Impact of Technology on Hospitality Consumer Behavior Analysis

This report delves into the complexities of consumer behavior within the hospitality sector, examining various factors that influence customer decisions. It explores cultural, social, personal, and psychological influences on consumer choices, using Travelodge as a case study. The report further analyzes the impact of technological advancements on consumer behavior, including the use of digital platforms and AI. It examines the stages of consumer decision-making, the importance of consumer mapping, and contrasts B2C and B2B decision-making processes. Additionally, it evaluates market research approaches and how marketers can influence consumer behavior at different stages, providing specific hospitality examples. The report highlights the need for hospitality businesses to understand consumer behavior to enhance customer satisfaction and improve marketing strategies.

Hospitality Consumer
Behavior and Insight

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
LO 1.................................................................................................................................................3
P 1 Various factors influencing consumer behavior in hospitality industry..............................3
P 2 Impact of consumer behavior in technology changes..........................................................6
LO 2.................................................................................................................................................7
P 3 Stages of consumer decision making..................................................................................7
P 4 Importance of consumer mapping.......................................................................................8
LO 3.................................................................................................................................................9
P5 Compare and contrast the key differences of the hospitality decision-making process in the
context of B2C and B2B, using specific hospitality examples...................................................9
P 6 Evaluate the different approaches to market research and methods of research used for
understanding the decision-making process..............................................................................10
LO 4...............................................................................................................................................11
P7 Evaluate how marketers can influence the different stages of the hospitality decision-
making process giving specific hospitality examples...............................................................11
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................12
References......................................................................................................................................13
Books and Journal.....................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Hospitality industry is all dependent on the customers, customers are the main essence of
the hospitality industry. There are many factors that impact the opinions of the customers, the
hospitality industry always try to evaluate these factors of the customer's opinion. As the main
objective of any hospitality organization is to bring satisfaction to the customers' life and create a
good experience. There are many marketing strategies applied also for the increase in the sale of
the organizational only be possible if the organization understand the consumer behavioral
patterns(Espinet, 2019). As travelogue is second largest brand in hospitality industry which was
first started in 1985 with just one lodge. It has established itself in very short time with the great
success as it focused on budget hotels segment. Travelodge has mainly focused on UK in
developing its market as the company has rooted 200 properties with more than 10000 rooms.
Travelodge is enhancing itself rapidly as there is increase in competitors in the same market, the
company is investing in technology to get an advantage from its customers and bring a review as
the most pleasurable hotel room chain. This report will communicate the about the different
factors of customer decision making on the sale of Travelodge brand.
LO 1
P 1 Various factors influencing consumer behaviour in hospitality industry
Consumer behavior is a cognitive course in which feelings of consumers are portrayed
specifically. Consumer expresses their emotions to what they want to satisfy their desires and
needs. They go through planning of product purchase, choices of the product with the limited
money with the consumers. There are some different factors that affect the behaviour of the
consumer.
(Panchal, 2016)
Cultural Factors
Every consumer follows some cultural beliefs which becomes the base of their decision
making. The cultures which have some particular ideology and that impacts the behavior of the
consumer(Blagoev, Nikolskaya and Popov, 2019). Travelodge respects the beliefs of the
consumers and also tries to do their marketing accordingly, Travelodge also evaluate the cultures
needs which will help the organization to be more efficient, Travelodge try to provide the
demanded rooms as per the requirements of the consumers as the culture factor is further divided
in sub culture factors and social class factors. Sub culture is the group of individuals who have

