Strategic Tourism Management Report: Marriott International Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Marriott International's strategic tourism management within the accommodation sub-sector. It begins with an executive summary and introduction to the tourism industry, highlighting the importance of accommodation and Marriott's position as a leading global hotel chain. The main body delves into strategic analysis, including a SWOT analysis to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The report critically examines mega-trends such as mobile integration, AI and chatbots, and virtual reality, assessing their impact on Marriott's operations and management. Challenges include technological demands and increasing competition, while opportunities arise from customer preferences for luxurious experiences and technological advancements. Recommendations are provided to help Marriott achieve a competitive advantage through market research and employee training. The report concludes with a summary of key findings and recommendations, emphasizing the importance of adapting to industry changes and enhancing customer experience. This report is available on Desklib, a platform that provides AI-based study tools for students.

Strategic tourism
management

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report is based on accommodation service provides and number of challenges as
well as opportunities that are present in industry which contribute toward awarding an
organisation with competitive advantage. For present this report a study over Marriott
International hotel taken into consideration which maintain a chain of hotels and resort in order
to offer accommodation ad leisure related services. The main emphasis of this has been on
opportunities and challenges present ion industry in term of mega trends, operations and
management. The major challenge faced by Marriott hotel is changing technological demand as
well as increasing competition at marketplace. Hence, it is recommended that it must focuses
toward consistently performing market research as well as arrange training sessions for
employees to remain align with changes get anticipated in marketplace so that it become able to
achieve competitive advantage.

Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................4
Introduction to sub-sector and company.....................................................................................4
Strategic analysis that affects the functions and operations of company....................................5
Critically analyse of mega trends, operational and management challenges and opportunities. 6
Addressing of mega trend...........................................................................................................8
Recommendation.......................................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................11
.......................................................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Tourism comprises of activities where people travel and stay at locations other than their
place of dwelling for various purposes like business, leisure, educational tours, recreation etc.
which helps in enhancing their experience and can also help in expanding their businesses. This
industry has been ever increasing and also contributions towards generating economy for the
country by attracting travellers from various locations (Abrate and Viglia, 2016). This also helps
in generating employment opportunities which increases the standard of living of people of that
country. This includes various other sub-sectors like accommodation, transportation, food and
beverages etc. In this report accommodation which is one of the fastest growing sub-sector of
tourism is being discussed by taking Marriott International hotels which is the world's largest
hotel chains and renowned for providing luxurious hospitality services to its customers. Under
this report the strategic management of accommodation sub-sector will be discussed which will
help in managing the hotel services so that it can grow sustainably in the competitive market and
can continue to enhance customer experience through managing its strategies.
MAIN BODY
Introduction to sub-sector and company
Tourism is related to travelling to places out of the residence place of a person which can
be either for the purpose of pleasure, business, educational trip, recreation etc. Tourism industry
is divided into eight different sub-sectors which help in enhancing the experience of people
travelling to different places and includes accommodation, adventure tourism and recreation,
attractions, transportation, food and beverages etc. Accommodation is one of the largest and
fastest growing sectors of tourism industry which helps the travellers to acquire a lodging facility
for a short period of time so that they can stay in a safe and secure place and can enjoy the basic
facilities of being at home. Marriott International is an American multinational company which
deals in providing hospitality facility to the travellers and is the third largest hotel chains in the
world (Elbanna, 2016). The hotel chain has about 1,332,826 rooms all across its branches in the
world which provides luxurious facilities of hotel rooms and other ancillary services like spa,
gym, swimming pools etc. which enhances the experience of travellers and increase their
comfort and leisure. Marriott hotel uses advanced technology so that the customer experience
can be enhanced like use of online application so that bookings can be made by customers, use of

AI so that their database can be stored which will help in making customers loyal, providing a
lavish, clean, aromatic environment so that their stay can be made more comfortable and
enjoyable.
As the disposable income of people in UK are increasing they are ready to pay high
amount in order to gain luxurious experiences irrespective of the prices so they are more
attracted toward the accommodation services which can help in creating high value for them.
Marriott is well-known for its high value creation for customers by providing them with
luxurious services that can help in increasing their comfort so that they can enjoy their holidays
(Evans, 2015). However as travel and tourism are increasing in UK competition in this sector is
also increasing and Marriott is facing competition from other hotel giants in UK like Hyatt,
Hilton Hotel etc.
Strategic analysis that affects the functions and operations of company
Strategic analysis refers to the process of conducting research for a company so that the
internal and external environmental factors that affect the operations of the company can be
analysed which will help in forming accurate strategy so that the competitiveness of the company
can be maintained in the market. Strategic analysis also helps in identifying the possible threats
and potential opportunities prevailing in the market so that strategic decisions can be made which
will help the company in achieving a competitive advantage in the market (Evans, 2016). SWOT
analysis is a strategic management tool which can be used by Marriott hotel in order to identify
its internal and external environment which will help it in analysing its core strengths and
weaknesses and also hoe can it gain a competitive advantage in the market which is discussed
below : Strengths : The company strictly follows its operational norms which helps it in
customizing its services for the customers so that their experience can be enhanced. Also
the hotel chain is present in 122 countries with about 1.2 million rooms available for
customers. Also the company focuses on innovating its services so that it can remain
competitive in the market. Weaknesses : As the company mainly focus on expanding its hotel branches the
uniformity of standards of the hotel become hard to be followed. The company also
overemphasize on service standardisation which weakens the morale of the staff as they
have to work under strict working structure.

