Hospitality Marketing Report: Hilton Group's Strategies and Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of marketing strategies within the hospitality industry, using the Hilton Group as a case study. It begins with an introduction to marketing concepts, including the importance of understanding customer needs and market segmentation. The report then delves into the influence of the marketing environment, examining both internal and external factors that impact the industry. It explores the marketing mix, including product, price, place, and promotion strategies, and discusses the role of promotional tools such as advertising and public relations. The importance of market research in the service industry is highlighted, along with the suitability of different media for marketing products and services. The report also discusses the rationale for developing different market segments. Finally, the report concludes with an overview of the implementation of a marketing plan. The assignment also includes an analysis of pricing strategies, the role of advertising campaigns, and the relevance of market research to the operations of the service industry. The report covers elements of the marketing mix, pricing strategies, promotional tools, and the implementation of a marketing plan.

Marketing in Hospitality

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Concepts of marketing......................................................................................................3
1.2 Influence of marketing environment................................................................................5
1.3 Relevance of customer market in industry.......................................................................6
1.4 Rationale for developing different segments of market...................................................7
TASK 2 ........................................................................................................................................7
2.1 Importance of elements of marketing mix........................................................................7
2.2 Pricing strategies and policies related to industry............................................................8
TASK 3 .........................................................................................................................................9
3.1 Role of promotional mix..................................................................................................9
3.2 Advertising campaign planning for operation in service industry...................................9
3.3 Role of public relation and sales promotion in promotional efforts...............................11
TASK 4 ........................................................................................................................................11
4.1 Relevance of market research to operations of service industry....................................11
4.2 Market research for appropriate product or service.......................................................11
4.3 Suitability of different media for marketing of product or service................................12
4.4 Implementation of marketing plan.................................................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is a tool which is essential for every organisation in order to ensure
sustainability and success of any industry related to service including hotels. It is necessary for
managers to do market research and identify it to formulate marketing strategy for the firm. The
general function of marketing in hospitality is to determine and understand the need of
customers, recognise market segments and developing the best marketing tool in order to
increase market share (Bowie and Buttle, 2011). In the present assignment, chosen company is
Hilton group of hotels which is a multinational hospitality firm. The report covers internal and
external factors of business environment and their influence on industry. Marketing mix and
promotional mix are discussed in which different pricing strategies and roles of promotional
tools are evaluated. Assistance of effective advertisement and creative planning in order to attract
and retain customers is defined in the report as well.
TASK 1
1.1 Concepts of marketing
In hotel industry, marketing plays an important role in meeting the requirements of
customers. Number of products and services are the part of Hilton group of hotels in the form of
accommodation, dinning, restaurant, leisure, etc. In order to increase the efficiency of services,
concept of regional marketing has been used in the objectives and plans to be accomplished by
company. As per marketing myopia theory, marketing managers must modify services and
products by identifying the present marketing trends. It is the reason of growth of hotel industry.
Different techniques to retain customers are used by Hilton group of hotels in order to gain
loyalty of consumers and ensure sustainability and growth of the firm (Bowie and et. al., 2016).
There are 5 concepts of marketing which are as follows:
Product concept: In this concept, marketing strategies are used for continuous
improvement in product to meet the needs of customers.
Production concept: It focuses on improving distribution and production efficiency.
According to this concept, customers favour those products which are highly affordable.

Marketing concept: It is customer oriented concept. In it, firms focuses on offering right
product to its customers in order to achieve higher sales and profits.
Selling concept: In this concept, management emphasizes on generating sales
transactions instead of developing profitable, long term customer relationship.
Societal marketing concept: Main aim of this concept is deliver value to customers for
the well being of society rather then earn profits.
Marketing process
The process of marketing consist of ways that creates value for the customers to fulfil
their needs. In this, situation is evaluated to determine opportunities, strategy is framed for value
preposition, strategic decisions are made, plan is executed & results are monitored. Mentioned
below are the steps of marketing process:
Situation analysis: Environmental and situational analysis is done in order to determine
marketing opportunities, to understand own capability of firm and environment in which
company is operating. In this analysis, 5C's are analysed, i.e., customers, company,
collaborators, competitors and climate. PEST and SWOT analysis are also conducted for
situational analysis of the market.
Marketing strategy: After conducting environmental analysis and determining marketing
opportunities, strategic plan is formulated to pursue these opportunities. It includes target
marketing and market segmentation.
Marketing mix decision: The decisions related to marketing mix are the controllable
strategies which affirms mix that gives desirable results of the selected market. In this step
elaborated tactical judgements are made for the manageable parameters of marketing mix. It
involves 4P's of marketing mix,i.e., product, price, place, promotion.
Implementation and control: At last, marketing plan is executed and results of efforts
are monitored to set marketing mix as per the market changes.

