Hospitality Consumer Behavior and Insight: Decision Making Process

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of consumer behavior and insights within the hospitality industry. It begins by explaining various factors influencing consumer behavior, including cultural, social, personal, and psychological aspects, and how these factors shape customer attitudes and buying patterns, with specific reference to Intercontinental Hotels and Resorts. The report then explores the impact of digital technology on changing customer trends, highlighting the implementation of smart guest experiences, mobile key rooms, and smart room service. Furthermore, it examines the stages of the consumer decision-making journey, mapping a path to purchase for Intercontinental, and emphasizes the importance of understanding this process for marketers. The report also compares and contrasts the key differences between B2B and B2C hospitality decision-making processes, evaluates different market research approaches used to understand consumer behavior, and concludes by discussing how marketers can influence the different stages of the hospitality decision-making process with examples.

Hospitality Consumer
Behaviour and Insight

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Explain different factor that influence the consumer behaviour and attitudes in hospitality
industry...................................................................................................................................1
P2 Explain how customer trends are changing due to impact of digital technology ............3
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................5
P3 Examine the stages of consumer decision-making journey and map a path of purchasing
for Intercontinental.................................................................................................................5
P4 Explore why it important for marketers to map a path to purchase and understand
consumer decision making.....................................................................................................7
Task 3...............................................................................................................................................9
P5 Compare and contrast the key difference of hospitality decision-making process in context
of B2B and B2C with suitable examples................................................................................9
P6 Evaluate different approaches to market research and methods of research used for
understanding decision making process. .............................................................................11
Task 4.............................................................................................................................................14
P7 How marketers can influence the different stages of hospitality decision-making process
giving suitable example........................................................................................................14
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................16
References:.....................................................................................................................................17

INTRODUCTION
Consumer Behaviour and insights can be explained as how the audience in a target
market think, feel and react. The behaviour describes how and in what way consumer behave and
what are their buying patterns to match up their needs and wants. By analysing consumer
behaviour and insights company can track the factors that influence buying decisions (Buhalis et
al., 2019). As a result of this, organisational effectiveness is augmented which in turn leads to
increase in revenue. Intercontinental hotels and resorts, founded in 1946, is an opulent hotel
brand, featuring 71,045 rooms in an around 210 properties across globe. Under this report
various aspects related with factors affecting consumer decisions, journey of consumer decision
to purchase, forms of research to understand decision-making, and how marketers influence the
customer decision making at each process in hotel industry is carried out.
Task 1
P1 Explain different factor that influence the consumer behaviour and attitudes in hospitality
industry
Consumer behaviour and their buying patterns help hotels in design and development of
hotel rooms and services to match up the needs of the customer. These behaviour vary as age,
gender, sex, religion, region, value and beliefs and prior-experience with a hotel can also affect
their future preferences. The factors that influence customer attitude and behaviour are
mentioned below.
Cultural factors :- Cultural factors are set of values, habits and beliefs associated with a
particular community that shape and influence behaviour of an individual. Culture of a particular
community describes the behavioural patterns and attitudes of an individual. Customer culture describes values, customs, traditions, behaviour of a society and roles
that a society exercise. These factors affects the liking, perception and behaviour of a
person. As some people prefer resorts and budgeted hotel over luxurious and five star
rating properties (Sánchez-Franco et al., 2019). Sub-Culture is a further division of cultural factors which includes, nationality,religion,
racial group and geographical region. These are the group of people who share common
values and traditions.
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 Social Class refers to the distribution of people on the basis of their income and standard
of living. People in upper class prefers luxurious products matching their status and
standards, whereas, middle class look for a value for money product.
Social factors :- Social factor plays a significant role in influencing the buying decision
of customers as human being live in and around a society and people within a society(friends,
family, neighbours); their choices, lifestyle and preferences and desire to be accepted by a
society affect their buying patterns (Murillo and King, 2019). Reference group is a group of people with whom an individual engage himself. These
group have significant role in influencing the behaviour towards preference of hotels with
their good or bad experience Intercontinental is well known for its services which could
be beneficial for him. Family plays a significant role in buying patterns of an individual. As their choice and
preference are developed along with the choices of a family members and continue to buy
products of a specific brand.
 Social role and status of an individual in a society determines his attitude and choice
over the range of product. Eminent personality will have a preference of luxurious hotel
rather a budgeted hotel. Intercontinental offers hospitality services particularly to this
specific class.
