Evaluating Marketing Information System (MkIS) at Marriott Hotels

This report provides a detailed analysis of Marriott's Marketing Information System (MkIS) and its significance in the hospitality industry. It begins with an introduction to marketing and the role of MkIS, followed by an examination of its various components, including data collection, marketing intelligence, and marketing research. The report highlights the advantages of MkIS, such as enhanced customer understanding, improved decision-making, and cost reduction, using Marriott as a case study. It explores how Marriott can leverage MkIS to analyze market trends, understand customer needs, and gain a competitive edge. The report also emphasizes the importance of data reliability, authenticity, and effective communication within the organization. The conclusion summarizes the benefits of MkIS, encouraging its adoption in the hospitality sector for improved marketing performance and business outcomes. References to relevant literature are included to support the analysis.

Marketing Essentials

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Every organization has marketing department which carries the activities to make goods
and services reach large number of customers (Kotler and et. al., 2017). There is a set procedure
for this which starts from advertising and ends by making sales to the final users. In this report,
Marriott has been chosen which is an American multinational hospitality company in Hospitality
and Tourism sector. It has its headquarters at Maryland, U.S. Further, this assignment covers
significance of marketing information system and its effectiveness for using it as a tool within
the chosen industry.
MAIN BODY
An economy has variety of sectors and industries engaged in different types of goods and
services. Similarly, Hospitality and Tourism industry being one of them which deals in services.
There are hotels, restaurants, conference and banquet halls as its parts. The scope and amount of
activities involved in these entities are huge which require effective management. Also, it
generate high revenues for the economy. In addition to this, advancement of technology and
digitalisation cannot be avoided. With this, various software have been developed for making the
business operations easy and manageable.
In last couple of years, a new software has become popular which is being used
extensively and that is Marketing Information System (MkIS). This system helps organizations
to gather information related to marketing by using which decisions can be made. It is used as a
tool which extracts data about attitudes, behaviour and opinions of customers towards the goods
or services of the entity. There are different kinds of elements such as recording initial records as
to give the overview of the research (Kerin and Hartley, 2015). This can include database
containing information about customers, finances, sales, profit and other past records. Followed
by this, marketing intelligence system is the one which in which data about the existing market
trends and events are gathered. These are the external factors which cannot be managed or
controlled by the entities. Marketing research is also a component that is associated with
collection of data from different sources followed by analysing them in order to interpret. It can
be from primary or secondary depending on the urgency and authenticity of the data required by
the organizations. All these data is used to make decisions for providing number of benefits to
take the business operations at a new height.
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MkIS is used to gain better knowledge and understanding of the markets an organization
is targetting. It has many advantages which are important to have at the workplace. It helps in
analysing demands of customers leading to higher satisfaction. In order to make decision
regarding this, MkIS can be used. The other benefit is reviewing of existing practices and
strategies related marketing apart from trends in the current scenarios. It should be done on a
regular basis so that organizations can have better control over the selections it is making.
Hospitality and Tourism industry is entirely based on offering services, there are so many people
engaged to provide higher satisfaction to customers by catering to their needs. Lets take the
example of Marriott Hotel which is a successful hotel having presence in many nations including
developed as well as developing. The chain is so huge that it has to employ a large number of
people in the workforce (Ashmarina and Zotova, 2016). Also, it is important for it to make right
decisions and strategies for surviving in the competition. It can achieved this by understanding
the needs and demands of customers. Therefore, MkIS can be used for a complete solution
related to issues of marketing. It can make plans and policies to have better co-ordination among
other departments and help in reducing costs. This costs can be utilised in something profitable
and revenue generating activities.
Marriott can use this tool to extract data regarding the markets it has selected to analyse.
The motive behind doing this is to accomplish goals and objectives which are related to sales of
services. Hospitality and Tourism industry is growing rapidly because of the quality maintained
by entities is able to fulfil the needs and demands of customers. Instead of appointing a
researcher for the research, Marriott can implement MkIS according to requirements of the
organization. It can depend on the data collected by this software due to presence of the factors
viz. Reliability and accuracy. There is good amount of materiality which helps the organization
in getting all the details without missing anything important and relevant. Furthermore, only the