Marketing process and concepts are important for Hilton group in order to satisfy the
needs of customers and increase the efficiency of service so that, firm can achieve higher
profitability.
1.2 Influence of marketing environment
All the firms operate in marketing environment. It consists of macro and micro
environment in which all the external and internal factors are included that influence the working
of business. In Hilton group, it is necessary for marketing managers to consider both the factors
for clear understanding of market in which they offer their products and services. The
components of marketing environment include competition, changing preferences of consumers,
regulatory, political and legal environment, budget, organisation's resources, current trends, etc.
All these factors highly influence the working of hotel industry as certain elements can restrict
the marketing activities of firm. So, marketers need to analyse all the environmental forces
carefully in order to attain growth and success of company.
Business Environment: It refers to all the external and internal forces that affects the
working of business. External environment includes micro and macro environment. These are the
uncontrollable factors of the market and includes suppliers, customers, competitors,
technological, political, legal factors etc. Internal factors are controllable factors includes labour,
resources, culture, vision, mission etc. Both the factors influence the functions of business.
By conducting SWOT analysis, internal environment of of business can be analysed. It
determines the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the firm.
PEST analysis used for the scanning of environment. It is a strategic tool used to
understand business position market decline and growth, direction of activities etc. it includes
political, economic, social and technological factors. All these factors affect directly or indirectly
to the firm.
Political factors: Laws, policies, trade restrictions by government highly impacts thye
working of hospitality industry.
Economic factors: The factor such as interest and exchange rates, inflation, economic
growth greatly influence the operations and decisions of Hilton hotel.

Social factors: These includes cultural aspects, population, age distribution, growth rate
etc. High trends influence the demand of Hilton hotel products and how it operates.
Technological factors: It includes technological changes, automation etc. these can
identify barriers to entry and affect outsourcing decisions of Hilton group of hotels.
Both macro and micro environment influence the working of business as certain factors
can restrict the marketing activities of the firm. So, considering both the factors is necessary for
Hilton group of hotels.
1.3 Relevance of customer market in industry
Customers are main stakeholders of hotel industry as they are the key components for
success of firm. Consumer culture focuses on psychological and sociological influence of their
buying behaviour. In Hilton group of hotels, it is a function of external environmental factors and
personal influences that show the behavioural patterns of customers in hotel industry. The
attainment of trade off among competitors and customer orientation assists company to
accomplish the desired results (Chan and Guillet, 2011). Therefore, various hotels are trying to
attain a balance between these two in order to gain success. Value chain concept is also
important to maintain customer relations for long term which have been adopted by Hilton group
of hotels. It delivers maximum value to the customers at reasonable cost.
Consumer markets: These are the markets where customer buy product and services for
intake, not for further sale. These markets are categorised into retail, consumer, transportation
and food and beverage products.
Market segmentation: It is defined as a process of dividing whole market into smaller
homogeneous groups consists of potential customers with same demand, taste and preference. It
is a small unit in large market comprising of similar individuals. It helps Hilton group in
understanding the needs of customers and in creating new consumers and retaining old ones. It
provides opportunities to growth and assist utilization of resources for producing right product.
Targeting: It is defined as a process of determining most attractive segments, generally
the ones which are more profitable for Hilton group. With the help of marketing plan and
strategies, firm target their products and services among various segments.

