Unit 2 Marketing Essentials: Marriott International Report Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Marriott International's marketing strategies, focusing on the key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function within the organization. It explores how marketing interrelates with other functions such as HR, finance, sales, and production. The report delves into the marketing mix of Marriott International and compares it with that of Hilton, examining product offerings, place, price, and promotion strategies. Furthermore, it develops and evaluates a marketing plan specifically tailored for Marriott International, including tactics, strategies, objectives, control measures, and budgetary considerations, aiming to attract customers and increase sales. The report concludes with a discussion of the effectiveness of the marketing strategies employed by Marriott International and provides insights into their competitive advantages.

Unit 2 - Marketing
Essentials

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................3
Key role and responsibilities of the marketing function..............................................................3
Compare the role and responsibility or marketing rate to the wider organisational context.......5
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................7
Marketing Mix.............................................................................................................................7
Task 3...............................................................................................................................................9
Marketing plan for Marriott International...................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Marketing refers to the company’s activity that are under tax to promote the selling and
buying of product and services. Marketing function can include sailing, advertising, deleting
products to the consumer or the business. It helps to aware people about companies’ product and
services and Influence on their purchase decision.
This report will cover case study of Marriott international, which is an American multinational
diversified hospitality company that franchise and manage a board portfolio of the hotels and
related logging facilities.
This report will explain the role of marketing within the workplace of Marriott international and
it will explain how this function is enter elite with other organisational functions. this report will
compare 2 organisation on the basis of marketing mix 7’s To understand strategies what
companies are using and how much it is effective for them. It will also develop and evaluate the
marketing plan of Marriott international to attract customers an increase the sales of company. It
will also include tactics, strategies objectives and control and budget.
Task 1
Key role and responsibilities of the marketing function
Marketing is in key function of the Marriott international and it also have high
responsibilities to aware people about companies product and services (Apitule and et.al., 2019).
the main function of the marketing is concerned with selling and buying off goods for satisfying
the needs and demand of customers. The key function of the marketing team include transporting
the goods to the desirable customers, collecting the market information, analysing the marketing
trends and customer behaviour etc. Here are some roles and responsibilities of the Marketing
team of Marriott international
Identify the requirement of customers
Marketing team of the company is responsible to identify the needs and demand of the
customers. they take feedback from the customers to find out what they want and what changes

they need in product and services sell by the Marriott international. according to the information
collected by them is directly provided to the companies operational team where the bring
changes or innovate the services accordingly that helps to satisfy the needs and demand of the
customer and company able to take competitive advantages.
Anticipating customer security
The marketing is also a Department that is responsible for anticipating the requirement of
customers, the anticipating customers requirement can provide the organisation with the first
move advantage and it can also help The Marriott international to meet the needs and demands of
the customers and they will able to create good experience what the guest who are taking
hospitality services from the Marriott international (Holmgren., 2018).
Market research
Marketing team identify the markets that have potential and company can expand their business
effectively and take competitive advantages. marketing team themselves analyse the behaviour
of the customers within the target market and identify the needs and demand of those customers,
including the factors that can affect within the business environment of the targeted market. this
helped them to expand their business and they are able to show their presence all over the world.
Marketing campaign
Marketing team and the marketing manager of the company use the various way to advertise
product and services of the Marriott international through the marketing campaign. Recently they
are using a digital marketing campaigns that are more useful and effective to attract customers.
marketing team is running their advertisement on the platforms such as YouTube, Instagram,
Facebook etc. Target the customers and gain competitive advantages.
Search engine optimization
Marketing team helps to creating content providing search engine optimization for the website of
Marriott international. It helps company 2 go on the search result and Google another platform
recommend about the Marriott international for the accommodation services. The marketing
Department will be responsible for keeping web content current, while also working to ensure

that Marriott international site come up quickly when someone search for the hospitality
services.
Monitoring and maintaining social media
Marriott international has various social media accounts that is helpful to show the presence of
hotel. It is also a responsibility of the marketing team to manage and maintain the social media
pages of the Marriott international where they reply the messages and post photos and new offers
on the daily basis. Some of their team members are responsible for it and they have to give report
to the marketing manager about the whole social media account.
Overseeing outside vendors and agencies
The marketing team of the Marriott international is typically responsible for managing and
selecting the vendors and agencies who produce material related to the marketing are provide a
support to the marketing (Keegan., 2017). it can include the agencies, PR agencies our specialist,
vendors an web providers. this all a third party service providers who help in the marketing as
well when it is needed to research about the other markets. they also give a suggestion to the
marketing team that what tools and techniques they should use.
Defining and managing the brand
Marketing team is responsible to create a message for the Marriott international company. this
message helps to aware people about the brand and services provided by the Marriott
international. it is responsibility of the marketing team cause they are responsible to aware
people about companies product and services and create a good image within the customers mind
so company can take competitive advantages and show their presence in the market where they
are operating their business.
Compare the role and responsibility or marketing rate to the wider organisational context
Marketing is most important part of the hotel Marriott. It is responsible to identify
customers who can willing to pay for the product and services sale by Marriott international
(Lohmann., 2019). Marketing function is also interrelating with the other function of the
company and it helped them too support and help them to achieve their goals and objectives on

