Marketing and Customer Retention Report: Marriott and Hotel Sea View

This report delves into the multifaceted world of marketing and customer retention, exploring various marketing management philosophies such as production, product, selling, marketing, and societal concepts. It examines key principles of marketing, including product, price, place, promotion, people, packaging, and process, and their application within the hospitality industry. The report also addresses the significance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and ethical considerations in marketing practices, illustrated through the example of Marriott Hotel's CSR initiatives. Furthermore, it analyzes promotional mix and integrated marketing communications strategies, highlighting the importance of consistent messaging across different channels, including advertising, sales promotion, and digital platforms. The report concludes with a marketing plan developed for a hypothetical hospitality organization, Hotel Sea View, applying the discussed concepts and strategies to real-world scenarios.

Marketing and Customer
Retention

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Part 1................................................................................................................................................3
Marketing management philosophies and principles of marketing, corporate social
responsibility, and ethics.............................................................................................................3
Marketing management philosophies......................................................................................3
Principles of Marketing...........................................................................................................5
Corporate social responsibility................................................................................................6
Ethics.......................................................................................................................................6
Promotional mix and integrated marketing communications strategy........................................7
Part 2................................................................................................................................................9
Marketing Plan.............................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Marketing can be defined as an activity, set of institutions, and process of creating,
communicating and delivering value and exchanging offers that have value for customers.
Retention of customers is concerned with retaining customers within organisation and getting
business from a potential who has been customer of the organisation earlier. Retention of
customers is very important as cost of attracting an existing customer is less compared to
attracting a new customers. This report aims at discussing different philosophies and principles
of marketing in addition to this report will also involve discussion regarding CSR and ethics. In
addition to this report will discuss promotional mix and integrated marketing communication
strategy. For the purpose of discussion report will contextualise Marriott Hotel American
multinational diversified hospitality company, it was founded in 1927 and is headquartered at
Bethesda, Maryland, U.S. Marriott hotel provides its services worldwide and in order to
complete its activities company has employed around 174,000 employees. In second part of the
report a marketing plan will be prepared for a proposed hospitality organisation that has been
named Hotel Sea View.
MAIN BODY
Part 1
Marketing management philosophies and principles of marketing, corporate social responsibility,
and ethics
Marketing management philosophies
Marketing management philosophies can be defined as those philosophies that are used
by organisations to identify and fulfil needs of its customers. Marketing management
philosophies that Marriott Hotel can utilise includes-
Production Concepts- This concept or philosophy of marketing is based on production capacity
and efficiency of the organisation. This philosophy considers that goods that are in excessive
quantity and are available at cheap prices will always sell (Patsiaouras, 2019). This means that in

this philosophy it is believed that supply will create its own demand. In this organisations utilise
the economies of scale and production and can provide huge quantities at lower cost and profit
will come in number of goods sold.
Product Concept- This concept and philosophy considers that rather than product quantity,
product quality is important element that gets sold (Fokina and Barinov, 2019). This means that
quality and innovation are important elements because of which products are sold rather than
price and availability. This concept is also applicable on Marriott Hotel because in this
philosophy organisation has to consider that it provides best quality product and services to its
customers. In order to maintain high quality cost incurred in production and consequently price
of product is also high. But Marriott Hotel will consider maximisation of profits by means of
quality products.
Selling Concept- This is another philosophy of marketing management in which even when
price and quality of the product is according to requirements of customers even in such situation,
sale is not guaranteed. This philosophy considers that in order to sell products and services to
customers organisations require persuading customers to buy products. In order to persuade
customers companies and Marriott Hotel requires utilising different means like promotion,
advertisements and publicity to convince customers.
Marketing Concept- This is another concept and philosophy of marketing and in present
marketing environment most of the organisations are managing their marketing considering this
philosophy. This philosophy considers that customer is king and this is why when every activity
is carried out Marriott it involves considering customers and on the basis of these different
decisions are taken. This involves nature of services design of the services and other than these
every process has customers in mind.
Societal marketing Concept- This concept of marketing considers that sometimes needs of
organisation and customers are not suited for society and this is why as per this philosophy of
marketing company must ensure well-being of the society (Zhang and Wang, 2017). Marriott
Hotel when follows this philosophy it should consider that its activities does not have any
negative impact on society and still it is able to realise its object.

