Marketing Report: Marriott Hotel's Strategies, Mix, and Positioning

This marketing report provides an in-depth analysis of Marriott Hotel's marketing strategies, focusing on its branding strategy, marketing mix (product, price, place, and promotion), and market positioning. The report begins with an introduction to marketing management and its importance, followed ...Read More

Marketing Report

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK...............................................................................................................................................3
Background of the company........................................................................................................3
The branding strategy addition to how company positioning themselves at the market place. . .4
Marketing mix of Marriott Hotel.................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Marketing management may be referred as the process of managing various marketing elements
along with fixing organisational objectives, framing of effective strategies and to make right
decision so as to promote growth (Deepak and Jeyakumar, 2019). It is important for company to
conduct market analysis and based on that formulates strategies which leads towards attainment
of goals. Adding to this, management facilitates in managing and motivating employees by
deriving peak potential within themselves by executing effective plan. The concept of marketing
management relates to product, promotion, price and place in order to capture attention of
customers towards its products. Marketing can be termed as promotional activities opted by
various marketers of company in order to showcase company’s offering. With marketing,
company can make aware audience about its products and how it is unique to its competitor’s
product. It is needed for company to frame marketing plan so that employees get direction what
role they have to perform so as to attain marketing objectives. On the other hand, management
refers to managing business activities and aligns with its objectives so that competitive
advantage can be taken. Marketing management is the combination of both terms so as to
promote brand equity in national and international market. It facilitates in enhancing customer
base, market share and profitability of company. In order to better understand marketing
management, Hotel Marriot is taken into consideration. It is a hospitality based company
founded by J. Willard Marriot in 1975 so as to provide hospitality service at larger scale.
This project report is based on branding strategy and how it positions in hospitality
industry. Further, it will also cover 4Ps and positioning approach. At last, it will cover
recommendation on how company can enhance its marketing strategies by opting latest
technology.
TASK
Background of the company
Marketing management can be defined as the process of planning, execution of plan,
distribution and pricing with a motive to satisfy customer’s needs and wants. It is basically
implication of marketing strategies, techniques and methods in order to gain competitive
advantage. This project report is based on Hotel Marriot; a well-known hospitality firm
operates in distinct countries. This hotel was established by J. Willard Marriot in 175 so as

to render hospitality and accommodation services to meet expectation of customers. All over
the world, there are around 7000 hotels which provides hospitality services to its customers.
In Hotel Marriot, more than 12000 employees work all over the world and to provide better
customer service experience. It offers variety of services such as spa, fitness centre facility,
dining, accommodation and restaurant. Along with this, it also provides venues for wedding
and for corporate events. It is well known for its luxury affordable services and offers
flexible plans for travellers around the world. The core aim of company is to serve quality
service and to enrich lives of people by creating leisure experiences. In addition to that,
company aims to enhance brand image across globe and it opts effective marketing mix
elements so as to promote its services.
The branding strategy addition to how company positioning themselves at the market place
Branding strategy can be termed as a plan of organisation used by companies when it wants to
expand its market or wants to bring innovation to its products and services so as to attract larger
customer base (Lim and Ok, 2022). There are various aspects that a branding strategy involves
such as marketing strategy, quality of product, pricing strategy and uniqueness as compare to its
competitors. The branding strategy of company involves effective marketing strategy, digital
marketing and luxury tech enabled dining in order to enhance customer service experience. The
promotional and advertisement strategy is based on digital marketing and as it is cheaper and
cost effective marketing technique. This helps company in spreading awareness of its service to
its targeted customers in a short span of time. By running da campaigns on various platforms,
company can capture attention of customers across the world. The pricing strategy opted by
company is premium pricing strategy in which it provides luxury dining and accommodation
service to high class people. The prices of rooms are pretty expensive and cannot affordable by
middle class people.
The brands strategy of company is to provide luxury room services and high tech
appliances and gadgets such as Wi-Fi, great ambience and quality service in order to meet
expectation of customers. In order to frame effective management strategy, company use
STP analysis in order to segment, target and position its customers. It will help company in
enhancing brand equity as well as makes operation effective and efficient. In segmentation,
company focus on those groups of individuals who seeks to explore world either for
enjoyment or for business purpose. Travellers across the world and families are the ones that

