Hospitality Marketing Essentials: Travelodge and Holiday Inn Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of marketing strategies within the hospitality industry, focusing on Travelodge and Holiday Inn. It begins by outlining the key responsibilities of marketing functions, including service development, customer relationship management, market research, and promotional activities, and examines how Travelodge executes these strategies. The report then delves into the interrelation of macro and micro marketing environments, demonstrating how different marketing functions interact. Further, it explores the importance of interrelationships between marketing and other hospitality functions, such as housekeeping and front office, evaluating both positive and negative aspects of these connections. The report also examines how hospitality organizations, specifically Travelodge and Holiday Inn, apply their marketing mix, including product, price, place, promotion, people, process, and physical evidence. Finally, the report concludes with a detailed comparison of the marketing mix elements between Travelodge and Holiday Inn, highlighting their distinct approaches to the market.

Hospitality Marketing
Essentials

Table of Contents
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................4
P1 : Discuss Key responsibilities of Marketing Functions of Travelodge.............................4
M1: Interrelation of Macro and Micro marketing functions..................................................6
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................8
P2: What in the importance of interrelationships between marketing and other hospitality
functions.................................................................................................................................8
M2: Critically examine the positive and negative aspects of interrelation of different
functional units.......................................................................................................................9
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................10
P3 Ways in hospitality organisations apply their marketing mix.........................................10
M3 Different tactics applied by hospitality organisations....................................................12
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................13
P4 & M4...............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is one of the key principle of a company. Marketing can be described as
activities of an organisation which deals in buying, selling, distribution of products and
advertisement. A well build market strategy can help a business to grow in a rapid pace.
Marketing is also an important part in hospitality sector. The hospitality industry includes hotels,
theme parks, tourism and many more. This assignment will study the role of marketing in
Travelodge company and how the respective company practices marketing-mix in order to attain
company's objectives.
Travelodge is a well known private organisation which deals in hotels throughout the
globe. The hotel company operates in UK, Canada, United States, Asia and many more(Baker
and Magnini, 2016). It is the third largest hotel chain in UK with approx. 32,600 bedrooms till
2010. Additionally, it is the second largest in the budget hotels category.
TASK 1
P1 : Discuss Key responsibilities of Marketing Functions of Travelodge
The key responsibilities of marketing functions are mentioned below:
Travelodge Hotels Ltd.
It is a private company that works in hospitality and hotel sector with its headquarters in Thame,
UK. The company operates in various locations such as UK, Asia and many so.
Roles & Responsibilities How is it executed in the Travelodge
1.Service Development The services and the hotel accommodation of
Travelodge has been modified. Additionally,
the food quality of their restaurant has also
been enhanced in order to attract more
customers.
2. Customer Relationship To maintain a smooth and long lasting
relationship with the customers, various
loyalty programs have been introduced by
Travelodge (Cobanoglu and et. al., 2011).

3.Market Research The market research team helps in identifying
various factors that influence the price of the
respective company such as competitors,
customer's demands, etc.
4.Promotion Various promotional activities are conducted
by Travelodge such as hotel packages and
discount offers.
Service Development is one of the efficient yet costly method of marketing functions.
This element can help the respective organisation in engaging more customers and have a good
market value among the customers as well as competitors. The Marketing division of Travelodge
is implementing this strategy by renovating its existing rooms and updating well designed
themes(Desai, 2013). Additionally, it is also planning to introduce new upgraded amenities to
achieve high class guests.
Customer Relations helps the respective company in attaining smooth and long lasting
relationship with the guests. In order to achieve it, the respective division provides various
loyalty programs which helps the customers to earn points from their value spent and use those
points in their favours. These programs are beneficial for the clients as well as the company, as it
helps in achieving repetitive business from the clients.
Market Research is one of the essential element of marketing functions of Travelodge. It
helps in identifying factors that influence the price of the respective company. Some of the
factors that affects the customers decision making in perspective to the hotel are reputation,
service quality, hotel location, distance to airport and railways and many more(Florence and et.
al., 2015). Thus, the marketing research department of the concerned company conducts research
to figure out factors these factors along with other factors that can influence the sales such as fuel
price, type of customer i.e business travellers, leisure travellers,etc.
In order to sustain more customers and have a stable revenue, it is important for the
company to conduct such promotional activities which will keep a flow in the business.
Travelodge has come up with many discount offers and hotel packages that the customers can
reveal in their long stays. Such offers attains the customers attention and helps in increase the
number of occupancy or room sales.

