next three years. Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney is
an international hotel chain and it has one of its hotels in Sydney. The mission statement of the
hotel is to provide beliefs and principles to the guests and guests' satisfaction is another focus of
the organisation. In addition, this hotel offers exclusive suite, rooms, clubbing and dining. In
order to set the marketing strategy, Four Seasons Hotel can find the critical issue for them as the
hotel has been facing the issue in marketing. Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney finds the target
market as corporate travellers. The hotel management needs to find out the objectives of the
organisation with messaging for the branding. In marketing, pricing would be premium pricing,
the place is excellent and distribution channel would be fine. The promotional strategies of the
organisation will be based on social media, printing and event management. The budget of
marketing plan has been given to action plans in order to meet the objectives.

2CONTEMPORARY HOTEL MARKETING
Table of Contents
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................5
2. Situation Analysis........................................................................................................................5
2.1 Market needs..........................................................................................................................5
2.2 Market analysis..........................................................................................................................6
2.2.1 Market demographics.....................................................................................................6
2.2.2 Market trends..................................................................................................................6
2.2.3 Market growth................................................................................................................7
2.2.4 Macro-environment analysis..........................................................................................7
2.3 The company.........................................................................................................................9
2.3.1 Mission statement...........................................................................................................9
2.3.2 Service offering..............................................................................................................9
2.3.3 Positioning....................................................................................................................10
2.3.4 Partners and Stakeholders.............................................................................................11
2.3.5 SWOT analysis.............................................................................................................11
2.4 Competition.........................................................................................................................12
2.4.1 Direct competition........................................................................................................12
2.4.2 Competition analysis....................................................................................................14
3.0 Marketing strategy...................................................................................................................16

3CONTEMPORARY HOTEL MARKETING
3.1 Value proposition.................................................................................................................16
3.2 Critical issues.......................................................................................................................17
3.3 Objectives of marketing plan...............................................................................................17
3.4 Target market strategy.........................................................................................................19
3.5 Messaging............................................................................................................................20
3.5.1 Branding.......................................................................................................................20
3.6 Marketing Strategy pyramids..............................................................................................21
4.0 Marketing mix.........................................................................................................................22
4.1 Target Audience...................................................................................................................22
4.2 Product marketing................................................................................................................23
4.3 Pricing..................................................................................................................................23
4.4 Place.....................................................................................................................................24
4.5 Promotion............................................................................................................................24
4.5.1 Advertising...................................................................................................................24
4.5.2 Public relations.............................................................................................................25
4.5.3 Direct marketing...........................................................................................................26
5. Action Plan................................................................................................................................26
6. Control.......................................................................................................................................28
7. Conclusion.................................................................................................................................29
Reference List................................................................................................................................30

4CONTEMPORARY HOTEL MARKETING
1. Introduction
In this report, marketing plan of a Sydney based hotel will be discussed. Marketing plan
is a written document of an organisation that helps the organisation to market the services and
products. Marketing assists the organisation to reach the desired customers and customers get to
know the benefits from the organisation. The organisation uses various strategies to attract the
target customers setting a marketing budget (Liu et al., 2017). Before, stating the strategy of
marketing, the organisation analyses the external environment and competitive advantage of the
organisation in the industry. Moreover, the distribution channels and supply chain of the
organisation need to delineate. The strengths and weaknesses of the organisation will be
discussed in order to understand the internal condition. However, various promotional strategies
will be given for the organisation to take. The main aim of the report to provide a marketing plan
for Four Seasons Hotel that is situated in the Sydney. Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts is a
global organisation, however, in this report, the focus will be on Four Seasons Hotel, which is in
Sydney.
2. Situation Analysis
2.1 Market needs
Hotel industry in Australia has been flourishing and recent data shows that domestic and
international visitors growing almost 5% and 111.5% respectively in the last quarter of 2016
(McManus, 2013). It shows that Australian hotel industry has the capability to expand even more
and hotels in the metropolitan cities can use their marketing strategy to attract more customers. It

