Hilton Hotels: Marketing Mix and Segmentation Strategies Analysis

This report provides an overview of Hilton Hotels' marketing practices, focusing on market segmentation, target market identification, and value proposition. It explores different types of market segmentation used by Hilton, including behavioral, benefits, geographic, and demographic segmentation, t...Read More

RUNNING HEAD: Marketing practice 0
Hilton hotels
Marketing practice

Marketing practice 1
The aim of this paper is to introduce the marketing concept of Hilton Hotels. The marketing
concept is used to analyze to meet the need of customers. It is helpful in satisfying customer
needs, increasing sales and maximizing profits. The marketing concepts include concepts of
production, product, selling, marketing and societal marketing. The study is based on the
Hilton Hotels. Hilton is one of the leading hotels. It has multiple chains in many countries.
The report defines the purpose of marketing segmentation which is useful for the hotel. The
target market is discussed to define target customers. The market theory is used to identify
value proposition of product to the target market. The innovative gallery is the new product
of Hilton which is used to explain the task.
Market segmentation is a marketing concept. It is the process of dividing market potential
customers into group or segmentation. A market is segmented on the basis of individuals who
have same interests. The individuals from the same segment react in a same way. Hilton has
different customers from different backgrounds (Du, Yang, Liang & Yang, 2016). The
marketing segmentation of Hilton Hotel includes the benefits, demographic, geographic and
behavioral segmentation. The market can be divided into the following segments for the
innovative gallery:
Behavioral segmentation:
Hilton hotels is a leading hotel worldwide. The company have expansion and set base in over
78 countries. It is an exclusive provider of luxury services (Vigneron & Johnson, 2017). This
information bears a certain perception in the customer’s mind. The attitude and behavioural
aspects towards brand is expected. On the basis of these perceptions and knowledge, the hotel
has created an interesting segmentation of customers. It is creating a place in the high end
community (Tanford & Malek, 2015). The governments and international dignitaries also
prefer to choose Hilton for their launch and meetings.
Benefits segmentation:
Hilton hotel is a high class and exclusive service provider. The company has 530 hotels and
resorts worldwide. The benefits segmentation includes segmentation on the basis of benefits
customers who aim to obtain products or services offered by the company. Hilton provides
benefits to the potential and existing customers. The benefits include a sense of achievement
and high status in society (Xiang, Magnini & Fesenmaier, 2015).
Geographic segmentation:

Marketing practice 2
The geographic segmentation focuses on the location and local preferences. The hotel decides
it’s service packages according to the culture and geographic locations. This segmentation is
done on the basis of culture, religion, state and territory (Rondan-Cataluña & Rosa-Diaz,
2014). It involves targeting a specific group of customers on the basis of geographic locations
in both national and international level.
Demographic segmentation:
The demographic segmentation includes the middle and senior aged professionals with a
higher level of income. This section preferably belongs to the upper social class who chase
luxury lifestyle. On the basis of need and preference of customers, the hotel can easily target
market. The company also targets foreign tourist and delegates.
After the process of segmentation, targeting formulates various marketing strategies and
promotional schemes as per the taste of the particular segment. After the process of
segmentation, an organization uses various strategies to target them. The hotel can easily
target customers on the basis of need and preferences. After segmenting the market, best
customers are targeted. The target markets of Hilton are:
Middle and senior aged professionals with a higher level of income.
The upper social class who chase luxury lifestyle.
Foreign tourist and delegates
The higher level of income group can be easily targeted by the hotel as they are ready to pay
any amount for their convenience and accessibility to the things. The upper social class looks
towards innovative products. So, Hilton can target them by introducing innovative gallery.
The innovative gallery is very effective for the foreign tourist and delegates. As they can use
earpieces available there to communicate to staff through an app called new stress
intervention in any language. The tourists are attracted by the innovative gallery as it
represents the culture of a particular country (Firat, Ozaltin Turker & Metin, 2014).
An organization tries to build up an image of it’s product after deciding target market. Hilton
can create an image of it’s a new product that is an innovative gallery in the mind of
consumers through positioning (Blankson, 2016). It helps to create the perception of the
product in the mind of the target audience. The hotel provides various features through the

Marketing practice 3
innovative gallery. The positioning also focuses on differentiating it’s products. So that it can
better position itself in the market.
The value proposition is one of the most overlooked features of hotel marketing. It states the
benefit and way of providing them. The value proposition is the promise which is given to the
customers to assure them to deliver value. It is the statement which explains the benefit
provided by the organisation. It helps company to maintain growth. It is useful in creating
differentiation from competitors. The value proposition is beneficial in improving operational
efficiency and increasing revenue. The value proposition conveys value to the customers,
sends clear message and provides proper information about the products of company (Covin,
Garrett, Kuratko & Shepherd, 2015). It maintains interest of customers and turns them into
the potential customers. It defines the ideal guests of hotels and the value provided to guests
by the hotel. In case of Hilton it’s products are the value proposition of company. Hilton hotel
offers the best and personalised service to the guests. The hotel includes essential in every
room, such as internet connection, access to meeting rooms with audiovisual and technology
needs (Pesonen, 2015).
Hilton has launched Innovation gallery, an incubator and experimental showcase for cutting-
edge development products. The gallery is filled with products. It includes an earpiece that
translates the conversation between employees and guests through an application and a
device called new stress intervention (USA Today, 2018). The gallery is designed by the
Rockwell group. The gallery displays a variety of technologies such as design elements and
dining concepts which ranges from noise cancellation and sleep prompting devices to more
sustainable and functional material. It enhances all aspects of the experience of guests. The
innovation gallery is divided into five areas:
Product showcase: The product showcase is a space for the visitors to interact with physical
and virtual products which hotel is exploring to use in hotels. It features the items which are
being tested or will be tested at the hotel. The current installations are Nightingale, a noise
making product, Somabar, a mixology solution, Pilot, a real-time transaction solution and
Neural, customizable digital art display.
Food and beverage concept studio: This section offers an opportunity to experience and
display the concepts developed by hotel’s food and beverage team along with technology to
flick and webcast. This place offers to experiment with the latest concepts of the restaurant