company majorly focus on. In order to target customers, company opts differentiate strategy
by making accommodation, food items and services unique as compared to its competitors
like Intercontinental hotels and resorts and Hotel Premier Inn.
The positioning strategy of company three crucial aspects that are wellness, culinary and
culture (Shevyakov and Makhlouf, 2017). It is imperative for company to define and
communicate various brand boundaries so as to spread awareness about bringing innovation
to its services. The culinary approach of company emphasises on fine dining as well as
complies with provisions of quality drinks and beverages. The wellness aspect of
management allows Hotel Marriot to form a strong image among its targeted segment.
Whereas, culture helps in understanding of different cultural elements based on belief and
tradition. Management ensures that customers are getting quality service and tries to
improve in every aspect. Current positioning strategy of company is based on benefits and
affordability for customers (George, 2021). It is important for company to modify its
positioning strategy so as to survive in competitive market. For this, company has to analyse
market research to know about latest trends, taste and preference of customer in order to
frame effective strategy which helps in dealing with various issues. Company should opt
local culture, tradition and art in their premises so as to attract visitors across the globe. It
will help in increasing customer base and brand equity of company. It is important for
company to frame effective strategies which leads to attainment of goals within short span
of time.
Marketing mix of Marriott Hotel
 Product- It is the first element of marketing mix and depicts features and description of
company’s offering. It is one of the most popular chain of hospitality in the world. The
main three services of hotel are actual, core and augmented services. Among all these
services, core services generate more revenue for hotel and it provides accommodation
services in order to satisfy expectation of customers. The accommodation services are
divided into four categories such as luxury, premium, select and longer stays (George,
2021). It also provides dining and bar facilities for their customers to have their meal.
The main reason for the success of organisation is its services, location, environment
which it offers to provide convenience. It helps company in gaining competitive
advantage. Due to COVID-19, it adversely affected revenue due to restriction in tour and

travel. Along with this, company also focus on hygiene of rooms and keeps hotel
premises neat and clean. People become more conscious about hygiene after pandemic
and company follows protocol and comply with laws and legislations formed by
government. it is important for company to bring innovation to its services so that it can
take advantage of it which results in generation of more profit. If the product or service
has potential to satisfy needs and wants of customers, then it would be beneficial for
company in retaining of existing customers and attract potential customers (Morrison,
2022). Adding to that, the product or service should be unique and must stand out in
market.
 Price- It is one of the important factor which influences buying decision of customers
(Kim and Kim, 2018). Price can be referred as the amount paid by customers so as to
acquire product or service offered by company. Company follows premium pricing
strategy and keeps prices high due to luxury services and brand equity. The price of
services covers all cost such as marketing, operational and management cost. The another
reason to keep prices high is to earn more profit and to become leader of hospitality
industry. So company tries to bring down its overall cost such as reduction in waste and
implementing cost efficient lighting system to save electricity cost in order to maximise
profitability and efficiency. This will help company in minimising overall cost and it can
lower down prices of services which results in increased customer base. In addition to
that, company also follows competitive pricing strategy in which prices of their services
depends on pricing strategy of competitors. For example, if Intercontinental hotels and
resorts lowers down its service cost then Marriot will also bring down its service cost. By
opting competitive pricing strategy, it can attract customers of its competitors and
contributes in generation of profit. In order to make customer loyal, it provides cashback
and other discounts on its services which helps in making customer loyal towards
company. Adding to this, customer seeks those product or service which stands at top
quality in lowest price. This strategy can build or collapse company’s brand equity.
 Place- This element of marketing mix helps in determining best and suitable location
from where customer can acquire product or service. It plays an important role in
achieving success as customer wants location which is easily accessible from his place. In
relation to Hotel Marriot, it expands its operations in more than 100 countries and the

core location is near highways, airports and central market from where it becomes easier
to reach hotel. As these places are most crowded and there are various opportunities lies
in those areas (Iacobucci, 2021). Company follows mixed strategy in order to serve
services through online booking or by travel agents. Most of the customers opts online
booking method to book their rooms as it is most convenient method to book. The
website of company has smooth UI which makes it easier for customer to book online.
The core aim of aim of company is to choose that location from where crowded places
such as railway station, bus stops and airports are easily accessible in order to provide
better customer service experience. Having location near these places creates various
opportunities for company to generate higher revenue.
 Promotion- This element relates to promotion of products or services. There are various
marketing approaches such as sales advertising, video marketing, hoarding and
commercials. In relation to Hotel Marriot, it totally relies on digital marketing tools and
techniques in order to showcase products. Being an international hotel, the user interface
of company is simple which makes it easier for customer to use. Website of company
contains all essential details that customer seeks for and this helps in making decision
whether to opt or not. Adding to digital marketing, company also focus on social media
marketing by which it communicates with its existing as well as with potential customers.
It uploads pictures and videos of their customers along with experience. Company also
conduct online marketing campaigns so as to capture attention of customers. It also
provides discount and offers to its customers so as to make them loyal towards company.
Company also collaborated with social media influencers to make series of travelling
documentaries. Social media marketing is found more beneficial for company as it makes
it easier for company to influence customers. On the other hand, by sharing positive
reviews and pictures, it can help potential buyers in opting Hotel Marriot. It is important
for company to promote its services to its social media handles and on website by which
customer can make decision accordingly. It is also needed for company to use
combination of marketing elements which brings efficiency to its services.
 People- This element relates to maintaining relationship with its internal and external
stakeholders who are directly or indirectly connected to business. In relation to Hotel
Marriot, it maintains relation with its customers and communicates on social media