5CONTEMPORARY HOTEL MARKETING
has been noted that the visitors from South Asian countries have been increased and Chinese
visitors are the dominant contributors touching 22% almost. It is very positive sign for the
Australian market and it has the international inbound growth for the hotel industry and this
growth in tourism and hotel industry exceeds in even US and this growth is almost 15% (McPhil
et al., 2015). This hotel industry in Australia has enough potential for the five star hotels to
flourish in Australia. Market has demands and guests in Australia choose all types of hotels. The
hotel industry has positive outlook and it can grow up to 3.1% annually. The demand in the
market of hotel industry is high and revenue per available room has been getting higher for the
hotels situated in Australia. In case of Sydney, most of the international hotel chains have their
hotels and these hotels have been trying to increase in room supplies.
2.2 Market analysis
2.2.1 Market demographics
In hotel industry, market demographics are the segregation of the customers in
demographic segments. In addition, there are various types of customers who visit the hotels.
Customers with various age groups, social orientations, occupations and gender come to visit the
hotels. Moreover, in Australia, moreover, the leisure travelling is famous among the domestic
guests. In international travelling, couples and family persons use to visit the Australia for scenic
beauty and beaches. In many cases, the business persons visit the Australia for business purposes
(Mintz & Currim, 2013). The booking status of the customers shows that all types of hotels are
booked by the customers whether it is cheap or five-star. The economic growth of Australia is
significant and the customers’ buying capacity shows the changes.

6CONTEMPORARY HOTEL MARKETING
2.2.2 Market trends
In hotel industry of Australia, it looks like construction boom in most of the metropolitan
cities. In Sydney, the high rises buildings and five stars hotels are seen as the tourism spending
of the hotel management has been risen. The customers start spending in hotel booking as well
because the customers like to spend in hotel booking. The preferences of the customers have
been changed and the projected market growth can reach $170 billion by the end of 2023
(McManus, 2015).
2.2.3 Market growth
In hotel industry of Australia, Sydney and Melbourne are experiencing the unprecedented
positive outlook from the customers. The numbers of bookings in the hotels of Sydney have risen
in the last few years. In the year 2016, the hotel industry saw the transaction of $1.9 billion. The
hotel owners are making money by expanding the business as the high occupancy rate has been
seen in the industry. In the year 2016, the international passenger traffic to and from Australia
has reached record level at 35 million. Sydney can experience the record growth in next 20 years
in hotel business as the developments of the hotel industry have been seen (Leonidou & Sisodia,
2015). In addition, revenue in the last year was $8 billion Australian dollar from the hotel
industry and annual growth in hotel industry observed 2.7%. Moreover, more than 68,350 people
are employed in the hotel industry with more than 380 business units are there in Australia.
2.2.4 Macro-environment analysis
PESTLE analysis
Political: The Commonwealth of Australia is a Federal constitutional Monarchy under
the parliamentary democracy. The political condition of the Australia is stable and in tourism and

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hotel industry, political factors play a major role (Williams, 2015). The government of Australia
tries to endorse the tourism of Australia in global market and it could help the hotel industry to
have maximum foreign travellers. The terrorist events are happening in Australia that could
break the harmony of Australia.
Economic: Australia has the strong economic condition and Australia has diverse natural
resources and in the hotel industry, the strong GDP in Australia can help. The situation of
demand must be healthy in the hotel industry where the inflation rate in Australia is low now.
The inflation rate in Australia was 1.28% in 2016 and GDP of Australia was 1.205 trillion USD
in 2016 (Sheth & Sisodia, 2015).
Social: Consumer preferences in the hotel industry are significant as the people search
for various hotels before they book. In Australia, the disposable income of the people has been
raised significantly. The people of Australia can afford the five-star hotel and people use the
online medium to book their hotels and events. In the global hospitality industry, the people are
trying to visit many offbeat places to explore.
Technological: In the tourism industry, the technological factors can play an important
role as bookings are made from the online platform. The management of hotels needs to prepare
service log and world-class equipment in order to enhance the service quality (Keller & Kotler,
2016). Technology has made the communication easier in terms of customer-hotel relationship
and payment of the money.
Environmental: In the hotel industry, sustainability is the key issue. Hotels must keep
the balance in environmental factors and waste management that can benefit the society. In

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addition, hotels should keep the quality check and climate condition in order to provide benefit to
tourism.
Legal: Hotel industry is complex for legal regulation as the environmental regulation,
employee regulation and labour laws all fall under the section of regulatory bodies. In Australia,
Australian Consumers' Law is there in order to protect the right of the consumers.
2.3 The company
Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts is a Canada based luxury hospitality company and it
has it headquarter in Toronto, Canada. This organisation was established in the year 1961 and
currently, it is operating in more than 43 countries. In Sydney, Four Seasons Hotel is at 199
George Street, New South Wales.
2.3.1 Mission statement
The corporate mission statement of the hotel is to guide the actions of everyone in the
organisation to set the beliefs and principles of the work on behalf of the best services to the
guests (Fourseasons.com, 2017).
2.3.2 Service offering
This is a five-star hotel and it provides accommodation services with dining facilities. It
provides world-class facilities and amenities to the guests.
The hotel provides
 24-hours fitness facilities
 Heated outdoor pool
 Babysitting services