Principles of Marketing
Product- This is concerned with offering of the company. For product Marriott Hotel hospitality
services and as per this principle every product should go through logical life cycle and this is
important that organisations and marketers understand phases through which the product goes
through (Porral and Stanton, 2017). Product in hospitality organisation is given through service
and is of intangible, perishable, and is inseparable. This means that while providing services
these elements should be considered by Marriott Hotel.
Price- This is another principle of marketing and as per this principle price is value that is paid
by customer in exchange of the service. Price of product or service depends on several factors
that are cost of production customer demographic demand of product and brand image. It is
important that on the basis of all these elements Marriott Hotel determined a price in which it can
maintain it adequate profit margin. In addition to it is also important that customers and target
market is able to pay the price of services.
Place- Place is concerned with point of sale and this point of sale depends on the basis of service
or product provided by an organisation. Marriott Hotel is in hospitality organisation and this is
why it services can only be used at its hotel however in order to sale its services company can
utilise online and offline platforms. This means that Marriott Hotel can utilise more than one
point of sale.
Promotion- This principle of marketing is concerned with Strategies and actions an organisation
utilise to communicate with its target market and inform them about it services and value that it
provides. This mainly includes Marketing Communication Strategies and techniques such as
advertising sales promotion special offers and Public Relations of an organisation (Tontuș,
2018). Marriott Hotel also utilizes different strategies for promotion and in relation with
promotion this important that content as well as channel selected for communicating is able to
convey right message as well as enables organisation to place itself effectively in target market.
People- People involves important principle of marketing this involves different people who are
involved in giving product and services to customers. This is a very important element of success
of organisation that efficient people are able to effectively realise organisational objectives. This

is why it is very important that Marriott Hotel hires from right place and effectively train people
to ensure customer satisfaction (Shulgina, 2017).
Packaging- packaging is another principle of marketing this is concerned with how product or
services are represented to customer. Good packing help organisations in stunning different from
competitors and also attracting attention of customers.
Process- This is another important principle of marketing this is concerned with how product
and services are provided to customers. This involves all the key processes that are completed in
order to provide product and services to customers (Eastman, 2017). For Marriott Hotel this
includes process of booking and reservation room services and other Hospitality Services.
Corporate social responsibility
Corporate social responsibility can be defined as a self-regulatory framework which
guides social responsibility of the organisation. Corporate social responsibility of the
organisation is very important for marketing as companies can utilise their CSR activities in
which companies can enhance their brand reputation. CSR activities that are undertaken by the
company include different activities with different purposes. Marriott Hotel works on making
communities better places to live work and visit. Marriott Hotel also works on sustainability in
which hotel commit to have a greater obligation to operate responsibly with their expanding
global presence. In this Marriott Hotel works on integrating sustainability across value chain and
mitigating climate related risk and organisation is working on reducing their environment impact
and also build and operate sustainable hotel and also source responsibly (Advantage, 2020).
Organisation is also working on empowerment in which company partners with leading non-
profit organisations to ensure workplace readiness and access to opportunity, focusing on youth,
diverse population, women and people with disabilities.
Ethics
Ethics can be defined as moral principles that guide behaviour and conduct of individual. This
differentiates between what is right and what is wrong. For organisations ethics means
conducting organisational activities that are ethical, in other words that are morally right and
does not harm interest of others. This mainly requires organisations to undertake activities on the
basis of their obligation to do what is right, just, fair and avoiding harm (Ferrell and et.al., 2019).

Marriott Hotel is known as one of the most ethical organisation and ethics of organisation are
involved and presented to employees of the organisation in form of code of conduct.
Promotional mix and integrated marketing communications strategy
Integrated Marketing Communication is a concept and that propose to integration and
coordination of different communication channels that an organisation utilizes to provide a
consistent as well as clear message. This means that organisation can utilise is more than one
channel of communication to communicate with target audience it becomes very important that
their channels are integrated. This is because it is important that customers do not get different
and varied information from different communication channels and this is why integration of
marketing communication is very important (Bruhn and Schnebelen, 2017). This means that
what an organisation communicate through its print advertisement it is required to communicate
a message through TV Advertisement. This is aimed at ensuring consistency and clarity of what
Marriott hotels communicate to its customers otherwise it may lead to confusion and can
misguide audience about product and services of Marriott Hotel. Integration help in ensuring that
different channels are being used in a way that it complements communication strategy of
Marriott Hotel. Integrated Marketing Communication involve promotional mix that is adopted by
organisation.
Promotion mix consists of channel and strategies of organisation they were utilised for the
purpose of promotion. Promotional mix of Marriott Hotel is as follows-
Advertising- Advertising is considered to be one of the most effective strategy for promotion.
Advertisement is an increasing visibility of brand in a large audience and this is because
channels used for advertisement are accessible by large audience. Marriott Hotel utilizes
different channels for advertisement and being an leader in its industry Marriott Hotel have
launched an impact advertisement campaign.
Sales Promotion- Sales promotion is an promotional strategy that is aimed at increasing
immediate sale of the product. Sales promotion is about giving in incentive to customer for
buying services of Marriott Hotel. This includes offering discount and additional services to
customers who buy services from Marriott Hotel (Alananzeh, Tarhini and Algudah, 2018). Sales
promotion of Marriott Hotel is also inform of Loyalty program that is named as Marriott

