Digital Marketing Report: Marriott Hotel, Digital Tools and Strategies

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Marriott Hotel's digital marketing strategies. It begins with an introduction to digital marketing and its significance, followed by an in-depth PESTLE analysis of Marriott, examining political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental f...Read More

Hospitality Digital
Marketing

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1 ...........................................................................................................................................3
Develop the digital marketing report on Marriott hotel and require to provide an
environmental analysis in detail manner ....................................................................................3
TASK 2 ...........................................................................................................................................5
Key digital tools, platforms and channels used by various organisations and comparing its
digital presence............................................................................................................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................8
Develop a plan for digital marketing activities to support Marriott Hotel..................................8
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................11
Methods to evaluate, monitor and measure digital marketing effectiveness............................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Digital marketing is defined as marketing or product or services with the assistance of
digital tools and technologies and their channels which are based on a system and helpful for the
business in creation of and development of value for their product to their ultimate customers.
Digital marketing was introduced in late 90’s and helpful for the business to make changes
within their marketing methods of business and to use advanced channel to market their
products. It is an advantageous tool for business in order to enhance business segments and garb
new customer so as to enhance customer base as well. Within digital marketing, digital
technologies are used in the process of advertising goods and services, these technologies are
dependent on internet (De Pelsmacker, Van Tilburg and Holthof, 2018). This report is prepared
with a view to understand opportunities and challenges of business which are having high impact
on digital conditions and along with this understanding of digital tools which can be used by
hospitality business is also given. Besides this the report enlightens digital marketing activities
and numerous channels for hospitality. In the last part of report evaluation of various methods for
control and monitor effectiveness of digital activities has been explained. In order to understand
these concepts Marriott hotel hotel has been taken which is having their operation throughout the
world and wide functions are managed by them.
TASK 1
Develop the digital marketing report on Marriott hotel and require to provide an environmental
analysis in detail manner
Digital marketing is helpful for the business in promoting their product and services to
the mass audience. This tool provides easiness to assist the business so as to make it capable to
earn more profits. Digital marketing is helpful for the business to enhance their business area and
reach out to more customers and capture huge market segment thereon. With the help of
PESTLE analysis business strategies can be implemented in order to understand the factor and
their assistance within market in an effective manner. Marriott hotel is required to use such kind
of analysis so as to recognise market opportunities by properly analysing them. These factors are
having prominent impact on profitability and sustainability of the business. The detailed
explanations of these factors are elaborated as under:

Political factor: These factors are associated with various laws and governmental trade
policies, foreign trade laws, digitalisation and various governmental policies. These factors are
having huge impact on vision of digitalisation of national government in which business is
running. Every country has their own laws and regulations for their in house companies just like
that Marriott hotel is required to recognise those rules and accordingly run their business in
smooth manner. In UK political environment is stable and government gives high support to
businesses which are willing to have business expansion (Kempiak and et. al., 2016). So this
factor is giving huge opportunities to Marriott hotel in order to expand their business and render
good quality services to their clients. For instance government of UK is promoting internet and
digitalisation at a very prominent manner and on the contrary internet is banned only higher
authority are allowed to use this facility so their political environment does not allow
digitalisation and expand their business with the help of those tools. Furthermore UK is having
very supportive and controlled environment which gives opportunities for hospitality business
like Marriott hotel to cater their customers in effective manner and explore those opportunities
with high efficiency (Inanc–Demir and Kozak, 2019).
Economical factor: These factors are associated with economic factors of a country such
as GDP rate, per capita income, inflation rate, interest rate, foreign exchange rate and many
more. These factors are having major impact on Marriott hotel and their national business
operations. When a country is having low per capita income that means country is under
development and having lesser opportunities for luxury business to grow. In the context of UK
digital marketing is widely used in the country and provides greater opportunity for the
businesses to get high assistance via digital technology and expand their business (Paulauskaite
and et. al., 2017). The government over UK is highly focused on these technologies and are
willing to invest more in cloud computing and virtual marketing as in this digital era these
technologies are able to obtain new and unique experience for customer which will be apprised
by them. So it has been examined that digital marketing in having immense opportunities within
this factor which helps the business to support their country’ economy and enrich life of civilians
in effective manner.
Social factor: These factors are associated with taste, preference and trends of an
individual. There are numerous factors which are having high impact on needs of individual and

