Travelodge: Marketing Plan and Competitive Analysis Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Travelodge's marketing efforts. It begins by outlining the roles and responsibilities of marketing within the organization, emphasizing the importance of market research, public image building, brand positioning, and coordination with other departments. The report then delves into the marketing environment, examining both internal and external factors that influence the hospitality business. A key aspect of the report is a comparison of Travelodge's marketing mix with that of McDonald's, highlighting differences in product, price, promotion, and other elements. Furthermore, the report explores the interrelationships between the marketing department and other functional units within Travelodge, such as food and beverage, room division, purchasing, and human resources. The report concludes by outlining the creation of a marketing plan designed to meet the objectives of the hospitality organization, providing a strategic framework for future marketing initiatives.

HOSPITALITY
MARKETING
ESSENTIALS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION-..........................................................................................................................1
P1 explain role and responsibilities of marketing in travel lodge...............................................1
P3 compare the different hospitality organization how they are using marketing mix in their
businesses....................................................................................................................................8
P4 Create a marketing plan which meet with the objectives of the hospitality organizations..10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION-
Marketing is important activity which is performed with motive of increasing sales and
profitability. Marketing is the process which includes developing, promoting and delivering of
products and services. Present study is based on Travelodge hotel which is a hotel chain located
in UK. Known for its super deluxe, luxury rooms and restaurant. Staff of 10000 people try it
gives the best service to Travelodge customers. This study is relation to know the role and
responsibility of marketing function in Travelodge and external and internal factor affect a
hospitality organisation. Report summarise relation and interchange a department have with
another to run whole organisation smoothly. Report provide information about Marketing mix
policy of Travelodge with its evaluation and tactics and practises perform by Travelodge to take
competitor advantage .
P1. explain role and responsibilities of marketing in Travelodge
Hospitality Organisation: hospitality organisation offer services to their customer. They do
business of services rather than product for example hotel industry, tour and travel service,
airline and cruise. Any economic change in economy or environment hit this kind of organisation
because they deal in luxury service not in essential services. Lack of disposal income can make a
person withdrawal from these services, if there is any major environmental change occur at any
place also decreases sale. Hospitality organisation put more emphasis on customer satisfaction.
Brand loyalty, brand positing and public image play a very important role for this organisation.
Another unique feature of hospitality organisation is they can follow special theme like a hotel
can follow only wooden decoration theme(Awan And et.al., 2015).
Travelodge is a hotel chain offer variety of service in the hotel like super room, luxury rooms,
group booking, free meal to children, free wi-fi access, spa, food restaurant, bar facility. It also
has unique feature room like room changes its colour according to body clock.
Role and responsibility of marketing
Roles and responsibilities How is it executed in the selected
Organisation
Opportunity investigator-marketing seek
opportunity for growth, expansion and
improvement. This is done by doing research
regarding customer behaviour, product
innovation and competitiveness, research for
advertisement tool, location cost
effectiveness, look for suitable distribution
channel align with cost, know prediction of
changes in external and internal business
environment, customer satisfaction analysis
Travelodge use marketing research in knowing
demographic factors affecting like income level
of people, age, culture, customer want and
need. Factor affecting choosing location like
easy accessibility, near to market, railway or
airport, weather condition, no social elements
etc. travel lodge use advertising on social
media, mail marketing, promotion on travel
agency site, referral, collaboration with local
business. Customer satisfaction is prime
concern check by feedbacks, CRM, and two
way communication.
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Build Public image - marketing help in
build public image through company social
responsibly programme, charity, host event,
sponsor education and health program,
environment friendly activities etc.
Travelodge organise free health check-up
programme, Christmas events, sports event,
new year eve, contribute on environment day,
mother day greetings, use co-operate social
responsibilities, help government in disaster
management,
Brand positioning– brand positioning is
efforts try to occupy image and impression in
customers brain. Brand positioning strategy
include clear massage of statement conveying
why your product is different from and what
benefit it will give to the customers. But
before defining positioning statement
organisation must clearing recognise their
target audiences and customer behaviour.
Travelodge use its website and advertisement
tool to make impression on customer by show
them what they have as their service as
environmental friendly atmosphere, free
complementary food for child, discounts,
Categories of rooms according to income and
requirement of people, luxury experience, give
value to each customers, spa treatment and
transformational experience.
Make coordination – Marketing create
action plan to meet business objective, give
instruction to team, give information to
higher authority regarding plan, issues and
strategy and co-ordinate with other functional
units of organisation.(Baker, 2016.)
Marketing team of Travelodge plan for room
booking, advertisement and customer
satisfaction. Also, coordinate with room
division, food department and finance and HR
department for smooth working.
