Comprehensive Marketing and Communications Report: Travelodge

This report provides a detailed analysis of Travelodge's marketing and communication strategies. It begins by defining product and product orientations, discussing their advantages and disadvantages, and identifying the marketing orientation adopted by Travelodge. The report then examines legal and technological factors impacting Travelodge's business operations and consumer behavior, as well as internal environmental factors considered as strengths and weaknesses. The concept of positioning is explained, along with its importance in marketing strategy and a specific positioning strategy Travelodge could adopt. The report further describes Travelodge's product and service offerings, delivery processes, and physical environment. The second part of the report focuses on integrated marketing communications, discussing its benefits, promotion mix elements, channels used, and the key message in Travelodge's video campaign, including the target audience and use of the AIDA model. Finally, it suggests a method for collecting feedback on the video campaign's effectiveness. The report concludes with references to the sources used.

Marketing and
Communications

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................5
TASK 1......................................................................................................................................5
Describing product and product orientations and its advantages and disadvantages of each.
................................................................................................................................................5
b. Identifying and discussing marketing orientation adopted by Travelodge........................6
TASK 2......................................................................................................................................7
a. Identifying and discussing one legal factor and one technological factor that impact
business operations of Travelodge and also buying behavior of consumer...........................7
b. identifying and explaining two internal environmental factors that is considered as
strengths and weakness of Travelodge business operations.................................................7
TASK 3......................................................................................................................................8
Explain the concept of positioning and its importance in planning a marketing strategy for
Travelodge..............................................................................................................................8
Discuss one (1) positioning strategy that Travelodge could adopt in positioning themselves.
................................................................................................................................................8
TASK 4......................................................................................................................................9
Identify and describe Travelodge’s product and service offerings, the processes they go
through to deliver their products/services to the customers and the physical environment of
Travelodge..............................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION.......................................................................................................................10
COURSEWORK 2.................................................................................................................11
Introduction..........................................................................................................................11
Discuss the benefits of integrated marketing communications............................................11
Explain two elements of the promotion mix........................................................................11
Discuss the promotion mix element that Travelodge adopts...............................................11
Discuss the channels used by Travelodge............................................................................12
Discuss the key message in Travelodge’s video campaign.................................................12

Key market audience in the Video.......................................................................................12
Use of AIDA marketing theory to discuss how source attributes and key message achieve
Travelodge new objective....................................................................................................13
Discussion of one method Travelodge should use to collect feedback on the effectiveness
of their video campaign........................................................................................................13
REFERENCES.......................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is defined as a term with activity or set of institutions and process in order
to create, communicate, deliver and exchange offerings that has a values to the customers and
society at large extent. Thus, communication is termed as task where or more than one person
is required in order to interact with each other in successful manner. It is also known as
sending and receiving information between many people. In this report, Travelodge has been
taken into consideration. It is a private company that carries its operation in hotels and
hospitality industry throughout United Kingdom.
Thus, in this report product and product orientations of Travelodge has been
explained. Further, legal and technological factor that impact business operations along with
internal environmental factors has been discussed. In addition to this, the following
assignment also highlights on communication campaigns that has been used by Travelodge in
order to increase their brand recognition has been discussed in detail.
OVERVIEW OF TRAVELODGE
Travelodge is the second largest hotel brand in UK and is based on number of hotels
and number of rooms operated. It was founded in 1985. They leas, franchise, manage and
own over 540 hotels and more than 40000 rooms throughout UK, spain and Ireland.they
mainly operate in attractive midscale and also in economy sector of the hotel market. They
are also positioned as low cost operator that offers standarised , modern guest rooms at very
low price that are easily affordable by visitors.
TASK 1
Describing product and product orientations and its advantages and disadvantages of each.
Product is termed as the idea or method or service that has been created in order to serve
people and help them satisfying their wants (Ateke and Kalu, 2016).
Product orientation is termed as the business approach in which the company makes
or supplies whatever is the only focus of management attention. Thus, if Travelodge adopt
this approach may not focus on needs and requirements of customers but only concentrate on
producing good and high quality product. They believe that customers may automatically
attract towards them if they offer them best goods and services. Thus, its advantages and
disadvantages has been discussed as per below context-