Positioning: It is the last stage of STP cycle and is a business oriented stage where firm
assess competitive advantage & position itself in the minds of customers. It assists Hilton hotel
to develop perception of product in the minds of consumers.
Segmentation, targeting and positioning helps in creating a positive image of products
and services of Hilton hotel in the minds of customers. The company focuses on high class
segments and offers premium services for those.
1.4 Rationale for developing different segments of market
Market segmentation is a process of differentiating major market segments or the firm in
small segments on the basis of common needs and characteristics. In Hilton hotel, the product
varieties and range includes different facilities, amenities, online services, benefits, rewards, etc.
are comes under its global brand. Per individual cost to stay one night also depends on the area
of hotel. Segmentation allows Hilton hotel to determine different groups in the market which
assists in developing marketing mix in order to meet the needs of various customers. It also
brings improvement to product differentiation which is done according to the requirements of
different group of consumers. Besides this, market segmentation enables Hilton group to change
the cost of products over a period of time, even if the demand is high or not.
TASK 2
2.1 Importance of elements of marketing mix
The goods and services of hospitality industry are inseparable and highly perishable in
nature. So, the marketing manager must provide due consideration in order to produce a unique
marketing mix combination which is appropriate to meet demands at different times. It is
necessary for Hilton hotel to pay attention towards unique selling point offered through different
goods and services while formulating a product. They commit to frame strategies by marketing
process and create concept as well as brand for themselves accordingly. Place defines how
service is actually delivered to customers which can be understood by the use of effective
distribution channels so that right services are delivered at correct time in order to ensure service
availability and customer convenience. Technology has played an important role in devising
profound change in hotel distribution (Kumar, 2010).
7P's of Marketing mix:

Product: Hilton hotel offers both tangible and intangible product which is valuable and
administer good perceived value to customers. For instance, hotel's core product is its rooms
where customers stay.
Price : Hilton hotel use premium pricing strategy of selling product to customers of upper
class. For example, hotel offers five and four star rooms to its customers and charge at premium
level as it also sells some intangible benefits such as luxury, high status.
Place: Hilton hotel serves its customers worldwide. Its distribution strategy rely on IT and
internet. For example, official website of firm by which it supplied its services such as room
booking, events planning etc.
Promotion: Hilton hotel promote its services by using various promotional tools. For
example, company promotes itself through advertisement by internet and website.
People: Service is delivered through people. Hotel is much known for its food as service
is administer by its staff.
Process: It is required to perform the service availability. By process, service offering is
more used and impart value. It ensures to provide quality services and meet standards.
Physical evidence: As services are intangible in nature, Hilton hotel also deliver tangible
element with the service in order to create good customer experience.
2.2 Pricing strategies and policies related to industry
As per the pricing theory, it can be demand, competition or cost based. This element
assists to set up the objective to be accomplished by hotel in order to gain high market share than
competitors. Demand oriented pricing policies and competitive pricing strategies have been used
by Hilton group of hotels. Price adjustments are done according to the other hotels present
around it. The policies of pricing are based on supply and demand. Competitive scenario forces
industry to follow competitive pricing policies in order to make balance with norms. Increasing
competition and seasonal fluctuation assist in undertaking strategic and tactical pricing decisions.
In such situation, ethical norms are followed by the hotels while charging customers which is
important in brand loyalty.

