TLH 314: Emerging Market Analysis and Crowne Plaza Hotel Report

This report provides a detailed analysis of the Crowne Plaza Hotel, beginning with an overview and a SWOT analysis. The report then delves into an emerging market, specifically Latvia, applying a PEST analysis to assess its suitability for expansion. Strategic models, including the Ansoff matrix, are examined to formulate growth strategies. The report concludes with recommendations for the Crowne Plaza Hotel, considering the identified strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, as well as the analysis of the Latvian market. The report aims to provide insights into the hotel's strategic positioning and potential for international expansion within the dynamic hospitality industry.

TLH 314

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Overview of selected organization...............................................................................................3
SWOT analysis of the company..................................................................................................3
Background of Emerging Market................................................................................................5
PEST Analysis.............................................................................................................................5
Strategic Models & Framework within emerging market ..........................................................7
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................13
Appendix:.......................................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
International Hospitality Management is the process of managing services in the
organizations. It is the kind of umbrella which includes 6 different operations such as lodging,
food services, travel, tourism, sports and environment. Every organization need to manager their
operational activities in order to maximise the efficiency as well as effectiveness (Baldigara and
Mamula, 2015). Hospitality management include the administration work where managers of
hotels need to manage all the activities which make them able to manage their guest.
International Hospitality Management focus on contemporary issues which affect the revenue of
the hotels. This report based on Crowne Plaza Hotel which is based in UK. This hotel founded in
1983 and its parent company is Intercontinental Hotels. This project report cover various topics
such as SWOT analysis of the hotels, PEST analysis of emerging market where they seek to
enter to expansion of their operations. Along with this, they need to adopt any strategy for the
growth and ensure that Crowne Plaza Hotel implement in well manner to achieve their goals &
objectives or maximise their market share.
MAIN BODY
Overview of selected organization
Crowne Plaza Hotel is the multinational hotel chain which offer various services to their
clients and its headquarter situated in United Kingdom. It is the subsidiary of InterContinental
Hotels Group which include the various hotels & resorts such as Holiday Inn and they operated
in the around 100 countries. There are more than 3600 hotels which have 118000 rooms which
mostly located in the city areas or near by airports. Currently Crowne Plaza represent the 410
hotels in the 52 countries with 112317 rooms. They also expanding around 81 hotels in the new
market with the help of previous experience.
SWOT analysis of the company
Swot analysis is the framework which implemented by the organizations in order to
identify the internal as well as external factors which affect the business in terms of productivity
as well as profitability (Brown, Arendt and Bosselman, 2014). In context of Crowne Plaza Hotel,
management use this tool to measure their strength, weakness, opportunities and threats. Along
with this, they analyse that which factors positively as well as negatively impact the business. So
they need to formulate their strategies accordingly. At the time of decision making process they

need to evaluate these factors and perform accordingly. It is also used for comparative analysis
which discussed below:
Strengths Weaknesses
 Crowne Plaza Hotel follow the Assets
Light Business Model (ALBM) which
make them able to open their franchise
in US where they reduce their 8 owned
hotels globally (Deery and Jago, 2015).
It make hotel assets free or cash
generating business where they
returned around £ 5.9 billion to
shareholders since 2004.
 Wide geographical present maximise
their overall market share and it has
hotels in 410 location in the 52
countries.
 Crowne Plaza focus on customer
experience and try to build strong
relationship with them.
 Crowne Plaza is fully digital brand of
InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG).
Mobile application of IHG get the $ 1.3
billion reverence.
 Because of huge competition in the
hospitality sector, Crowne Plaza shifted
to the 3rd position in worldwide. So they
need to formulate competitive strategy
in order to maximise revenue of the
company.
 Due to poor information system, hotel
reduces their market place which
impact their overall revenue or market
image as well. So management of
Crowne Plaza need to focus on their
security system which include the
client's information that need to be
secure.
 Crowne Plaza provide the luxury hotel
rooms which is suitable for high class
people because middle class person
unable to afford (Gannon, Roper and
Doherty, 2015). So they prefer another
hotels for the basic services.
Opportunities Threats
 Company have opportunity to enter into
fragmented market where they provide
the accommodation facilities to the
distributors. Crowne Plaza can offer the
lodging facility that is great opportunity
for them to maximise their revenue.
 Hospitality industry gets the rapid
growth so more marketers enter in this
filed which share the economic profit
of the Crowne Plaza which become a
threat for the company.
 Due to some unexpected events, hotels

