Hospitality Marketing Essentials: Analysis of Crowne Plaza Strategies

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This report provides a detailed analysis of marketing strategies within the hospitality industry, using Crowne Plaza as a case study. It begins with an introduction to marketing concepts and then explores the roles and responsibilities of the marketing function within Crowne Plaza, including its relationship with other departments like R&D, finance, front office, and quality control. The report then delves into the marketing mix, examining product, place, price, promotion, people, process, and physical evidence within the context of the hospitality sector. Finally, the report discusses the development of a marketing plan. The report highlights key aspects such as customer relationship management, advertising, networking, pricing strategies, and the importance of aligning marketing efforts with overall business objectives, offering valuable insights into the practical application of marketing principles in the hospitality industry.
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Hospitality Marketing
Essentials
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1 ...........................................................................................................................................3
P1 Roles and responsibilities of the marketing function in Crowne Plaza.................................3
P2 Roles and responsibilities of marketing related to other functions of the organisation.........5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................7
P3 Marketing mix of the hospitality industry in achieving business objectives.........................7
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................10
P4 Marketing plan.....................................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13
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INTRODUCTION
The marketing is the process in which individuals and groups obtain what they want
through creating, offering and exchanging goods and services (Huang and et.al., 2016). It
includes the process of planning and executing distribution, pricing, promotions, exchanging and
maintaining demand and supply. Hospitality industry is growing and with it the role of marketing
with the innovative solutions in the operations of the organisation. The organisation chosen for
this report is Crowne Plaza which was founded in 1983 in UK and has 3600 hotels. The Crowne
Plaza London is the style 4 star hotel. The hotel is located with direct links to London rails,
Gatwick airport and gives business and travel experience with luxury accommodation
convenience to the guests. The report includes the roles and responsibilities of different
marketing functions, relationship between marketing and other functions, importance of the
marketing mix and development of marketing plan.
TASK 1
P1 Roles and responsibilities of the marketing function in Crowne Plaza
Marketing
Marketing is the process of managing profitable customer relationships. It is a give and
take relationship where buyers and suppliers are benefited for the marketing activities. The
twofold objective of marketing is to attract new customers by giving them superior options and
satisfying the existing customers of the organisation (Al-Ababneh, 2017). The most important
functions of a marketing department in an organisation is research, planning, development,
promotions, etc. The hospitality industry will have the marketing department with the following
roles and responsibilities.
The roles of a marketing function of Crowne Plaza
Role are the duties of the marketing department which are are obliged to do to improve
the business functions.
Conducts marketing research- The market research is important for the marketing
department to have a clear understanding of the behaviour of customers. It helps the
organisations in the hospitality industry to identify the trends in the market, helping them
to create niche market, studying the moves of the competitors to develop efficient
products and services, use of marketing strategies, etc. The objective of the research for
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Crowne Plaza is based on the study of Gastronomy and presenting it to the guests in the
best method. They use the buying habits of the guests as their method of conducting the
research.
Developing the marketing strategy- It is the role of the marketing department to
develop the strategies of the organisation. The marketing of Crowne Plaza focuses on
developing the strategies by defining the promotion of goods and services to the guests
with the motivation of satisfying the needs of the guests and increasing the sales and
getting competitive edge over customers.
Customer relationship management- It champions in managing the relationship with
the guests. Crowne Plaza collects information of the guests from the organisations
database to increase the satisfaction of the guests. The marketing department understand
the importance of long term relationship of the guests in Crowne Plaza and helps them in
getting good experience (Sipe and Testa, 2018).
Expansion, brand name and growth- The organisations make plan for the long term
success and the most important factor for that is focussing on the expansion, brand name
and growth of products and services. The marketing strategy of Crowne Plaza focuses on
increasing the market share in expanding the hotels in many locations and deciding the
customers they can target.
The responsibilities of the marketing function of Crowne Plaza
The responsibilities of the marketing department is based on the process of connecting
the marketing strategy with the business strategy.
Advertising- The most important responsibility of the marketing function is to grow the
customers by effective advertising of products and services. The marketing department of
Crowne Plaza uses the best tool to advertise through concentrating on online and offline
advertisement and it will give more profits to the organisation in the long term. An
effective advertisement is when the reach is in line on many and there are many form of
advertising like local advertisement and online advertisement. Crowne Plaza uses
brochure for getting more business and it should reach the right customer to increase
profits (Secchi, Roth and Verma, 2019).
Networking and distribution- Networking is the process of increasing the customers of
the organisation and Crowne Plaza focuses on increasing the business which will help in
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getting more customers. Networking is the most important marketing strategy used by the
organisations where it becomes easy for the hotels to distribute the customers in different
countries. The marketing department has the information of the guests and they analyse it
with different tools that will help them to make report for the understanding of the needs
of customers (Lee, 2016).