Bonvoy. Loyalty program offers its members extra services and special services which is aimed
at persuading customers to buy services from Marriott Hotel. Services that are offered to
members of Marriott Bonvoy includes free Wi-Fi mobile check-in, best rates available, earn free
Nights and some extra ordinary experience and unexpected delights. These are certain factors
that attract customers to buy services from Marriott Bonvoy.
Digital Promotion- This promotion strategy of Marriott Hotel includes promoting Marriott
Hotel through different digital channels. Digital channels include social media platforms and
other digital platforms. Marriott Hotel primary use digital promotion in their marketing strategy.
This is a very effective promotion strategy in which Marriott Hotel can extend its reachto
international level because digital channels can be accessed by audience over National boundary.
Being in international brand digital promotion strategy for Marriot is very important. In its
digital promotion to hotel utilise different social media and in addition to this website of Hotel is
also an important channel to communicate with potential customers (Bostani and Rastegari,
2018). Digital platform also allows Marriott Hotel to effectively communicate with its audience
through different creative ways and it can also use creative content to attract attention of
customers. One of the biggest benefit that digital channel provide is that organisation can engage
its audience with its advertisement which is not possible through print as well as TV
Advertisement. Digital advertisement are also a benefit to company as cost incurred in digital
marketing is comparatively low. This helps organisation to maintain a low cost of conversion
and through effective and attractive, advertisement and promotional efforts organisation can
increase its conversion rate.
Direct marketing- This is another promotional strategy in promotional mix of Marriott Hotel.
Direct marketing includes directly communicating with potential customers to inform them about
different offers and values that organisation provide. Direct marketing it is done through email in
which a section of customers that company wants to target is selected and communicated through
email. In order to retain existing customers, this is an very important strategy of promotion, this
means that through offering different values and offers Marriott Hotel can attract its customers
again and this will give benefit of customer retention.

Public relation- This is a promotional activity that is undertaken by Marriott Hotel to promote
its brand and protect and enhance its image (Bruhn and Schnebelen, 2017). This strategy is also
supplied by Marriott Hotel to enhance its image.
Part 2
Marketing Plan
Executive plan
Marketing plan is a planning of organisation about how they will undertake and complete
activities that will help them in realising marketing objectives. Following is a marketing plan for
Hotel Sea View. Hotel Sea View is an organisation that has been proposed for this part of the
assignment for the purpose of developing marketing plan.
Overview of organisation
Hotel Sea View is a full service hotel that provides hospitality services that is based on
London, UK and is a 5 star hotel. Hotel provides services for luxury accommodation and also
food and beverages services. Hotel Sea View is located at such sight that it offers view of sea
and this is why it also becomes a speciality of the services and also an important attraction for its
customers. Accommodation services of the hotel are divided on the basis of different types of
rooms and suites and in addition to this company also provide services of meeting rooms and
event venue.
Vision
“Becoming first choice of customers when it comes to luxury and experience”
Mission
“Providing best hospitality experience to guest and ensuring luxury oh highest quality’
Objectives
 Increasing profit margin by 10% by 2021
 Increasing market share in luxury hospitality by 7% by 2022

 To reduce conversion cost by 15% by 2021
 To increase members of loyalty program of the hotel by 12% by 2021
Segmentation, targeting and positioning
This is one of the most important activity of the organisation regarding marketing.
Segmentation is about segmenting customers on groups on the basis of their similar
characteristics. Targeting is about selecting an organisation to which organisation wants to
provide its services and positioning is about positioning organisation in its target market.
Segmentation- Segmentation strategy of Hotel Sea View is based on demographic,
psychographic and geographical segmentation (Camilleri, 2018). On the basis of demographic
Hotel Sea View it segments its customers that are high-middle class and middle class customers.
In addition to this on the basis of psychographic segmentation, company segments customers on
the basis of their interest and hobbies and those interested in different adventure activities and
also family vacation.
Targeting- Targeting strategies of the company includes differentiated targeting strategy. This is
because Hotel Sea View provides different types of services to its different customers and is able
to fulfil different requirements. This means that it has services for family vacations, as well as for
different events like wedding and meetings. This is why company select and targets different
segments.
Hotel Sea View targets higher-middle class and high class customers and provide varied
kind of hospitality services.
Positioning- Positioning strategy of Hotel Sea View is Quality or Attribute based positioning
strategy. In this strategy positioning is done on the basis of luxury services that are provided to
customers (Andaleeb, 2016). This means that communication of the brand is mainly based on
quality and luxury rather than price or other element of the positioning. Hotel Sea View wants to
create a positioning in which it can effectively communicate quality of its services and
communicate its luxury.
Unique selling proposition