Personal Factor :- These factors are related with age and life cycle, lifestyle, self-
development and personality, financial conditions and occupation of an individual. These factors
contribute largely in Intercontinental decision-making regarding new area of operation (Ulker-
Demirel and Ciftci, 2020). Age and life cycle :- Buying habits vary at a different age and life cycle, for example
middle and old age people look for a traditional and heritage property over modern and
contemporary. Occupation :- Person with a business class will choose a property with 5 star ratings and
a salaried person will go for a budgeted hotel. Occupation describes one's ability to
spend.
 Lifestyle :- Lifestyle defines how an individual live and behave in a society. Their
preference vary with their standard of living.
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Psychological Factors :- These factors have a significant impact on the buying pattern of a
customer. Individual needs and desires are derived by some of the motivational factors like
social, basic, security and self esteem needs. These influences the customer buying decision.
Intercontinental by creating a strong brand image and value can attract a large customers and can
change their preference level (Vanhala et al., 2020) .
P2 Explain how customer trends are changing due to impact of digital technology
Technology is growing at high pace and making the life of people more easier and
convenient. Due to the recent pandemic Covid-19, economy was on standstill and has impacted
the tourism industry at large scale. With the consequences of this hospitality industry has made
many changes in technological aspect in order to boost the business and make customer
experience unforgettable. Companies and customers are adapting rapidly to the technological
advancements and enriching their life and experiences. Intercontinental have launched an app
through which the customer can book and manage their reservation along with a facility of
redeemable reward points. Smart Guest Experience :- With the changing trends in technological sectors, hoteliers
are adopting a new approach to make their customer stay easy, convenient and
memorable. With the smart room technology Intercontinental have set the landmark in
the hospitality industry which offers services like strong Wi-Fi connection, keyless entry,
digital signage, virtually connected lobbies and meeting rooms. Intercontinental have also
installed in-room tablets so that customers can connect easily with staff. Also it helps
management to keep a track of guest activity (Altinay and Taheri, 2019) . Mobile key rooms :- Intercontinental have developed an app namely IHG app which
provides the contactless services to the customers making their stay safe and secure
(Buhalis and Sinarta, 2019). IHG app allows customer voluntary check-in and out,
access to a rooms with a smart key, selection of room types and control room
environment and entertainment like Air conditioner and television. Incorporating smart
key approach have enable customers of Intercontinental to access their rooms directly
without visiting the help desk and ensures safe and convenient stay without a fear to loss
of key.
 Smart Room Service :- Smart room service is concerned with services which are
technology enable with the use of internet services. This approach sometimes called as
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“Smart Hotel” or “ Internet of Things (IoT). Giant hotel chain like Intercontinental is
making efforts in enhancing the experience of customers with the stay at their hotels.
Smart hotel enables customer to manage and handle all the services at their fingertips.
Use of mobile or tablet in smart hotels enables customer in check-in and check-out.
Unlike traditional keys modern keys gives access into the rooms to the customer with the
use of mobile or tablet. Apart from this, customer can also get access to the food menu
which provides complete information regarding ingredients, nutrition value etc.
Use of Mobile technology :- Intercontinental make use of mobile based application to interact
with customers. The app provides a customer an ease of check-in and out, smart key for the room
access and to manage and reserve their bookings with the hotel (Mariani, Borghi and Kazakov,
2019). Mobile technology have enabled hoteliers in better connect with customers and meeting
their needs on real time basis. Intercontinental have an IHG app through which customer gets
access to the concierges across the world who help in them in finding and choosing perfect place
for the vacations. Additionally customer can also earn, manage and redeem reward points which
is granted by Intercontinental as a bonus to the loyal customers. Use of mobile technology in
enriching the customer experience is trending in a competitive environment, Intercontinental also
gives access to the information related with the dishes prepared by executive chefs along with
the history, origin and complete process of a recipe.
Influence of social media :- Use of social media sites have helped Intercontinental in addressing
customer grievances and improving their services through a customer feedback related with their
stay experience. Customers tweet and post photos of their stay on social media sites and
Intercontinental can use them as a marketing tool to promote their exclusive services (Buhalis et
al., 2019 ).
Data Security :- With the use of technology, the chances of threat and insecurity have also
increased. Giant business firms are going digital so as to increase the expansion of market and
customer base. Advancement of technology have enabled the hackers and thefts to have a free
access of the customer information. While using an app, filling an online form or making and
receiving payment online have increases the chances of thefts and insecurities. Intercontinental
ensures that the data of their customers remains safe and are not used for unethical means. It is
done by making the digital platform password protected which gives an alert to the company and
customer whenever any usual activity takes place.
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Task 2
P3 Examine the stages of consumer decision-making journey and map a path of purchasing for
Intercontinental
Customer make a purchase of products and services to match up the desired needs and
wants. Before buying a product, customer passes through a series of steps where the customer
collect, analyse and make choices between the alternative to arrive at a conclusion. The series of
steps are explained further.