Advantage of product orientation
Quality- this is the main advantage for Travelodge if they adopt product orientation. Thus, it
may helps them in focusing on quality of the product or service offered by them rather than
customers. This focus may help them later in terms of producing product with specification.
Economies of scale- this is also the advantage for Travelodge as it helps in developing
business method in easiest manner. This involves factors that help in reducing cost of
producing item as production number is increased.
Disadvantages of product orientation
Missed opportunities- if the cited company builds superior product or service, customers
want as the company has. But people demand not only the best things. Therefore, this will
cost opportunities in order to exploit this. many marketers sell their benefits in terms of
products rather than features in order to capitalize feelings and emotions of customers (Belch,
Belch and Powell, 2014).
Narrow branding- if Travelodge do not develop brand with message of benefits or with clear
image. Therefore, particular business must has a brand in order to send message in subjective
manner then the cited company may choose the position in marketplace in order to introduce
new products with that particular image carried on by them.
b. Identifying and discussing marketing orientation adopted by Travelodge.
The term market orientation is referred to as philosophy of business where their focus
is on identifying needs and desires of customers and also in satisfying those needs. If
Travelodge is a successful market-oriented company than they may discover and try to meet
the needs of customers thorugh product mix. Thus, the marketing orientation that has been
adopted by Travelodge has been discussed as per below context.
Travlelodge launched 26 million Euros multimnedia campaign that includes
advertisement of TV that features their own staff for first time. Thus, they are launching
premium rooms. The success of these premium rooms will be determined through sales of
room and also through customer satisfaction. Hence, this makes sure that Travelodge is
delivering what customers actually accept from them in terms of services (Davari and
Strutton, 2014).

TASK 2
a. Identifying and discussing one legal factor and one technological factor that impact
business operations of Travelodge and also buying behaviour of consumer.
Technological factors- Travelodge has been set up a booking system in easy and
understandable manner and a mobile compatible page that is designed in special manner. This
helps the cited company to place multiple add ions tactically in last attempt to gain maximum
profit from customers. This also includes breakfast and dinner, Wi-Fi, early check-in etc.
Legal factor- Travelodge must be able to pay staff minimum wage. Legal factor means the
amount of money that is paid to the staff. The company Travelodge employs people with
major age. The staff are also concerned with their ability in order top work and also other
things entitled such as holiday pack, sick pay and pensions.
b. identifying and explaining two internal environmental factors that is considered as
strengths and weakness of Travelodge business operations.
Strengths-
Travelodge has affordable room rates.
They are very committed in their sustainability campaign. Thus, this adds appeal to the
environmental conscious customers and also helps in giving competitive edge among other
budget and also luxurious hotels (Dileep and Mathew, 2017).
Weakness
The major weakness of Travelodge is that they do not equip customers having whole range of
products. They are basic and not fantastic in terms of decorating and aesthetics.
The cited company also lack in providing customers with facilities of wide range and also
services to customers are limited due to lack of room service.
They are not ideal for large parties or families due to lack of space.
This is the biggest threat that may affect the brand image of Travelodge.

TASK 3
Explain the concept of positioning and its importance in planning a marketing strategy for
Travelodge.
Positioning refers to marketing concept that overviews what a business should do to
merchandise its product or service to its consumers. It is the procedure of recognising an
appropriate market for their product, service or brand. Travelodge’s good positioning strategy
will make a product unique and makes the buyers consider using it as a distinct advantage to
them. Apart from this, it enables a product and the company to tackle bad situations more
easily. Further, it refers to a strategic procedure that includes marketing the product in a
certain way to create an identity (Fernández-Cavia, Marchiori and Cantoni, 2017).
Importance :
 Product positioning considers as a part of the wider marketing philosophy, and it is
also concerned with recognising superior features of commodity and aligning them
with consumers more effectively. This philosophy makes the whole Travelodge brand
market oriented.
 It has also been discovered that, brand positioning also makes it easier for buyers to
buy from the company. This is because they want easy decisions and Travelodge’s
brand positioning will trigger a quick response from the target audience.
 Through brand positioning, more meaningful promotional programme can be
designed.
 Travelodge will be able attract different types of consumers as they differ in terms of
their expectations from the product.
Discuss one (1) positioning strategy that Travelodge could adopt in positioning themselves.
Product benefit positioning strategy: in this strategy the firm pays attention on defining and
communicating the product benefits, unique characteristics, features that the product provides
to the targeted market. Emphasizes on various product benefits is done by the organisation
under this strategy. Features of the commodity include; availability, durability, economy and
reliability can be illustrated in this kind of product positioning. Through this it can be stated
that, Travelodge can make use of this strategy by paying attention on communicating its

