Promotional Campaign For Hotels Management â€Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Promotional Campaign For Metro Hotels Management? Answer: Introduction The primary objective of this report is to design a promotional campaign for Metro Hotels which is Australias oldest hotel chain which is completely owned and operated by the Australians. This report is a promotional campaign which is addresses to the senior management of Metro Hotels for carrying out marketing and promotional activities for the organization. It is a comprehensive report comprising of the overview of the organization, the research of the type of customers being targeted, a detailed marketing plan, the methods to execute it, the outcomes expected from it, ways to measure the performance and the impact of the campaign and the budgetary details for the planned activities and the entire campaign. This report aims to carry out a detailed situation analysis and market analysis for Metro Hotels and study their present customers, identify the potential customers and support the findings and objectives with Business. We then aim to design and define a detailed marketing plan for the campaign defining the objectives, target audience, strategies, and the actions to be taken for implementation of the same. The last part of the report consists of the budget recommendation for the organization to carry out the above activities and run the designed campaign (Dragan et al., 2017). Overview of the organization Metro Hotels is a 100% owned and operated hotel chain which is the oldest hotel chain running in Australia. A part of the Metro Hospitality Group, Metro Hotels offer their guests a variety of options to choose from ranging from 3 star motels that are economical and serve best for leisure travellers to their luxury 4.5 star hotels for the business class travellers operating in various locations across Australian mainland (Prasanna, 2013). They specialize in the hotel and accommodation industry and are a part of Transmetro Corporation Ltd. which is a public company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) for over 30 years now. Founded in the year 1976, this hotel chain has been operational for a little over 40 years now and has its headquarters in Sydney, Australia. Operating in all the key locations and major cities of Australia, currently they have hotels and apartments in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, Gladstone, Darwin and Groote Eylandt (NT) (Team, 2015). Consumer research The Australian hotel and hospitality industry grew by 4.4% in the past financial year. The dynamic and booming characteristics of this industry have places it on a radar for the people willing to invest. The Australian economy and its drives are shifting from the excessive reliance on the mining industry back to the service industry. With the increase in the popularity of both domestic and international travel, the business is expected to increase even further in the coming years. The economic growth of Australia has averaged about 3% per annum for the past few years. This makes the hospitality industry an overachiever in terms of business and growth (Karppinen, 2011). The customers, however, have moved from the luxury 4 and 5 star hotels to the more economical 3 star alternatives. A majority of customers of the hotel chains are the travellers and globe trotters who go around for leisure travel. However, the business travellers although few contribute to a large percentage of the pro fits. Market segmentation Market segmentation is done to help the business in effective utilization of their resources. It helps them in gaining a focus and creating a value for the targeted segment. For Metro Hotels, the segmentation can be done on the basis of the variety of services being offered and the takers for these services. The range of services being offered by Metro Hotels presently is: Four star luxury hotels Two and three star budget hotels Other accommodations There are a number of other ways to segment the financial market (RezNext, 2015). Segmentation can be done on the basis of age, sex, income, occupation, race, religion, nationality etc. Target audience Once the segmentation process is completed, the identified market segment is then targeted for focused marketing efforts. The Australian market dynamics are changing. While the international market and customer base is important, it is necessary for the hospitality industry to stimulate the domestic market (Metro, 2015). The relatively remote location of the Australian continent makes it a predominantly domestic destination for the travellers. The Australian domestic market is observing tremendous transformation presently. The baby boomers who were once driving the economy and were the primary decision makers have retired and are out to travel and explore (Hanson Quadri-Felitti, 2016). They can be categorized as grey travellers living as nomads in their own country. The second group of avid travellers are the young and the restless technologically adept generation. Thus the target audience for the hospitality industry at present are the baby boomers and the millennials. Consumer decision making The customers perceive the value of a hotel on the basis of the services being provided and the cost that they have to bear for these services (Marriott, 2013). This is called perceptual mapping and is a very common way for an