9CONTEMPORARY HOTEL MARKETING
 Mode kitchen and bar
 Complimentary standard Wi-Fi
 Luxury Australian Spa
 Undercover Hotel parking
 24-hour business services
 Lounge 32, an exclusive club for the guests
 On-site Concierge
Apart from that, the hotel provides the best accommodation with world-class food. In the
festive season, the hotel gives the unforgettable views to the celebratory drinks and enjoys the
celebration. There is a large ballroom inside the hotel that is located on the harbour side and the
guests can enjoy the view with drinks. The Lounge 32 is an exclusive Club for the business and
leisure travellers on the top floor of this hotel. Sydney based this hotel provides the hotel room in
different types, guests rooms, club floors and signature suites. It has more than 861 guests' rooms
in all sizes and all types and more than 10 concierges. In the guests' rooms, this hotel has the
privileges of Deluxe City Room, Deluxe Partial Harbour Room, Deluxe Full Harbour Room,
Premier City Room, Premier Full Harbour Room and Full Harbour Junior Suite. There are club
rooms and suites that are offered by the hotel to the guests.
2.3.3 Positioning
Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney is located by the beauty of iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge
and Opera House (Fourseasons.com, 2017). Four Seasons Hotels in Sydney is the best located
five-star luxury hotel that is located among the city’s vibrant shopping and business
precincts.The location of the hotel is exclusive and it offers the services to all age groups and all

10CONTEMPORARY HOTEL MARKETING
types of travellers. It has the prestigious venue for any event and the ballroom of the hotel does
not have any pillar. The ballroom is near the Harbour Bridge of Sydney.
2.3.4 Partners and Stakeholders
Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts is the owner of the business. Since the year 2007, Al-
Waleed Bin Tall and Bill gates have been majority owners of this organisation.Stakeholders of
the hotel in Sydney are employees, guests, government, staff, suppliers, managers and society.
The external stakeholders of the hotel are suppliers, society, government, shareholders and
customers. The internal stakeholders of the hotel are managers, owners and employees.
2.3.5 SWOT analysis
Strengths:
 Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney is located in very impressive place near Sydney harbour
Bride
 Effective services and five-star facilities
 Loyal customers base in the Australia from domestic and international travellers
 Market share leadership in the Australian market
 Strong brand equity
 Supply chain services of the organisation
Weaknesses:
 Bad communication with the customers and with stakeholders
 Diseconomies to scale
 Not diversified
 Ubiquitous products and services

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 The financial position of the organisation is not well as it is over-leveraged
Opportunities
 It has partnership with significant suppliers and has partnered with international airways
 Emerging markets and expansion in another market
 Services and product expansion
Threats
 Competition within the Australian market is high
 Cheaper technology they are using
 Exchange rate fluctuation
 Maturing categories
 Price wards
 Economic slowdown in Australia
 Lower cost competitors
2.4 Competition
2.4.1 Direct competition
Hotels Originates in Segment group Strengths USP
The Park Hyatt In 1995 Business and
leisure travellers
for domestic and
international
guests
 Dining facilities
and location.
 The brand
image
 Rooms quality
Top quality
accommodation,
Global presence

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The Darling
Hotel
In 2004 Leisure travellers
and couple in
domestic and
international
target markets
 Clubbing
facilities,
 Swimming
pool,
 Location,
 Domestic brand
image
Regulation
followers,
One of the best
Australian based
hospitality group,
Budgetary hotels
InterContinenta
l Sydney
Double Bay
In 1999 Corporate and
leisure travellers
in all over the
worlds with
executive levels
 Number of
hotels in
Australia,
 Brand image,
 Location,
 Famous among
executive
levels,
 Excellent
ratings in online
portal
High brand
recognition,
Affordable price
for the executive
levels
Table 1: Direct Competitors’ of the organisation
(Source: Self-developed)

