Travelodge Marketing Mix: Market Research, Product, Promotion, Place

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Travelodge's marketing strategies, focusing on market research, product, promotion, and place. The report begins with an introduction to market research, detailing the market research process and questionnaire design used to gather customer insights. It then delves into the product, discussing product development and the product life cycle as applied to Travelodge. The promotion section explores promotional strategies and marketing communication. The report also addresses the importance of place and its application to Travelodge, including supply chain management and cost-cutting efforts. The report concludes with a self-reflection and references.

Travelodge

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
Portfolio 1........................................................................................................................................3
Introduction to the market research........................................................................................3
Market research process ........................................................................................................3
Questionnaire design .............................................................................................................4
Portfolio 2........................................................................................................................................5
Introduction to product...........................................................................................................5
Application to the selected organisation.................................................................................6
Portfolio 3........................................................................................................................................7
Introduction to promotion.......................................................................................................7
Application to Travelodge......................................................................................................8
Portfolio Page 4: .............................................................................................................................8
Introduction to Place...............................................................................................................8
Portfolio Page 5: .............................................................................................................................9
Benefits to the business from developing the price marketing mix.......................................9
Portfolio Page 6:............................................................................................................................10
Marketing Mix (7Ps):Portfolio Page ...................................................................................10
Portfolio Page 7: ...........................................................................................................................11
Critical Self Reflection.........................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Research is the process of identifying the customer's needs and wants towards the
product, services or process (Ju, 2020). For this project, Travelodge is a given hotel that
operating in the hospitality sector throughout the UK, Spain and Ireland. This assessment is
divided into portfolios that includes different information regarding the market research,
marketing mix, self reflection. All these are important informations that will be required in
completing of current in systematic manner.
Portfolio 1
Introduction to the market research
Market research refers to the process of determining and identifying the viability of
innovative product or services via research conducted with potential customers in direct manner.
This allows an organisation to find the target market as well as acquire opinion and other
feedback from customers regarding their interest in services and products (Köksal and Ardiyok,
2019).
Market research process
Market research process includes six steps process that includes the definition of the issue
being researched entailed, generation of report, data interpretation and analysis, how to show this
report, and entire and how the tasks (Li, 2019). 1
1 Ju, J., 2020. Market Definition, Antitrust Error, and Digital Platforms in Korean
Competition Law and Policy. 법법법법, 61(3), pp.225-264.
Köksal, E. and Ardiyok, S., 2019. Necessity of a Broader Market Definition in the
Analysis of Syndicated Loans Markets. European Competition Law Review, 40(11),
pp.547-55.
Li, L., 2019. Data and market definition of Internet-based businesses. Competition and
Regulation in Network Industries, 20(1), pp.54-85.

Illustration 1: Market research process diagram
( S o u r c e : Market research process diagram, 2020)
From the above mentioned diagram, it has been interpreted market research process. This
is important for Travelodge in identifying of trends, target market, competitive analysis etc. With
the help of this company can easily attract number of customers within less period of time, it will
help them in attaining of competitive advantages within less period of time and in successful
manner.
Questionnaire design
Questionnaire refers to the instrument of collecting primary and quantitative information
in minimum time period. Questionnaire is useful for researcher in collecting of reliable and valid
information about the customers taste, preferences towards brand. Survey monkey will be used fr
questionnaire (Ringeling and et. al., 2020). Close ended questions will be applied because it help
in collecting of quantitative infor2mation. 30 customers of travelodge will be selected for
questionnaire.
Questionnaire
Q1 Do you have knowledge abut the brand of Travelodge?
2 Ringeling, C. and et. al., 2020. European Commission’s Notice on the Definition of
Relevant Market for the Purposes of Community Competition Law, Comment of the
Global Antitrust Institute, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason
University. George Mason Law & Economics Research Paper, (20-28).

