Service Marketing: Physical Evidence at Melbourne Marriott Hotel

This report examines the service marketing strategies of Melbourne Marriott Hotel, with a particular focus on the role and impact of physical evidence on customer expectations and service evaluations. It identifies various tangible elements such as exterior and interior facilities, including the hotel's building, room designs, and amenities, and assesses how these elements shape customer perceptions. The report also explores the hotel's servicescape, analyzing how the environment and employee behavior contribute to the overall customer experience. Furthermore, the analysis considers whether the physical evidence overpromises or under-delivers in relation to the actual service quality, suggesting that while the hotel excels in creating a luxurious ambiance, improvements in service delivery, such as food quality and personalized services, are necessary to enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty. The report concludes that a balanced approach, focusing on both physical environment and service quality, is crucial for Melbourne Marriott Hotel to maintain a competitive edge and meet customer expectations effectively. Desklib provides access to similar solved assignments for students.

Running Head: SERVICE MARKETING 1
Service Marketing

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Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Physical Evidence of Service Organization...................................................................................................3
Physical Evidence of Melbourne Marriott Hotel......................................................................................3
Service scape of Hotel.............................................................................................................................4
Explanation..............................................................................................................................................5
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................6
References...................................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
Service marketing is the process of promoting economic activities which are offered by any
service organization. There are various aspects which may help a company to promote its
services and attract more customers towards its services (Lovelock and Patterson, 2015). For this
report, the chosen service organization is Melbourne Marriott Hotel. Melbourne Marriott Hotel is
a luxury accommodation service organization which offers world class services and unique style
to the travellers in Australia. The suites and rooms of this hotel are very spacious and have
minibar, TV, high speed internet etc. Moreover, it features a swimming pool, fitness center and
restaurant for guests. The major target market of this hotel is families, business and leisure
travellers, people from higher income level and upper and middle classes of society. The below
report describes the service scape of this hotel and discusses about its physical evidences which
affect the expectations of targeted guests (Melbourne Marriott Hotel, 2018).
Physical Evidence of Service Organization
Physical evidence is one of the most significant components of any service organization
especially accommodation or hotel organization. It is the environment in which the services of a
company are being delivered and in which organization and its potential customers interact and
any tangible elements which facilitate the communication and performance of services.
However, Melbourne Marriott is offering intangible services but still there are various tangible
and physical components which can attract more customers (Aghaei, et al, 2014).
Physical Evidence of Melbourne Marriott Hotel
At Melbourne Marriott Hotel, there are various tangible and physical elements that differentiate
its services from other hotels in the country. These elements are discussed below:
Exterior Facilities
At this hotel, exterior facilities include parking, buildings, signage, and logo, surrounding
environment, ambience, hotel rooms and exterior design of hotels. Hotel buildings of Marriot are
the biggest physical evidence for this service organization. It provides its customers a great
ambience with the eternal physical experience that makes the guests to revisit and retain that
experience. Considering the needs and expectations of targeted guests, Melbourne Marriott is

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able to provide the rooms and suites with variable capacities. It has a huge impact on the
expectations of its guests as they are able to avail best and luxurious hospitality experience at
Marriott (Yadav and Dabhade, 2013).
Interior Facilities
Apart from above, Melbourne Marriott Hotel has various interior facilities in its physical
evidence. It includes layout, equipment in rooms, interior design of rooms, temperature or air
quality, lighting and sound. It is an excellent 5-star hotel with 185 rooms to accommodate in. At
this hotel, all the rooms and suites are specious and well-decorated. These rooms are colored
with the nice colors and these are featured by television, air-conditioner, Wi-Fi, tea and coffee
maker, refrigerator, telephone facility etc. Moreover, the room temperature can be adjusted as
per the needs of guests (Melbourne Marriott Hotel, 2018). The beddings and beds are very
comfortable in the rooms at Melbourne Marriott Hotel. This is what a guest expects from any
hotel when he/she goes to stay there. Marriott is offering a relaxed room environment to its
potential customers so that it can enhance their repeat intention to visit this hotel. The service
offerings of Melbourne Marriott have positive impact on the expectations and wants of its
potential customers.
Others
Other physical evidences at Melbourne Marriott Hotel are such as booklets, soaps, pens, towels,
Uniform of employees, business cards and website of the hotel. The hotel has created a user-
friendly website where the customers can book their online. This website displays prices, various
attractive pictures of hotel rooms and open area (Jaakkola, Helkkula and Aarikka-Stenroos,
2015). It assists to fulfill the expectations of customers as they can book their room looking at
the online pictures and prices.
Thus, the above physical evidences and tangible components impact the expectations and
evaluations of customers. These can assist the customers to make their perception towards
hotel’s services.