the same belief and lives in the same geographic location, these groups may be resembled with
different religion and nation or tribe. Social class are the group of people of same culture but
divided on the basis if the living standards and income. Travelodge is not culture biased and
treats every customer equally important and Travel lodge gives more emphasis on the other
social classes of the market as the upper class are very less in ratio as compared to upper middle
and lower middle, so the company makes their marketing starter on that basis to increase their
sales and also ensure the customer satisfaction.
Social Factors
Every consumer is being related to some person to whom they are influenced from. These
people are categorized in reference groups and family and social status of the consumer. The
consumer idolizes an individual and obey his advice sand opinions without thinking too much.
These reference groups may include family members and close friends, colleagues etc
(Dev Ph D, 2015). the customer will ask them whether they have used the services of Travelodge
or not and will try to get all the pro's and cons of the company's services to take a decision.
Travelodge will always make sure to satisfy the needs of the customers and also focus on the
feedback taken from the customers to improve the company's framework as more customer
adaptive. Travelodge will analyze the market on the basis of need in different stages of
consumer. If a consumer is a bachelor its focus will be buying alcohol, wants more lavish rooms,
if the customer is newly married then they will be looking for more comfortable and romantic
rooms with good services, customers who are having a family will focus on more economic
rooms with their family's security and safety where they can enjoy their stay. The customers who
are very old will be given extensive services by the company as medicines, massages etc to relax
themselves. The company will also focus on the market social class ratio which will help the
company to make the marketing strategy accordingly. Travelodge always focus on the consumer
behavior to provide them with the services never experienced before.
Personal factors
Personal factors are the individual factors that affects in decision making of the
consumer. The factors may vary from person to person. As age of a consumer may change the
need and wants of them in the particular age, if the consumer is young then he is more active to
stay in a hotel but if a consumer is old then he may prefer more to be at home at not go out.
Income of the consumer is also a major factor which influences the decision of the customer , if

the customer is having low income so he will find the substitute satisfaction in less expense and
if the person is earning good he can fulfill its desire as what he wants accordingly. Consumer's
occupation also plays an important role as they are bound to depict their occupation in
purchasing the services of the hotel rooms, if a doctor have to book a hotel room he will be more
focus towards the hygiene of the service provided and hygiene of the rooms. The people's
lifestyle vary prom person to person as the lifestyle of the person depicts the type of person he is
will also will be attracted to the hotels which suited the individual lifestyle like swimming, good
food, gym facilities and all different opinions. Travelodge analyze all these factors of a person to
come up with the services they will provide with the average ratio of the factor present In the
same geographic location. The company will also focus on the service satisfaction by taking the
interviews or feedback after the checkout time to know where Travelodge is lacking behind from
other competitors in the market. (Zhou and Xie, 2015)
Psychological Factors
These factors are irrespective of social class, income, occupation of the consumer, this
factor influence the consumer decision by its own mindset which decides its course of action in
his life to satisfy himself. The perception process of the consumer may vary as the level of
perception may change the way of seeing things differently
(Wilson, Enghagen and Lee, 2015). If a campaign of any product is being conducted then there
are chances that different people understand the product in different ways it can be because of
their cultural belonging or it can be because of different age. Some people also get influence
their purchasing of product or services as some needs give the consumer motivation to satisfy
them, thus changes the behavior of a consumer to complete its need. The behavior of the
customer may also affected by the skills the and knowledge that the customer has ,as the
knowledge and skills defines a person's intellect and personality. Whereas attitude of the
customer on some particular hotel and their services may also affect their decision of choosing
the services they want to get satisfied as the customer will have a positive attitude towards a
Travelodge and a negative attitude towards some hotel which is not known. Travelodge has to
understand all these factors and have to make a good marketing strategies that focus on the
consumer which are come under psychological factors.