they directly deal with development of a nation and business as well. In UK people are prone to
use internet and are dependent of digital trends and this is giving high opportunities to various
businesses to promote their business via digital marketing and acquire heavy population. With
the help of social media tools such as Facebook, Instagram, Sanpchat and many more marketing
can be followed by Marriott hotel and these tools are giving high opportunities for the business
to flourish and expand with international and local markets without any prominent barrier. These
tools are helping the customers to experience quality services and high level of convenience with
their stay and using hospitality services (Mazen Alomari, 2017).
Technological factor: These factors are associated with use of latest and advanced
technology within business so as to adopt business automation and innovation that is helpful for
empowering efficiency of a country and in house businesses as well. These factors are helpful in
giving quality services to customer so as to give them remarkable and comfortable stays which
are having positive impact over profitability and productivity of the business. In the context of
UK, businesses are highly dependent on innovations and digitalisation technologies as these are
the major source to have ease and convenience within usage of any product and services (Choi
and et. al., 2016). In hospitality industry businesses are having highly automated machineries
which is helpful of them to bring high efficiency in business and meeting needs of their
customers in considerable manner. In the background of Marriott hotel, they have using some
apps which are giving ease to customers in their booking and solving any further queries. On the
other side they have a very well trained customer support team which is set up to solve any
queries which have arisen in customer’s mind at the time of booking the hotel and during stay.
So it can be said that digitalisation techniques are highly adopted in UK and they are having
prominent impact on profitability of Marriott hotel.
Legal factor: These factors are associated with those legal laws and legislations which
are required to be followed by business as per governmental guidelines. These laws are having
impact on the management and organisation as well, so it is required by the management to set
their business abide to those rules in order to have smooth functioning of business and avoid any
law suit. In the context of UK the country is highly focused on their laws and rules. The
government is having various departments which are managing these laws enforceability with
numerous companies so as to minimise risk within current business market. In the context of

Marriott hotel, the company is required to follow data protection act which gives secrecy of data
for their customers. Besides this UK supports highly to their companies which are willing to
expand their business via digital mediums so by stay in laws enforceability this factors gives
immense opportunities to the hospitality business to grow (Järvinen, 2016). Within background
of internet in this factor European protection regulation Act is implemented in European
hospitality businesses by which data is required to be controlled by companies when they are
taking booking in online methods, this generates high chaos in business as this is an Act
implemented by government so as to provide safety and security to customer but at the same
time creates high burden.
Environmental factor: These factors are associated with environmental changes and
fluctuations. In the context of Marriott hotel and digital marketing these are advantageous for
environment as these are economical and paper friendly as well. By which high benefits can be
enumerated in marketing and business as well. Marriott is highly concerned about taking care of
environment so they are emphasised on using emerging digital marketing tools and tactics. This
is rendering them high coverage over market and distinct position within marketplace.
TASK 2
Key digital tools, platforms and channels used by various organisations and comparing its digital
presence
In order to conduct operation and business functions, digital tools and platform are used
by organisations. In current era of business digital technologies has become vital portion of
routine life for persons and businesses. In the process of promotions, digital tools and practices
are used widely which are helpful for the company to get their marketing process done. So with
this context hospitality industry is also enhancing its digital existence by using several digital
tools and channels in order to market their service and convey their advertisement to large
population (Fyall and et. al.,2019). Within this segment of report discussion of marketing gears
utilised by Marriott hotel has been enlightened along with comparison of tools used by Hilton
hotel so as to differentiate their marketing strategies.