platform so that it can identify how customers perceives brand. Hotel Marriot has support
team which regularly respond to its customers. It also ensures that employees of company
deliver better customer service experience. It also emphasises on providing wellbeing
environment in order to render quality services to its employees (Bagozzi and et al.,
2018). Company has more than 100000 employees across the world and takes of their
needs and wants. So, it is important for company to focus on safety and well-being of
employees which results in reduced employee abseentism. Company also provides
various facilities to their employees such as leave facility, compensation facility, fringe
benefit and life insurance. Adding to this, it maintains healthy relation with its
stakeholders by providing high ROI on their investment. Company maintains good
relationship with its suppliers and becomes loyal clients.
 Process- In relation to Hotel Marriot, company has setup Alexa voice assistant into their
room by which customer can control appliances as per its requirement. Each voice
assistant is connected to reception desk in order to raise any query and for extra services.
This helps company in gaining more customer satisfaction and this process makes
convenient for customer. The core aim for opting this process is to deliver hassle free and
convenient service to its customers. In case of unavailability of room in hotel, then
company transfer its client’s booking to its other branch as per nearest location. Company
opt latest technology by which it provides convenience of check in and check out.
 Physical evidence- In relation to Hotel Marriot, the biggest evidence is resorts and
buildings. Services also plays an important role in gaining customer satisfaction which
facilitates in influencing customer to return back and retain experience (Rowson, 2019).
Other physical evidence of Hotel Marriot are its booklets, own brand products like soaps,
shampoo and logo.
Recommendation for enhancing marketing strategy of Hotel Marriott’s
 Managing big data- This relates to collection and managing data which can be used for
further decision making. In relation to Hotel Marriot, it collects data from various sources
of its customer and analyse so as to create insight for further decision making. In addition
to that, it also collects data of its suppliers, creditors and debtors which makes company’s
operation smoother (George, 2021). It becomes complex to collect and interpret such big
data and to address this issue, company should opt high end software which collects,

analyse, interprets and creates insight for better decision making. With this data,
company can easily target its audience and send mails related to offers and discounts.
Opting latest technology can help company in becoming more efficient.
 Reward for direct booking- Direct booking may be considered as jackpot for customers
as they do not have to pay extra fees to travel agents and saves customer’s money. So, it
is recommended to company to provide extra benefits and rewards for those customers
who directly book hotels from their websites. It will help customers in saving money of
travel agents fees and discounts makes their overall cost lesser. In addition to that, it will
attract larger customer base and makes loyal towards brand.
 Use of google analytics- It is imperative for company to opt google analytics or any other
performance evaluation software so that it makes it easier for company to take corrective
decision. Some of the examples of software are Squarespace, Hubspot and it will help
company in analysing which keyword is mostly used by customer for searching for
specific facility in hospitality companies. Along with this, it will help company in
analysing whether it is needed to make changes in existing strategy or not. Company can
use most used word.
 Taking advantage of social media channel- Most of the audience are active on social
media platform such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter on which company can
communicate with its customers in order to better understand about their needs and
wants. It will help company in framing of effective strategies which leads company to
attainment of goals. It is recommended to company to stay active on social media
platforms and upload pictures and videos of their unique services which attracts larger
customer base. Company have to hire a separate team of individuals who manage social
media accounts and ensure that company should post attractive and actual content on
social media platform. Along with this, company should hire a professional photographer
who can click attractive photographs and makes eye catching videos of hotel premises.
 Pre-reserve parking- Customer satisfaction is the core aim for every company and to
gain higher customer satisfaction, it has to pre-reserve parking areas while booking
customer’s room. This will help company in saving cost of parking personnel. Along
with this, it will also lead to gain more customer satisfaction as customer can park their
vehicles by their own as they already know they parking place. It will save time of