a) Yes
b) No
Q2 According to you, what products or services are provided by Travelodge?
a) Bar serving unlimited breakfast
b) Tasty dinner meal deals and snacks
c) Accommodation services
Q3 What types of pricing strategies used by Travelodge for producing their services or products
to the customers?
a) Competition based pricing
b) Skimming pricing
c) Penetration pricing
Q4 In your opinion, what are the effective promotional strategies used by Travelodge for
attracting customers?
a) Digital marketing
b) Special offers
c) Discounts
Q5 Is, Travelodge provide their products or services at proper place?
a) Yes
b) No
Q6 Does, marketing mix help you in purchasing of products or services from Travelodge?
a) Yes
b) No
Q7 Are you satisfied services or products offered by Travelodge?
a) Highly satisfied
b) Satisfied
c) Dissatisfied
d) Strongly dissatisfied
Q8 Does highly satisfied customers help travelodge in accomplishment of competitive
advantages?
a) Yes
b) No

Q9 What are the advantages of using marketing mix for Travelodge?
a) Enhanced brand awareness
b) Increased customer base
c) Increased sales and profitability
d) Improved brand image
From the above mentioned questionnaire, it has been interpreted that most of the
customers are satisfied towards the brand of travelodge. It has been identified that marketing mix
helped hospitality industry in promoting of its brand as well as increasing of customer base
within minimum time period and in successful manner. This turn to impact on company in
attainment of competitive benefits.
Portfolio 2
Introduction to product
Product: It is defined as an item which is offered in the market to develop value for
customers and meet with their requirements as well.
Reason for companies require to know about marketing of product and service: It is
significant for an organisation to gain knowledge about marketing of products as well as services
as it help in developing relationship among the customers and business (Abedi and Abedini,
2017). In addition to this, marketing of product in an effective manner help in attracting large
number of customers towards brand that leads to raise in sales and profitability of an
organisation.
Benefits of developing product mix: It is defined as total number of product lines an
organisation offer to the customers. It is determined that product mix allow a business entity to
fulfil the customer requirements and develop a brand image as well as maintain consistency in
mind of target market and potential customers as well.
Application to the selected organisation3
Total product offering: It is defined as a way of viewing a product as totality of value &
advantages it give to the customers. Total product offering is mainly consist of three parts that is
3 Abedi, G. and Abedini, E., 2017. Prioritizing of marketing mix elements effects on
patients’ tendency to the hospital using analytic hierarchy process. International Journal of
Healthcare Management, 10(1), pp.34-41.

core benefits, actual product and augmented product. In context to Travelodge, it has more than
17 hotels along with bar and restaurant that offer unlimited breakfast, snacks and tasty dinner
meals as well.
Product development: It is identified as the assessment of goods as well as services to
recognize the opportunity of improvement, customer satisfaction and earning profit as well. In
addition to this, it consist of the stages from idea generation to the commercialization of new
product and service at marketplace. With reference to Travelodge, it is recently launched its new
application that involve all the information about its services and also give 24*7 assistance to
customers (Park, 2020). This new idea of developing application is gain with the assistance of
product development concept.
Product life cycle: It is defined as a procedure a product goes through from the time of
introduction until it declines as well as remove from th4e market.
In relation to Travelodge, its higher authorities make use of product life cycle concept in
order gain knowledge about where its product and services is stands at marketplace that consist
of stages that is introduction, growth, maturity & decline. It is analysed that respective
4 Park, S., 2020. Marketing management (Vol. 3). Seohee Academy.