 Opportunities : People around the world are ready to pay huge amounts so that they can
enjoy luxurious services which gives the company an opportunity to expand in different
parts of the world. Also the company focuses on customizing its services to its customers
which enhance their experience and helps it in capturing the attention of large number of
customers.
 Threats : The company is facing a lot of competition from other hotel chains like Hilton,
Novotel etc. which affects its strategies and policies. Also the global recession has
strongly hit the hospitality business making the growth of this sector slow which is a
threat for the company.
From the above SWOT analysis it can be determined that the company can formulate
strategies which will help it in using its strengths and opportunities in the market so that it can
gain a competitive edge in the marketplace (Kiráľová and Pavlíčeka, 2015). Also the company
needs to work on its weaknesses and form strategies to prevent itself from negative impact of
threats so that it can continue to grow and develop in the market.
Critically analyse of mega trends, operational and management challenges and opportunities
The accommodating sub sector of tourism industry is continuously growing which in turn
brining up several opportunities as well as challenges in front of the players that are already
operating in the sector which brings up a cut throat competition among the players. As a result of
these activities has increased the demand and expectation of customers toward the services
offered by hotels, which daily introduce a new trend that support the accommodation providers
to provide their customers a best experience and keep them bind with the services offered by
them (Koseoglu, 2016). The Marriott internation must focuses toward keeping its operations
align with the services offered by them so that it can remain positioned with sustainable
competitiveness. Following are the mega trend that are present in market:
 Mobile integration:- The mobile integration within the services offered by a hotel is one
of the trend which get viral these days from the introduction of smart phones. Now
people from anywhere can book their accommodation related services can enjoy them.
This is one of the greatest opportunity for Marriott hotel as with the use of mobile
integration practices it become easier for them to promote its services and approach
larger number of customers throughout the world. On other side this also brings up

challenges like increasing competition and a medium of comparison where customers can
compare the services offered by Marriott with other brand which may result into brand
switch. Hence it require proper maintainable of their online services while getting
integrated with the mobile as a medium to offer services to keep its customer base
maintained.
 AI and Chatbots:- With the increasing trend of artificial intelligences each activities
performed in hotel get switched from manual work to digitalisation. Now the customers
can access the information using e-concierge, can access voice activated chat bots to shut
the curtains, set alarm, order meal etc. on quick basis (Madera, Dawson, Guchait and
Belarmino, 2017). Marriott using AI powered chat bots in around 5000 hotel which is a
greater growth opportunity as people are appreciating it and willing to avail such
services. But the major challenge is that the installation as well as maintenance of such
technology costs higher which in turn also increases the cost of services as well.
 Virtual reality:- Many of the hotels has started to offer additional services ion order to
entertain their customers with the use of virtual reality which provide customer a view to
virtual world without even visiting place. This trend get introduced as majority of people
visit a place just to enjoy their vacation instead of roaming to site scene. Marriott also
started providing virtual reality headset to its customers which enable guest to have a
virtual trip to several location whiling sitting in their room. This bring a growth
opportunity for Marriott as technological innovation is always appreciated by the
customers. But major challenge is that majority of people do not prefer such services as
they are expensive which may increase the cost of Marriott.
These are the mega challenges that are prevailing in the industry that bring several
opportunity or threat to Marriott in term of maintenance, effective operation, management,
competition etc. These challenges and opportunities are mainly related with the operations and
management that are mentioned below:
Opportunities:
The major opportunities that Marriott internation hotel will get with the help of these
mega trends are mentioned below:
 The mobile integration within the operations performed by the staff members it become
easier to enhance the level of performance and be able to offer high quality services on