P.2 Roles and responsibilities of marketing in the context of the marketing
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llustration 1: Role and responsibilities of marketing
environment of travel lodge
Researcher – research help in
analysing the environment
and factors in which a
business working. Diagnosis
research deal with find out
deviation in actual and desire
result. Where extrapolative
research deals with find out
new customer, new product
and new strategies.
Provide information- it is
responsibility of marketing
department to acquire and
provide information regarding
sales, production, changes in
technology, trend, customer
need and preference,
complainants, competitor
pricing and policies etc.
For performing accurate, result
oriented and effective research
Travel lodge gather information
about internal factor like service
improvement, customer segment ,
buying habits, preferences, and
external factor like Govt. policy,
trend, cultural, social class of
targeted customers.
Marketing planner-
marketing planning consist
setting marketing objectives
alien with organisational
objective, marketing analyse
with help of market
assumption and SWOT,
Develop marketing strategy,
Promotion- promotion is
effort to give information
about product or service to
target audience. It can be
done through direct sale,
advertisement, world to
mouth sale, social marketing,
make public relation and
Travel lodge consider External
factors like infrastructure, resource
and facility availability, inflation,
labour cost, climate, cultural
norms, government policy affect
business plan. Internal factor like
skill and competency of human
resource, business cycle, available
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forecast sale or result,
marketing budget allocation,
take corrective action plan for
meet marketing objectives.
Manage sale personnel and
their competencies.
charity work, email
marketing, phone marketing,
website, free tour
arrangements, videos, photos,
virtual tour experience etc.
(Wirtz,Tuzovic ,Kuppelwieser
2014)
fund, research and development
efforts, communication and
organisational structure. Promotion
strategy must be followed by
considering education level of
people, technology available,
awareness, ethical and socio
cultural factor.
Innovators- without
innovation and up gradation
no business can run in this
high competitive business
environment. Innovation in
service, product, packaging.
Use of new technology in
promotion are part of
marketing function.
Insure customer
satisfaction-Customer
satisfaction can be avail by
pricing policy, handling issue
and complaint on time,
quality of service,
environment, discounts, etc.
Emerging technologies, adaption
power of human resource,
accessibility of information,
education quality, competitor's
innovation and idea can hamper
innovation of organisation.
Marketing interrelation with other functional units of travel lodge
Food and beverage and marketing- marketing perform research regarding food preference,
taste and age, cultural factor like use of beef, non-veg or veg, egg consumption, disposable
income, food outlet preference, education and awareness level of target customer. Travel lodge
customises product on the basis of research provided by marketing team like different food
purchase for family and students, location of outlet, variety of food as per age and taste like less
oil cooking and nutrition, less sugar, high in fibre for health conscious people and sensory food for
youngsters.
Marketing and room division- room division department of Travel lodge communicate guest
information with other supportive department to insure non interrupt service like housekeeping
department, cleaning staff, food staff etc. marketing help in proving regular booking by their sale
efforts. Marketing team tell about offers and discount given to customer, decoration theme of the
hotel is also suggested by marketing team because they know what is happening in industry.
Purchasing and marketing- people will get to know about the product throw promotion effort,
Travel lodge's marketing department give best price and deals, create awareness and brand image
of the product. New technology avail in rooms, Customer relation management increases brand
loyalty and satisfaction, trust and goodwill. Travel lodge use website, travel agent link, social
media, email marketing for announcement of new product and schemes.
Marketing and human resource management – marketing promote companies polices in
market which attract people to join the organisation. Product and services alone cannot help an
organisation to sustain. Travel lodge has clear vision and mission, work ethics and culture which
is seen in marketing efforts. HR department of Travel lodge also provide best deal in form of
salary, compensation, bonus, motivation, training, facilities and organisation environment.
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Interrelationships between marketing and other departments within travel lodge
Marketing department and human resource department – marketing department cannot
work in isolation. It has coordinate activities with other department. Travel lodge's Human
resources' department help in define competency and skill requirement according to need of
marketing department, provide training to existing sale team for adopt changes, help in assigning
job to suitable person, maintain performance. Nice marketing practice improve brand image
which attract talent people to join the organisation, marketing team give HR. suggestion and
information for training and development program needed.(Feng And et.al., 2015.)
Marketing and finance department- travel lodge's finance department provide fund to
marketing team also help in cost management, budget, estimation of advertisement expenses,
give bases to judge marketing efforts efficiencies in form of sale and cost ratio. Where marketing
department provide sale to company or finance department. Not a single function can be done
without profit. Hormone y in Relation between two department help in taking right decision on
time. Also, impact the efficiency of organisation. For example finance department communicate
about expenditure made on sale and marketing and actual money receive from this sale effort. If
there is big gap between two, marketing team control and manage their resources and marketing
efficiency accordingly.