the daily basis. Some of their team members are responsible for it and they have to give report to
the marketing manager about the whole social media account.
Marketing with HR
Marketing function of the Marriott international is helpful for the human resource Department to
identify talent and skilful people within the market. sometimes when human resource
management of the company is not able to identify the Skilful employees for the particular job
role then they contact to the marketing team of the company because they are aware of each and
every information about the market and then know where they can get a talent and skilful
employees who can work effectively for the Marriott international. On the other side human
resource Department provide a skilful marketing employees when they are needed. They are
having ability to identify skills in a person and they know very well which candidate have
potential to understand the market.
Marketing with finance
When it comes to marketing and finance both are helpful for each other. Marketing Department
identify the source of finance and provide information to the finance manager of the company.
On the other side finance Department is responsible too provide a proper budget to run day to
day activities within all the other departments including the marketing. it shows that both
function of the company are interrelated with each other and helping them to achieve their goals
and objectives.
Marketing with sales
Marketing and sales are interlinked with each other because both have similar goals And that is
to sale gas companies product and services to the customers. Marketing team help the sales team
to meet new customers of the product and help them to increase the volume of sales (Contreras
and Ramos., 2016). it is in direct benefit for the company and company can achieve their goals
and objectives effectively.
Marketing with production

Production is also an important part of the company where production team develop and
innovate the product for the Marriott international. Marketing team of the company provide
useful information collected from the market to the production team. Production team interpret
the data and identify the needs and demand of the customers and create and develop product
accordingly. This helped them company to take competitive advantage because customers get the
quality product and services from the company. It is only possible because marketing and
production team work together and identify needs and demand of the customers and develop
product accordingly that create a good experience for the customers and they are able to satisfy
their needs.
Task 2
Marketing Mix
Marketing mix can be defined as collection of marketing tools that organisation utilise in
their marketing strategy in order to achieve their marketing objectives. Following is a marketing
mix application of Marriott International and Hilton-
Marketing Mix Marriott International Hilton
Product
Product refers to offerings of the
organisation. Product of Marriott
international involves diversified
portfolios of different types of luxury
hotels that are divided on the basis of 5-
star and 4-star hotels and resorts (Išoraitė,
2016). Further Marriott International
owns and operates with nearly 30 hotel
brands that are classic premium, classic
luxury, classic select and some others.
Product of Marriott International offers
high quality rooms, and effective
amenities like comfortable bed, and other
services that are involved in luxury
hospitality services.
Hilton Hotel is full service is hospitality
organisation. Product offerings of
Hilton also involve meetings, weddings,
banquet facilities and special event
services. Further services and products
of Hilton also involve restaurants and
lounges, food and beverages services
and other services that are involved in
luxury hospitality services. In its room
services Hilton hotel provides modern
diligent rooms available with advanced
amenities and several other exclusive
services are also provided to customers
by Hilton hotel.

Place
Place is the point where customers and
sellers meet each other and this is the
place where customer is offered services
of seller. Marriott International has its
presence in around 131 countries and has
7484 properties. In order to maintain
distinctive quality of the hotel, all hotels
of Marriott International are located in
prime locations and strategic places have
been selected by Marriott International.
Hotels and services of Hilton hotel are
available in 94 countries across 6
continents. There are around 584 Hilton
hotel properties with 216379 rooms.
Properties of Hilton are owned by group
and other than this services and products
of Hilton are also managed through
franchise under the brand name of
Hilton. Presences of Hilton hotel are at
places that are travellers’ destination as
well as those that are places for business
travellers (Wu and Li, 2018). Other than
this, Hilton services are available
through different online and offline
mediums and also through third parties
like travel agents.
Price
This element of marketing mix is
concerned with what price customers pay
in exchange of services of Marriott hotels.
Marriott International is a luxury hotel
company and this is why targets upper
class, corporate, families and travellers
like premium, business and leisure target
customers. Considering its services and its
target market Marriott International has
adopted premium price policy.
Hilton hotel positions hotels with top
class and high quality amenities and this
is why pricing strategy adopted by
Hilton. This strategy also has been
adopted by Hilton because it targets
high-class customers and top executive
level customers. Premium price also
reflect high quality and luxury of the
product and services of Hilton.
Promotion Marriott International is a market leader
in promotion. This involves different
strategies for promotion and includes
promotional incentives for clients in order
to maintain their loyalty. Marriott
International adopts different strategies
like advertisements, videos and
campaigns on different social media sites.
Hilton targets high class customers
across globe and focuses on exclusive
services and customer satisfaction. For
the purpose of promotion, Hilton
collaborates with different
organisations. Hilton also provides for
exclusive membership, this is involved
in sales promotion strategies (TOMA

