E-Marketing Strategies and Impact on Hilton Hotels' Performance

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the e-marketing strategies employed by Hilton Hotels. It begins with an overview of the hotel's location and services, highlighting its locational advantages and premium offerings. The report then delves into the core of e-marketing, exploring concepts such as segmentation, email marketing, and the implementation of marketing campaigns. It examines the application of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and its impact on customer satisfaction, emphasizing the importance of data mining and personalized experiences. The report further investigates the role of e-marketing in the value chain and supply chain management, emphasizing communication and information sharing. Product/service development is also discussed, highlighting the benefits of e-marketing in research and customer engagement. Additionally, the report analyzes the influence of human resource factors, managerial competency, technological aspects, legal, ethical, global, and social networking aspects on e-marketing effectiveness. It also touches upon the impact of the internet on consumer behavior, online distribution, supply dynamics, and the opportunities and threats facing the hotel. The conclusion summarizes key findings and the bibliography provides a list of references used.

Running head: E-MARKETING
E- Marketing
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author Note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Overview..........................................................................................................................................4
Starting a Campaign........................................................................................................................6
Marketing initiatives........................................................................................................................6
Customer Relationship Management and E-marketing:..................................................................6
Value chain and E-marketing:.........................................................................................................7
Supply Chain Management and E-marketing:.................................................................................7
Product/Service Development and E-marketing:............................................................................8
Guest Satisfaction and e-CRM:.......................................................................................................8
Human Resource factors and e-CRM:.............................................................................................9
Managerial competency and e-CRM:............................................................................................10
Technological aspects....................................................................................................................10
Legal aspects..................................................................................................................................11
Ethical aspects...............................................................................................................................11
Global aspects................................................................................................................................11
Social networking aspects..............................................................................................................11
Impact of internet on consumer behavior......................................................................................12
Online distribution.........................................................................................................................12

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Supply Dynamics...........................................................................................................................13
Opportunities and threats of hotel..................................................................................................14
E- Mail Marketing.........................................................................................................................14
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................15
Bibliography..................................................................................................................................16

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Introduction
Overview
Hilton Hotels is one of the premium luxury hotels located in Shanghai. The hotel is based
in the heart of Shanghai’s business and entertainment district. The hotel’s locational advantage is
worth mentioning as it is present near the Pudong International Airport and the Hongqiao Airport
and is located at the business center of Shanghai which is one of the busiest and most important
financial hubs of Shanghai. The hotel offers an exotic view of Shanghai and also provides
different facilities and services that are hard to match the services offered by the other hotels.
The customers in the hotel can visit tourist attractions that are located nearby the hotel like The
Bund, Grand Theater, Shanghai Museum, Jingi”an temple and Yu Garden and Bazaar which are
present at close proximity. However the most prominent advantage of the hotel is its close
location from Shanghai Disneyland which is just less than a hour’s drive. The hotel comprises of
a number of premium rooms with luxury suites to attract all range of customers. Some of the
premium services of the hotel include free Wi-Fi services, e-mailing, socializing and browsing
the web. Apart from this the hotel also provides quality laundry and housekeeping services that
prove to be of great help for the customers. The hotel also provides various other services to
attract customers. These premium services include indoor heated pool, an open fitness center and
a world class spa. The hotel also caters to a variety of different dishes for the visitors. There are
seven restaurants and bars and it possess the distinction of having one of the largest restaurants
of the Hilton Hotels group. The open kitchen is unique and one of its kind in the country and
displays the vivid nature of the Chinese cuisine and helps the tourists to gather a whole lot of
information about Chinese food. The main aim of the following research is to determine the E-

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Marketing techniques that are implemented by the management of the mentioned hotel to gain
business reputation and increase the brand value of the hotel. The customers are offered a varied
range of seafood that are an additional treat for the customers.
E-Marketing
E- Marketing is also termed as Internet Marketing, online marketing as well as referred to
as digital marketing in some cases. E marketing has seen a huge rise in the recent years. E
marketing is beneficial for the hotels in many different ways namely;
1. Segmentation- Segmentation can help to manage the daily business of the hotel in an
effective way. The management of Hilton hotels has been efficient to segment out the
interest groups to make sure that there is provision for;
a. Food and wine
b. Monthly Newsletter
c. Romance
d. Outdoors
e. Pets and many more as such.
2. Integrating the e-mail- Integrating the e mail of the organization helps in a number of
ways;
A. Encourages the trend for online marketing
B. Assist in tracking the metrics easily
C. E mail helps the organization to understand the feedback of the customers
D. The E marketing also drives the actions and profits of the organizations
E. Email is also the cheapest form of marketing