Marriott Hotel
Marriott hotel is using digital marketing tools so as to position them within market by
advertising their offerings in effective manner. Marriott hotel is having their 38% of overall
investment in digital marketing in order to get high efficiency and effectiveness. Within this
competitive business environment these tools are helpful to upgrade digital presence and attain
business sustainability within marketplace. Numerous tools which are utilised by Marriott hotel
are enlisted below:
 Google Ads: Marriott hotel is using Google ads within their digital marketing process as
in current marketing environment this tool has proven to be the most beneficial and
influential tool. With the help of this tool companies are able to reach out to maximum
number of people within marketing process. A Google ad is a mechanism where when a
user search for something on web browser they can see various suggestions related to
their search on their window. This is proven to be most effective tools through which
Marriott hotel is able to enhance their customer base and advertise their offering to public
at a large (Suryawardani and Wiranatha, 2017).
 Social media: This is an another social digital marketing tool which is used by Marriott
hotel that associates snap chat, Facebook, instagram and many more. Within this context
Marriott hotel had made their partnership with snap chat influencer so as to make
“Snapisodes” which is a travel documentary based on the hotel. For this they call
influencers to their premises and use their services so as to promote them via making
small teaser and to connect with large audience.
(https://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/03/31/marriott-turns-snapisodes-promote-loyalty-
scheme)
Hilton Hotel
Hilton is highly focused on digital marketing tools by examining current trends and
business environment. These tools enable them to expand their market on a very quick manner
and get business proficiency and productiveness (Chang, Ku and Chen, 2019). Several tools used
by Hilton are enumerated as under:

 Modern Traveller: These are those people who are associated with technology and
internet. These persons are prone to travel and experience life of five star hotels. They
prefer quality stays so as to remain healthy and remain enthusiastic. In the context of
Hilton, marketing manager makes promotional strategy through which modern travellers
are invited and catered with their offerings (Alves, Sousa and Machado, 2020). This
enable the company to connect with their customer and advertise their offerings as
travellers are seeking to find new places to stay and explore.
 Social Media: In today’s business environment people are highly concerned about
sharing their experiences and opinion which could be possible with the help of social
media. Within digital marketing concepts it is essential to experience various aspects at
online platform. In the background of Hilton they use social media platform so as to
attract and sustain their customer for longer duration. The major aim of this platform is to
make people share their experiences so as to use these experiences as positive publicity
and advertisement. This is a low cost digital tool by which huge audience can be reached
so as to create high productivity in business and engage population in the same
(Gligorijevic, 2016).
TASK 3
Develop a plan for digital marketing activities to support Marriott Hotel
In hospitality industry they are facing high competition each day and this is becoming
more challenging for them. These factors are having direct impact over business and their long
term sustainability as well. Marriott hotel is investing their capital in digital marketing so as to
maximise their profit by covering high audience. Marriott hotel is having huge rivals such as
Hilton, Intercontinental hotel group and many more. In order to deal with these competitors
Marriott hotel has developed their plan of action within two emerging extensions which are
elaborated as under:
a) Luxury business division
Identify the channel

This is the foremost step of this plan in which Marriott hotel is examining channels of
digital marketing so as to reach out to maximum number of audience in effectual manner. Within
this term Marriott hotel is an active member and use digital marketing tools in order to market
their offered services such as food and beverages services, holiday packages and other in house
services. In the current situation of UK it has been analysed that huge people are using online
media sources to acquire numerous information related to hotel, brand and any product. These
information are collected through website and internet searches. It is easy for customer to check
their required services via online platform rather than visiting the same and then taking
decisions. This is generating ease to customers in making bookings and selecting their range of
hotels as well. This media channel is giving high benefits to Marriott hotel as well, by this
platform they are able to promote and advertise their business in more effective and economic
manner. In current time luxury is the aspect at which customer are get attracted specifically in
hospitality industry. This has given power to Marriott hotel as in achieving their business goals
and objectives in more effective manner within stipulated time frame. In luxury business division
Marriott hotel is making high efforts so as to recognise the best suitable channel for the business
in order to run their operations in more smooth manner and gain high sustainability as well
(Floričić, 2016).
Developing objective
After deciding upon channel the next stage is to define business objective within digital
marketing activities in order to take a move for enhancing overall performance. Marriott hotel is
having following business objective within marketing activities:
 To increase its revenue by 20% in next one year.
 To enhance its customer base by 18% in next 9 months.
 Also, to enhance its online existence with digital channels, platforms and tools.
With the view to attain these business objectives Marriott hotel is highly concentrated on
enhancing their quality of services so as to give render high quality services to their
customers and visitors.
Determine target audience

