Hospitality Marketing: Roles, Strategies, and Marketing Plan Report

This report analyzes the essentials of hospitality marketing, focusing on the roles and responsibilities of marketing functions within hospitality organizations, particularly using Midland Hotel as a case study. It explores the relationship between marketing and other departments like front office, housekeeping, finance, and IT, emphasizing their interconnectedness in achieving business objectives. The report then delves into how different hospitality organizations, including Midland Hotel and Cedar Court Hotel, execute the marketing mix (product, price, place, promotion, people, physical equipment, and process) to meet their marketing goals. Finally, it constructs a basic marketing plan for a hospitality organization, outlining strategies to achieve marketing objectives, increase sales, and improve profit margins. The report highlights the importance of market research, communication, and demand management within the hospitality marketing context.

Hospitality Marketing
Essentials

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1) Discuss the roles and responsibilities of marketing functions in hospitality organization
context....................................................................................................................................3
P2) Explain how the roles and responsibilities of marketing are related to wider organisation
context....................................................................................................................................5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................7
P3) Discuss the way as per which different organizations of hospitality industry execute the
marketing mix to achieve business objectives........................................................................7
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................10
P4) Make a basic marking plan for a hospitality organisation in order to meet marketing
objectives..............................................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCE.................................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is a process to exchange goods, services, ideas, thoughts with customers at
market place. It is a crucial function that is performed to promote the product as well as services
being offered by company. Marketing is a significant activity for hospitality industry as it
enhances the presence of company at market place (Abdeen, Rajah and Gaur, 2016). In preset
report Midland Hotel is taken into consideration. It is situated at UK and render luxury hotel
amenities to the customers within country. The report provides insights regrading role and
responsibilities of marketing function within company. Further it comprises the association
between different departments of organization to achieve business objectives. In addition
comparison between two companies on the basis of marketing mix is discussed in the report. At
the end, it comprises a detailed making plan to increase in sales and profit margin.
TASK 1
P1) Discuss the roles and responsibilities of marketing functions in hospitality organization
context
Marketing is a function that is undertake to promote and advertise products as well as
services. The main aim of marketing is to grab the attentions of buyer and to increase in sales
and profit margins of company. It is a process to exchange goods and services with consumers. It
is a wide term, that includes ample of activities such as promotion, advertisement, branding,
pricing and so on. In case of hospitality industry marketing practices are quiet different due to
varied attributes of services. Midland hotel adopts various marketing strategies and policies in
order to attract new clients and retain existing ones. It helps them to increase in revenue as well
as profit margins (Fursov, 2017).
Marketing Concept- It is an significant concept that emphasis to provide products and
services to customers as per their requirement in order to satisfy them. It is an evolve framework
that focuses on consumer satisfaction rather than profitability or aggressive selling. Marketing
managers of Midland hotel ensure to provide quality services to clients to create higher brand
value at market place. They do extensive market research in order to know the requirement,
needs of customers and provide services accordingly. It provides sustainable competitive
advantage to company.

Current and future trend of Marketing- As per the current trend managers of Midland
hotel adopts digital platform and technologies to promote services. They are providing facilities
of online booking to clients (Govindan, Khodaverdi and Vafadarnikjoo, 2016). In addition, they
are promoting services on through digital mediums such as social media platforms, search engine
optimization and so on. In addition, they are looking forward to adopt automation and innovative
approaches in near future. They are working to provide more customized as well as personalized
services to customers in order to retain them for a longer period of time.
Role of marketing functions:
Marketing is an crucial function and help to increase presence of company at market
place. The role and responsibility of respective function in context of Midland Hotel is
mentioned below:
Market Research- This function refers to gather the data from customers and execute a
detailed analysis of prevailing market conditions. It is significant to provide products as well as
services to customers as per their requirement ( Holbrook, 2018). It is the duty of marketing
mangers of Midland hotel to conduct extensive market research and to gather appropriate
information from clients. They may undertake online survey, questionnaire method to collect
data. This analysis will help to make necessary modification and to prepare effective strategies in
order to get competitive edge.
Finance- Finance is required to perform various business operations. Marketing team of
company prepare plans to promote their product and services. It increase in the flow of cash
within organization through enhancing sales & revenue. So, it is the responsibility of respective
department of Midland hotel to formulate efficient strategies to attract more number of customers
and increase in sales. With this, cash inflow in company will enhance. Thus, marketing mangers
need to ensure to maintain consistent sales within entity.
Communication- It is vital to communicate with target audience in order to aware them
about the products and services being offered by organization. Marketing team of company carry
out several ways to communicate with customers. They use channels such as digital media,
advertisement, direct marketing and other methods to convey message to target segment.
Marketers of Midland hotel undertake a mix of innovative as well as traditional techniques to get
in touch with significant customers.