 Company also can maximise the
international tourist travel through
opening more hotels near by the airport
as well as near by tourist places which
attract the people most (Hassanien and
Dale, 2019). So management need to
formulate their strategy through
analysis the demand of market and
converted this into opportunity for the
organizations.
 More use of technology attract the
guest because nowadays people
become more digital so they prefer to
complete each task by using
technology. Customers book their
travelling packages, hotels, flight
tickets etc. by using technology.
unable to perform which impact their
overall revenue and further their market
image as well. Such as any political
issues will affect the tourism or travel
sector which affect the hotels as well. It
become the major threat for the
hospitality industry.
 Increase in the interdependency on
intermediators become major threat for
the hotels so they need to reduced it
and maximise their own connections
(Lashley, 2015).
Background of Emerging Market
Latvia is the separate country of Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is the high income
advanced economy country which ranked 41 in the human development index and they perform
favourably in the various area such as civil liberties, press freedom, internet freedom,
government is democratic, living standards, peacefulness etc. Latvia is the member of European
Union, NATO, Council or Europe, United Nation etc. They started to use EURO as their
currency from 1st January 2014 after replacing the Latvian lats. In 2010, Latvia has highest
unemployment rate in the European Union that is 22.5%. Regina economy support the Latvian
production as well as exports in order to sharp their account balance.
PEST Analysis
PEST analysis is the macro environmental tool which is used to major external factors
which affect the organization due to change in the external environment. So every corporation

need to evaluate these factors which include the political, economic, social or technological. It
also evaluated by the organizations when they wanted to expand their operations in the new
market. In context of Crowne Plaza Hotel, they wanted to entered in the Latvia market so before
making their strategies they need to evaluate the external factors or analyse that whether it is
suitable for them or not (Litvin, Goldsmith and Pan, 2018). Management of Crowne Plaza will
evaluate this emerging market with the help of PEST analysis which discussed below:
Political factor: It includes the various factors such as rules & regulations of the country,
political relations with trade association and trade union. Due to Ukraine crises, geopolitical
tension maintain in the Latvia country and it affect the relationship with Russia in 2014. Recent
election in 2017 of the country shows the overall stability in the political environment which is
the great opportunity for the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Latvia dies not have any populist forces that
other countries have. So hospitality sector can expand their operations here which is beneficial
for the Latvia as well as for Crowne Plaza. National party hold the local government in Riga
which is the capital of the country and they represent the ethical groups. So Crowne Plaza Hotel
can enter in this market for the expansion of their operations which the help of existing products
which is already very popular among the customer.
Economic factor: Latvia is an small as well as free market where exporters of the
country contribute the one third of the total GDP. It means, they offer open trade and allow the
investors to show their interest in the country through investing. But corruption is the major
factor which become challenging for the organizations to perform their task in order to achieve
their business goals & objectives. Open trade is the great opportunity for the Crowne Plaza Hotel
to enter in this market and expand their business operations through offering their well known
products & services in the Latvia country. Selected market is suffering from low birth rate which
reduces the population of the country that is one of the negative aspect which can impact the
Crowne Plaza Hotel if they enter in this market (Marianne Tromp and Jan Blomme, 2014). So
management need to analysis these factors or build their growth strategy accordingly.
Social factor: In the Latvia country, there was around 1969 million of population in 2016
which include the various ethnic groups such as Russian, Poles, Ukrainians, Belarusians and
Lithuanian. Base language of this country is Lettish but there are other languages are also used
for communication. There was a legal ban on discrimination on the basis of gender, salary etc.
Along with this, Latvia country face the issues regarding human rights which is important to

analyse. These factors should analysed by the management of Crowne Plaza because they have
to make strategies on the basis of social factors as well. Any kind of discrimination will impact
the hotel and ban their licence to operate in the Latvia country that is the threat for the
companies. After analysing all the positive as well as negative factors, top management need to
build strategy for the effective implementation which provide the huge market growth.
Technological factor: This factor includes the change in the technology and how
hospitality sector should adopt this in order to maximise the production as well as profitability of
the hotels. In context of Latvia which is highly technology infrastructure development country
but they digital fails in comparison to other European Union. Country follow the cloud services
where social media progress is slow. Due to lack of knowledge in the field of online selling,
small or medium size organizations unable to get growth which reduce the progress. There are
less trend in selling online goods across the country (Mohammed, Guillet and Law, 2015). So it
is the great opportunity for the Crowne Plaza to expand their operations in the Latvia market.
Here they can show their technical implementation or promote their services in the customer
which maximise the demand of their products or generate high revenue. Through analysing all
the factors, management should develop their strategy which maximise the efficiency as well as
effectiveness.
After analysing all the external factors such as political, social, economic or technological
of Latvia market. Before making any strategy management of Crowne Plaza Hotel need to
evaluate all the factors and analyse that whether it is beneficial for the hotel or not. If they find
opportunities more than the threats or difficulties then they should expand their business in the
Latvia market. It has been recommended that, Crowne Plaza should entered in this market
because there are political situations are stable, economic policy such as open trade and
investment is very much beneficial for them. In addition, due to less efficient in the technology
it become the opportunity for the organizations. In context of hospitality industry, they need to
identify the requirement of customers, social trends etc. and they to formulate strategies
accordingly.
Strategic Models & Framework within emerging market
There are various strategic framework which implemented by the hospitality sector
organizations at the time of entering in the new market. It helps in making strategy which
provide them huge growth in the future. Some of the strategies mentioned below:

Ansoff model:
This strategy useful for the marketing planning where they identify the growth
opportunity through developing new products & services in the new or existing market. This
model focus on growth through implementing suitable strategy for the organizations (Ansoff
Model, 2019). At the time of entering in the Latvia market, Crowne Plaza Hotel analyse this
strategy which mentioned below:
Illustration 1: Ansoff Model, 2019.
(Source: Ansoff Model, 2019)
 Market penetration: Under this strategy organization sell their existing products in the
existing market in order to make their customer base more strong. Marketers can innovate
some new features in the existing products to maintain their consumers for longer period.
Crowne Plaza can adopt this strategy through improving their existing hotel services.
 Market development: In this strategy, business introduce existing products & services in
the new market. Such as Crowne Plaza can provide their services in the new market.
 Product development: Company introduce new product in the existing market in order
to expand their product line or attract more customers (Oskam, Dekker and Wiegerink
eds., 2017). Crowne Plaza could follow this strategy to maximise revenue of their hotels.
 Diversification: Under this strategy, company introduce new products & services in the
new market which is very risky for them. So Crowne Plaza Hotel can follow this strategy
to increase their reach with foreign clients through innovating new services.

From the above mention strategies, management of Crowne Plaza select the market
development strategy where they introduce their existing products & services in the new market
such as Latvia. They enter in the new market “Latvia” and offer hospitality services in order to
increase their market share which provide them growth in the next 5 to 10 years. It will increase
their customer base, market structure, revenue, market share etc.
Nykiel's fourteen strategy:
It include the fourteen strategic options for the hospitality sector which required to select
by the organizations (Nykiel's fourteen strategy, 2019). These strategic options mentioned below:
 Horizontal expansion: It include the expansion from one product to another such as
initially the offer accommodation services and after that they offer resorts, theme part etc.
Crowne Plaza could follow this strategy and expand their products & service range.
 Geographic expansion: In context of hospitality sector growth is less and their origins to
a larger geographical area often pan-continental (Perez and del Bosque, 2014). In context
of Crowne Plaza, they can implement this strategy and enter in the new market for the
expansion of their hospitality services.
 Product Hybridization: It includes the expansion of product range through matching &
mixing the services or products such as provide cars on rent, cruise ship etc. Crowne
Plaza can follow this strategy and offer variety of services to their guest.
 Specialization-Specialist: In the organizational context, specialization also provide the
growth in the market where they charge suitable price for their services at lower cost.
Management of Crowne Plaza should hire specialised person in their organization to
achieve their desired outcomes.
 Product Tiering: It allow the hospitality industry to deal with the various forces such as
growing population, demographics, market segmentation and economic changes.
Companies can develop new products with different brand name such as Hamilton
Crowne Plaza, Crowne Plaza Belgrade etc.
 Product Re-branding: When products & services of hospitality sector grow than they
use the product tiering, franchising, relabelling of products etc. Rebranding will be done
through focusing on quality, services, location and price (Ryan, 2015). Crowne Plaza
Hotel can use this strategy where they offer their services in the new location, through
revising price etc.

 Non Franchise: Here, hospitality sector organization try to control over their products &
services, quality of ownership etc. here they offer no franchise because they able to
manage their work with themselves. This strategy help the Crowne Plaza Hotel to
promote their strategy through offering their owned services and products.
 Franchise: It is the growth strategy where hospitality sector leased out to mainly owner
operators. Basically Crowne Plaza can provide their franchise to other hotels which
maximise their operations.
 Brand collection: In this strategy, investors motivated through taking advantageous
because of low stock of those hotels chains which having growth potential.
 Management contracts: Organizations need to hire specialised person who can manage
their business such as hotels and where they manage other activities as well like
insurance, pension, financial activities etc.
 Vertical or Horizontal integration: Hospitality sector involve more than one segment
so they have opportunity to get competitive advantage through inventing in multiple
aspect such as ownership of mall, airlines, tourism etc.
 Singleness: Entered in the market with single products is not considering under product
segmentation (Schuckert, Liu and Law, 2015). Here owners have one product with fully
ownership and management control.
 Value related product & services: With the help of introducing new product ion the
market will satisfy the trend as well as demand of consumers. So hospitality sector such
as Crowne Plaza should identify the demand which satisfy their potential customers.
 Global positioning: In order to increase their reach in the international market,
hospitality sector should focus on expansion of their products & services along with its
positioning in the global market.
From the above mention fourteen strategies, management of Crowne Plaza select the
geographic expansion strategy where they target the Latvia country. Along with this, they
ensure to implement this strategy in well manner. This strategy provide the huge growth to the
hospitality sector and administration of the hotel expected to cover the market share in next 5 to
10 years. Initially Crowne Plaza should analyse the Latvia market with the help of intense
research and make policy accordingly.
Porter's generic strategy:

