MBA 560 Final Project: Marriott Bed and Breakfast Plan

This assignment presents a detailed business plan for Marriott Corporation, proposing a strategic expansion into the bed and breakfast market. It begins with an executive summary highlighting the potential benefits of this venture, including lower investment costs and the ability to leverage the Marriott brand. The report analyzes the current context of Marriott, its strengths and weaknesses, core competencies, and pricing strategies. It identifies the growing demand for unique travel experiences, and how Marriott can capitalize on this trend by partnering with existing bed and breakfast establishments. The analysis includes market demographics, the needs of travelers, and the competitive advantages of the proposed strategy. The plan also focuses on how Marriott can enhance its brand by providing adventurous holiday experiences and exploring locations that have not been fully explored by the brand. The report concludes with a discussion of the refinement of the business plan, providing insights into the implementation of this expansion strategy, and how it aligns with Marriott's goal of providing luxurious experiences to customers.

A NEW BUSINESS PLAN FOR MARRIOTT CORPORATION
A Business Plan for Corporation
Name of Student
Name of University
Author Note

1A NEW BUSINESS PLAN FOR MARRIOTT CORPORATION
Executive Summary
The report deals with a new business strategy that can be associated with the company Mariott
Corporation. The new strategy that was mentioned here was the idea of bed and breakfast. If the
company chooses to invest in the pre-existing bed and breakfast places, then would have to
invest a very little amount of money but they will get the benefits. As bed and breakfast are
owned by private residents, the company will just have to work with the owners and renovate the
place but other than that no human resource is necessary. The business will never fade away as
everyone loves to travel luxuriously and if they get the opportunity to travel and stay at place
which is associated with the Marriott brand name then the customers will definitely keep on
expanding. The report provides a plan of investment and benefits of Marriott associating with the
bed and breakfast.

2A NEW BUSINESS PLAN FOR MARRIOTT CORPORATION
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Discussion........................................................................................................................................3
Context.........................................................................................................................................3
Need.............................................................................................................................................5
Strength and Weakness................................................................................................................7
Core Competencies......................................................................................................................8
Pricing..........................................................................................................................................8
Refinement...................................................................................................................................9
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................10

3A NEW BUSINESS PLAN FOR MARRIOTT CORPORATION
Introduction
One of the leading competitors in the hospitality industry is Marriott Corporation.
Founded by Willard Marriott and Frank Kimball, the company in the year 1957 was called Hot
Shoppes, Inc. Twin Bridges Motor was the first hotel that was opened under the Marriott
Corporation in Arlington County, Virginia, United States (www.marriott.com, 2019). In
Acapulco, Mexico the international hotel under Marriott was built. From 1993 onwards, Marriott
was known as Host Marriott Corporation. Marriott has more than 4200 properties across the
globe in 80 countries and territories (www.marriott.com, 2019). According to some sources,
61.9% of Marriott’s properties are based in the United States of America (www.marriott.com,
2019). Marriott also allows franchises to operate a single hotel of a specific size at a particular
site. No exclusive territories are given to the franchises. After including all its properties, Marriot
is the largest resort chain and hotel in the world both by its annual revenue and number of units.
This report will focus on developing a business plan for an innovation that can be associated with
the Marriott Corporation. The chosen innovation for this report is opening a chain of bed and
breakfast hotels, where the brand name of Marriott will be expanded on the bread and breakfast
industry (Morales, 2014).
Discussion
Context
Marriott Corporation is a leading hospitality company of the world. In the year 2015,
their revenue was more than $14 billion (web.archive.org, 2016). The franchises of the company
are under 19 brands, which include, the Ritz Carlton, BVLGARI, JW Marriott, Marriott

4A NEW BUSINESS PLAN FOR MARRIOTT CORPORATION
Executive Apartments, Marriott Vacation Club, Protea Hotels, Spring Hill Suits among others
(web.archive.org, 2016). The company has multiple awards winning guest loyalty programs such
as the Marriott Rewards and The Ritz Carlton Rewards, under which there are more than 55
million members (www.marriott.com, 2019). The company in the year 2015, acquired Delta
Hotel & Resorts, they took over their branding and management and franchise business, giving
them the status of the largest full service hotel in Canada. $1.94 of the company’s common stock
was repurchased by the company and the company paid $250 million in dividends
(www.marriott.com, 2019). The gross booking for the company crossed $12 million, which
represents a 14% increase year over year; this suggests that Marriott gets 28% of the system-
wide room nights books worldwide (www.marriott.com, 2019). The stakeholders of the company
includes independent owners, workforce and vendors, communities and customers, franchises
and lastly, the few hotels that are owned by the company and the majority which they manage
(Zakaria, Brewer & Gajendran, 2013).
The company stands on the idea of providing world care services in the hospitality
industry. The brand’s philosophy is to take proper care of the associates that means the people
that are working in the organization will be taken care by the organizations and in turn they will
take care of the customers. This has been the motto of the company since day one and the
company has been working for the past 85 years. They have always given the people that are
working for them the first priority and this has earned them a lot of award and recognition.
Marriott’s prime goal from the beginning was to ensure that the customers wishes and demands
comes first, the brand has proven that they stick to their values and make sure that the customers
get what they want. Innovation has also been a part of their brand from the very beginning. They
break the status quo and create something new for their customers.