Consumer decision making process Recognition of problem :- Consumer decision making starts as soon as the customer
finds the need to buy a product or service. At this stage customer realize and make up his
mind to buy a product which matches his wants with its derived value(Murphy, Gretzel
and Pesonen, 2019). Due to the consequences of Pandemic need for contactless
reservation were in demand. By analysing the current trend company took proactive
approach and launched an app for making and managing booking across the globe. Information Search :- At second stage, after finding the need customer gather all the
relevant information related with the product or services which offers a desired value.
Customers opt for the hotels which offers contactless bookings and concierge services
which increases the chances of Intercontinental in converting the prospect customer into
potential customer. Evaluation of alternatives :- After finding the information from various sources like
friends, family, advertisement, magazines and newspaper, customer look out for a
number of alternatives available in a market that satisfy the need and demand and which
is in his budget (Zolkepli, Mukhiar and Tan, 2020). Intercontinental is unique and
creative in its approach therefore it is essential for a marketer to be in the search engine
and list of alternatives chosen by customers. The purchase decision :-After analysing suggestions and feedbacks from various
sources, customer finally decide to buy a product which suits its pocket and meet his
demand and needs. This is the stage where customer spends money to use the products
and services. Use of IHG application helps the customer in finding best suitable
properties across globe matching their budget and taste.
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 Post-Purchase Evaluation :- This step is very much crucial as at this step customer
evaluates the actual results with the desired results. At this step a detailed analysis is
conducted to check whether the product was up to the mark or not, whether it has
satisfied the need of the customer or not? This stage is crucial for Intercontinental as the
current service quality will determine whether the customer will make a future sale or
not. Any deviation in IHG app needs to be addressed so to deliver a hassle free services
to the customer.
Path to purchase in Intercontinental Awareness (Problem identification) :- Consumer at this stage start recognising the need
to buy a product or services and that can be promoted through internal
stimuli(psychological and emotional needs) or through a external stimuli (advertisement
and promotion). Intercontinental can create a awareness among customers using the
different promotional techniques and influence the customer buying decisions (Dinis and
et. al., 2019). Company is coming up with new and innovative services which is an
application called IHG App. With the help of analysing demand and technological
advancement, Intercontinental have created a online platform which provides a concierge
services across globe. Due to the pandemic, social distance is mandatory and
Intercontinental have converted this challenge into an opportunity by providing a contact
bookings to the customers. Familiarity (Search and evaluation):- At this stage when customer search for a relevant
information from other family, friends, online sources, customer review and experience.
Intercontinental job is manage itself as a prestigious brand by posting customer reviews
and feedback on its website and provide relevant information to customer for which they
are looking for. Intercontinental makes customer aware about the online services
provided by them and positioned itself as unique brand that address the needs and
provides solution as soon as possible. Posting on websites, launching of an app on a huge
platform, customised emails are the ways of creating awareness about the launched
product. Consideration (Decision to buy) :- At this stage Intercontinental ensures and develop a
level of satisfaction among customer that it can provide a value driven services for which
they are looking for. As the consumer is becoming more involved with the technology,
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the demand for technological driven services are on boom. IHG app of Intercontinental in
unique in its approach which offers wide range of services through online application and
provides a competitive edge over other. Preference of Intercontinental over other will be
determined by their quality and type of services company is offering. Purchase (Actual Purchase ) :- Efficient marketing strategy will determine whether the
customer will go for Intercontinental or for other hotels. This is where customer makes a
actual purchase. At this stage customer use IHG application, where customer manages its
current and past booking, apart from this customer also get acquainted with the latest
offers with the booking at different properties.
 Loyalty (Post Purchase) :- This is the crucial role as it will determine whether the
customer will continue with the same brand or will look for another. It is the job of
Intercontinental to seek a feedback from its customers. It is imperative to convert the
potential customer into loyal customer through regular follow-ups, discounts coupons,
and customised services. An effectiveness of IHG app will be determined at this stage
followed by consumption of services. Based on the feedback of the customer
Intercontinental makes a necessary changes so as to deliver a value driven services
without any difficulty.