These aspects are about recognising and differentiate customers and society on the basis
of various factors. This is helping the business in improvising their share within market. Marriott
hotel is having their focus on rendering high quality services to their customer and they are not
very concerned about their pricing strategy. Target customer for Marriott hotel are families who
are willing to plan for some holiday vacations and want to experience luxury over there. Marriott
hotel is having their high focus on higher class society as they are the people who prefer quality
over price and by this Marriott hotel is able to enhance their brand publicity in superior manner
(Undey, Koroglu and Duran, 2019).
Generate integration
This is the last phase of the digital marketing plan, in which Marriott hotel is going to
initiate some steps in order to merge their both of their online and offline marketing channels so
as to make their team work with collaborative approach to get effective results. By merging
various marketing channels this helps Marriott hotel to get to know about needs and
requirements of each and every individual who are their potential buyer. This will help them to
encourage so as taking those measures which can be the path for gaining competitive advantage.
b) Active holiday seekers
 Identifying the channels: This is the basic stage for Marriott hotel in which they are
taking those initiatives in which they are willing to have business expansion across the
globe so as to earn profits and brand loyalty within holiday seekers. So for this first step
within this segment is to recognise those channels which can be most advantageous for
the company. As in this case email marketing could be the most profitable for Marriott
hotel because this contains all the related information which could be helpful for the
company to make efforts towards attracting more customers in order to enhance their
customer base and unleash one more market segment.
 Developing objectives: Within this stage Marriott hotel is examining market conditions
so as to implement their strategies in order to make more sales and profits. This is helpful
for them to recognise their most appropriate strategy so as to combine various culture,
beliefs and shared values within their objectives and to make strong relationship with
their customers (Tsourgiannis and Valsamidis, 2019).

 Determining target audience: Within this aspect Marriott hotel is examining their target
audience and that segment which is the most profit generating for them in order to
enhance their profitability and capabilities. Within this the major target audience for
Marriott hotel is families and young traveller by whom Marriott hotel is offering various
packages and tour with a view to attract them towards their offerings.
 Generate integration: Marriott hotel is required to integrate various channels so as to
enhance their market share and deal with their competitors in considerable manner. This
helps them to improvise their communication with their clients so as to implement their
forecasted strategies with impactful results. By all these steps Marriott hotel will be able
to get distinct competitive edge within marketplace and huge number of customer base as
well.
TASK 4
Methods to evaluate, monitor and measure digital marketing effectiveness
Digital tools are used by many businesses so as to enhance awareness of their offerings
within each market segment. With the help of recognising proper marketing tool needs of the
customer can be met in effective manner. Within this case the major reason of failure of a
business is loopholes in their marketing activities. So it is required by Marriott hotel to monitor
and evaluate their marketing campaign and following are the methods by Marriott hotel can do
the same:
CTR (Click through rate): This method is used to measure efficiency of various
marketing channels which are used by Marriott hotel in the process of marketing activities.
Under this Marriott hotel is examining those number of clicks which are seen on their webpage
in order to check their online effectiveness (Grotte, 2018). This method is helpful for Marriott
hotel as they are able to recognise those attributes within numerous market segment which are
having positive impact on their business.
Questionnaire: This is a traditional method but yet useful and effective as well. Under
this method a Questionnaire is filled by guest and client so as to take out their experiences and
those areas where development is required. This will help Marriott hotel to find out appropriate

solution of problems which are faced by their client so as to give them remarkable stay and
maintain their market image (Gupta, 2019).
Return on investment metric: After recognising all the mentioned aspects this is the
method which is most effective and prominent to measure performance of marketing plan. This
metrics is helpful for meri to determine the level of competition in their industry and appropriate
method to deal with those rivals and to get prominent market position. This is an economic
method and may help Marriott hotel to reach out to their target customer by saving their
additional cost and having high impact.
Thus there are various methods which can be used by Marriott hotel to evaluate and
monitor effectiveness of their marketing plan. With this they will be able to gather high response
from their customer in order to establish their digital marketing strategy (Järvinen, 2016).
CONCLUSION
From the above detailed report it can be concluded that hospitality industry is having high
scope of digital marketing and using those tools in highly effective manner. These marketing
strategies are helpful for them to examining taste and preference of their customer in order to
meet their needs by business offerings so as to get competitive advantages. With the help of
PESTLE analysis it is easy for the business to recognise digital marketing opportunities with all
the factors so as to deal with market condition in effective way. Similarly with the help of digital
marketing plan the business is able to exercise the plan in advantageous manner so as to meet
their objectives (Kasemsap, 2018).