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Starting a Campaign
Hilton hotel is very much successful in its e marketing initiative because of the marketing
campaign that has been started by them. Them management at the beginning searches for a
particular group of people who are then segmented into different groups. Some such examples
are;
1. People who have been loyal to the hotel for at least three year
2. Customers who did not afford the services of the hotel at any time and
3. People who have resided in the hotel for a single time
Marketing initiatives
Customer Relationship Management and E-marketing:
The viewpoint of the close customer familiarity might lower or reduce the marketing
expenditures and augment sales through closer affiliations and increased satisfaction. For this to
take place, the overall Hilton hotel chain need to cooperate in the compilation, management and
propagation of the information of customer- an exclusive and complex development (Ma, Gu,
Wang, & Hampson, 2017). They generally highlight the dilemma of data-ownership caused by
the configuration of the lodging industry existing in Australia where the owners, the management
organizations and brands cooperate in the properties operation. It is intrinsically difficult for
these three units in sharing the data of customer. In addition to the factor of cooperating, they
recurrently contend with each other that could restrict the successful implementation of CRM.
These difficulties could be surmounted; CRM would best be working at the brand level. It is

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important to understand the ways a successful CRM depends on the mining of the data. This
process leads to difficult statistical techniques to the data of consumers in performing of tasks
and might be important in better understanding and predicting behavior of guests.
Value chain and E-marketing:
Every movement within the process of physical value chain has an intrinsic information
constituent. The quantity of information existing within the activities generally establishes, hotel
like Hilton’s course towards e-commerce. It has been highly observed that hotels with higher
presence of information like Hilton would be implementing e-commerce at a faster rate than
other organizations or hotels having minor information incidence.
A hotel like Hilton has high information incidence, offering greater deal of service
information through their website. Consumers also have suppleness in determining the product
or service design using the website. Activities that comprises of the value chain activities are
generally assumed by the company in producing and selling of the services and products. Certain
activities performed within the value chain are about understanding of the needs of the
consumers, procuring production materials, and after sales services like customer acre and
products.
Supply Chain Management and E-marketing:
A mutual communication and a solid transportation are the keys in successful supply
chain management. Managing of the relationships along with information making use of the
electronic marketing helps each of the partners in supply chain in maintaining a competitive
advantage for Hilton at marketplace. The bigger the role played by e-marketing in facilitating the

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communication process between the partners within supply chain, the bigger would be the
advantages. For this motive, both the system of rapid communication along with shared database
facet of electronic marketing plays significant role in the hotel’s efficient supply chain
management (Gannon, Roper, & Doherty, 2015). This combination facilitates partners of supply
chain, inclusive of customer service representatives, restaurant managers and operations manager
to get hold of information and communicate with each other 24 hours per day.
Product/Service Development and E-marketing:
There are certain benefits associated to internet marketing that can be used in businesses
for various reasons (Ma, Gu, Wang, & Hampson, 2017). E-marketing can be made use of in
relation to the service development. For example, e-marketing provides a hotel with various
sources that they can make use of in its development of service. This would ease things out as
they are already being supplied with sources that are necessary, saving time for big hotels like
Hilton. E-marketing enables big hotel groups in doing their own research work about anything
going about in the industry and being able to find lot of customers and that sort of services are
generally liked by the customers.
Analysis of marketing initiatives with variation from one CSF to other:
Guest Satisfaction and e-CRM:
As the contemporary hospitality industry expands in including more vacation rentals,
hotels are fundamentally keeping up with the present trends. Hilton has been revamping its
services in setting themselves apart from certain other sorts of accommodation, becoming
savvier towards technology and of personalized nature. Customers have started valuing

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experiences connecting them to the local culture wherever Hilton is existing and associating
them to the regional responsiveness. The Hilton Orlando supports ‘farm-to-fork’ attitude at its
premiere restaurant, making use of the components within the radius of 100-mile and stressing
on regional flavors.
Hilton is making use of innovative technologies in gaining loyalty of customers and
creating satisfaction for guests and boosting its total revenue. Guests who are digitally enabled
are more interested in virtual tours and digital check-ins. Using data from the histories of
customers, Hilton has been improving personalized experiences for guests around temperature,
lighting and refreshments. Comprehensive apps of mobiles are facilitating guests in streamlining
cumbersome procedures and minimizing the time for check-in.
Human Resource factors and e-CRM:
Employees are stated to be important assets along with primary supports of profitable
business for Hilton. The system of CRM is only being used in managing the clients along with
customers, with most HR managers using technologies of CRM for handling of the company’s
human capital. A technique of profile management is being used in managing profiles of the
employees containing overall employees’ related information that is being exposed to the
employees in HRIS tool. The human resource managers of Hilton have the zeal in furnishing
response and offer letters online to fresh candidates (Bilgihan & Bujisic, 2015). Online alters are
being produced whenever the employees have something outstanding. For example, Hilton
employees are used to getting alerts mechanically while completing any survey or renewal of any
software. The HRM managers also go for online schedules of the meetings and notifications