and GRĂDINARU, 2018). Hilton
Honor is one of these strategies and
Hilton also promote with content of
premium magazines and different
review websites.
People
People are crucial in successful
performance of organisation. Marriott
International has effective people
strategies and this is one of reason that
Marriott International has managed to
provide high quality services to customers
and create loyal customers for the
company.
In order to ensure success in its
objectives and maintain its commitment
to customers regarding customer
satisfaction and gain customer loyalty
Hilton employs highly qualified and
competent employees in hotel. Hilton
carry out services like customers’
services, support desk and other
hospitality services, Hilton ensures that
its employees are satisfied and are well
paid. This is also one of the reason that
on the basis of employee satisfaction,
Hilton managed to maintain number one
position in Fortune Top 100 companies
to work for.
Process
Marriott International has several
processes to ensure customer services,
efficient bookings and a comfortable stay
of customers.
This involves processes of hospitality
organisation, that involves check-in,
check-out, room services and effective
supply chain management of Hilton has
contributed in minimising cost of
operations of Hilton.
Physical
evidence
Hotels and resorts of Marriott
International are biggest physical
evidence (Bu-Iud, 2017). Services of the
company are intangible but rooms and
suites that are tangible aspects of services
are very attractive and these give lasting
ambience to customers.
Hilton hotels have strong presence all
over the world. Concerned with physical
evidence hotel’s interior and its
appearance is highly modern with latest
amenities. Physical evidence also
involves luxuries rooms and suites that
are availed in Hilton for services.

Task 3
Marketing plan for Marriott International
Executive Summary
Marketing plan consist of strategies that organisation will implement in order to fulfil and
achieve their marketing objectives. This marketing plan has discussed different marketing
strategies for Marriott International on the basis of their target market.
Vision
‘To become the premier provider and facilitator of leisure and vacation experience in the world’
Objectives
 To increase market share by 5% by 2022
 To reduce cost of operations by 10% by 2022
 To increase profit margin by 8% by 2022
Situational Analysis
Strengths
 Effective presence across world, it has presence in 131 countries
 Focus on innovation and as a result have implemented different types of innovation in
organisation
 Strategic partnerships, in this Marriott International have strategically partnered with
different organisations worldwide (Phadermrod, Crowder and Wills, 2019).
 Loyal customers
Weaknesses
 Ineffective data protection
 Negative publicity
 Excessive focus for expansion
Opportunities

 Changing consumer behaviour
 Increase in global travel
 Focus on personalisation
Threats
 Strong competition in hospitality industry
 Economic recession
Segmentation, targeting and positioning
Segmentation - Marriott International segments its customer market on the basis of demographic
characteristics, psychographic characteristics, geographic and behavioural characteristics.
Targeting - Marriott International provides different types of services on the basis of class and
type of services and this is why it adopts differentiated targeting in which it targets more than
one customer segments (Camilleri, 2018).
Positioning – Positioning is concerned with where company place and position it in its target
market. Positioning strategy of Marriott International is premium positioning with high quality
services.
Marketing strategies
Product – Product offerings of Marriott International involves luxury and high quality
hospitality services. Along with full service hospitality services Marriott International also offers
venues for meetings and events.
Price – Price strategy of Marriott International is premium price policy because of its high
quality and premium price also reflect high quality and luxury of services of Marriott
International.
Place – Place involves online and offline places where customers can connect through website of
the company and can also directly book services of hotel. Other than these, services of Marriott
International can also be booked through third parties like travel websites and travel agents.

Promotion – Promotion strategy that Marriott International can utilise and adopt is social media
promotional strategies to connect with larger audience and also business magazines and travel
magazines (Bhargav, 2017). Sponsorships are also a suitable strategy that Marriott International
can adopt along with Television campaigns.
Evaluation
In order to understand success of the marketing plan developed and implemented some of the
methods that Marriott International can utilise involve-
Sales Analysis- This is concerned with identifying and analysing difference in sales as a result of
applying marketing strategies. Analysis also involves identifying reason and sources behind the
difference and growth in sales. This means that when more than one method is adopted in a
strategy it involves identifying successful method.
Cost-Profitability Analysis- This involves utilising cost as a basis of identifying difference in
profitability (Wood and Jobber, 2016). Cost profitability involves identifying profit over the cost
implemented in strategy implementation.
Market-Share Analysis- Market share analysis involves identifying and measuring increase in
market share of the company. Through this company can determine what impact strategy
implementation have had on market share of the Marriott International.
Evaluation of the plan
This plan has been developed and strategies have been selected on the basis of target
market of the company. Target market of the company involves upper class customers and
families for leisure and holiday. This is because services and product of the company are
specifically designed to cater requirements of such customers. Further determination of
marketing strategies is also based on these elements this means that because upper class
customers have been targeted by hotel, price strategy is also accordingly so that hotel can take
best advantage from the target market (Thabi and Raewf, 2018). Promotional strategies involve
using social media, because social media helps in connecting with all types of customer
segments and can fulfil organisational requirements of targeting right customers. Evaluation