P 2 Impact of consumer behaviour in technology changes
There is a major change in the behavior of consumers after the changes in technology in
hospitality industry. In a survey it was understood that customers are more attracted to use new
technology which others hotels which does not have the latest technology.
(Guerra Aguirre, 2018)
Digital Platform
Technological changes in hospitality industry has improved the industry to grow more
rapidly as now with the help of social networks help the customers to provide a clear and true
situation and condition of the Hospitality organization and help them decide according to their
needs and level of satisfaction. It also gives all the information about the company. There are
many platforms available on the internet which works as a traveling agent for a customer and
help them to choose hotels according to their preferences and budget and geographical location.
These online traveling agents have made a strong impact in the customers mind which has
affected the market of the hotel industry as hotel has to pay commission to these online traveling
agents to promote their hotels. Finding perfect hotels according to the preferences of customers
became so easy that any customer across the country can also book the hotel without even
visiting the hotel. The technology which is used by Travelodge has also helped them to know the
customer behavior about the services they have taken through the help of apps, and Travelodge
had come up with the system of creating a information of the customer to enhance its services.
The increase in country's economy has also pushed the sales of the Travelodge to increase as the
needs of customers traveling from growing economies will be more and will give the hotel
industry more sales(Radiometers, Theocharous and Fox, 2015). Travelodge has promoted its
brand and advertised it brands in every international airports to increase its market coverage. The
change in technology also has attracted many customers in which includes modification of old
equipment with the new one, like doors of the rooms can now be opened with the mobile phones
of the guests. These helped in satisfying the needs of the customers. Travelodge also use to
technology to improve the services as partnering with online traveling agents, using artificial
intelligence which helped the company to decrease the manpower and cost of the company.

LO 2
P 3 Stages of consumer decision making.
It is the process of evaluating the decision of the customers and helps the business owners
to analyze their marketing strategies accordingly(Biswakarma, Dey and Ganguly, 2015). The
organization also determines the satisfaction levels of customers and consumers as the customers
are those who buy the products or services and consumers are those who spend their income in
return of satisfaction.
Evaluating wants of the consumers
The initial step of the process is evaluating the needs and wants of the consumer. As want
of consumer is very essential in purchasing of the particular goods or service to satisfy himself, if
there are no wants then there will be no willingness to earn and there will be no person to buy a
product from the marketplace. Travelodge will have to evaluate the wants and needs of the
consumer according to their income level, culture, gender, social class, preferences to ensure the
increase in the sale of the company with proving the maximum satisfaction of the consumer. The
company will evaluate the wants of the consumers with the help of feedback, online
questionnaires, public interviews and also market research by its researchers.(Coursaris, Van
Osch and Albini, 2018)
Accumulating data of consumers
After the consumer has evaluated his needs the second stage is to evaluate the
information about how to fulfill its needs in less expenditure of income. The consumers will
collect all the information about the services from all his references like friends, family
members, reference groups to know about their experiences about the services used by the
provider and social media is also a good platform to collect information about the wants of the
consumer. Travelodge is moving forward in this direction and proving every information about
its services online. They are requesting the customers to fill the reviews on the websites of the
company to make the company more trustworthy about its services.
Finding the best option
Consumers now start finding their best option available in the market according to the
information collected from all the resources(Sabur Safari, 2016). The consumer is now more

focused on the quality of the service and the price range of the service offered and starts making
the budget for the need which is to be satisfied. The consumer also keeps in mind his
preferences while choosing for the best options like taste, satisfaction level, worthy to spend or
not. Travelodge has to entice the consumers to choose the company and also convince the
consumer with the promising services provided by Travelodge.
Locking the product or services to spend
In This stage the consumers finalize the organization which will fulfill its needs, after a
appropriate evaluation of all the other options in the market. The Needs a consumer may also be
induced because of promotion of the products and services which attracts the consumers to spend
their income to get them satisfied. Travelodge is also very aggressive in promoting its hotel
chains and in a manner to entice the consumers and they have also increased their efficiency by
upgrading their services. (Chandiok and Sharma, 2017)
Post usage of product or services
The consumers evaluate the services or product that was that satisfied in the given
amount of income, and if the services are satisfied then the consumers tend to give a positive
feedback and also suggest others to use that particular services this strategy is also followed by
Travelodge as mouth publicity is the biggest forces of promotion of the company(Capildeo,
2015). As a person will have a strong belief on the minds of their family members friends which
Travelodge can never achieve so Travelogue always tries to make their customers happy and
satisfied which is the unique selling point of Travelodge which separates its brand image from
other companies in the same industry.
P 4 Importance of consumer mapping.
The main objective of Hospitality industry is providing the best experience and
satisfaction to its customers and also proving with the very hospitable environment in which they
can relax themselves. The Hotel organizes birthday party, weddings, honeymoon, meetings and
the need to do consumer mapping is to ensure that those customers will visit their hotel again or
not. The need of customer retention in hospitality industry has become a challenging task as the
customers have changed their mindset and always wants new experiences, and in this process
any customer return not satisfied then the brand image of that organization may be affected