organisation is at the stage of maturity as it sales declines. For this, it is important to make the
prices more competitive in order to remain at marketplace for longer time period.
Portfolio 3
Introduction to promotion
Promotion: It is defined as the way of creating awareness about product and services in
market effectively so that sales and profitability of a business is enhanced in a proper manner.
Reason for companies require to know about promotion of product and service: It is
important for an organisation to promote its product as it help in raising the customer base level
of company which has positive impact on the sales and profit level of company.
Benefits of developing promotion mix: It is basically a key method to deliver an
appropriate message in market with the help of different channels of each segment (Mirzaei,
Carter and Schneider, 2018). Promotion mix assist a company to enhance customer traffic. It is
stated that more an organisation promote its product, the more will be the chances of gaining
high sales and profitability.
Application to Travelodge
Promotional strategy: It is defined as an actionable plan in order to influence people
about the offerings, developing more leads and increase customer engagement. In addition to
this, it show how to perform marketing strategy & communication, where to implement
promotion plan, who to target and when to execute promotion plan. In relation to Travelodge, it
make use of promotional strategy such as advertising, direct marketing and public relation in
order to promote its product at marketplace. In addition to this, the organisation also make use of
digital technology as a promotional strategy which leads to raise in customer base level and
bookings of Travelodge.
Marketing communication: It is defined as a mean adopted by business entity in order
to convey message about its offerings and brand it sell that is both directly as well as indirectly to
the customers. There are different methods of marketing communication that is digital
marketing, advertising, personal selling, sales promotion and many more (Glende, 2016). With
reference to Travelodge, in the present time it make use of social5 media application in order to
5 Mirzaei, A., Carter, S.R. and Schneider, C.R., 2018. Marketing activity in the community
pharmacy sector–a scoping review. Research in Social and Administrative
Pharmacy, 14(2), pp.127-137.

promote its product such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube in order to promote its
product. It assist respective organisation to reach large number of people within short time
period. Moreover, it also help in enhancing customer base level that directly leads to raise in
sales as well as profitability of Travelodge.
Portfolio Page 4:
Introduction to Place
Place is defined as the area to which business are having their locations and they are able to
serve their customers and approach the target segment of customers in least possible time.
While development of marketing mix strategies it is crucial to understand the location from
which easily the target market can be approached.
Benefits to organisations: Benefits to organisations is that with the development of right place a
company can enhance their present level of sales and then further maintain it for a longer time
period. It will lead to higher market share and increased profitability. For organisations correct
placement is a vital activity for focussing to reach the right target audience at right point of time.
Place
Application to your selected company: For travelogue the increasing importance of supply chain
management is crucial to ensue that costs are kept low. In the industry that is labour
intensive hotels have to focus on visible moves is that there can be reduction in the overall
cost of operations. In context to travelogue these cost include employee associated cost,
employee perks, reduction in salaries. There can be use of logistics and supply chain for
operations management strategy in order to focus on cost cutting efforts (Solimun and
Fernandes, , 2018).
In Travelodge the purchase manager is under constant pressure to meet the unplanned needs so
that there can be huge buffer stocks at same time there has to be focus on quality management
process.
Glende, S., and et. al., 2016. Increasing the acceptance of assistive robots for older people
through marketing strategies based on stakeholder needs. International Journal of Social
Robotics, 8(3), pp.355-369.

Portfolio Page 5:
Benefits to the business from developing the price marketing mix
Pricing plays a key role in marketing mix where according to the other different elements
of marketing mix cost generators process is a source of profits and income for business. With
correct pricing organisation are able to manage their production cost, distribution cost and
promotion cost.
Pricing objectives – Prices have to be set in such a manner that it is able to fulfil the
profit towards of organisation and then meet the value expectation of the customers. In
Travelodge, the management has always focussed on arrangement of cost leadership position by
making aggressive price cuts since year 2005.
Pricing methods: There is use of price skimming methods as a strategy to set prices by
Travelodge. In this they are making a timely review of prices of 250 hotels so that they are able
to cut the local competition in each location.
Pricing strategies: There are different types of pricing strategies that can be adopted by
organisations such as cost plus pricing, competitive pricing or value based pricing according to
the present business scenario & the prevailing external market conditions. Tarvelodge is a part
of budget hotels chains so they are using a structure of low pricing where customers are offered
rooms at lower prices and the rates starts from 25 pounds across 240 hotels in the country they
are using a low pricing strategies (Venaik and Midgley, 2019).
Pricing tactics: Price tactics are the value according to which prices have to be set
according to ability of customers to pay, actions of competitors, trade margins and input cost,
and the way prices have t6o be set according to nature of customers expectations. In Travelodge
for the objective of using the image of low priced brand the company is using the tactics of low
6 Venaik, S. and Midgley, D.F., 2019. Archetypes of marketing mix standardization-
adaptation in MNC subsidiaries. European Journal of Marketing.
Maina, M.N., 2016. The Effectiveness of Marketing Mix Strategies On Performance Of
Kenol Kobil Limited (Doctoral dissertation, University Of Nairobi).