Management of the demand- Marketing team is the skilled professional who play an
important role in influencing the market and its demand. A demand can be negative, positive,
latent demand, declining demand, and many more types of demand are there. In the hotel
midland the marketing function plan and investigate properly and manage the demand which
influence the market of their industry. At the same time they focus on the competition of he
company, which make a global impact on the market.
P2) Explain how the roles and responsibilities of marketing are related to wider organisation
context
Marketing department is vital for an organization as it drives revue and profitability to
perform various business operations. It has great association with other divisions of company that
is essential to achieve predefined objectives. This interrelation helps to improve business
performance and efficiency. In context of hospitality industry there are different divisions such as
front office, housekeeping, finance, maintenance, human resources, IT and so on.

Marketing and Front Office Department- Front office people interact with guest and
maintain the data in a proper manner. They are the key persons who ensure to provide quality
service to customers ( Kiel, Arnold and Voigt, 2017). This information assist marketing division
to prepare effective strategies, develop campaign to increase in number of clients. Both of the
department of Midland hotel are interrelated with each other. Front office team posses the data
and provide it to marketers in order to promote their services, prepare customized email and
adopt appropriate advertisement strategies. Whereas marketing division help to attract the
consumers through effective strategies thus increases in number of bookings. Hence, there is
great association between both of the divisions within organization.
Housekeeping and Marketing Department- House keeping team ensure to provide better
and customised services to guest. They make arrangements as per the requirement of client in
order to retain them with company. While marketing team is responsible to promote services of
hotel at large level. They work to increase in the presence of entity at market place and get the
attention of more numbers of customers. In reference of Midland Hotel, it is monitored that there
is interrelationship between both of the divisions. House keeping staff of the midland hotel
provide the services to the customers which are issued by the marketing team. They use the
direction which are provided by the marketing department and help the company's marketing
team to make the growth in the market. It assist them to formulate personalized strategies,
campaigns to increase in number of customers. With this, they will have get competitive edge.
Thus, it is analysed that there is association between both divisions of company.
Finance and Marketing Department- Finance mangers mange the flow of funds within
organization. They are responsible to procure funds from varied sources such as equity, debt,
bank loans and so on. Further they allocated cash for various business activities and keep
appropriate control over flow of cash in company (Lee and Jung, 2016).
There is association between marketing and finance division of Midland Hotels. Marketing
managers of organization promote and advertise services through different mediums like online
platforms, advertisements and so on. It enhances sales and profit margin of company that is the
main aim of finance manger. While finance division provide required funds to marketers to carry
out different promotional activities. Therefore, there are strong interrelation between both areas
of entity.