adversely. That is why the companies always try to provide the best services so that the
customers get satisfied. (Van Schie, 2016)
Achieving customer loyalty
Customer's loyalty is very essential part of their brand image, Travelodge is most
preferred brand in UK as it has established its chain of services for its customers and the
company has also provided the optimum satisfaction of its customers and also helped in the
retention of the customers.
Fulfilling the Promises made
Any organization who stands on its words and does as said before payment of the rooms
this show a company's ethics and value which will bind its customers to the organization for long
term. Travelodge proves their customers that they are doing their business ethically and lawfully
and provide all the services which is promised by the travel agent or the company sale
representative. This shows the customer of Travelodge that they can trust the company and the
customers are not wasting their money and they will surely enjoy the experience staying in hotels
of the Travelodge company.
Getting feedback
The feedback is very important part of any hotel industry as if the company does not care
about its quality of services provided to its customers then they will never improve their
services(Dilek and Harman, 2017). And will bring them out as inefficient Hotel company where
customers are not getting satisfied. Travelodge always takes the feedback from its customers and
keeps on improving its services for the customers to make them more satisfied and also earn
company more revenues in short interval of time. The company also focuses on online travel
agents, feedback's, investing in new technology to satisfy the customer and also increase the
efficiency of the company.
LO 3
P5 Compare and contrast the key differences of the hospitality decision-making process in the
context of B2C and B2B, using specific hospitality examples.
When a service and the product is directly provided to the customers from the business
itself that process is called business to customer (B2C). In the late 1990's when the dot-com
boomed up B2C became very popular. This is when the retailers sold services and products
through internet to the customers (Council, 2015).

Travelodge focused on customer needs and budget hotel market for the customers.
Though, the company opened its first lodge in 1985 but now in present everyone has heard of
this brand name. But over the past 15 years the competition in budget accommodation sector has
increased but travelodge has 25% of the market to itself. To gather more customers the business
is investing more on the internet to make the customers aware of the booking of rooms and
discounts\offers (Williams, 2019). Mails related to offers, thank you for staying and feedback
mails are sent out to the loyal customers so that they can keep the loyal customers to visit them
again and again.
The hotel chain faced a lot of booking and they would cancel booking when the guests
arrived or they would accommodate the guests in the hotels nearby. This added a bad influence
for the hotel because the customers did not feel comfortable with this kind of behavior. By
coming online and having a systematic approach to bookings were made then the customers
found the concept of budget hotels even more approachable and satisfying.
There is an involvement of wholesaler and retailer or wholesaler and manufacturer that
relationship process is called business to business (B2B). The business will have a direct relation
with another business and not a customer is business to business process. Business to business, a
company when purchases a raw material for manufacturing purpose from another company is
B2B but when the finished product reaches its customers it will come B2C if the company
directly sells its products to the customers (TACHAVIMOL and PANGKESORN, 2019).
Travelodge is investing a lot on internet field because the major growth of the company is
taking place there since the customers are becoming more dependent on online market.
Travelodge was the first company to come on television to come up with a budget hotel brand
and that helped the company to grow its business with 70% nationally. The information which
was put up on the internet was put for the other audience to have a knowledge about the industry.
The company puts down its room rates so low and provide with the best of facilities that
the customers are satisfied and they would want to come back to this chain of hotels. This chain
of industry was used by people who were traveling long distance and had to take a break but
when it came online then there were family and business clients added to its chain.