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being send routinely to all the staffs and employees informing them for being present in the
meeting.
Managerial competency and e-CRM:
Managerial discretion is one of the most critical success factors to the success of the
CRM in hotels. However in contrast to the popular beliefs of the CRM policies the managers as
well as the officers of the hotel are least involved in the decision making process. Environments
play a crucial role to the part of managers (Fadda & Sørensen, 2017). There are different scopes
for the managers of the hotels in some of the areas to experiment with e-CRM whereas in other
areas such options are not available to the managers. In the case of Hilton the managers gets the
opportunity to experiment with such tools as because the management is always in search of
innovative measures to make sure that the hotel turns out to be the very best in terms of
performance. Apart from such discretions the managers makes significant contributions to the
organizational growth of the hotels. With the help of e-CRM’s they tend to establish a proper
relationship with the customers and provide high quality service to them. Each and every
manager of different hotels have their own personal decisions that determines the different
investment programs undertaken by the management of the hotel. The managers of Hilton ensure
that they do not take unnecessary risks which may have an impact on the performance levels of
the hotel. The organizational discretionary powers of the managers help large hotels like Hilton
to make sure that they effectively follow the organizational strategies to bring success to the
organization.

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Technological aspects
The growing presence of the internet has made it one of the essential media of marketing
communication. For gaining competitive advantage, Hilton has acted according to the recent
trend of promoting its services through websites and mobile applications. It provides information
to the internal and external publics at one click from any place of the world (Fraj, Matute, &
Melero, 2015).
Legal aspects
The hoteliers of Hilton need to adopt and implement creative marketing tools. With an
increasing growth in the e- marketing strategies and the distribution channels, there is not much
known about the effectiveness. It is important to build good rapport with the guests and expand
the brand’s online presence.
Ethical aspects
To throw light on the ethical aspects of hotel industries it should be taken into
consideration that if the necessary standards are not maintained that there is a chance that the
hotel might lose its customers. The information provided through e- marketing should be
authentic and not misguide the customers (Fadda & Sørensen, 2017).
Global aspects
The global aspects are a combination of all the other factors. Hotel Hilton is an
internationally acclaimed hotel which needs to look into the overall services of the customers.
They have an updated system of e-marketing services which cater to the needs of the customers
24*7.

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Social networking aspects
Social network had a large impact on the hospitality sector with the enhancement of
online reviews. Hilton customers can go online to research for their suitable accommodations
and the primary attractions nearby. They can also contact with the hot(Fadda & Sørensen,
2017)el for necessary query and thus the promotion can also be done online.
Impact of internet on consumer behavior
Internet has played a pivotal role in e- marketing. The easy accessibility at a cheap rate of
transactions has increased the bargaining power of the customers with a strong global
competition. The introduction of internet in the marketing level has helped in bringing new
prospects for the company. E- Marketing is also a cost and time saving tool for the marketers in
the corporate marketing strategy. In the case of Hilton, the internet marketing deals with the
promotional mix of the hotel and its online services. The basic benefit of the e- marketing is the
number of options available to the customers for a specific product category(Ma, Gu, Wang, &
Hampson, 2017).
The Hilton group totally makes use of these e- marketing strategies. The low searching
cost associated with the online activities provides a scope of several alternatives to the customers
which would not have been possible otherwise. E- marketing is grabbing the attention of the
marketers to extend the information services and considering more significant strategies for the
hotel to promote and interact with the customers through online advertising. With the e-
marketing strategies the hotel authorities enable direct communication with the customers; offer
a number of alternatives to the customers and stakeholders; store safely a large amount of
information at a very low cost; provide intense and cheap ways to search, arrange and