authentic sources belonging to internal as well as external environment are being used by MkIS.
Furthermore, it takes less time, energy and costs for conducting the research and obtained a final
outcome.
This software is designed in a way which makes it suitable in the organizations existing
in Hospitality and Tourism industry (Park and Lee, 2014). Adjustments can be made within this
for increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of MkIS. Making modifications in the software is
necessary so that research can be done on the basis of current situations and market conditions.
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For this purpose, the right commands should be given to MkIS in order to have collect the data
which is relevant for the entity. Furthermore, effectiveness of the same must be considered in the
organization. Material information collected by this have high chances of being reliable and
authentic due to the sources used by it. Furthermore, the use of software reduces the chances of
mistakes in collection of data. Marriott carries its operations at huge level which makes it
difficult for it to have adequate control and manage all the activities efficiently. Therefore, the
use of MkIS can be beneficial in a way that this software starts the process by collecting data
which is analysed and ends with the interpretations of information so extracted. The observation
is used to make decisions in order to increase profit as well as sales. It can be from deciding
about even the small change such as what services to be introduced, or continued to be sold by
the organizations. Also, MkIS can select the data for a certain period if the company needs to get
the results for specific years.
The above-mentioned matter reflected the benefits and use of MkIS but it assists
organizations in having better communication. It means the exchange of information from one
person to another. There are two parties involved in this viz. Sender, who sends the message and
receiver, who accepts the it (Hakhu, Kiran and Goyal, 2012). Information is the key for an entity
which should be communicated to all the people who are in the management and should have the
access to these data. Furthermore, there should be appropriate channels for transmitting the data
from one location to another so that the flow of information can be done smoothly. Furthermore,
it should be interpreted in the same way as the sender may have apprehend. In other words,
MkIS keeps the originality of the message so that right decisions can be made.
Furthermore, MkIS can cover all those areas which is not actually possible for a person.
Also, there are high chances than any activities can have errors which may affect the final
outcome. Therefore, the reliability of the information is huge when using the software.
Furthermore, MkIS can help Marriott in making decision which is actually not possible by
person to be 100% sure. Also, from the past surveys and records, it has been observed that the
success rate of software is high as compared to any manual practices. However, the investment is
huge but this should not be a criteria for Marriott or similar entities to say no to such software.
The benefits of MkIS can be obtained in number of years which can be incremented with the
time on the basis of right strategies and decisions.
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In nutshell, it can be said that MkIS makes the work of marketing department easy. There
are different parties and entities involved in Hospitality and Tourism industry which must have
an effective co-ordination among them in order to fulfil the expectations and needs of the
customers. In addition to this, communication can be done effectively by having a common
platform for sharing the information. It reduces the chances of having different opinions or
acting differently. Some of the data provided by this are market size, current trends, changing
customers' needs, strategies followed by and position of competitors, policies of government and
similar information. When all these are combined together for making plans which can
contribute to continuous improvement within the organizations. If right decisions are made and
implemented then positive impact can be there within the entity. This can also help it gaining
competitive advantage and make its position more stronger in the market among al its rivals.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be analysed that MkIS is a software which is useful for
many reasons and benefits that an organization can get from using it. The end result is that,
marketing department can perform its activities properly and research can be conducted without
any delay. Also, there is increased reliability and authenticity in the data that make decision-
making process easy. Hospitality and Tourism industry should encourage organizations to use
MkIS for getting number of benefits which can provide high profit and increase the sales.
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REFERENCES
Books & Journals:
Kotler, P., and et. al., 2017. Marketing for hospitality and tourism.
Kerin, R. and Hartley, S., 2015. Marketing: the core. McGraw-Hill.
Ashmarina, S. and Zotova, A., 2016. The system of marketing information management:
development, assessment, improvement. Економічний часопис-ХХІ, (160), pp.51-56.
Park, J.G. and Lee, J., 2014. Knowledge sharing in information systems development projects:
Explicating the role of dependence and trust. International Journal of Project
Management. 32(1). pp.153-165.
Hakhu, R., Kiran, R. and Goyal, D., 2012. Success of marketing information system (MKIS)
model: Analysis of manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SMES). Middle-East
Journal of Science Research. 11(6). pp.777-86.
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