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Comparison of ways that apply to elements of marketing mix.
Below table showing the different between McDonald's and Travelodge marketing mix
Element of 7 p's McDonald’s Travelodge
Product McDonald’s has a wide range of
food and beverage product like
Hamburgers, cheeseburgers,
shakes, coffee, salads, desserts and
shakes, Happy meal. Product
strategy of McDonald’s is unique
they are focus on profit
maximization and volume sale. In
menu of McDonald’s some items
are didn't change after the initial
changes. Some of its product
change seasonally. McDonald’s
expanded its outlets globally so
several products are developed
according to the market demand. Its
match the taste of food and
beverage with customer demand.
There are range of the products
Provide by the travel lodge like
banquets facilities, conference hall,
business centre, spa, gym facility, food
and beverage outlets, swimming pool,
saloon, souvenir shops etc. there are
many products are developed by the
travel lodge by the time. Their main
preference is guest’s satisfactions so
that is their concern area which they
have to attain. The competition of hotel
industry in the market is on boom now
it’s not just a choice to provide a wide
range of product to the guest now it is
key to survive in market.
Price McDonald’s has a various range of
price techniques of their products,
it's also depend on the market
situations, basically McDonald’s
use two types of technique to sale
volume and profit (1) bundle
pricing strategy- this strategy shows
that a bundle products price is a
discounted in compared to
individual item its good strategy for
sales volume.(2) psychological
pricing method- in this strategy
product price appear more
affordable like - $ 1.99, .99$ etc.
Price of the products are depends on
the market demand and supply rules, if
demand of the product or serviced will
high then the price of product goes up,
if demand is not much of that product
then the price will may reduce, this
strategy mainly apply on the perishable
product like Room night is a perishable
if a room is not sale on the particular
night than it will be loss of company
(Hamzah and Sutanto 2016.).

Place McDonald’s has a more than 37000
restaurants in over 100 countries.
They place selection of the
McDonald's is depends on the
country McDonald’s has mostly
open its restaurants near the crowd
place like Malls, main road,
markets etc. McDonald's outlets are
situated on accessible place where
tomers can easily reach. Company
also have to maintain the set
standards.
Travelodge has over 500 hotels in UK
and few other hotels in different
countries. The place of hotel depend on
the which type of hotel is going to
open if it's a resort property then it will
open near the mountain, lakes or any
other peaceful place. Business hotel
open in industrial areas.
Promotion Promotion relate to the company's
presentation in market, there are
various strategy which used by the
McDonald's to promote its product
for examples- social media, TV,
newspaper, magazine etc.
Promotion of Travelodge depend on its
tour operators, market reputations,
social media, travel blogged,
magazines, travel websites etc.
Travelodge create a long term
relationship with its guest.
People People are relate to the employees
who are engaged with the
McDonald's, approximately there
97000 people work for the
McDonald's. In UK 70% outlets
owned by the business man and
women.
Employees of the Travelodge is more
than 15000 from different place of the
world. The hotels provide many
facilities to their employees because
they are the responsible for their
business performance.
Physical evidence Physical evidence relate to the
physical environment, Ambience,
experience of customer, it’s not
only impact on customers'
perspective of restaurants but also
good for the outlets functions.
Hotels physical evidence relate to its
infrastructure, how employees are
providing service to the guests, guest
comfort level, guest satisfactions etc.
Process Activities which performed to
achieve the goals of the
organizations there are many
activities are performed by the
McDonald's to deliver their product
to the customers. Like waiting time
of customers for their order, how
staff look after the customer etc.
Travelodge using numerous business
process to provide a good guest
services there are transparencies in
booking process. Many sources are
there which the booking process to
check out process convenient to the
guests.
Differentiate the various business strategy applied by hospitality organization that how to
achieve their objectives.
Proper utilization of social media- proper use of social media is the best tool of
marketing and its allow to reach the present guests as well as paid advertisement on social media
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like Facebook, Instagram, twitter help to reach the beyond this audience and attract the new
guests. It is great strategy follow by the hospitality organizations to achieve their goals (Bowie
and et. al., 2016) .
Relation with online travel agencies and GDS- online agencies are very important
distribution channel. It targets the guest who are not recognized the organizations. GDS allows
the travel agent and guest to know about the room status that rooms are available or not.