Pricing policy: Cost oriented pricing policy is used by Hilton hotel where it seeks to
maximise its profits or cover cost and attain break even point. Prices are set after taking into
consideration the profit objective of the firm that covers the cost incurred in production. It is
important for Hilton hotel as it cannot make profits until it covers cost. If cost go up, it is easy for
the firm to adjust prices. By cost oriented pricing, customer can easily assess to services and
efficient network access for service providers and competitors. It helps in sustainable market
expansion and optimum allocation of economic resources. The manager of Hilton hotel sets its
prices in such a way that it covers the cost as well as earn higher profits and revenues. Discount
pricing is used in order to attract large number of customers and attain the goals and objectives
of the organisation.
TASK 3
3.1 Role of promotional mix
Promotional mix plays an important role in the hotel industry. It includes undertaking of
various efforts to take product from business to customer desk. For this, various strategies have
been formulated and undertaken by Hilton group of hotels. It introduced new fusion menu as a
part of branding component of promotional mix. It includes introduction of variety of dishes with
new ideas (Li and Wang, 2010). It assists in increasing the revenue of firm. Also, it uses online
marketing in order to promote itself. Marketing manager of Hilton hotel needs to design
appropriate promotional mix in order to promote its products and services effectively to the
customers.
3.2 Advertising campaign planning for operation in service industry
Planning plays an important role in hotel industry. Advertising campaign promotes an
new pillow that the Hilton hotel introduce their products in different ways such as sales
promotion, sponsorship and other techniques. Advertising assists the firm to increase its
promotion for whole business quality. In Hilton group of hotels, planning of producing, selling
and buying are organised by efficient ways.
 Determine the new product such as Pillow and checking through mobile phone by who
will buy, what it is, how much amount they will pay and its cost to produce, where it
compare with similar product available and why customer demand exist for the good.

 Explaining market place rationale for distinction between company's product with
competitors for Hilton group.
Advertising Campaign:
Group of advertisement introduce their new product in market place so in this they
require to use different kinds of promotional mix such as advertisement, sponsorship and other
techniques. of similar nature are includes in advertising campaign. Same themes and messages
are shared by marketers at various types of media at fixed times. Time frames are specifically
defined and fixed in advertising campaigns. Before making an advertisement campaign, it is
necessary for the marketing managers of Hilton hotel to know the objectives of advertising
campaign. The objective is:
 To aware people about its new pillow.
 Convince them to purchase
 Make product available to customers
The process of advertising campaign are as follows:
Research: Marketing managers of Hilton hotel conduct market research for its pillow
product which they want to be advertised in order to find out the demand and competitors.
Know target audience: It is necessary to know the target audience for its product such as
Pillow and checking through mobile phone. By this step, they know the people who are going to
purchase their products. The target audience of Hilton hotel is upper class people.
Setting the budget: Budget is set by the marketing managers of Hilton hotel for
advertisement of their Pillow and checking through mobile phone product. The budget for
advertising campaign is:
Advertisement source Budget
Media 35000
Presentations 20000
Paper 15000
Total 70000
Deciding proper theme: Marketers of Hilton hotel decide the theme of campaign such as
graphics, colours, voices and music to be used, advertisement design, way of delivering message,
language used, jingles etc.

Selection of media: In this step, appropriate media is selected for the advertisement of
Pillow and checking through mobile phone. Hilton hotel used internet, television, presentations,
newspapers etc. to promote its product.
Media scheduling: Managers of Hilton hotel done scheduling of of advertisement
appropriately so that Ad will be audible, read and visible to the potential customers at right time.
Execution of campaign: Finally, the firm implement its campaign and feedbacks are
taken to the customers of Hilton hotel.
3.3 Role of public relation and sales promotion in promotional efforts
Promotion plays an important role in marketing of products and services of Hilton hotel.
Public relation and sales promotion helps in increasing brand awareness and builds profits and
sales. It assists in attracting customers and encourage them to buy products. Public relation helps
in building beneficial relationship between public and organisation. It is the way by which firms
and individuals interact through media. Promotional tools are used by every company in order to
provide information about product and assists in increasing sales of the firm.
TASK 4
4.1 Relevance of market research to operations of service industry
Appropriate and planned market research plays an important role in knowing the services
provided by rival firms. It acts as source of innovation to the introduction of new services and
bring change in present ones. Research is conducted in every hotel industry by using market
information system (Mok, Sparks and Kadampully, 2013). It assists in forecasting and
identifying current market demands. Research includes collecting and analysing data in order to
come at conclusion & make appropriate evaluation. This concept has understood by various
hotels including Hilton and is performed by corporate marketing services. The objective is to
administer better management of services and develop good understanding about customers and
market. It assists in positioning of services by demand forecasting. It is a tool to influence
customer perception towards products and services.
4.2 Market research for appropriate product or service
Market research can be conducted to determine the response of customers towards the
menu introduced by Hilton hotel to attract them. Primary research techniques can be undertaken
on customers by conducting interview and filling questionnaire. Feedbacks are received by the