It is the competitive analysis strategy which followed by the organizations in order to get
competitive advantage in the market. There are total three strategies such as cost effective,
differentiation or focused. With the help of implementing these strategy, organization able to
expand their business operations in the new market. So management should analyse and
implement for greater revenue. Strategies will mentioned below:
Cost leadership: In this strategy, company try to minimise their product cost which make
them low cost producer of the industry. It include the changes in the economies of scale, use of
technology, change in the price of raw material etc. Management of the organizations need to
evaluate these factors and build their strategies accordingly to minimise the overall production
cost (Taylan Dortyol, Varinli and Kitapci, 2014). Management of Crowne Plaza Hotel can adopt
this strategy which helps in attracting potential clients or guest in order to generate more
revenue. It helps in reducing their overall cost of services & products and maximise the profit
margin.
Differentiation: In this strategy organization introduce new product in the new market
which is highly risky but company offer their products on premium price because they offer
unique featured products in the market it has huge demand so they can charge price accordingly.
In context of Crowne Plaza Hotel, they can follow this strategy which helps them to maximise
profitability of the company or helps in capturing huge market share.
Focus: Under this strategy, company have both options either they select cost leadership
or differentiation. They should formulate their strategy through analyse the future opportunities
which helps in maximising the productivity as well as profitability. Management need to focus
on targeted segment which helps in generating more revenue in context of the organizations.
Management of Crowne Plaza Hotel can implement this strategy where either they focus on
reducing their service cost or innovate new products & services in order to maximise the overall
profit of the hotel.
Above mention strategies help the hospitality sector to maximise their business operation
so they need to implement in well manner. Crowne Plaza Hotel follow the cost leadership
strategy where they offer hospitality services as affordable prices. In order to expand their
operations in the international market such as Latvia (Xu and Gursoy, 2015). In the new market
they have to make their image which is most important so should follow the cost leadership
strategy. It further helps in attracting new customers or try convert them into potential one.

Initially they have to follow low price strategy but after making strong consumer base as they
already have in other countries. Hotel offer various services in order to satisfy their guest
because they are related to the hospitality sector which focus on consumers.
CONCLUSION
From the above discussion it has been concluded that, before making any competitive
strategy organizations need to analyse those factors which further impact their operations. In
context of hospitality industry, they follow SWOT analysis which helps in analysing the
strength, weakness, opportunities or threat of the company. Along with this, at the time of
selecting any new market for the operational expansion, management need to evaluate macro
environment factors with the help of PEST analysis. After measuring all the factors which
positively as well as negatively impact the hospitality sector they have to formulate strategy and
ensure that it will provide effective results. Along with this, organization should impalement
various strategies such as Ansoff model, Porter's Generic strategy and Nykiel's fourteen strategy
etc. They need to implement in well manner to achieve market growth in the next 5 to 10 years.

REFERENCES
Books & Journals
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strategies. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. 27(3).
pp.453-472.
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from the international hotel industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management.
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Hassanien, A. and Dale, C., 2019. Hospitality business development. Routledge.
Lashley, C., 2015. Hospitality and hospitableness. Research in Hospitality Management. 5(1).
pp.1-7.
Litvin, S. W., Goldsmith, R. E. and Pan, B., 2018. A retrospective view of electronic word-of-
mouth in hospitality and tourism management. International Journal of Contemporary
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interference in the hospitality industry. International Journal of Contemporary
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Mohammed, I., Guillet, B. D. and Law, R., 2015. The contributions of economics to hospitality
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Anticipating the educational needs of a changing profession (Vol. 14). Springer.
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Online

Ansoff Model. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www.smartinsights.com/marketing-planning/create-a-marketing-plan/ansoff-
model>
Nykiel's fourteen strategy. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://drrussellsite.wordpress.com/2018/06/17/what-are-the-strategic-options-part-1/>

Appendix:
SWOT:
Strengths Weakness
 Assets light business model
 Geographical presence
 Customer experience & relationship
 No economic hotel brand
 Poor information security system
 Loose their market position
Opportunities Threats
 Fragmented market
 Increase international tourist travel
 Improve technology
 Sharing economy
 Unpredicted events
 dependency on intermediators
PEST:
Political Economic
 Political stability
 Government rules
 Low birth rate
 Free trade and investment
Social Technological
 Cultural change
 Language impact
 Use of technology
 Cloud services