IT and Marketing - IT department is one of the significant department of a company. IT
mangers evolve various innovative as well as unique techniques to provide efficient services to
customers. They execute extensive research to develop advance approaches to distinguish
organization in market. Both department of Midland Hotel are interrelated with each other. IT
team of entity develops latest approaches to promote services at wide scale. As per the current
trend marketers undertakes digital platforms to enhance their presence at market place. IT
managers prepare effective and user friendly websites and perform SEO function to improve its
ranking. With this, marketers mangers are able to attract more number of customers towards the
services of hotel. Hence this association help the company to increase its presence in market and
simultaneously inflate its sales as well as profit margin.
Out of above discussion, it is monitored that there are effective association between
different departments such as front office, housekeeping, finance, marketing and so on in
hospitality industry. This interrelation help to better services & increase efficiency of
organization (Neuninger, 2017).
TASK 2
P3) Discuss the way as per which different organizations of hospitality industry execute the
marketing mix to achieve business objectives
Marketing mix is the combination of different elements that are combined together in
order to promote a product or service in an efficient manner. It helps to develop unique selling
point( USP) of a company thus differentiate it from competitors. It is a widely used framework
that help to increase in sales and profitability of organization. There are four traditional
components of this tool such as Product, Price, Place, Promotion. Some additional elements like
People, Physical equipment, Process are consider as a part of expanded marketing mix. This
framework is carry out in service industry in order to garb the attention of customers and to get
competitive edge. Midland Hotel adopts expanded marketing mix to promote their services at
market place. Comparison is undertake between the marketing mix of Midland Hotel and Cedar
Court Hotels is discussed below:
Basis Midland Hotel Cedar Court Hotel
Product It provides services such as
rooms, food and beverages,
It renders various amenities
like house keeping services,

conferences facilities to meet
with the need of customers.
Apart from this they provide
modified services to cater the
needs of high income segment
of guest (Pooler, 2018).
guest room, food and
beverages, Banquet room and
many more to clients. With
this they are able to satisfy
customers.
Price It comprises the price of room,
foods, beverage and other
additional amenities they
provide. Managers of
company use competitive
pricing strategy in order to get
more number of clients/
It determine price as per the
market situation such as in
peak season it charge higher
price and in off season reduce
make modification
accordingly. Thus they
determine pricing strategy
after due consideration to get
competitive edge.
Place It is situated and provide
services to the customers of
UK. It has started with the aim
to render effective services to
the people of London.
It demonstrates the location of
organization from where it
cater the neds of customers.
Cedar Court is a UK based
hotels that has some branches
within country.
Promotion It used various way to promote
services. AS per the current
trend they more rely on digital
platforms such as social media
marketing, content marketing
and so on. In addition they also
use advertisement, brochure in
order to enhance market
Company is using new and
evolve techniques of
promotion. Website of hotel is
user friendly where customers
can easily get the necessary
information and make
bookings. They are executing
SEO techniques in order top

presence. Marketing mangers
provide effective after sales
services. They get in touch
with guest by providing them
greetings on various occasions.
improve website ranking in
search engine. In addition
marketer provides compliment
or additional services to guest.
People There are qualified staff
members who ensure to
provide better services to
clients. Mangers select suitable
candidate for the vacant
position within company.
Apart from this they organize
necessary training sessions for
workforce to improve their
efficiency.
It has efficient front office
staff who interact with guest
and emphasis to make long
term relationship with them. In
addition they also posses good
housekeeping staff to ensure
proper cleanliness within hotel.
Physical Equipment It comprise all the tangibles
that are visible to customers
such as staff member, room,
amenities provide by hotel.
The hotel posses various
physical resources like interior,
bills. It also comprise guest,
conference rooms, furniture
and other facilities that are
visible to customers.
Process The process of hotel is
efficient and designed for the
convenience of guest. They
provide facilities of online
booking and digital payment to
avoid the hassles of long
queue. Further, it ensure to
provide good front office
facilities to guest.
This Hotel provides effective
online services to customers
not only to book the room but
also manage their stay. They
render convenient check in an
d check out facility for the ease
of guest. In addition they
render better house keeping
services to clients.