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disseminate information; serve as an effective digital medium (Ma, Gu, Wang, & Hampson,
2017).
Online distribution
Hilton hotels have introduced a new electronic and online distribution strategy which has
integrated the elements such as price, enhancing brand websites and the chosen stakeholders’
online programs. Due to this strategy the brand standards of the hotel will call for the offering of
constant rates at all the distribution channels, such as the proprietary websites of Hilton, their
worldwide call centers, global distribution system directly through the hotel (Gannon, Roper, &
Doherty, 2015). The upgrades in the hotel websites included advanced hotel searches with
respect to the city, airport, address or the prime attraction from a single webpage. The easy
design features and the superior content with the profile and account accessibility of the hotel are
among the improved version of the online distribution of the hotel. Moreover, the agreement
between Hilton and Expedia Inc has reflected a direct combination with the central reservation
system and the database of Expedia. The new design has been useful for the participating hotels
to arrange their price and accommodations on Expedia’s website in a vibrant manner. The
customers while booking also receive specific rewards for booking through online distribution
channels mentioned above.
Supply Dynamics
There are very few organizations in the hospitality sector which provide premium
services such as Hilton. They have the tradition of delivering end- to- end global supply chain
solution. As they are an organization which deal with procurement worldwide, their focus is
more on development and execution of the policies and norms to cater to the needs and demands

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of the guests. The Hilton Supply Management is totally owned by the Hilton Group which
provides services in the properties of independent owners, real estate investors and the
management companies (Leung, Xue, & Bai, 2015). They intend to be the superior provider of
hospitality services in any area that they operate in. As similar to the high standard set by the
Hilton hotels, the Hilton Supply Management has also set a remarkable standard for contributing
to the international hospitality sector with an outstanding procurement solutions and an
operational mentality arriving from the rich legacy in hospitality. The experts in the core of
service industry set this hotel apart from the other general hotels.
Opportunities and threats of hotel
Opportunities Threats
 Their mission is to be the top
international hospitality organization
with respect to guests, team members
and owners
 HILTON as per its name take care of
hospitality, integrity, leadership,
teamwork, ownership and now
 They have high potential in the
upcoming markets
 Innovation in customer services and
improved use of technology
 Growth of internet reservation methods
having an impact on profitability
 Share of total shareholder returns is
below average level
 Loss of foreign currency exchange
 Entry of competitors
 Stagnant growth
 Economic and political
disturbance(Bilgihan & Bujisic, 2015)

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E- Mail Marketing
E-mail marketing is defined as the marketing that is conducted by an organization to
promote its goods and services. However in broader perspectives it can be defined as the most
effective tool for the management of Human Resource. E-Mail marketing segment comprises of
websites, social media, blogs and many other different internet sources. Personal groups of
customers can be targeted or even individuals can also be targeted. Through e mail marketing
customers are offered special deals that attract them and increases their trust towards the
organization. The most useful part of these e- Mail marketing is that it is the most cheapest and
the cost effective form of marketing as because no promotion is needed to be done to carry on
such marketing. E-Mail marketing turns out to be friendlier once it is integrated with social
media. Such integration helps the management of the hotels to easily search for the potential
customers and approach them personally (Bilgihan & Bujisic, 2015). The management of Hilton
Hotels has implemented and integrated a proper e mail marketing plan to make sure that they
constantly keep in touch with their loyal and reliable customers as well as approaching new
customers with a varied range of offers.
Conclusion
The research has been effective to achieve all its objectives. The discussion of the
different sources of e marketing initiatives in the following research has helped it to become
compact in nature. After a thorough analysis of the following research the readers will be able to
gain a clear understanding of the procedures followed by the large hotels to attract customers
through the use of the latest e marketing techniques. Hilton hotel has effected different changes
to make sure that the organization meets all the necessary standards to maintain the following

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and make sure that the use of online marketing helps them to have a degree of competitive
advantage in the market.
Bibliography
Bilgihan, A., & Bujisic, M. (2015). The effect of website features in online relationship
marketing: A case of online hotel booking. Electronic Commerce Research and
Applications, 222-232.
Fadda, N., & Sørensen, J. F. (2017). The importance of destination attractiveness and
entrepreneurial orientation in explaining firm performance in the Sardinian
accommodation sector. . International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
Management.
Fraj, E., Matute, J., & Melero, I. (2015). Environmental strategies and organizational
competitiveness in the hotel industry: The role of learning and innovation as determinants
of environmental success. . Tourism Management, 30-42.
Gannon, J. M., Roper, A., & Doherty, L. (2015). Strategic human resource management: Insights
from the international hotel industry. . International Journal of Hospitality Management,
65- 75.
Leung, X. Y., Xue, L., & Bai, B. (2015). Internet marketing research in hospitality and tourism: a
review and journal preferences. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
Management, 1556- 1572.