P4 Create a marketing plan which meet with the objectives of the hospitality organizations
Executive summary- Travelodge is planning to launch new premium economy rooms
throughout the UK to make it service more professionals. It's providing wide range of facilities
with many room amenities. The plan is made to get the business from the mid-class to hiigh class
customers, and improve in sales of the hotels
Objectives- add new choice room help to bring more business to Travelodge, Nowadays
people are savvier with their money. This plan attracts the middle class customers to their hotels
and help to attain the company objectives. Objective is to set a specific group of customer, it
should be measurable to target the objectives, and achievable for the company on a set time
frame.
Situational analysis- STRENGTH- help to attract more customers, profit maximize, help
to increase in potential customer.
WEAKNESS- Need much money to investment, time consuming process. Limited choices being
offered to consumers (Stead and Hastings 2018).
OPPORTUNITY- add new customers on list, dominant in market with this type of affordable
service.
THREAT- Competitor may adopt the strategy, increase in taxes, changes in political rules and
regulations.
Segmentations- its help to target a specific variety of guest group which are meet with
the set needs and budget level. Its help to find out the different guests, identify the trends of
businesses. Segmentation may be different for Travelodge hotels. Segmentation based on –
demographics, psycho graphics, geography, life style, behaviour.
Targeting- after the segmentations of guests the next process target the group of guests
where the most profits is generates its help the hotels to attract that group which gives more
profit on from same available resources. Strategy is set on the basis of criteria size, money, target
must be achievable, focus on different benefits.
Positioning – after targeting of the particular group guests then ensure that the hotel is on
the best possible position of market. Positions consider the strengths and weakness of the
organizations. Positioning allow the organizations to highlight the areas where they are best in
compare to competitors. Travelodge has positioning to launch the economy premium room with
better amenities.
Monitoring and controlling- monitoring and controlling is related with operate the
property in right manner, its include all the factors that affect the business for example cost
control, control of risk etc. Monitoring help to guide hotel workers that how operations are run.
Controlling help to set a parameter of activity, budget related concern etc. hotels have different
department all the department have their own managers and executive who monitor and control
their department. (Massingham and Pomering, 2017).
Marketing budget- marketing budget is the estimate amount of the cost that require for
the business operations, Travelodge have to set their budget on the basis of size of hotels,
employing staff, etc.
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Describe Marketing plan with evidence based that applies the marketing mix to meet
hospitality organization objectives.
Travelodge objectives is to earn profit from selling of its product if Travelodge planning
to open new property then it is necessary to create a market planning to get a good profit from
market. Product of the Travelodge is their room and other services which they provide to its
guests. Positioning relate in marketing mix with place of distribution, from there they operate
the business. It is important for Travelodge to make good analysis of situation what are the
Strengths, weaknesses, opportunity and threat. Travelodge have to analysis the different
segmentation of the market they have to select a segment which have to target. Mostly that type
of segments are on priority who can generates the best profit. Best segment decide that which
type of hotels has to open in that place it could be resort, business class or leisure hotel.In
marketing plan the segmentation is important factor for Travellodge it is set the product price on
the basis of behaviuor, geographical location of property, lifestyle etc. Launching of the new
project need a good monitoring and guidance, they have to work on set a budget, company
policies, control risk, control quality etc. Monitoring and controlling process track, review and
progress of the project Monitoring and controling relate with the people who are working the
organizations.
Explain the marketing plan with use of 7ps and monitoring and evaluations to achieve the
marketing objectives.
Business objectives Marketing mix &
strategy
Tactics Monitoring and
evaluation
Customer satisfaction In customer
satisfactions product
and price are the
strategy which affect
most this factor.
Travelodge have to
focus on its product's
quality, extra benefits
and set right price for
right product.
Provide good service
which meet the guests
expectations and
satisfied them (Haile
and Krupka, 2016).
Collect the review
from websites,
feedback etc.
Profit maximization Profit maximization is
main aim for hotel
price, promotion, and
place help to
maximize the profit.
Promotion help to
promote the hotel,
place decide the price.
Extra facilities provide
the business good
option to earn profit,
Travelodge plan to
start premium
economy room which
is the best tactics.
Monitored by
performance of hotel,
financial statements,
previous data etc.
Sale volume Companies have
objectives to sale their
product in bulk.
Promotion and quality
of product help to sale
Discount on group
booking, offer new
products, make good
relation with online
agencies, travel
Revenue data,
companies finance
statement etc.
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volume. operators etc.
CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from the report that marketing plays an important role to achieve
organization’s objectives. Study has also concluded that there is great significance of
interrelationship between marketing and different department relationship in company. Furtherer
the report summarizes marketing mix is an important part of promotional plan without marketing
plan objectives cannot be achievable.
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