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2.4.2 Competition analysis
Hotels in Sydney are in expansion mode and most of the hotels are focusing on
renovation and expansion. New development sites have been opening in Sydney and new hotels
can open in these sites as the growth is showing in Sydney. In Sydney, hotels that fall under the
categories of five-star are prevalent and Four Seasons hotel in Sydney faces strong competition.
In this scenario, Four Seasons Hotel uses the values and resources that they have regarding
international branding. Two new sites in Sydney have opened, one is M&L Hospitality and other
is Singapore based organisation (McPhail et al., 2015).
Figure 1: Five-Star category hotels in Sydney
(Source: Google Map)
Porter’s Five Forces
Industry rivalry The Park Hyatt, The Darling Hotel, Pier High

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One Sydney Harbour, InterContinental
Sydney Double Bay are some of the
five-star hotels in Sydney. Therefore,
the industry rivalry is high as the price
group is same for the hotel rooms and
dining.
Threat of new
entrants
Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney belongs
to the Five Star Hotel and the target
customers are predominantly niche
customers. The new entrants are
medium as the five-star hotels are
related to the high capital cost and a
high proportion of the fixed cost. Four
Seasons Hotel has a chain of hotels and
it is not easy for others to make a chain
of hotels after opening this.
Low
Substitutes In all major metropolitan cities, the
substitute’s service and products are
there in the industry. In Sydney, there
are many other large hotels that can
provide all types of services also. In
low-cost services in large hotels can
create an issue for Five Star category.
High

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Buyers’ power In bulk purchases of hotel rooms, some
of the buyers’ group can make
bargaining power. In Five Star Hotel in
Sydney, the customers have power as
there are many other same offer services
there. The guests want accommodation
for business purposes and importance of
buyers’ power is necessary (Goh,
Nguyen & Law, 2017).
High
Suppliers’ power In hospitality industry demand for the
suppliers is high as the suppliers are
needed with personnel and low level of
indirect pressure is there.
Medium
Table 2: Porter’s Five Forces analysis
(Source: Self-developed)
3.0 Marketing strategy
3.1 Value proposition
As suggested by Punitha & Rasdi (2013), the value proposition is the most overlooked
aspect of hotel marketing; however, it is responsible for maintaining the interests of the guests
and making the people book the hotel. The value proposition of a hotel rests within the offerings
of the hotel, the marketplace offerings and what the customers' needs. Four Seasons Hotel
provides the benefits of world-class facilities as the offerings of the hotel are diverse. This hotel

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is located at the best place in Sydney and the benefits of the hotel are manyfold like suite, deluxe
rooms, clubbing, ballroom, fine dining advantages and swimming pool. These values should be
highlighted through marketing of the organisation with great headlines as the headline is the
catchy line that hits the customers. A visual element of values can be helpful as it is powerful
communicators.
3.2 Critical issues
In making the strategies for marketing, an organisation can face the issue of effective
targeting with high-value sources of growth. However, the critical issue is created through
selecting the wrong target for the organisation. The demand landscaping model is necessary for
the organisation as to make the marketing strategy. Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney faces the issue
with pleasing the target audiences with only on USP. One single concept of targeting segment
has been an issue for Four Season Hotel in Sydney that can provide most value potential.
Targeting the segments can be cost-effective; however, the management could not understand
the profitable segment.
3.3 Objectives of marketing plan
Objective 1: To maximise the sales revenue
Specific Maximise the sales revenue
Measurable This can be measured through profit and number of guests turned up in one
year
Achievable Four Seasons Hotel can achieve this with marketing and promotions
Realistic Sales revenue is important for the hotel as this can increase the profit and
brand image.

17CONTEMPORARY HOTEL MARKETING
Time bound Within 12 months
Objective 2: To increase the market share by 3% by the end of 2018
Specific Increase the market share by 3% by the end of 2018
Measurable This can be measured through organisation’s annual report and
competitors’ performances
Achievable This can be achieved through promotions and marketing systematically
Realistic This objective is realistic as the organisation needs to grow in the market
by reducing the cost
Time bound Within 12 months
Objective 3: To increase the brand awareness by making digital platform for Four Seasons Hotel
Sydney
Specific Increase the brand awareness by making digital platforms
Measurable This can be measured through hotel’s online and social media platform and
strong customer base for corporate travellers
Achievable This objective can be achieved by making a PR team of the hotel that will
advertise using online media and tools like PPC and SEO
Realistic This is realistic as digital platform makes global presence and make brand
awareness
Time bound Within 6 months