M1: Interrelation of Macro and Micro marketing functions
Role Responsibilities Relation to Micro Marketing
Environment
Market Research The market research team helps in
calculating factors that influences
the sales and growth of
Travelodge.
In context of competitors which are
the micro elements of the marketing
environment, the research team
helps analysing the competitors of
the company. By such authentic
data, Travelodge decides the price
range of the products and services
offered which helps the organisation
to stay on top of their competitors.
Promotion The role and responsibilities of
promotions is to promote the
respective hotel services to the
target customers.
The micro element of marketing
environment which is customers
plays a significant in growth and
profit of the respective company.
Hence, by practising various
promotional activities, the
customers can be influenced in
favour of Travelodge(Guilding,
2014).
Customer Relation The Customer relation plays a
crucial role in building long lasting
relationships with the customers
which helps Travelodge in earning
future businesses.
Customer relation is important in
order to maintain a continuous
business and profit growth even
during the time of low occupancy
rates. This helps the company which
is the micro element of the
marketing environment in earning
more revenue.

Role Responsibilities Relation to Macro environment
Service Development The service or product
development is accountable for
updating the existing product
or services in order to satisfy
the customer's demands.
The economical growth has a
direct relation to more sales of
the hotel. Hence, by
developing the existing
services, Travelodge will be
able to attain more business
which will lead to the
economical growth of
UK(Hassanien and et. al.,
2010).
Promotion The promotion is responsible
for attracting more business
and targeting the audience.
Social element of macro
environment of marketing can
help in attaining better results
as it is consist of lifestyle,
taste, demographic of the
society. Hence, by
implementing a smart strategy
focusing on these factors, the
promotions can turn out more
positive.
Market Research
The market research helps in
calculating recent trends which
can be implemented by the
concerned organisation in
order to increase their revenue.
The technology is a macro
factor of the marketing
environment. By using more
updated tools and techniques,
Travelodge can achieve more
practical and precise data and
results.

TASK 2
P2: What in the importance of interrelationships between marketing and other hospitality
functions
Travelodge have various departments that work together so that the hotel can run in well
organized way. A hotel includes operational departments and secondary departments. The
operational departments of Travelodge are Front office, F&B, kitchen and housekeeping.
Whereas, The secondary departments or functional areas are marketing, finance, HR and many
more. Marketing department of the concerned company plays a crucial role in increasing the
profit share and new business opportunities for the company. Also, it helps other functional
areas of Travelodge. The marketing department of the concerned company is also responsible for
various marketing functions such as publicity, sales promotions, advertisement, etc. (Kastenholz
and Marques 2012). Perhaps, it is interrelated to other functional areas of Travelodge which are
Front office, F&B, Housekeeping and kitchen.
Marketing and Housekeeping are the two different functional areas that belong to two
different operational groups. However, housekeeping helps the marketing team in promoting the
hotel ambience which is maintained by housekeeping department on daily basis. Along with this,
the housekeeping department also provides laundry services which rises the quality of services
provided by the respective hotel chain. The marketing team promotes the quality services and
hotel infrastructure which attains more customers attention and helps Travelodge to increase the
profit level.
Front Office department is the functional area of Travelodge that is involved in various
activities like welcoming the client, handling check in check out procedure, and answering the
queries of the guests. Along with all these activities, the front office department helps the
marketing department by promoting various discount offers and encouraging the guests to enrol
themselves in loyalty programs along with promoting the upcoming offers and latest hotel
changes. Hence, the front office department promotes through mouth to mouth publicity(Crick
and Spencer 2011).
Production department which is also known as Kitchen department of the hotel is
responsible for deciding the menu, preparation of food, maintaining the quality of the food and
inventing new dishes. Hence, the marketing team uses these creative dishes as a key point of

attracting new customers in order to attain more audience for Travelodge and helps to achieve
the ultimate goal of the organisation.
M2: Critically examine the positive and negative aspects of interrelation of different functional
units.
Working of different functional areas towards the same goal can sometimes be critical.
Hence, the positive and negative aspects of interrelation of these functional areas are given
below.
Department Positive Negative
Marketing and Production The marketing team can help
in providing reviews about
latest food trends which the
production team can include in
their menu and help
Travelodge in being updated
with the trends and earn more
financial gains.
The recent changes in the
menu can result in loosing
some customers as not all the
customers prefer changes in
their menu and food tastes.
This is why the marketing
research reviews and data
doesn't benefit every time.
Marketing and Housekeeping The room services and the
cleanliness that is maintained
by the housekeeping helps the
marketing to promote the
hygiene and cleanliness along
with various additional room
services that gets attention of
many customers.
The additional room services
is a costly affair which can be
a concern for budget friendly
and business travellers as
budget of every travel is
different. This can lead to shift
the Travelodge customers to
other cheaper substitutes and
lose business.
Marketing and F&B The classic services of dining
provided by the Travelodge
staff and the designer cutlery
becomes the USP of the hotel
which the marketing team
If the research team of
marketing doesn't tell the F&B
team about latest Food and
Beverages trends, the
respective hotel will not be