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Service scape of Hotel
The below-given diagram indicates the service-scape diagram for Melbourne Marriott Hotel in
Australia:
The above service-scape diagram indicates different components of Marriott’s physical
evidences which can attract guests towards its accommodation and hospitality services. At this
hotel, the behavior of employees is very friendly and courteous (Wakefield and Blodgett, 2016).
This hotel is the best option for the people who can spend enough money on their
accommodation in Australia.
Explanation
Considering the above service-scape and physical evidences of Melbourne Marriott Hotel, it can
be stated that its physical evidences overpromise what the firm can deliver to its guests. Quality
of service is the most significant component that a guest expects while staying at any
accommodation organization. As per the customer reviews and feedback, it can be stated that this
service organization is more focused on developing physical evidences and tangible elements. It
physical evidences are more than its service delivery. Melbourne Marriott Hotel is making
investment on enhancing its ambience and room decoration that can divert its focus from quality
service delivery. It is providing a luxurious environment to its customers that increase the prices

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of its services (Alghamdi, 2016). It cannot be afforded by all the people other than upper class
people. The feedback from customers shows that they were satisfied with its physical evidences
but they were not much satisfied with its service delivery like food, personalized services etc.
The ambience and atmosphere of hotel is luxurious and elegant that attracts customers, but it
needs to focus on offering quality food and customized services to retain the guests. It indicates
that the service quality at Melbourne Marriott is not that much good as its physical evidence
implies (Mok, Sparks and Kadampully, 2013).
Conclusion
From the above analysis, it can be concluded that Melbourne Marriott Hotel has developed its
physical evidences and tangible elements effectively. It is the major reason that entices more
customers towards its hospitality services. The above report describes all the physical elements
of the company like exterior facilities, interior facilities and others. Looking at its physical
evidences, it can be said that this service organization is more focused on its physical evidence
and ambience that can have negative impact on its service delivery. This hotel should make
major focus on offering excellent services to its guests.

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References
Aghaei, M., Vahedi, E., Kahreh, M. S., and Pirooz, M. (2014) An examination of the relationship
between services marketing mix and brand equity dimensions. Procedia-Social and Behavioral
Sciences, 109, 865-869.
Alghamdi, A. A. (2016) The Impact of the Service Quality as a Mediating Variable on the
Relationship between Internal Marketing Policies and Internal Customer Satisfaction: An
Empirical Study at Taif University. Journal of Marketing Management, 4(1), 104-124.
Jaakkola, E., Helkkula, A., and Aarikka-Stenroos, L. (2015) Service experience co-creation:
conceptualization, implications, and future research directions, Journal of Service
Management, 26(2), 182-205.
Lovelock, C., and Patterson, P. (2015) Services marketing. Pearson Australia.
Melbourne Marriott Hotel. (2018) Discover the luxury of our hotel in Melbourne, Australia,
Available from https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/melmc-melbourne-marriott-hotel/
[Accessed on 7 September 2018].
Mok, C., Sparks, B., and Kadampully, J. (2013) Service quality management in hospitality,
tourism, and leisure. UK: Routledge.
Wakefield, K.L. and Blodgett, J., (2016) Retrospective: the importance of servicescapes in
leisure service settings. Journal of Services Marketing, 30(7), pp.686-691.
Yadav, R.K. and Dabhade, N. (2013) Service marketing triangle and GAP model in hospital
industry, International Letters of Social and Humanistic Science, 8, 77-85.

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