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3.4 Target market strategy
An organisation needs to segment the market in order to target a specific market or
audiences of an organisation. Segmentation is the process of segregation to differentiate the
market in groups (Ivanova, 2015). The marketing strategy of an organisation is to select and
describe one or two target markets to expand the opportunity for business. As stated by Keller &
Kotler (2016), a target market is a group that most likely to buy company’s services and
products. Four Seasons Hotel can segment the market into specific groups and they can set their
marketing strategies in relation to the target market.
Demographic segmentation: In demographic segmentation, Four Seasons Hotel in
Sydney can target the guests based on the age, gender, socio-economic condition, occupation and
income group. In demographic segmentation, Four Seasons hotel will find the best target marker
as the guests must belong from the rich section as the hotel belongs to a five-star category.
Behavioural segmentation: In behavioural segmentation, Four Seasons Hotel can target
the customers based on their past behaviours, the rate of usages, benefits sought, loyalty status
and readiness to purchase the services and products.
Psychographic segmentation: In the psychographic segment, the customers want some
specific needs to fulfil through the offerings (Yang, Pan & Song, 2014). Four Seasons Hotel can
target the guests based on personality, lifestyles, class and attitudes of the people.
Geographic segmentation: In geographic segmentation, Four Seasons hotel needs to
target the guests who are near the hotels and in this case, the hotel has to target location and
region based guests. If the hotel takes the strategy it will miss the international market.

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In order to understand the target customers of the hotel, the hotel management of Four
Seasons Hotel can conduct Marketing Opportunity Analysis (MOA) and it can allow the
company to review the potential size of the industry, profitability potential and competition
amount. The next step of the organisation is to choose the target market strategy of the
organisation.
3.5 Messaging
3.5.1 Branding
Branding strategy of Four Seasons Hotel is to serve the corporate travellers. Each of the
hotels should be able to position itself to please a segment that can be helpful for them. The
branding of the Four Seasons hotel is for the corporate travellers who can spend much money as
the hotel falls into the five-star category. The people have different needs and branding of an
organisation helps the firm to reach the desired customers (Armstrong et al., 2015). Multiple
branding of a hotel can help itself to reach the different segments and similar demographics
markets. In addition, Four Seasons hotel uses the content message strategy on social media in
order to reach the customers across the world. Content strategy assists the organisation to attract
the customers through the discounts and extend the network. Moreover, the extended customers
of the organisation can help to boost up the profitability rate. Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney does
the content branding on social media and brand extension helps the organisation in transforming
the brand name into non-hotel products. Four Seasons Hotel has their logo with a maple leaf and
that has a strong presence. The message that the hotel provides is about the service culture and
success from the employees. The hotel believes that each of the people needs satisfaction, pride,
dignity and satisfying guests is the best thing for the organisation.

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Moreover, in branding, Four Seasons Hotel can use rates based strategy in order to
promote their business online. On social media, the hotel can start a campaign with ratings and
ask the guests to rate the hotel. On booking app or website, the hotel can facilitate the rating
strategy that will enhance the branding. Corporate travellers will eventually choose the executive
suites or rooms and if the hotels can sell the rooms based on ratings.
3.6 Marketing Strategy pyramids
The marketing strategy of the organisation is based on the communication through brand
values and the hotel wants to develop the close working relationships with the customers and
suppliers. The hotel needs to identify the needs of the organisation with effective manner. The
hotel takes the feedback from the customers and management takes the differentiation strategy in
order to follow the growth. The main strategy of the organisation Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney
is the growth and differentiation. Strategy pyramid starts with the mission statement of the
organisation; Four Seasons Hotel's mission statement states the principles and beliefs of the
guests' satisfaction and ethical marketing. The hotel follows the sustainable development of the
organisation. Next comes the goals of the organisations, the objectives or goals of the
organisation have two distinct categories, marketing objectives and financial objectives. The
objectives of the organisation are related to growing the customer base and market share of the
organisation. In order to meet the goals of the hotels, the management needs to take the
strategies. Strategies of the hotel are to target the corporate travellers through pricing, service
offerings and promotions through social media. According to Baker & Cronin (2015), the growth
of a hotel can take place by targeting new areas with both domestic and international market. In
tactics wise, the hotel can use the Marketing Mix strategies that will make the business
profitable. Tactics will be enhanced the quality of the services, using premium pricing and using