organization to understand their position in the market and how the customers perceive them. The perceptual map for the hotel industry of Australia is given below. Figure 1: Perceptual map for Australian hotel industry We can see from the above figure that the Australian hotel industry perceptual map has the hotels lying linear to the diagonal. The metro hotel is a provider of moderate service and is less expensive as compared to its counterparts. Therefore, their services will be preferred by the consumers who are travelling for leisure or the frequent business travellers (AA Hotel Limited, 2011). Marketing plan The details of the marketing plan designed for the promotional campaign for Metro hotels is given below: Marketing objectives The operators in this way can take the charge of the room rates and get a better value for their services. The typical marketing mix for Metro hotel can be explained with the help of the figure below. Figure 2: Metro hotels marketing mix chart Target audience The target audience for the loyalty program proposed for the marketing campaign, are the regular customers who travel for both business and leisure (Pereira Almeida, 2014). These customers can be pitched the program and offered additional discounts for the services when they avail the services repeatedly from the same organization. The target customers for the dynamic pricing model are the price conscious, tech savvy travellers who depend on the internet for hotel bookings and price comparison. They can be offered additional discounts or special vouchers when booking directly from the Metro Hotels website (Hartonen, 2013). Positioning strategy Being a relatively small economy, Australia is a slow adopter of new brands and innovations. This gives Metro Hotels an advantage as it is a well known and well established brand operating since past 40 years. The hotels can provide sufficient critical mass and can be marketed for its 100% Australian ownership and operations. The pricing strategy for the hotels will also be revamped with the introduction of the loyalty program and dynamic pricing models which give the hotels the freedom to change the prices according to the change in the demand patterns (Loncaric Radetic, 2015). Communication objectives This section lists the objectives that Metro Hotels aim to achieve from its marketing communications. The fist and the foremost reason why marketing communication is done is to create brand awareness. It helps in reinforcing the image of the brand and helps in giving out a consistent message to the customers and the stakeholders. Communicating with the present and potential customers keeps them attracted and increases the sales of the organization. The marketing communication in this case includes product launches, sales, expansion or introduction of new offerings. The marketing communication is also conducted to inform and educate the customer. This helps the business in establishing the knowledge and understanding of their customers while motivating and encouraging the people to avail their in-depth services. Retention of the customers is another objective that the organizations aim to achieve by establishing communication with the customers. This makes the customers feel appreciat ed and makes them carry out repeated transactions. Communication mix The communication mix of Metro Hotels will comprises of the following elements: Advertising The print and media advertising which is done to communicate the marketing message to the targeted customer segment. The Metro Hotels will communicate their rich history and brand value when advertising to maximize the impact of the promotional activities and to highlight the brand proposition for them. Sales promotion Sales promotion is carried out to persuade the potential customers to purchase the products or services being promoted (Mulholland Cachon, 2004). The marketing message in this case will lay emphasis on the loyalty rewards program and the discounts available with the advance booking. The dynamic pricing model can be used to promote the lower prices of the hotel rooms at the time of low occupancy or during the off seasons. The official website of Metro Hotel also offers discounts and vouchers that can attract people to avail their services. Performance indicators The performance of the proposed marketing and promotional campaign can be easily monitored by pre defining the performance indicators (Smith, 2015). Profit maximization is the ultimate goal of all the business operations. The objectives of the proposed marketing campaign is to increase the brand awareness, awareness about the organization and its services and ultimately generate sales from the leads generated through it. The increase in the sales revenue through the loyalty program can be traced back to it directly. The customer retention and increase in the customer base can also be analyzed by the figures and statements of the organization directly. Apart from this, the organization can keep a track of the MQL or Marketing qualified leads. These are the leads generated through the marketing efforts and can be transferred to the sales department directly. The website behavior and the form submission can help the business in quantifying the success of the marketing attempts and incre asing the MQL (Services, 2015). Budget recommendation A good marketing plan should address the needs of the organization while carrying