Pricing- The pricing of the services provided by the organisations in hospitality industry
will be based on the needs of the customers and their willingness to pay. Crowne Plaza
spends money in the promotional events which are conducted in their hotels so in
involves costs for the organisation. They have 4 star hotels and charges medium to high
prices depending on the service requirement of the guests. The pricing is the most
important strategy of the marketing department as the price of goods and service
provided by the organisations help the guests to make decision. There are many amenities
provided by Crowne Plaza and they charge different prices for the customers. The
customers are also bifurcated into B2B and B2C.
P2 Roles and responsibilities of marketing related to other functions of the organisation
Marketing in the Hospitality is the process of influencing customers to the services
provided by the organisations. They include promotions which will attract customers and
increases the performance of the organisation. The different functional departments of the
organisation are related to each other. Crowne Plaza is one of the biggest hotel chains of
the world which are operating in many countries and have 4 star hotels which are
affordable by the upper middle class and professionals. The brand is focussing on
promoting the hotels in different countries and have many departments which functions
together to achieve the goals of the organisation. The business strategy of Crowne Plaza is
connected to the different strategy to each department and they are inter related by the
marketing department.
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Figure 1Marketing and different departments
Marketing ad R&D department- The research department in the service sector is
important for understanding the behaviour of customers (Cheng and Wong, 2015). The
most important marketing function is the research without which the business cannot
expand and grow. The marketing department helps the R&D in deciding on what topic to
research. It helps in getting the relevant information to the organisation which is
important for the business processes of the marketing department.
Crowne Plaza decides the promotional strategy which can increase the sales of the hotels and
R&D department needs to analyse effectiveness of the promotional activities. They research on
the capacity of the rooms required by the guests, the amenities they want, package which are
trending in the market and the online media to increase the sales.
Marketing and finance department- The marketing department is connected with the
finance department because they require the resources to plan the activities, research,
evaluation of marketing activities and monitoring the effectiveness. Marketing function
of the organisation cannot work effectively with lack of communication with the finance
department. The finance department makes the scope of the activities of the marketing
department and allocate the resources so achieve profits (Baharin and Hanafi, 2018).
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The marketing department of Crowne Plaza is helping the finance department as many events are
conducted in hotel which requires money and they need to make the expansion strategies which
requires investment in different location which is costly. The management of money by finance
department is important for the organisation which requires communication of marketing
department.
Marketing and front office department- The role of marketing department focuses on
increasing the satisfaction of the guests. The front office department is to solve the
problems of the guests, they want to know the availability of rooms, the services
provided, the package and other things which influencers the sales and satisfaction of
customers. The marketing department helps front office department in making a plan of
what to explain to the guests and the strategies to attract them.
The front office department of Crowne Plaza is connected to the house keeping department and
they are required to solve the issues of the guests. They get the queries from the customers who
want to have the experience of the services of Crowne Plaza. The marketing department make
strategies and communicate it to front office department where they can get to know the benefits
of staying in the hotels. They are focussed on increasing the marketing efforts of the organisation
(Melissen and Sauer, 2018).
Marketing and quality department- The quality department focuses on increasing the
satisfaction of customers by understanding the quality needs. The guests wants the
services to have better quality because they are paying for the experience. The marketing
department will identify the required services of the organisation which will attract
customers and how they can evolve the marketing strategies to achieve it. The marketing
department will motivate the quality department to serve the best services to the guests
and make it the USP.
The quality department of Crowne Plaza focuses on the maintaining the high quality of the
equipments, tools, furniture, food, etc. The marketing department use the quality focus in their
promotional strategy and communicate it to customers so they need to have a check on the
quality provided. The provision is to be made and the hotel manager check the room when the
guests leave and when they enter the hotel. The quality services are given in Crowne Plaza. The
marketing department check the quality and monitors the functions of the quality department.
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TASK 2
P3 Marketing mix of the hospitality industry in achieving business objectives.
The marketing mix helps the organisation in planning the marketing strategies for
the achievement of the goals of an organization (Bavik, 2016). The service organisation use
7 P's of marketing which is the most important tool to understand the need of customers
and make the strategies accordingly. The marketing mix used by different organisation will
help them compare the functions of marketing.
Marketing Mix Hotels Entertainment
Product- The tangible goods
and intangible services are
bundle of utilities provided by
the organisation (Zobnina and
Rozhkov, 2018).
The services provided by
hotels are rooms, restaurants
and bars, local areas, meetings
and events, fitness, etc. The
USP of the services provided
are that they give good
experience to the guests. They
give the experience of 5 star
and 7 star hotels in 4 star with
affordable prices.
They give entertainment
services to the guests and the
focus is on satisfying the needs
of the guests. They have
products like cinemas, parks,
circus and services to attract
customers.
Place- It is the contact with
customers where they can
balance the demand and
supply.
The location is the most
important strategy of Hotels
and they make it near to other
services which are important to
the guests like rail, airport and
important places of UK. The
location affects decision of
customers because travelling to
other places becomes costly
from hotels. The location will
influence the guests because
they want to have a good
Entertainment services are
placed at the prime locations
which have an impact on the
sales. The logistics, safety and
security, easy to travel is the
most important factors to
decide the places.
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experience of hotels.
Price- The pricing strategy
used by the organisation
depends on profit margins
they want to have and
satisfying the needs of
customers.