21CONTEMPORARY HOTEL MARKETING
various promotional strategies. The Four Seasons Hotel can use action plans to achieve the target
set by the management and actions plan helps by setting the budget and time frame to achieve
the target.
Figure 2: Marketing pyramid
(Source: Self-developed)
4.0 Marketing mix
4.1 Target Audience
Target market of the Hotel Four Seasons in Australia is the corporate travellers who visit
the Australia from the foreign countries. In addition, the target customers is included the
corporate travellers in domestic market as well. For corporate travelling, Four Seasons Hotel in
Sydney has always been a prominent choice for the customers all over the world. For corporate
travellers, they come to the Sydney for business purposes. Business travellers want reliable

22CONTEMPORARY HOTEL MARKETING
internet speed with free WiFi services and the hotel rooms must have good lighting, strategically
placed the beds and tables. The seating of the rooms must be comfortable and in case of meeting,
the guests must have this provision too. Four Seasons Hotel Sydney provides quiet environment
this will be beneficial for the business travellers and rooms are made like this. Four Seasons
Hotel provides quick turnaround dry cleaning for the guests and this will provide extra benefit
for the business travellers. They can spend money on the visit as they are travelling on behalf of
their companies. Therefore, the five star hotels must be affordable for them and in Sydney, there
are many multinational companies are already present. Four Seasons Hotel Sydney provides in
room-dining service for the business travellers and the guests do not have to go miles for this.
4.2 Product marketing
Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney offers the services of accommodations and fine dining.
Four Seasons Hotel Sydney offers the customers of corporate travellers 24 hours fitness
facilities, heated outdoor pool, housekeeping services, laundry, fine linen, luxury Australian Spa,
Wi-Fi connection, hotel parking and Lounge 32. This hotel provides the best room
accommodation in all ranges that can suit the corporate travellers and the hotel also has the
facilities of the suite booking. Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney is available in the online platform
where the customers can book the hotel for their convenience.
4.3 Pricing
Pricing strategy of the organisation will be taken premium pricing as the hotel is situated
in the perfect location. The target customers of the organisation are corporate travellers who can
visit the hotel with premium pricing. The hotel belongs to the five-star category; hence the
pricing will be high. Premium pricing will make the organisation seems quality service offered.
The premium pricing helps the organisation to fend off the competitors in the industry and equal

23CONTEMPORARY HOTEL MARKETING
capital marketing companies will be at backseat (Payne & Frow 2014). Premium pricing strategy
will make the organisation visible as the brand awareness of the organisation will also increase.
4.4 Place
The hotel is at the perfect place near the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House at
Sydney. In addition, the place is quite famous and it is exactly situated in George Street in
Sydney. From the suite and rooms, the guests can see the beautiful Sydney Harbour Bridge. In
addition, the guests can avail the booking form an online platform and from hotel website also.
In addition, Four Seasons Hotel uses other platforms in order to take booking, OTAs, GDS and
CRS. In addition the distribution channel of the hotel booking is large for the organisation so that
corporate guests can avail the hotel booking. In case of supply chain of the hotel, the
management of the hotel uses the local suppliers and number of suppliers is small for the hotel.
This supply chain strategy helps the management to have significant sustainable supply chain.
4.5 Promotion
4.5.1 Advertising
Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney can start a campaign of advertisement through social
media platform. This hotel has digital presence on social media platforms; however, they need to
make the presence strong. On Facebook and Twitter, the management of Four Seasons Hotel in
Sydney can take the advertisement campaign and it is cheap from other medium. The target
market will be the corporate travellers in Australia and other parts of the world also. On
Facebook and Twitter, the PR team needs to post images, discounts and short attractive quotes
that would attract the customers. Moreover, the hotels can take the strategy of Search Engine
Optimisation strategy that would enable the users to see the hotels name in each page of the