Marketing practice 4
from the menu to the design of uniforms (Hinterhuber & Liozu, 2014). The hotel tests
concepts of 40 different restaurants before adopting a one.
Virtual reality stage: In this space, guests can use virtual reality handsets and experience new
concepts without traveling to get to them. The guests will be able to view model room from
two of it’s brands, Tru by Hilton and Canopy by Hilton. A person can put on VR device and
take a tour of rooms and guestrooms.
Darkroom: The darkroom is a guestroom which lets guests touch linens, walk on carpets, lay
on beds and sit on sofas. The dark rooms also contain hotel’s new connected room where
guests can control most of the functions of the room such as lighting, curtains, temperature
and TV through the Hilton honors mobile app. The guests will be able to dim lights and find
their favorite channel.
Innovation theatre: The innovation theatre is a meeting space for the hotel to brainstorm new
and innovative ideas which can be used for the hotel room of the future (Taylor, Snipes &
Barber, 2018). The design highlights the functional and social aspects of a modern space
while high-end presentation technology for sound and lighting.
The marketing mix is the set of actions which is used by the company to promote it’s brand
or product. It is the main element to increase profits and success of the business. It is useful to
understand customers and their needs (Chen, 2015). The purpose of the marketing mix is to

Marketing practice 5
aware customers about it’s products. It helps the company to make decisions at the time of
launching products. It is all about putting the right product in the right place, at the right time
and the right price. The marketing mix is made up of 4Ps, product, price, place and
promotion. These parameters are used by the manager to control the constraints in the
marketing environment.
Hilton is a global chain and provides a variety of hospitality services worldwide through it’ s
hotel chains. The products of the company are deluxe rooms, stay suites, restaurants, bars,
resorts and more. In supporting all these products Hilton is focused on the innovative gallery
which has enough features to attract customers. The hotel is not just for the guests but is a
great choice for business and the corporate clients (Shawky, Aziz & Abdel-Aleem, 2015).
The hotel arranges meetings, conferences and seminars for the corporate clients. It also
provides facilities for photocopying, projector, fax etc. The interior of Hilton is crafted with
all the modern and advanced amenities. The restaurants provide the amazing food menu. It
includes all types of dishes. The hotel also entertains customers with additional amenities like
free Wi-Fi, massage and sauna services, water sports etc.
Hilton has unique and tailored price strategy in each of it’s property worldwide. It mainly
depends on the economy, penetration and premium pricing strategies. The economy pricing
includes the products with lesser attributes; the products are sold at lower cost. The
penetration pricing reflects the products with higher attributes and sold in the market at lower
prices. The premium pricing strategy is the opposite of penetration pricing (Richard, 2017). It
expands the products with higher attributes and includes the high-quality features and sold at
higher prices. It includes a higher margin of cost. Hilton provides four and five-star services
with high-quality service and a wide range of products. The price of Hilton varies as the
resorts situated at beaches gives unique experience and charges higher prices. The brand is
maintained by it’s exclusive customer segment which pays premium tariffs.
The hotel chains of Hilton are in 103 countries along with 5100 properties. It has made
remarkable growth with time. The hotel has focused on western countries to target exclusive
segment of society. It is also focusing on countries like India and China. The company is
growing it’s international business in the new emerging markets. The company has expanded
it’s business in both countries. The company maintains different marketing and distribution
strategies along with differentiated brands. The services provided by hotel focuses on the best
services which result in selecting the best location for the setup of hotels and resorts. The

Marketing practice 6
chains of Hilton are small towns, cities, airport hotels, luxury hotels and holiday resorts as per
it’s requirement (Diener, et. al. 2014).
Hilton is a well-established brand in the hospitality industry. The chains of hotels are focused
on the exclusive services and customer satisfaction. The target customers of the hotel are
business customers are a segment of higher income group. So, the hotels have collaborated
with business companies, multinational companies and institutes in every country where it
has property. The payment banks have also done a collaboration with Hilton hotel for the
variety of food provider. It has resulted in more reach to hotels (Cortese & Sahli, 2015). It is
among the promotional strategies of the hotel. The other promotional tools used by the hotel
are the content of premium magazines and customers reviews on websites. The chain also has
a talented and hardworking team which conducts research and plans to attract customers. The
promotional activities such as campaign are also conducted by the hotel to encourage the
involvement of customers (Wang & Chung, 2015).
The marketing has an important role in establishing relationships between Hilton hotels and
customers. It helped the company to satisfy the need of customers and increase it’s market
share. The market segmentation helped the company to understand customers in a better way.
The market has been segmented on the basis of benefit, geographic, demography and
behaviour. The target market is defined which causes the great number of sales. Further, the
value proposition has stated the benefit and way of providing them. The value proposition of
Hilton’s new product innovation gallery has been discussed. It is a unique feature added by
Hilton hotels. Finally, the marketing mix is described in the form of product, price, place and
promotion. The marketing has promoted the business and mission of Hilton hotels.

Marketing practice 7
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Marketing practice 8
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