firm through two way communication. Apart from this, secondary research can also be
conducted by using past records. The sources used for this are journals, articles, government
publications etc. Data analysis is done by using charts and graphs prepared from respondent's
feedback and was analysed to find out the response towards new menu.
Market research:
Overview of Research: In the modern scenario, it become important for every business
organisation to effectively satisfy their customer. Companies do different efforts in order to meet
the dynamic requirement of their target consumer. Thus, the primary responsibility of enterprise
is to identify what actually buyers want and provide them with the same. In this report, the
provided company is Hilton Hotel which is among the most popular hotel of UK. Thus, the Hotel
is require to offer such services to its client which satisfy them the most and for this they need to
do proper market research regarding the dynamic needs and preferences of purchaser.
Market Research compromises of Five steps which includes: Research Objective: Their main aim is to offer such services to its consumer that gives
them higher satisfaction level. And from company's point of view satisfied client gives
them the advantage of higher competitiveness level. Literature Review: This section includes in-depth investigation of researcher regarding
the particular product or service in the entire market place. Research Methodology: It gives direction to researcher during the formulation of various
activities related to research and also guide in drawing valid result or judgement. Data Analysis: In this, researcher formulate outcome on the basis of data(
primary or secondary) used by them in their following research.
 Recommendation: On the basis of their conclusion, they can find out the ways in which
they lack and need improvement so to achieve both long and short term of referred
company effectively.
4.3 Suitability of different media for marketing of product or service
Different forms of media are used by Hilton hotel in order to achieve excellent results of
their marketing efforts. It is basically in the form of television, print media such as magazines,
radio, newspapers and posters. Use of these varies from market, product and service under
consideration (Nunkoo, Gursoy and Ramkissoon, 2013). For instance, if Hilton wants to lure to

global customers then internet media is best and is used all over the world. Print media may not
do this. If it wants to promote new website launch then internet would be the best way as
compared to other sources.
4.4 Implementation of marketing plan
Marketing plan acts as a blueprint of firm's sales strategy. It is a sequential process to
delivering marketing strategy. It is a detailed documents which includes several activities,
deadlines, budgets, workforce allocation that assists in identifying marketing budgets and
activities, meeting marketing objectives and bring strategy. Marketing plan includes four steps:
 Develop marketing plan
 Implement strategies
 Evaluation of strategies
 Refining marketing plan
These steps helps in developing marketing strategies and implementation of plan.
Formulation of strategies is necessary before implement plan.
CONCLUSION
As per the above mentioned report, it has been concluded that it is necessary for the
managers to do market research and identify it to formulate marketing strategy for the firm.
Internal and external factors influence the working of the company. Concepts of marketing mix
helps in determining pricing strategies and formulating appropriate strategies. Marketing plan
helps the organisation in proper implementation of strategies. Promotional mix plays an
important role in promoting the products and services of the firm which helps in increasing the
revenues and profit of an organisation.

REFERENCES
Books and Journal

s
Bowie, D. and Buttle, F., 2011. Hospitality marketing: principles and practice. Routledge.
Bowie, D. and et. al., 2016. Hospitality marketing. Taylor & Francis.
Chan, N. L. and Guillet, B. D., 2011. Investigation of social media marketing: how does the hotel
industry in Hong Kong perform in marketing on social media websites?. Journal of
Travel & Tourism Marketing. 28(4). pp.345-368.
Kumar, P., 2010. Marketing of hospitality and tourism services. Tata McGraw Hill Education.
Li, X. and Wang, Y., 2010. Evaluating the effectiveness of destination marketing organisations'
websites: Evidence from China. International journal of tourism research. 12(5).
pp.536-549.
Mok, C., Sparks, B. and Kadampully, J., 2013. Service quality management in hospitality,
tourism, and leisure. Routledge.
Nunkoo, R., Gursoy, D. and Ramkissoon, H., 2013. Developments in hospitality marketing and
management: Social network analysis and research themes. Journal of Hospitality
Marketing & Management. 22(3). pp.269-288.