24CONTEMPORARY HOTEL MARKETING
Google search (Therney, 2014). This is one of the best strategies for the hotel that they could
take as the corporate leaders will see the exclusive deal of the hotel on internet page that could
result to booing.
Four Seasons Hotel can take the print media strategy as the printing media can make
presence the brand for a long time. The advertisements in magazines, newspapers and backside
of the books can be helpful for the organisation to reach the target customers. The corporate
travellers read the newspaper and they could find the names of the hotels with offers, this can
lead to the booking of the hotels. In addition, Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney can take the Out-of-
home advertisements; however, this could be expensive for the organisation. This strategy of
promotion could be helpful for the hotel to reach the domestic customers prevalently. The
hoardings and billboards of the organisation will make visible the names of the hotels.
The hotel can sponsor events of the corporate sector that would enable the hotel to reach
the corporate leaders and employees. Fundraising event and care for the society will increase the
CSR of the organisation that can increase the brand image of the hotel.
4.5.2 Public relations
In today’s world, most of the organisations use the PR in order to communicate the
customers perfectly. In promoting the business, Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney can largely
depend on the PR to ensure the best services that can care the guests’ queries. Before booking,
the guests use to call the hotel reception in order to ask about services and read the reviews given
by the other guests. Public relations offer the hotel to control, manage and influence the public's
perception of the hotels (Solomon, 2014). PR team handles the social media accounts and phone
calls of the customers as a simple negativity of the hotels can create a huge issue for the

25CONTEMPORARY HOTEL MARKETING
business. In a crisis situation, PR team identifies the problem areas and they can change the
negative perception of the customers through perfect communication. Four Seasons Hotel in
Sydney needs to maintain a well-managed PR team among all parties like media, guests, vendors
and employers. In Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney, PR team can suggest the guests about the great
travel trips in Sydney.
4.5.3 Direct marketing
In the direct marketing of the Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney, the management should
send emails to the guests who already visited the hotels earlier. This email may consist the
wishes or discounts for the guests. This personalised email directly from the hotel can attract the
customers. In addition, Four Seasons Hotel can uses flyers, booklets and brochures as direct
marketing materials.
5. Action Plan
Segment Corporate travellers
Objectives Action Items Anticipate
d cost
Responsible
person/tea
m
Possible
date of
achievemen
t
Resources
Maximise
the sales
revenues
1. Increase the
customers
through
advertisement
s
$3000 Financial
team
30th July Advertise
ments
materials

26CONTEMPORARY HOTEL MARKETING
2. Increase the
transaction
through
international
payment mode
3. Raise the
prices
Increase
market
share
1. Ensure
correct hiring
practices
2.
Overshadow
the
competitors
3. Innovation
in services
$4000 Marketing
team
30th June Marketing
materials
and
advertisem
ents
materials
Making
strong
foothold on
digital
market
platform
1. Provide
advertisement
on Facebook
and Twitter
2. Content
strategy
3. Using
$2000 PR team 30th March Promotion
al
campaign

27CONTEMPORARY HOTEL MARKETING
social media
analytics
Increasing
the brand
awareness
1. Developing
digital media
2.
Optimisation
of web
3. Quality PR
team
$3000 Marketing
team
30th April
Table 3: Action Plan
(Source: Self-developed)
6. Control
The Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney can take the customer feedback through surveys and
poll. The hotel can do the indirect online polls to understand the mind and perception of the
organisation. Marketing is designed to persuade the customers and adjusting the marketing plan
can be done through customers' feedback (Sanchez-Hernandez et al., 2013).
Sales can be measured by revenue generation and profit amount. In reaching the target
market, the profitability and objectives of the organisation will be judged by the management
either they are able to reach or not. Marketing plan projection will be highlighted in order to
understand the target market sales.

28CONTEMPORARY HOTEL MARKETING
In marketing plan, the hotel is expected to have increased in market share. In the Sydney
market, there are various competitors. Increase in market share will eventually monitor the
marketing plan. If the hotel does not show any growth, the marketing plan can be revised.
Marketing control can be done through marketing objectives and analyse the
performance standards, comparing the results against standards and correction with alteration.
7. Conclusion
Four Season Hotel has already been one of the best hotels in Sydney with good customer
base. The external environment of the market is now an added advantage for Four Seasons Hotel
to take an extra leap to increase the customer base through marketing strategy. This hotel is
going to target corporate travellers and pricing of the hotel will be premium pricing. The hotel
industry in Sydney is competitive as there are many other five star hotels that provide similar
services. The marketing strategy of Four Season Hotel is social media dependent and they need
loyal customer base from the domestic and international section. In marketing plan, service
offerings have been justified with premium pricing strategy, the distribution channel of the hotel
will be based on mainly online booking and website booking. The place of the hotel is helpful for
them to attract the guests as it is situated near Sydney Harbour Bridge. The promotions of the
hotel can be done through social media, print media, Out-of-home advertisements and through
PR team.

29CONTEMPORARY HOTEL MARKETING
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