P4 Explore why it important for marketers to map a path to purchase and understand consumer
decision making
Customer decision making process gives a marketer an idea of how and to what extent
customers are influenced and changed their buying pattens (Wen et al., 2020). With help of this
process marketer can direct its marketing and promotional activities to design and development
of a product that matches the need of the customer. Significance of customer decision path is
mentioned beneath:- Innovate New Products :- The first stage of consumer decision making process gives
marketer an insight about the current trends in the market. Customer recognise a need to
buy a product and here the marketers role is to analyse the need and deliver a product that
matches the demand of customer. Marketer conduct a detailed research in order to find
out the new trends prevailing in a market. Research help the marketer in finding the
opportunities through which a company can serve to the needs and demands
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Intercontinental at this stage can come up with a new idea of budgeted hotel as not
everyone can afford to stay in luxurious hotel. Design effective marketing plan:- Consumer look for a relevant information after
recognising the need to buy a product. Intercontinental make a continuous efforts through
their marketing and promotional programmes to increase the familiarity among the future
customers and desire to attract a new customers. Marketer design and develop strong
marketing campaign which help them in directing the behaviour of consumer and to
mitigate the factors that influence their buying decisions. Advertisement and endorsement
are the best ways marketers adopt in encouraging more customers. Be relevant in market:- There are plenty of competitors in the market, competing to
deliver a quality of products which suits the needs of the customer. Distinction of firm
from other competitors helps Intercontinental in being specific and relevant with the
needs and demands of customers (Lugosi, 2019). This aspect is crucial for marketer in
purchase and decision-making process as this helps in designing an effective marketing
strategies which are align with the same of services Intercontinental offers. It determines
the path to be followed that cater to the needs of target market in a efficient way. Predicting market trends:- Consumer decision-making process gives a deep insight of
current market trends to the marketer which helps him in offer the customised products
and services. Marketer analyse the purchase and consumer decision making process
which aid him in determining current and future market trends. As the consumer is
influence by many factors ranging from personal to economic factors, these factors help
marketer in designing and developing a strategies for success and growth. Customer retention:- This process not only contribute in attracting new customer but
also helps in retaining the satisfied customer. Hoteliers with continuous follow ups
ensure that the rapid changes in need and demand of customers are met even in dynamic
and complex environment. Purchase and consumer decision making process help
marketers in tapping the unaddressed needs and find a best solution and unique way to
cater their needs which leads to customer loyalty.
 Improve customer satisfaction:- Customer decision making process helps a
Intercontinental in analysing customer likes, dislikes, taste and preferences which
contribute in making a strategic planning for the design and development of a product
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which match up the needs and demands. Furthermore, company make a relevant changes
according to the customer's feedback. Detailed insight about the behaviour of consumer
at purchase process and decision making process helps marketer in serving the needs of
customer in a creative way. When needs are met, desires are fulfilled, happy and satisfied
customer are converted into loyal customers that lead to the large customer base.
Task 3
P5 Compare and contrast the key difference of hospitality decision-making process in context of
B2B and B2C with suitable examples
Difference between hospitality decision making process
Basis B2B B2C
 Meaning B2B stands where the hotelier
offers its services to other
business entities rather than a
end customer. Here the business
customers are the companies
which organise meetings,
exhibitions or conferences in
another city or country.
Intercontinental cater to the
business needs on a large scale.
B2C means services of hotels
are directed towards the needs
of end customer (Lugosi,
2019). Here Intercontinental
cater to the needs of customer
who visit the hotel for leisure,
comfort or recreational
activities.
 Customer Intercontinental business
customer base includes,
governmental organisations,
public and private firms who
come for the meetings,
exhibitions, conferences and
incentives.
Business to customer are the
services offered by
Intercontinental directly to the
customers. These can be local
or foreign customers who uses
the services for leisure or other
recreational activities.
+
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 Focus The main aim of
Intercontinental in Business to
business customer segment is to
build a trust and relationship
with the suppliers and other
institution which acts as image
builder in a hospitality industry.
The focus of Intercontinental
is to provide a services to
customer that matches their
needs and demands. The focus
is on the short term goal, that
is to earn profit through
increased sales revenue.
 Volume of
merchandise
In business to business, the
exchange of services in
hospitality takes place certainly
at high level. For example :
When an business organisation
place order it is comparatively
large and for a longer duration
as compared to individual
customer.
In business to customer, the
volume of merchandise
slightly vary as compared to
business to business as the size
of order and length of stay is
diminished.
 Buying decision Organisational buying decision
are based on rational and
planned needs (Farmaki and et.
al., 2020). Intercontinental
design and develop a marketing
strategy as per the factors that
influence on buying decisions.
For example: location of hotel
premise from a Airport,
infrastructure qualities, and
nearest metropolitan cities build
up the preference of business
customers.
Whereas, consumer buying
decisions are influenced by
Psychological, social,
personal,cultural and
economical factors. Marketers
at Intercontinental takes into
account consequences of these
factors over customer decision
making and develop a
marketing campaign so as to
stimulate their desires.
 Brand value In business to business activities In business to customer
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