quicker basis (Moutinho and Vargas-Sanchez, 2018). This is so because the digitalisation
of transaction will reduce the work load and also pre specify the operations to be perform
so that it can be schedule by the management effectively which ensures operational
efficiency.
 Another opportunity is that mobile integration allows the Marriott to determine the
customer demand on quick basis that allows effective strategic formation which is a
greatest opportunity for management as it reduces the chances of error.
 The chatbot practise performed by Marriott also brings up several opportunities to the
management by keeping its customers demand align with the less possible time by
handing it over at the end of customers.
Challenges :-
There are number of challenges that management and operations are facing with the
changing demand as well as trend in the marketplace some of them are mentioned below:
 Changes within the advertising and marketing trend brings up several challenges to the
management of the Marriott hotel, as by getting digitalise services the promotional and
marketing practices changes frequently within the industry (Sotiriadis, 2015). This affect
the operational practices as well, because now the staff members have to remain active all
the time and getting engaged with the customers. As delay in such practices results into
customer dissatisfaction.
 Another management challenge is that customers discuss their issues as well as feedback
now over social sites which increase the working burden of staff members as if these
issues are not management on timely manner than it may affect the goodwill of Marriott.
 The operation challenges which remain in front of Marriott is regular maintenance of
their digital network as it may hacked or damages by intruder which may result into
hacking of customers confidential information and then misusing it which influence itrs
brand image.
Addressing of mega trend
There are number of trends that are now prevailing in the industry which is required to be
effectively implicate by the Marriott hotel in order to remain competitive within the market
place. The basic trend in industry is making use mobile integration, virtual reality, AI and

chatbots. Some of them are being adopted by Marriott international hotels but in order to
effectively manage and get maximum output following steps must be taken into consideration:
 In order to effectively make the use of mobile integration in effective manner without any
sort of issues it must focuses toward launching its own mobile application where
customers can download and get a well managed structure of options they want to visit
(Štefko, Kiráľová and Mudrík, 2015). This ensure quicker actions to be perform as
customers get a option to book their services or be able to perform transaction with the
hotel without physically visiting the location or getting affected due to traffic over
internet which slow down the procession at web pages. But for that it is required to hire
technical staff who can manage the operations or practices in efficient manner. In
addition to this the staff members must be provided with the proper training programs so
that they learn to manage the mobile application properly. This will help in achieving the
competitive edge.
 For effective application of chatbot and AI, Marriott hotel must focuses toward keeping
its staff members capable of handling the process as well as operations it involves which
require for smooth flow of operations performed by chatbots. Despite of this regular
maintenance as well as system check required to perform before the visit of a customers
so that they can enjoy their accommodation services without getting affected due to
technical issue.
 Virtual reality:- In order to attract larger number of customers toward availing the
services offered by Marriott hotel, it must focuses toward adding a feature of virtual
reality to its marketing practices over social media sites or pages through which it
promote the services. This will allow the users in experiencing the virtual recreation of a
room to which they are planning to book (Taks, Chalip and Green, 2015). This will help
in assuring that they get a room as per their choice and providing a statement of try then
buy. Such application of virtual reality within the operations will allow the Marriott hotel
to attract more and more customers to visit their hotels and avail the services as it
promises to provide a better experience to their trip. Apart from that their must be regular
maintenance to be performed which ensures that the customers will not find any sort of
issues while visiting or going through marketing practices.

These are the practices used to address the mega trends in more effective manner that are
prevailing in industry. Despite of this for addressing the operational and management related
issues, Marriott international hotels will organise a regular training and development session for
keeping its employees aware about the trend and changes to be adopted along with manner in
which operations must be performed (Wood, 2018). This will support in bringing higher
competencies as well as developing capabilities among them which ensure higher performance
level so that competitive advantage can be get within such competitive sector.
Recommendation
As the competition is rising within the hospitality sector due to increasing income status
of customers and up-gradation of technology which make it crucial for the Marriott to remain
align with such challenges so that competitive advantage can be achieved. It is recommended
that Marriott hotel must perform market and trend analysis on regular basis in order to keep on
updating its practices and keeping align with the demand of customers to make them satisfied
with services. In addition to this it must also regularly offer training program to its staff members
for keeping them flexible in term of accepting changes.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that companies that businesses have to
continuously develop strategies which will help them in gaining a competitive advantage in the
market and they can continue to grow and develop through strategic analysis of the market in
which they operate. The use of technology such as virtual reality, chatbots, mobile integration
etc. can help the companies involved in hospitality industry can enhance the experience of
customers. These services also help in making the company compete efficiently in the market
and also achieve its goals and objectives on time.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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planning effectiveness: An empirical investigation into missing links in the hotel
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Evans, N., 2015. Strategic management for tourism, hospitality and events. Routledge.
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model applying service dominant logic and tourism's defining characteristics. Tourism
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Štefko, R., Kiráľová, A. and Mudrík, M., 2015. Strategic marketing communication in
pilgrimage tourism. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences. 175. pp.423-430.
Taks, M., Chalip, L. and Green, B. C., 2015. Impacts and strategic outcomes from non-mega
sport events for local communities. European sport management quarterly. 15(1). pp.1-
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Wood, R. C., 2018. Strategic questions in food and beverage management. Routledge.