This is one of the elements that differentiates one organisation from others and is also an
element that makes product or service attractive (Basal, 2019). Unique selling proposition of
Hotel Sea View is its location that is near sea which makes it an attractive for customers. In
addition to this its luxury services are also an USP of the company.
Situational Analysis
SWOT Analysis
Strength
 Its attractive location
 Its efficient manpower
 Variety of services available
Weakness
 Expensive prices
 Limited number of rooms available
Opportunity
 Increasing international travel and holiday trends
 Increasing preference for luxury and high quality services in hospitality (TAKACS and
VADUVA, 2017).
Threat
 Increasing and intensifying competition
Marketing Mix
Product- Product of Hotel Sea View is full service hospitality that includes accommodation and
food and beverages. In relation with accommodation it provides deluxe room super deluxe room
and different category of suites for its customers. In addition to this services of Hotel Sea View
also for event and meeting and make it an attractive location for such events. Rooms and Suites
are crafted with modern interior and also have latest and luxury amenities.

Price- Price strategy of Hotel Sea View is premium price strategy because it targets higher
middle class and higher class customer. Along with targeting high class customer it also provide
high quality service and luxury hospitality to its guest making it suitable to charge premium
prices from customers.
Place- In relation with place Hotel Sea View is located on an attractive location near sea
(Išoraitė, 2016). Concerned with point of sale its point of sale are online through its website and
offline by directly contacting with hotel. In addition to this booking of Hotel Sea View can also
be done through third parties such as travel agents and holiday planners.
Promotion- Promotion of Hotel Sea View is done through different ways that includes
promoting through business magazines and through digital channels. For the purpose of
promotion Hotel Sea View also provide loyalty scheme to its customers and members of loyalty
scheme are availed with extra services. Strategies that Hotel Sea View has adopted for promotion
includes-
Digital marketing- Direct marketing includes marketing through digital channels using social
media and other digital platforms.
Advertisement- This is a paid promotion strategy and which Hotel Sea View advertise its services
through different channels that includes print as well as TV Advertisement (Pogorelova and
et.al., 2016). Print advertisement plays and very important role in attracting local customers.
Direct marketing- This strategy involves directly communicating with potential customers and
targeting them and email marketing is one of the strategy for direct marketing.
Physical evidence- Physical evidence of Hotel Sea View includes attractive and modern interior
as well as exterior. Rules suites and event location of Hotel are filled with modern and luxury
amenities.
People- Process includes process for booking in hotel, check in and checkout, housekeeping
services, facility management, room services and food and beverages services. In addition to this
customer relation and customer service process are also completed in Hotel Sea View.
Process- Hotel Sea View hires employees from best hospitality organisations around the country
and in order to enable them to fulfil standard of customer satisfaction they are also given training

(Wu and Li, 2018). Along with new joiners training is also provided to existing employees of the
hotel so that they can maintain efficiency and contribute in effective realisation of the
organisational objectives.
Budget
Following is an estimated budget that is likely to incur in implementing promotional and
marketing strategy of the company. This involves cost involved in different
Category Estimated cost
Promotional activities
Advertisement £1000
Digital marketing £ 500
Direct marketing £ 200
PR £ 500
Total £ 2200
Monitoring and Evaluation
Monitoring is concerned with an act of tracking performance of the strategies that have
been employed for the purpose of marketing (Stoychev, Dimitrova and Desev, 2019). Initially it
is important to track performance frequently to determine if there is any requirement to change in
strategies. Monitoring can be done by observation and also by interviewing and communicating
with people involved in implementing Strategies for marketing.
Evaluationinvolves process and act of comparison between standard and actual performance of
marketing plan. Evaluation of marketing plan can be done through comparison between actual
result achieved and objectives of organisation. Other than this some of the method through which
marketing plan can be evaluated are-

Sales performance- This is concerned with evaluating changes in sales of Hotel Sea View after
marketing plan implementation.
Cost per acquisition- This is concerned with aggregate cost incurred by Hotel Sea View in order
to achieve one paying customers after implementing marketing plan (Innanmaa, 2020).
CONCLUSION
On the basis of above discussion it can be concluded that marketing is an important
activity of the organisation. Increasing competition in hospitality industry has required
organisations to effectively undertake their marketing activities. This report discussed about
please office of marketing management and principles of Marketing, corporate social
responsibility and ethics. Philosophies of marketing are something that guide marketing actions
of company and this keep changing according to marketing environment. Letter report also
discuss about promotional mix and Integrated Marketing Communication strategy of Marriott
Hotel. Lastly, report included developing and marketing plan for a proposed organisation that is
Hotel Sea View.

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