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Alves, G.M., Sousa, B.M. and Machado, A., 2020. The Role of Digital Marketing and Online
Relationship Quality in Social Tourism: A Tourism for All Case Study. In Digital
Marketing Strategies for Tourism, Hospitality, and Airline Industries (pp. 49-70). IGI
Global.
Chang, Y.C., Ku, C.H. and Chen, C.H., 2019. Social media analytics: Extracting and visualizing
Hilton hotel ratings and reviews from TripAdvisor. International Journal of Information
Management, 48, pp.263-279.
Choi, E.K., Fowler, D., Goh, B. and Yuan, J., 2016. Social media marketing: applying the uses
and gratifications theory in the hotel industry. Journal of Hospitality Marketing &
Management, 25(7), pp.771-796.
De Pelsmacker, P., Van Tilburg, S. and Holthof, C., 2018. Digital marketing strategies, online
reviews and hotel performance. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 72,
pp.47-55.
Floričić, T., 2016. INNOVATIOVE DIGITAL MARKETING OF SME HOTELS. In Innovation
Management, Entrepreneurship and Corporate Sustainability (IMECS 2016) (pp. 189-
202). Vysoká škola ekonomická v Praze.
Fyall, A., Legohérel, P., Frochot, I. and Wang, Y., 2019. Marketing for Tourism and Hospitality:
Collaboration, Technology and Experiences. Routledge.
Gligorijevic, B., 2016. Review platforms in destinations and hospitality. In Open Tourism (pp.
215-228). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Grotte, J., 2018, June. Future Challenges of the Hospitality Industry. In 7th Intentational
Conference on Torusim & Hospitality Management (pp. 11-25).
Gupta, G., 2019. Inclusive use of digital marketing in tourism industry. In Information Systems
Design and Intelligent Applications (pp. 411-419). Springer, Singapore.
Inanc–Demir, M. and Kozak, M., 2019. Big Data and Its Supporting Elements: Implications for
tourism and hospitality marketing. In Big Data and Innovation in Tourism, Travel, and
Hospitality (pp. 213-223). Springer, Singapore.
Järvinen, J., 2016. The use of digital analytics for measuring and optimizing digital marketing
performance. Jyväskylä studies in business and economics, (170).
Järvinen, J., 2016. The use of digital analytics for measuring and optimizing digital marketing
performance. Jyväskylä studies in business and economics, (170).

Kasemsap, K., 2018. Hospitality and tourism management: Advanced issues and
implications. International Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Management in the
Digital Age (IJTHMDA), 2(2), pp.37-52.
Kempiak, J., Hollywood, L., Bolan, P. and Gilmore, A., 2016, May. Digital marketing and food
tourism: towards a better understanding of food tourists’ engagement. In CHME
Conference Ulster University Belfast (Vol. 5).
Mazen Alomari, A.F.A.Z., 2017. The role of internal customer in improving the quality of hotel
services in Jordan: A case study of the Marriott International Hotel in
Amman. International Journal of Marketing Studies. 9(6).
Paulauskaite and et. al., 2017. Living like a local: Authentic tourism experiences and the sharing
economy. International Journal of Tourism Research. 19(6). pp.619-628.
Suryawardani, I.G.A.O. and Wiranatha, A.S., 2017. Digital Marketing in Promoting Events and
Festivities. A case of Sanur Village Festival. Journal of Business on Hospitality and
Tourism, 2(1), pp.159-167.
Tsourgiannis, L. and Valsamidis, S., 2019. Digital marketing in tourism: why Greek tourists use
digital marketing applications like Airbnb. International Journal of Culture, Tourism
and Hospitality Research.
Undey, N., Koroglu, I. and Duran, E., 2019. INSTAGRAM USAGE IN HOSPITALITY
SECTOR AS A SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING STRATEGY. In Proceedings of the
International scientific and practical conference “Bulgaria of regions” (Vol. 2, No. 1).