5A NEW BUSINESS PLAN FOR MARRIOTT CORPORATION
This is something that they have heavily focused on over the last few years, and thereby
have established a very fruitful customer value for the customers. The main thing that it has
come up with for the customers is to create an ambience that is coming of the age. It is for this
reason that all of the Marriot Hotels have an exotic architecture, and this group of hotels are
considered to have one of the best architectural designs in the entire world. They sell this a
specialty and are highly focused on aesthetics, which is anything but oriental for the Marriot
Hotels. Apart from this, Marriot Hotels have always believed in serving guests with the utmost
humility and respect. They would want to make sure that they have the competitive advantage in
the industry, by ensuring both a five star experience in the exotic architecture and top class
customer service, therefore creating an unmatchable customer relationship in the process.
Therefore, it could be said that relationships play an important part in the philosophy of the
organization.
From the time the company has formed, their goal was to provide a luxurious experience
to their customers and enhance their experience of a vacation and leisure time. A new strategy
that the company can work on and it will help the company dive into a new territory in the
hospital industry is the opening of a series of bed and breakfasts. Bread and breakfast are very
common among the people who do not like the idea of staying at a hotel but just for the purpose
of staying a night and eating the breakfast the morning after. The company’s 54% workforce is
women and 65% are minorities (fortune.com, 2019). The new bed and breakfast will enhance
their profile, bed and breakfasts are usually small places managed by a single person or a small
family. The company can invest their money on few bed and breakfast which already exist and
give them their brand. There are many places where tourists go to travel and they either hike or

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stay overnight and leave in the morning, these are sometimes located in the interiors of a city and
those who like to explore new places, they visit those places (Banerjee & Chua, 2016). The
brand Marriott is mostly known for the luxurious vacation experience and holiday, the brand can
now dive into providing adventurous holiday experience with acquiring bed and breakfasts at
locations which have not been explored. The name Marriott will give the small places a lot of
boost and the small places will also be benefitted from the biggest name in hospitality getting
attached to it. It will prove as a successful venture for the company as today many travelers
wants to experience adventure and luxury together.
Need
Bed and breakfast is a very a niche section of the hospitality and travel business. Bed and
breakfasts are mostly private residence that provides a room and the morning breakfast to
travelers (Chen, Chen & Lee, 2013). Most of the bed and breakfasts have no employees as the
owner of the residents provide for the customers. The bed and breakfast can be availed by
everyone who desires to travel for a short period of time, today many travelers travel for short
business trips, where they only want to stay at a place for night and have to catch a flight early in
the morning, in that case, the traveler prefers to stay in a place where the cost is not high and the
customers wants to avail a comfortable stay, and the most suitable to avail is a bed and breakfast.
Hence, the desired demographic are the people who have to take short trips for work. The other
people who can avail the bed and breakfast are the people who like to travel and travel frequently
but expect a home stay everywhere they go. There are a lot of people who travel throughout the
year but who do not like to stay hotel, their desire is to enjoy the place like not like an traveler
but a native person so they prefer to stay at a bed and breakfast, rather than staying at an
elaborate hotel. These travelers can be anyone from a single man and woman to a family who

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travels frequently but generally bed and breakfasts are not too big in size so chances are that
rather than families, couples and bachelors would avail a bed and breakfast.
While the idea is compelling enough for a possible expansion, it has to be taken into
account that the location of the service also has to play a role in the expansion. For example, the
location has to be in a location which is often visited, but not much stayed at. A perfect example
of this would be Bella Baita. This is a BnB service based near the Italian Alps, situated about two
hours from the location. It is for this reason that the main guests it gets are people who intend on
going to the Alps. This is because the spot provides for a perfect resting spot for the long journey
to the Italian Alps. Such is a location that the hotel would be requiring for the purpose of
successful expansion.
The customers who usually avails a bed and breakfast are the ones who want to escape
the hotel experience and like to live in a place where they could get the feeling of home. The
customers of bed and breakfasts are also the ones who come for a short trip or business trip,
where they can stay for a night leave for a early morning flight.