customer and this facility can provide hassle free customer service experience (Hudson
and Hudson, 2017). It will make Hotel Marriot unique from its competitors such as
Intercontinental hotels and resorts and Hotel Premier Inn.
 Voice enabled rooms- It is one of the latest trend in hospitality industry and companies
are converting their rooms to voice enabled rooms (Visconti, Peñaloza and Toulouse,
2020). Thus, it is recommended to Hotel Marriot to opt latest technology based sensors
for heating and cooling of water, lightening. For example, when a customer enters a room
it sensors will automatically detect presence and turn on light and a tired customer has to
say prepare water bath and geyser will automatically start and makes water hot/cold
according to external temperature.
 Consideration of customer feedback and review- It is important for company to take
regular updates and feedbacks from its customers so that it can improve its services, in
case of negative feedback. Company should take every feedback in a positive manner and
tries best to make service better which can meet customer expectation. It is recommended
to customer that it should take feedbacks and reviews whenever a guest check outs hotel.
It will help hotel in analysing key areas in which further improvement is needed and what
corrective measures can be taken to improve its services. It plays an important role in
making company more successful as feedbacks helps in defining those areas in which
further improvement is needed (Chandra, 2019). By making alteration in existing
strategies, company can become more efficient in its operations and also makes it easier
to accomplish objectives. Each customer has certain level of expectation from company
whenever it makes decision regarding choosing hotel and when its expectation does not
fulfil, it makes him disappoint. So, in order to fulfil its expectations, it is needed for
company to take feedback about its service and what improvement takes immediate
action against any raised issue.
 Mobile room keys- It is also one of the significant trend in hospitality industry in which
most of the hospitality based companies are switching from traditional way of opening
and closing door with keys to mobile lock and unlock feature. It is recommended to
company that they should paste QR code on every door and gives access to only guest
who is staying in that room. It will keep customers and their belonging safe and secure as
unauthorised person cannot access to their room. It will eliminate usage of plastic in

making keys and thus it can bring sustainable change in in which customer can
lock/unlock their hotel rooms via mobile phone.
 Placing camera outside of door- It is also recommended to Hotel Marriot to place
cameras outside the door and give access to customer so that they can know about person
knocking the door. With this technology, customer can get to know about person outside
the door. It will keep safety of customers too and of hotel premises. Thus, it will also
result in gaining trust of customers at Marriot and can enjoy better services.
By analysing all above recommendation, it has been evaluated that implementing
and taking recommendation into consideration can help company in enhancing brand
image and in generation of profit. It makes company unique from its competitors like
Intercontinental hotel and resorts and hotel Premier Inn. It is also recommended to
company to understand its needs and wants and based on that provide service. People
belongs to different countries and has different set of values, tradition and belief and for
that, it needs to understand their perception and based on that render service.
Management of company should ensure that they are delivering quality service to their
customer. Hotel Marriot should take regular feedbacks from its customer and should take
immediate action to resolve any query. It should take feedbacks in a positive manner and
frame strategies so as to make alteration in its services.

CONCLUSION
From the above project report, it was concluded that marketing management plays crucial
role in meeting objectives of company and makes operations smoother. There are various
objectives that marketing management consist such as satisfaction of customer needs and wants,
generation of high profit, creation of goodwill in order to attract larger customer base. It also
helps company in promoting its products and service to its targeted audience. In relation to Hotel
Marriot, it opts digital and social media marketing in order to showcase its services. On social
media, company takes regular updates and feedback from its customer so as to take corrective
measures for making better service. The branding strategy of company involves all essential
elements which contributes in promoting brand at larger scale in order to attain desired
objectives. It also has been analysed that positioning of product plays significant role in branding
strategy which enables marketers to promote their brand to its targeted segment in an innovative
manner. It will help company in gaining competitive advantage in dynamic market. On the other
hand, marketing mix is one of the most effective strategic marketing tool which involves crucial
elements such as product, price, place, physical evidence, process, promotion and people. If used
effectively, it can bring great efficiency to business in terms of high profit and high market share.
In hospitality industry, it is important to effectively use 7Ps of marketing mix so that competitive
advantage can be achieved. It is recommended to Hotel Marriot to alter their existing strategy
and opt latest technology so that it can attract more customers. It will result in gaining more
customer and reduces overall cost. It should introduce mobile room keys, voice control rooms
and pre reserve parking so as to provide hassle free customer service experience.

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