pricing models for the purpose of achievement of differentiation position in the market (Maina,
2016)..
Portfolio Page 6:
Marketing Mix (7Ps):Portfolio Page
The present marketing mix of travelodge is based on achievement of dual objectives that are:
1. Achievement of increased market share by 10 percent in coming time period of 5 years
2. To increase the promotional activities by use of alternative promotion tactics such as
digital media applications.
Marketing mix strategies:
 Product: Travelodge is offering accommodation and other related service to guest. It
includes fully furnished double room, family room, with range of services such as Wi-Fi,
reception, room services.
 Promotion: The promotion will be based on use of adoption of social media strategies
where several marketing campaigns will be developed to attract a new target market.
 Place: Unlike the luxury hotel segment who can locate at strategic locations, Travelodge
has limited options as they can increase their areas alo7ng roads an places that are close
to city. Which can be used as a criteria of easy approach to market their products and
services (Kim and Kim, 2018).
 Price: Travelodge is focusing on use of their low priced models for the purpose of
attracting customers to achieve higher market share and enhance their brand image of
being budget hotel segment.
 Physical evidence: It is the actual services that are experienced by customers of
Travelodge in which they are (Solimun and Fernandes, 2018). The mediation effect of
7 Kim, M.S. and Kim, J., 2018. Linking marketing mix elements to passion-driven behavior
toward a brand. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Sharma, S. and Sharma, P., 2017. Marketing Mix Strategies for FMCG Companies in
India. Journal of Commerce and Management Thought, 8(4), pp.760-771.
Solimun, S. and Fernandes, A.A.R., 2018. The mediation effect of customer satisfaction in
the relationship between service quality, service orientation, and marketing mix strategy to
customer loyalty. Journal of Management Development.

customer satisfaction in the relationship between service quality, service orientation, and
marketing mix strategy to customer loyalty. Journal of Management Development.
 People: Travelodge is focusing on low income group of customers as they will be
emphasizing on the low cost service feature (Sharma and Sharma, 2017).
 Process: It is a aspect that is the way organisation is planning their product
establishment. In this processing usually staffs from customers end that is extremal
processing ion Travelodge of timely feedback on services and products.
Portfolio Page 7:
Critical Self Reflection
According to the present developed portfolio I world reflect that the most positive part of
this portfolio was that I was able to focus and understand each aspect of the marketing criteria of
a particular organisation. It leads to the way further marketing strategies can be developed to
achieve the laid specified objectives. Some of the issues that occurred while preparation of the
portfolio was that sometimes it is difficult to apply each of the aspects such as physical evidence
in a way to apply towards effective strategy formulation. Most rewarding aspect of this portfolio
according to me was that all the different aspects of the marketing mix criteria was successfully
understood and all the insights were used to formulate some of the effective strategies that can be
use by the marketing department of Travelodge to further enhance the sales. The most
challenging aspects of the whole criteria was that there was no proper availability of
informations as generally organisations are keeping some of the information very confidential.
So, it became really difficult to reach to appropriate conclusions with the limited available
information. Apart from this, I have gained various skills by conducting this project that is
research skills, time management and problem-solving skill as well. It is analysed by me that my
communication skill is not effective due to which I faced issues and to improve this I am going
to attend sessions and focuses on improving it. Moreover, it is determined by me that I have lack
of technical skills which enable me to deliver my project in an appropriate manner. But with the
help of my peers, mentors and friends I am able to develop a systematic project and complete it
on given time period.