In above discussion comparative analysis of marketing mix is carried out of two
companies of hospitality sector ( Roy and Schramm, 2020). In case of service industry(hotels)
expanded marketing mix is carried out that contains three additional elements such as People,
Physical Evidence, Process. It is a strategic tool that is used to communicate with target segment
and promote the services at market place.
TASK 3
P4) Make a basic marking plan for a hospitality organisation in order to meet marketing
objectives.
Marketing plan refers to operational document that outline the marketing strategies. This
is used by an organisation in order to accomplish organisational goal within stipulated time
( Seyfert and Roberge, 2016). In which it includes various the function and components to carry
out marking plan such as marketing research, platform selection etc. In order to meet marketing
objective, a effective marking plan consist following steps which are discussed below:
Company overview-
Midland is a UK based Hotel that provides luxury amenities to guest in order to delight
them. It was first started in the year of 1903 to primarily cater the need of rail travellers from
London.
Mission and vision-
To provide superior services to guest to deliver them value and impressive experiences.
Marketing objectives-
 To promote services at wider level to increase in number of customers and enhance the
presence of organization at market place.
 To increase in the number of booking by 20% in upcoming year To make a better image brand in the context of international market within next financial
year by increasing advertisement to 50%.
STP approach
This is the most effective and crucial tool used by researcher in order to conduct
marketing activities in appropriate manner. The word STP stands for segmentation, targetting
and positioning which means to segment potential or target consumers by maintaining the

position at marketplace (Solimun and Fernandes, 2018). In context of selected firm, it is very
important for management team to target appropriate market for their new offerings in order to
gain maximum outcomes. The STP approach for chosen company are as follows:
Segmentation: In this the market is divided into some segments on the basis of some
factors or characteristics which are going to be discussed as follows:
Geographical: in this the market is distributed on the basis of geographical location. In
context of hotel midland, management team of company segments consumers mainly who
belong to urban areas of Ireland and UK.
Demographic: In case of demographics, firm segments consumers according to some
characteristics such as gender, income, age and so on. In context of selected firm they are more
focused towards Ireland and UK. The both cities posses income more than euro 5,000 and those
lies to age group 19-55.
Targeting- In this factor, the management team targeted those individuals who are
categorised by management team of firm. In relevance to chosen firm they are more focused to
target urban areas of UK who have income level more than euro 5000.
Positioning- It tends to image of company that is formed by marketers in front of
consumers. In relevance to Midland hotel, they offer their services through online, offline or
website mode in order to maintain position. In current time, people are more online on social
media which provides awareness to consumers towards services offered by management team.
SWOT analysis-
This is carry out in order to identify the internal strength and weakness along with
external opportunity and threat of firm ( Yuruk-Kayapinar, 2020. This will helps management
team to form effective strategies and plan according to situation. The following SWOT analysis
is carried out in context of Midland:
Strength weaknesses
 Excellent accommodation quality
offered by Midland.
 Varieties in facilities such as Morden
Gyms, swimming pool, Jacuzzi etc.
attract huge number of people.
 The cost price of booking this hotel is
much higher compare to others.
 The presence of social media is not
good not, they need to adopt some
digital marketing methods for

promotion.
Opportunity Threats
 Opportunity to expand their business
other country also which increase their
sales ration and profit margins.
 The entrance of new rivalries is the
biggest threats.
 Coronavirus leave a huge impact on
hospitality industry due to
implementation of Lock-down or
restriction.
Marketing Budget-
In order to producing any plan, it is important to aware about budget that is required for
the execution of plan. Finance and audit team manages this function, they prepare notes of
transaction on daily basis:
Particulars Amount % in total expenses
Marketing research cost 500 23.92
Marketing training cost 200 9.57
Social media marketing 350 16.75
Brand related expenses 250 11.96
Marketing cost of employees 300 14.35
Marketing analytics cost 370 17.70
Other overhead related to
marketing 120 5.74
2090 100
Evaluation of marketing plan
The strategy for making the marketing plan is by using the lower price to the incentives
and increase the size of the customer. And introduce the new package which help in increasing
the sales. In last introduce a sponsorship at international markets. With the help of digital
technologies, like Facebook and providing free services to the client help the company to
increase the growth and achieve the objectives.