P 6 Evaluate the different approaches to market research and methods of research used for
understanding the decision-making process.
Primary Data is the data which is collected directed from the source. In a hotel industry
the primary data plays an important role to know the location, number of hotels, rooms, room
rates, guest history, etc has to be read about (Slivar and Bayer, 2017). For example, the location
of a hotel is in a place which has not many visiting sites then the customers approach will not
just be low towards not just the hotel but the arrival of customers will be low as well.
Survey on the location in which the hotel is coming up has to be read properly by keeping
in mind about the advantages and disadvantages of the place. The competition in the area will
not affect much to travelodge because it is providing the best of facilities in low price since
travelodge is having the concept of budget hotel.
The hotel provides both primary and secondary data related to its discounts and offers.
The company mails its loyal customers which is primary data approach and advertisement of its
chain it put on television which is secondary data approach (Chandu and Darian Smith, 2017).
The customers feel like coming often to this kind of hotel chains because it comes in there
budget and they do not to think twice before making the trip. They can be sure that they get the
best in their own budget.
Feedback from the customers could be one of the important primary data for the company
since they can improve and satisfy there customers even more and in a better way. The budget
hotel has already made this fact clear that the prices of the rooms are very low but maybe the
customers do not find the rooms so much attractive and want to have a feedback about it so the
primary data collected will help the company to improve a lot.
Secondary data is the data which is collected from a sources and those sources has
collected primary data from the original data. Without getting in the field work and the easier
way of finding out more details, is secondary data (Salvioni, 2016). Since, most of the data is
online so it is easier to take out data from there and makes the work easier and more efficient.
The reviews and information about the industry should be well established on the online
media's because nowadays most of the people prefer this kind of data. Travelodge was the first
industry of budget hotels to put an advertisement on television which not just made the chain
successful but also this concept of budget hotels came into highlights.

LO 4
P7 Evaluate how marketers can influence the different stages of the hospitality decision-making
process giving specific hospitality examples.
There is a particular lifestyle that a customer expects out of a hotel chain. The Travelodge
has to look for products to be added in the hotel chain would meet up to the lifestyle of the
customers. A marketer has to keep in mind how to attract more of customers. If the customers
are not using online apps or social media to book there rooms then what are the other effective
modes they could use to promote the industry (Lim, 2016). The old style of putting banners and
putting advertisement in the newspaper can help them get more clients.
Travelodge is provides motivation for the customers to come again and again because it
comes in the budget hotel chain so it gets more customer friendly and comes in the budget of the
clients. Even after, providing the lowest prices in the chain the company still puts up discounts
and offers to attract more clients.
The hotel started growing because it had low prices for the room and became a mid way
stop for customers traveling far. The new concept of budget hotel made the industry even more
popular for those who could not afford hotels.
The 4 major strategies the marketers use are price, product, promotion and place. The
places at which the hotels of travelodge are, they are not so popular or have a lot of competitors
in the locality but it does not affect the hotel because of the budget friendly hotel. The services
provided by the hotel satisfies the customers according to the amount they have invested for the
room. After putting the prices so low the hotel provides offers for the customers.
The awareness of the chain has to be put forward in all the ways possible. The hotel must
be up to date with the customers needs and the ways customers approach to a hotel, in traditional
and modern ways. The interaction with the customers should be direct with the company so that
they could improve on the points they lack upon. The plus point for this industry is that it comes
in budget for everyone and its competitors do not much exist for them because they have very
low prices and the competitors can not get down there prices so low.
A friendly atmosphere is found during a check in and a check out. Free newspaper, a
facility of coffee and tea makers and television with sports, cartoon and etc is also provided to
the customers in low price (Erbakanova, 2016).