The Role of Situational Analysis in Four Seasons Hotel Marketing Plan

This report provides a situational analysis for the Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney, Australia, focusing on the macro-environmental factors influencing its marketing plan. The analysis examines key aspects such as demographics, including Australia's population size and its implications for the hospitality sector. It also explores economic conditions, considering unemployment rates and interest rates, and their impact on consumer behavior and marketing opportunities. The report further assesses the competitive landscape, highlighting major players in the accommodation industry and the need for robust marketing strategies. Additionally, it delves into societal and cultural factors, emphasizing Australia's multiculturalism and its potential for shaping the hotel's marketing approach. The political and legal environment, characterized by stability, is also considered, along with the role of technology in enhancing customer experience and maintaining a competitive edge. The report concludes by summarizing how these factors create both opportunities and threats for the hotel's marketing efforts, emphasizing the importance of a well-informed and adaptive marketing strategy.

The Role of Situational Analysis
in Developing a Marketing Plan

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Demographics.............................................................................................................................1
Economic Conditions..................................................................................................................2
Competition.................................................................................................................................2
Society and Culture.....................................................................................................................2
Political and legal........................................................................................................................3
Technology..................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................4

INTRODUCTION
Marketing plan can be defined as the documentation of an organisation's marketing
tactics as well as strategy. In this regard, it is important for a firm to conduct a situational
analysis so as to identify the probable opportunities and threats associated with contemporary
marketing planning (Fyall, 2019). The project is based upon situational analysis conducted for
marketing planning of Four Seasons Hotel based in Sydney. This organisation pertains to
hospitality sector and is engaged in provision of accommodation and other associated facilities to
people. The report contains macro environmental issues and opportunities concerning the
respective hotel, such as demographics, economic conditions, competition, society & culture,
political & legal and technology.
MAIN BODY
Situational analysis can be referred to as the accumulation of tools and techniques used
by the manager of a corporation to gain knowledge of the internal and external environment of
the firm. In other words, it can be said that situational analysis is the critical examination of
business environment of a firm with an aim of stipulating corporate or marketing strategies and
tactics (Wang, Hung and Huang, 2019). The elements included in the external environmental
analysis are important to be discussed as they lay down the basic information regarding the key
aspects of a nation which provide aid to an entity in development of a marketing plan. Such
elements pertaining to macro environmental analysis of Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney, Australia
are discussed as follows:-
Demographics
Australia is regarded to be 55th biggest nation across the global periphery having an
overall population of 25.20 million (Australia Population 2019, 2019). This tends to provide
opportunities for hospitality organisations such as Four Seasons Sydney to develop a marketing
plan which can appeal to a large base of audience. This will provide aid to the hotel management
in entice people to have a stay at the premises and experience the high quality offerings of the
entity. Further, the location of the hotel is Sydney which is home to a large number of
international and regional events, thus inviting various travellers to visit the city on a regular
basis. This facilitates Four Seasons Sydney to make use of the favourable demographics of
Australia, especially Sydney, to inflate its revenues as well as profits.
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Economic Conditions
Even though the economy of Australia is strong and supports the development of
effective marketing plans for the growth and development of organisations in the long run, there
are certain key factors that need to be duly taken into consideration. In this regard, the nation is
undergoing an unemployment rate of 12.6% of which 13.7% are males and 11.5% are females
(Australia Population 2019, 2019). The country stands at 105th position as opposed to the other
countries of the globe in Unemployment Index. This is a key factor that restrains the exploitation
of marketing opportunities by Four Seasons Sydney (Kotler and et. al., 2019). However, a
positive economic aspect that needs to be taken into account by hospitality organisations is the
extremely low interest rates prevalent within the confines of this nation which inflates the buying
power of consumers within Australia. Thus, the hotel management can target a large audience
and enhance the scope of increasing its revenues by marketing planning.
Competition
The extent of competition persisting in hospitality sector within the confines of Australia
is too high as there are a large number of hotels and others hospitality organisations. Some of the
examples of top companies pertaining to accommodation industry are Sheraton, Park Hyatt
Sydney, Hilton Cairns, Villa Howden, Shangri-La Hotel Sydney, Crown Towers Perth etc. This
tends to inflate the threat of substitution for Four Seasons Sydney. Thus, there is a high need for
the management of this entity to engage in extensive marketing practices and activities such as
social media marketing, digital marketing, AdSense, Google Analytics etc. (Golubovskaya,
Solnet and Robinson, 2019). These would provide aid in influencing the purchase behaviour of
tourists and local people in a manner that it can result in increment of revenues as well as profits
for the hotel.
Society and Culture
Australia is acknowledged to be a home to a large number of religions. In this regard, the
major religions pertaining to this nation are Catholic (22.6%), Anglican Christian (13.3%),
Lutheran (7%) and many other small religious groups. Further, 30.1% do not possess any
religious belief or practices (Australia Population 2019, 2019). The multiculturalism of the
respective nation generate opportunities for Four Seasons Sydney to develop interiors of the
premises through which the visitors can get knowledge of the culture of the country. Further, it
will establish a sense of loyalty and belongingness among the local people towards the hotel.
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This will happen because the native people will recognise that the entity takes measures for the
promotion of national culture through its marketing and promotional activities like development
of a marketing plan.
Political and legal
The political as well as legal environment of Australia is stable. The stability of both the
aspects tend to create opportunities for hospitality organisations such as Four Seasons Sydney to
get engaged in conduction of marketing practices for increment of accommodation sales (Goh
and Jie, 2019). During the execution of promotional activities, the firm should ensure compliance
with the laws and legislations so as to avoid imposition of penalties and fines. Further, the
stability itself tends to create a hike in appeal of the rooms for Four Seasons Sydney.
Technology
Within the boundaries of Australia, companies are keen to make use of the high quality
technological resources that are available in the country to attain growth and development in near
future. Almost every hotel operating in Sydney makes use of updated technologies in order to
entice the customers and retain them for a long duration of time in future (Wang, Hung and
Huang, 2019). In this regard, Four Seasons Sydney makes use of mobile technologies, online
bookings to stay ahead of competitors in market place. The firm should continue to undertake
key technological resources or other top notch hotels would solicit its customers.
CONCLUSION
On the basis of above discussion of macro environmental aspects, it can be said that the
political and legal stability of respective country tends to create marketing opportunities for the
company. Further, it is acknowledged that multiculturalism prevailing in the nation fosters
entities to get engaged in marketing activities which promote the different cultures belonging to
the country. Additionally, huge competition persist within accommodation sector which
generates the threat of substitution for top notch hotels.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Goh, E. and Jie, F., 2019. To waste or not to waste: Exploring motivational factors of Generation
Z hospitality employees towards food wastage in the hospitality industry. International
Journal of Hospitality Management, 80, pp.126-135.
Golubovskaya, M., Solnet, D. and Robinson, R. N., 2019. Recalibrating talent management for
hospitality: a youth development perspective. International Journal of Contemporary
Hospitality Management.
Kotler, P. and et. al., 2019. Influence of country and company characteristics on international
business decisions: A review, conceptual model, and propositions. International
Business Review, 28(3), pp.482-498.
Fyall, A., 2019. Tourism Destination Re-positioning and Strategies. In The Future of
Tourism (pp. 271-283). Springer, Cham.
Wang, S., Hung, K. and Huang, W. J., 2019. Motivations for entrepreneurship in the tourism and
hospitality sector: A social cognitive theory perspective. International Journal of
Hospitality Management, 78, pp.78-88.
Online
Australia Population 2019. 2019. [Online]. Available Through:
<http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/australia-population/>.
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