The prices of hotels of Crowne
Plaza is affordable to the upper
middle class. There is a
difference in pricing depending
on the services provided by
them. The guests can choose
the package they want to have
to increase satisfaction (Poretti
and Blal, 2020).
The pricing strategy used by
Entertainment services is best
as they make good profits from
it. They analyse the cost and
make the analysis which is
according to the prices they
have for the guests.
Promotion- The strategy used
by the marketing department
to advertise and promote the
goods and services.
The online marketing is an
important strategy used by
hotels to pro motes their
services. They have contacts
with different agencies which
promote the hotels. The social
media is effective for attracting
customers (Kraynova, 2016).
There are many competitors
for entertainment services so
they use different marketing
strategies to promote. They
have customers who gets
discounts which helps them in
retaining and have long term
relationship with them.
Physical evidence- They are
the factors which are
important for the success of
the organisation and they
attract customers.
They are important for
increasing the satisfaction of
the guests. It includes public
relations of hotels with
customers. They provide good
quality things in the rooms and
maintains healthy
environment. The guests will
get the experience which is
important for the purchase
decision.
Entertainment services focuses
on understanding the needs of
customers and increases the
ROI by looking a small things
which can affect the decision
of customers.
People- They are the most Hotels makes plan to increase The employees of
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important assets of the
organisation and includes the
ones who gets affected by the
decisions.
the satisfaction of employees
by deciding the policies which
will make them happy. The
employees are skilled and
capable to understand the
organisational strategy and
they should understand the
motive of satisfying the guests.
entertainment services focuses
on achieving profits for the
organisation. They help the
guests in having good
experience and increases the
satisfaction.
Process- It includes steps to
achieve the goals of an
organisation (Westcott and
Bird, 2016).
The customer journey is
important for hotels because it
involves steps which helps the
guests from check in to check
out. The process is monitored
by reception, house keeping
department, quality, finance,
etc. The process should attract
the guests.
The customers of
entertainment services can
have the experience of a well
managed process in the hotels.
They fullfill the needs of the
guests.
TASK 3
P4 Marketing plan
The marketing plan is the form in which the strategies are included to expand the
business of the organisation by new products or services. It includes the strategies to increase
profits and analysis of market.
Crowne Plaza is a 4 star luxury hotel chains in UK which are focussed on the upper
middle class customers and the organisation is planning top expand the services in new segment
by expanding the product line.
SMART Objectives
(Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time Bound)
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The smart objective of Crowne Plaza is to introduce the high class gym services in the
existing market within 7 months in order to expand the services with increase in the profit
margins by 25%.
SWOT analysis
Swot analysis help the organisations to understand the internal position of the
organisation. It helps the organisations to understand the capabilities and help them in making
decisions.
Strength- Crowne Plaza has extended the brand name in many countries which is one of
the best 4 star hotels with good quality services to customers. The Crowne Plaza gym will
get the attraction of customers. They will not have to spend on promotion and can give
free trails to regular customers. They will have better facilities than competitors.
Weakness- The customers who want to spend money on their fitness can be in Crowne
Plaza gym as prices are high for upper class customers. The will be few locations where
the customers come for travelling.
Opportunities- The market share of Crowne Plaza will increase because of the new
facilities provided by them. They will be able to increase profits and the worth of mouth
will increase the brand name.
Threats- Crowne Plaza will face high competition in the market because there are many
private gyms which provides good services to customers at affordable prices. It will
involve the cost of the organisation so they should have to make strategies to increase
profits.
Porter's generic forces
Cost leadership- The cost leadership is the pricing strategy used by the organisations.
The customers are affected by the pricing and they make decisions based on that. Crowne
Plaza has a medium to high pricing according to the services required by customers.
Differentiation- It is the unique proposition of the organisation which helps them in
increasing the satisfaction of customers. Crowne Plaza will have differentiation by
providing the personal trainer who are qualifies and they will make diets according to the
weight reduction. They will have consultation services for customers.
Focus strategy- It is based on cost focus and differentiation focus. Crowne Plaza is
focussing on differentiation to give good experience to customers.
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The best strategy for Crowne Plaza hotels is focus on differentiation where they are
increasing the quality of services provided to customers.
Marketing mix
Product- The services provided b Crowne Plaza is high quality gym with many facilities
like spa, consultation, etc.
Price- They are a medium to high prices because of the brand image of Crowne Plaza.
They have a pricing strategy to attract customers because they will have the service when
the prices are high.
Promotions- They will promote it online with the hotels and customers can book the
services. They will promote with fitness people who will attract customers to have the
experience of the services.
Place- They will be at premium places to attract rich customers and to increase profits.
Budget
Monitoring and controlling
The organisation should monitor the operations to increase profits (Kloutsiniotis and
Mihail, 2020). Crowne Plaza has to monitor the performance of the organisation as it involves
cost and it is important for them to control the things which will reduce profits.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it is concluded that it is important for the organisations to have
marketing department because they make the strategies for the success of the organisations.
There are many functions of the marketing department in an organisation and they should
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