rooms and service’s benefits to the customers. Its hotel’s unique characteristics will attract
their targeted consumers. Nowadays, people prefer valuable and quality-based service with
affordable prices. Hence, to accomplish this company can offer durable, economical and
reliable products and services to its potential as well as existing customers. Company can also
do this by offering new services or improving the performance, price or quality of current
services. Further, it has been proved that this tactic will assist Travelodge to enter new market
in the future, attaining business objectives, selling more to present buyers or wining business
from competitors (Irimiás and Volo, 2018).
TASK 4
Identify and describe Travelodge’s product and service offerings, the processes they go
through to deliver their products/services to the customers and the physical environment of
Travelodge.
The company, Travelodge was founded in 1985 and is the 2nd largest hotel brand in
the UK based on range of hotels and number of rooms operated. The firm lease, franchise and
manage and own around 540 hotels and more than 40,000 rooms through out UK.
Operated highlights:
 18 million customers approximately are welcomed by Travelodge.
 Upgraded hotels & great serving driving average TripAdvisor scores 4 stars.
 In 2016, 19 new rooms were opened and 15 new hotels are anticipated to be open in
2017.
 Food and beverages sales upto14% driven by the upgraded food & drinks offer.
 Constant acceleration of new development pipeline.
 The company’s main focus is on new style rooms, which were designed based on
customer research. The rooms offer king size bed produced by Sleepeez (Johnson,
2010).
Reach customers through:
In April a mobile app was launched by Travelodge which was downloaded by
180,000 times. Apart from this, an advertisement was conducted with the message That’s

Travelodgicals, that drove awareness of the rooms transformation programme, endorsing
direct online bookings by 12%. Furthermore, in companies marketing strategy, a big role is
played by radio. In addition, it make use of advertising through social media to reach it’s
customers, for example, company ahs recently launched a video campaign with name That’s
Travelodgical.
It’s environment : the company’s hotel has the following green features
 Low energy lightening
 Full insulation
 Fixtures are fitted properly for minimal energy leakage
 Smart meters are installed
 Ensures that the heating is switched off when room is unoccupied.
 Green roofing are self sustaining areas of grass on hotel roofs in urban locations in
order to be more ecological friendly.
CONCLUSION
From the entire coursework 1 it has been concluded that, marketing and
communication means using various marketing channels and techniques. These marketing
channels basically concentrate on any way a business communicates an information or
message to its targeted market. Further, this can be done by advertising, direct marketing,
personal selling, promotion, communication, and so on. This coursework discusses about
Travelodge hotel limited company that owns hotels and hospitality across UK. The
organisation leased, franchised and manage 558 hotels across UK, Spain and Ireland. The
report further covers, product and services offered by the hotel and also promotion strategy
use by the company. Further, it stated one legal factor and technological factor that could be
considered as strengths and weaknesses. Processes that company go through to deliver their
potential customers is advertising through social media and internet. In addition, the company
aims at becoming favourite hotel for value. It seeks to offer unbeatable value in leisure and
business travel with attractive modernised bedrooms with eco-friendly environment.
Therefore, all these characteristics company offer seems that Travelodge is the ideal choice
for customers.

COURSEWORK 2
Introduction
This coursework is based on Travelodge’s new objective i.e. to increase awareness of
its new upgraded rooms in Ireland by 20% by the end of 2019.
Discuss the benefits of integrated marketing communications
Integrated marketing communication is a simple concept. It makes sure that all forms
of communication and messages are carefully connected together. Its benefits are as follows:
 Greater brand visibility :- integrated marketing communication allows company to get
potential customers to notice their brand, which one of the first step in most marketing
campaigns. There are many integrated marketing solutions that can highlight key
messages and owned assets, that makes it easier for the organisation to create rapport
with consumers (Kim, Hayes and Reid, 2014).
 Increase media coverage :- reporters and news editors are continuously on a hunt for
new stories.
 Clear and consistent message
 Makes brand more recognisable and provokes a competitive advantage for a
company.
Explain two elements of the promotion mix
 Advertising :- this element of promotion mix is defined as any paid form of non-
personal presentation and promotion of ideas, products, and services by an identified
sponsor. In other words, it is a way of mass communication which is described as the
most famous and broadly used tool of marketing promotion.
 Sales promotion :- this tool covers those marketing activities other than advertising,
personal selling and publicity that stimulate customer’s purchasing and dealer
effectiveness. Trade show, exchange offer, discount, contests, gifts, free services,
exhibition etc. all these methods comes under sales promotion.
Discuss the promotion mix element that Travelodge adopts
As seen in the video campaign done by Travelodge, it seems that the company uses
advertising through social media as the promotional mix technique. The company makes use
of YouTube for its new video campaign. Further, mentioned are its advantages and
disadvantages:

 A significant role is played by advertising in the introduction of new product in the
market (Orzan, G., Platon, O. E. and Orzan, M., 2016).
 Advertising through social media increases brand awareness, as compelling and
relevant content grabs attention of buyers.
 Also, it allows the manufacturer to expand the market share.
Disadvantages:
 It is little complicated, as there are lots of choices when it comes to advertising
through the internet.
 Mistakes can be costly.
Discuss the channels used by Travelodge
As per the research conducted it has been found that, electronic communication
channel is used by Travelodge. This is because electronic channels comprise of email,
internet, and social media platforms. The company uses this as this tool is used for one-on-
one, group or mass communication. Apart from this, it is the method which is more efficient
and less personal method of communication. While utilising this channel, care must be taken
to craft messages with clearness and avoid the use of sarcasm.
Discuss the key message in Travelodge’s video campaign
The key message is that, as consumers love to find value, they love to get everything in
reasonable prices. Therefore, for their preference, Travelodge is offering with upgraded
rooms, comfy new king size bed, great rooms, good location, etc, all these facilities are
available at company’s new rooms in Ireland at such amazing value, and will be available by
the end of 2019. The company has used puppets called as the Travelodgicals to communicate
to customers that Travelodge has changes (Quitzow, 2015).
Key market audience in the Video
Throughout the advertisement The Travelodgicals describe all things that the
company is having in its new rooms in Ireland to communicate their experience and what that
puppets like about Travelodge. A number of different customers staying a hotel of
Travelodge for numerous reasons. The video campaign includes the business customers, a
family, and an older and young couple. This means that the rooms are suitable for family
friendly and all ages to view.

Use of AIDA marketing theory to discuss how source attributes and key message achieve
Travelodge new objective.
 A for Attention :- this is the first step taken by company, through its campaign
Travelodge has been able to grab attention of potential customers.
 I for Interest :- the company has made efforts in increasing customer’s interest by
offering everything at affordable price which makes a value for them.
 D for Desire :- in this video, Travelodge has targeted all types of audiences i.e.
family, couple, and business travellers which will make customers mind to desire to
stay in these rooms.
 A for Action :- the company in this step the company has greatly made efforts to
motivate its potential customers to attract them, soon customers will engage in
purchasing services at hotel in Ireland (Smith and Font, 2015).
Discussion of one method Travelodge should use to collect feedback on the effectiveness of
their video campaign.
One best method company should use to collect feedback on the effectiveness of their
video campaign is questionnaires, as video is available on YouTube. Therefore, company can
display the questionnaire on YouTube only, including all questions regarding the video
campaign. Apart from this, Travelodge can also ask customers to comment below in the
comment box and as them to provide reviews.

REFERENCES
Ateke, B. W. and Kalu, S. E., 2016. Collaborative marketing and business wellness of global
system of mobile-communication (GSM) service providers in Nigeria. International
Journal of Marketing and Communication Studies. 1(1). pp.14-26.
Belch, G. E., Belch, M. A. and Powell, I., 2014. Advertising: An integrated marketing
communication perspective. McGraw-Hill Education.
Davari, A. and Strutton, D., 2014. Marketing mix strategies for closing the gap between green
consumers' pro-environmental beliefs and behaviors. Journal of Strategic
Marketing. 22(7). pp.563-586.
Dileep, M. R. and Mathew, V., 2017. Marketing of Tourism Industry: Enhancing Services
through Marketing Mix Elements. In Strategic Marketing Management and Tactics in
the Service Industry (pp. 304-329). IGI Global.
Fernández-Cavia, J., Marchiori, E. and Cantoni, L., 2017. Online communication in Spanish
destination marketing organizations: The view of practitioners. Journal of Vacation
Marketing. 23(3). pp.264-273.
Irimiás, A. and Volo, S., 2018. A netnography of war heritage sites’ online narratives: user-
generated content and destination marketing organizations communication at
comparison. International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality
Research. 12(1). pp.159-172.
Kim, K., Hayes, J. L. and Reid, L. N., 2014. Trends in advertising research: A longitudinal
analysis of leading advertising, marketing, and communication journals, 1980 to
2010. Journal of advertising. 43(3). pp.296-316.
Orzan, G., Platon, O. E. and Orzan, M., 2016. CONCEPTUAL MODEL REGARDING THE
INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING COMMUNICATION ON BRAND
TRUST, BRAND AFFECT AND BRAND LOYALTY. Economic Computation &
Economic Cybernetics Studies & Research. 50(1).
Quitzow, R., 2015. Assessing policy strategies for the promotion of environmental
technologies: A review of India's National Solar Mission. Research Policy. 44(1).
pp.233-243.

Smith, V. L. and Font, X., 2015. Marketing and communication of responsibility in volunteer
tourism. Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes. 7(2). pp.159-180.
Online
Johnson, B., 2010. Travelodge strategy to create ‘brand warmth’. [Online]. Available on: <
https://www.marketingweek.com/2010/04/27/travelodge-strategy-to-create-brand-warmth/ >