promotes in order to have
more audience( Pappa, 2014).
able to earn and grow its F&B
department.
Marketing and Front Office With the good communication
between two, the marketing
goals can be achieved by
adequate guidance provided by
the front office department to
the customer about various
programs and upcoming events
of the respective hotel.
As there are many benefits of a
smooth communication
between these two
departments, bu if the front
office is not able to promote or
convey the messages to the
customers, the marketing
planning will go in vein.
TASK 3
P3 Ways in hospitality organisations apply their marketing mix
Elements of
Marketing Mix
(7 ps)
Travelodge Holiday Inn
Product Travelodge company is specialized
in hospitality and hotel sector
throughout the world.
Additionally, it is the second
largest private company in budget
friendly hotels and third largest
hotel chain in UK. The concerned
organisation provides various
services like room accommodation,
restaurant services, and so on.
Holiday Inn is a British-owned
American company which deals in
hotels and subsidiary of
intercontinental hotel groups. The
concerned hotel provides various
services like conventions, lodging,
food services and many so.
Price The price of the hotel varies as per
the location of the Travelodge
hotel. The customers are charged
The cost of using hotel services of
Holiday Inn and charges conducted
by suppliers needs appropriate

according to the level of the
services they indulge into.
Additionally, the marginal cost is
also charged(Pappa, 2015).
Travelodge uses premium pricing
policy in order to stay on the top of
the competitors.
examination. It is conducted in order
to calculate different factor that
influence the prices such as cost plus
and geographical pricing.
Place The respective company has more
than 500 hotels in UK and near by
15 hotel properties in Ireland and
Spain with its headquarter in
England, UK.
The respective Hotel company have
its headquarters in Denham, UK.
Holiday Inn is an international hotel
which serves to more than thousand
area all around the world.
Promotion Travelodge invest a heavy amount
in promotional advertisement as it
is the only way to convey the
uniqueness of the services that are
offered by the respective company.
Along with this, the advertisements
also helps to attracting more
customers which is highly
important in this industry.
As Holiday Inn is a intercontinental
hotel company which is situated in
various different cultures and
locations background. Thus, it uses
specialised designed advertisement
that is designed to target the
customers as per their different
backgrounds and locations.
People As Travelodge is a hotel company
which deals in providing various
hospitality services. These services
are carried out by staff of the
company. Travelodge provides
various trainings to the staff
members in order to maintain the
quality of the services provided by
the respective company(Perera and
The employees of Holiday Inn are
provided well versed training in
order to provide satisfactory
services. Additionally, the staff is
also given behavioural and cultural
training in order to enhance the
experience of the customers.

Perera 2018).
Physical Evidence Travelodge serves various
locations across UK, Ireland and
Spain. These hotels are consist of
well maintained and appealing
infrastructure which helps
Travelodge in engaging long
lasting customers loyalty.
Holiday Inn is a big hotel chain with
attractive buildings and interiors.
Along with this, the hotels consist of
various famous bar, restaurant and
other eye-catching facilities.
Process The respective company follows a
service blueprint which is consist
of details of service delivery
process in order to ensure the
quality of service and smooth
running operations of Travelodge.
The service blueprint of Holiday Inn
is consist of service process from
pre, post and during the service. It
mainly focuses on the process of
providing the services to customers.
M3 Different tactics applied by hospitality organisations
Hospitality industry considers using direct techniques that can communicate directly
keeping in mind the customers and users of the service of hotel company. Some of the tactics
that are practised in the hotel sector are advertisement, social media, CRM, automation of
marketing and many more. However, different techniques are applied in different situations of
Travelodge in order to achieve maximum levels of profit and fulfil Travelodge objectives. These
are as follows:
Customer relationship management is a technique used by Travelodge in order to manage
and track customer's information. This system helps the respective organisation to guide the
customers about latest updates and offers about the hotel. Additionally, it also helps to track the
past history of the customers in order to prioritise guest preferences and calculate loyalty
points(Pike, 2015). Hence, it is beneficial during off season and peak time of the business as
well.
Another tactic that has been practised by the respective hotel company is marketing
automation which has replaced high touch manual process with automated tool with the help of

technology. This automation system helps in managing marketing programs by bringing all
online service marketing channels at one place.
It is important to access the official website of Travelodge by the customers without any
complexity. The website is user friendly and easy to search. In order to keep the website on the
top of the search list, the concerned company invests in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) as
online marketing has a high scope of growth. This system uses keywords to transmit the content
of the website and present it on the top of the list of search engine(Pjero and Shyle, 2010). The
keyword are consist of services that are provided by the hotel and name of the organisation along
with many other factors such as offers,etc. This helps the targeted audience to have a direct
access to the official website of Travelodge and access the desired information or transaction.
TASK 4
P4 & M4
(Covered in Poster)
CONCLUSION
By the above report, it can be concluded that marketing plays a vital role in achieving
objectives of hotel industry. Additionally, the marketing division is supremely interrelated with
all the divisions of the hotel company. Various tactics can also be studied in the report that are
practised by the respective organisation in order to achieve maximum results of their operating
functions. Along with this,various macro and micro environment factor of marketing mix deeply
affects the marketing and operational decisions of the hotel industry. Furthermore, the marketing
plan of the respective company can also been seen along with various ways of how it implies the
marketing mix elements in order to launch new services in the market and attain the hotel goals
and objectives.

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