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Source: (www.referenceforbusiness.com,
2019)
Basic Demographics
Currently bed and breakfast is trying to
focus their attention to the business travelers
(Wardman et al., 2015). Marriott in general
cater to a lot of travelers who visit a city for
the purpose of business. Many businessmen
and women who travel to a city for the
purpose of business, do not prefer staying in
expensive places as it is only for a night, in
that case they can choose a bed and breakfast,
where they will not only get to stay overnight
but will get the assurance of the brand
Marriott. Apart from business traveler, the bed
and breakfast facilities also cater to tourist
who like travelling and exploring places and
prefer adventure over luxury. They crave for
deeper connections and the only connection
that they build in a big hotel is when they
check-in. The people who will choose to be
Type of Guests:
Married 80%
Homeowners 82.2%
Professional occupation 36.4%
Executive occupation 10.9%
Administrative position 10.3%
Household income (median) $73,000
Graduate degree 31.3%
College graduate 40.5%
Some college 21%
25 to 34 years old 24.3%
35 to 44 years old 23.2%
45 to 54 years old 29.5%
Primary purpose of the trip:
Tourists 31%
Special occasions 30%
Business travelers 15%
Visiting family 14%
Attending meetings 10%
Reasons for staying at a B&B:
Personal touch80%
Charm of building 78%

9A NEW BUSINESS PLAN FOR MARRIOTT CORPORATION
part of the bed and breakfast will want to experience traveler’s life and also live in a place where
they will get the brand assurance from Marriott (Kandampully, Zhang & Bilgihan, 2015). The
company can invest some their money to the already existing bed and breakfasts and make a
precedent in this field where no other company has delved into. A local owner who has
knowledge about the local side seeing’s and the places around will also prove helpful to the
traveler.
When the company invests their money in the local bed and breakfast, they are choosing
to explore a new dimension of the travelling and hospitality business. Both the hospitality and
the travelling business go hand in hand. Marriott has only ventured into the area of luxury
holidays and in the area of adventure travel, Marriott does not have any ventures (Deale, 2013).
Travelling is not something that everybody can afford and even if they can, the brand Marriott is
expensive, whenever a person travels, they cannot choose to stay in Marriott as it on the
expensive end so, and travelers often chose to stay in small inns and bed and breakfast. If
Marriott invests their and their brand name into bed and breakfasts, customers will automatically
be attracted to those places, because they are getting the Marriott experience with the a cost of
bed and breakfast. Even if they have to spend a little more than the usual, they will do it because
they are getting to experience what Marriott has to offer.
Choosing a bed and breakfast to expand the business of the company will be beneficial
for the company. The company will set a precedent in the field of travelling business. The
travelling business is unexplored by the big hotel companies as they generate most of their
revenue from the business travelers and luxury holidays. The company will not have to invest
much because most of the work will be done by the residents who manage their own property.

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Without investing a lot the company gets to enjoy the benefits of the business. The business of
the company will increase and they will be the first large scale hospitality business to do that.
Behavioral
Behavioral characteristics in market segmentation to the behavioral characteristics that a
segment in the market exhibit, which are usually of interest to the business trying to target them.
In this context the general people who tend to avail BnB services are people who do love to
travel, or their occupation requires them to travel. This is because of the fact that the hospitality
industry itself runs on people who travel, to give them a shelter during their stay in their
destination. It is for this reason that Marriot has to ensure that they reach out to people who have
to travel, to let them know that the group is taking initiatives to make sure that travelers get to
have a stay for a short duration of time when they need to, and that they are right by their side
when they need that, and that too, at affordable prices.
This is all the more reason why the organization must think of making sure that the BnB
service is situated in a suitable location, where people do travel, or have to travel for specific
purposes. A BnB is not ideally required to be situated in the urban regions. It is ideally located in
locations that have a tourist attraction or a value attached to them. For example, Haj could be a
perfect spot for the purpose as well. It is because thousands of pilgrims have to travel to the
place, which is not necessarily for a long time. It is for this reason that the organization could
step in and establish a value by creating a class BnB, which would be of immense help to the
pilgrims as well.
Another behavioral characteristic that the organization would have to look out for would
be the tendency to stay back under a shelter for a short duration of time, when they need a shelter

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while traveling. Some people tend to arrange a shelter for themselves, while some seek to find
one. The target for the organization would be to influence people who intend on finding one. It is
for this reason that the main thing that has to be done is to make sure that proper marketing has
to be done with the proper messages, post a thorough market research, with proper messages, and
appropriate marketing tools are used to reach out to the intended audiences.
Strength and Weakness
The tangible assets of the company are huge. The company has its properties all across
the globe over almost 80 countries and territories (Ivanov & Mayorova, 2015). Although the
brand Marriott is mostly associated luxury vacations and they do not have any experience in the
field of adventure holiday. They would have to invest a sum of money, in case of a small facility
approximate money that is needed is $20000 to $30000, and in case of larger facility the money
an approximate amount that can be invested is $40000 to $50000, these amounts are pretty low
when compared to the yearly turnover of the company (Tang, 2015). Marriott earns monthly
more than billion dollars, which means that by investing a very little the company gets to enjoy
the benefit.
The customers in today’s world want to enjoy and have a luxurious trip but they almost
all the time frown at spending a lot of money on everything. With Marriott engaging their brand
to the bed and breakfast industry, the customer will definitely get attracted, they will be spending
the usual amount or a little more but they will get to associate themselves with the brand of
Marriott. Business traveler as well tourists are now looking for places where they can escape
from the city life and enjoy, every traveler wants to go away from the concrete jungle and live
close to nature, so Marriott is mostly a five star hotel but with the bed and breakfast the company