out the desired activities within the designated budget. The return on investment and its understanding is required to allocate the resources efficiently to the marketing plan. However, since the results of a marketing activity cannot be accurately forecasted until it has been implemented, it is difficult to estimate the profits and revenue from the investment made in the marketing activities. In the case of Metro Hotels, the budget allocation for the entire marketing plan can be done by analyzing the strategies that we need to start with. The table below comprises of the approximate cost of each of the activity that is to be undertaken for successful implementation of the designed marketing plan over a period of one year (Powell, 2015). Activity Approximate cost Website update $ 50,000 Loyalty program introduction $ 1,000,000 Outdoor shows and brand awareness $ 85,000 Collaboration with websites for dynamic pricing $ 35,000 Total cost of plan implementation $ 1,170,000 Once the budget has been created, it is time to execute the plan. Budgeting and planning is not a one-time process. The organization needs to constantly study the business environment, needs of the market and the customers to plan efficiently and stay ahead in the market. They must make use of their core competencies and think about what gives them a competitive advantage in the market (Buck, 2014). This will help the organization in devising the optimum marketing plan and also guide them towards its proper execution. Conclusion This promotional campaign project gave us the opportunity and responsibility to develop a professional advertising campaign for a business operating in the hospitality industry. The organization chosen for the same is Metro Hotels. Metro Hotels is a 100% owned and operated hotel chain which is the oldest hotel chain running in Australia. A part of the Metro Hospitality Group, Metro Hotels offer their guests a variety of options to choose from ranging from 3 star motels that are economical and serve best for leisure travellers to their luxury 4.5 star hotels for the business class travellers operating in various locations across Australian mainland. This report is a promotional campaign which is addressed to the senior management of Metro Hotels for carrying out marketing and promotional activities for the organization. It is a comprehensive report comprising of the overview of the organization, the research of the type of customers being targeted, a detailed marketing plan, the metho ds to execute it, the outcomes expected from it, ways to measure the performance and the impact of the campaign and the budgetary details for the planned activities and the entire campaign. This report is written to carry out a detailed situation analysis and market analysis for Metro Hotels and study their present customers, identify the potential customers and support the findings and objectives with facts. We designed and defined a marketing plan for the Metro Hotels that will help in revamping the marketing process of the hotel chain and help them in taking advantage of their core competencies and make them think about what gives them a competitive advantage in the market. The Metro Hotels needs to start a point based loyalty program for marketing the organization. The pricing models are also up for a revamp with the digitization and online websites forcing the operators to restructure the prices and pricing models. The Metro Hotels can act in line with the airline industry, off ering dynamic prices as per the demand and the supply. The target audience for the loyalty program proposed for the marketing campaign, are the regular customers who travel for both business and leisure. These customers can be pitched the program and offered additional discounts for the services when they avail the services repeatedly from the same organization. The target customers for the dynamic pricing model are the price conscious, tech savvy travellers who depend on the internet for hotel bookings and price comparison. The communication mix for this will comprise of advertising and sales promotion. The entire marketing plan can be carried out within the specified budget of $ 1.17 million. Budgeting and planning is not a one-time process. The organization needs to constantly study the business environment, needs of the market and the customers to plan efficiently and stay ahead in the market. They must make use of their core competencies and think about what gives them a compet itive advantage in the market References AA Hotel Limited, 2011. Hotel Quality Standards: Recognising Excellence, Available at: https://www.theaa.com/resources/Documents/pdf/business/hotel_services/aa_hotel_quality_standards.pdf Buck, H., 2014. Marketing Plan and Budget, Available at: https://marketmt.com/Portals/129/shared/RegionsCVBs/docs/Billings%20CVB%20FY14.pdf Dragan, M., Grech, K., Majchrzak, M. Antonowicz, K., 2017. Hotel Marketing Technology Trends 2017. Hanson, B. Quadri-Felitti, D., 2016. U. S. Hotels and Social Media: Objectives, Reporting, Measurement and Results, Available at: https://hhd.psu.edu/media/shm/files/Social-Media-Hotel-Measures-May-2016.pdf Hartonen, L., 2013. Social media in Hotel AVAs marketing communications, Available at: https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/60207/Social+media+in+Hotel+AVA_s+marketing+communications.pdf;jsessionid=12A634F944ADBD37A73DBD5943997937?sequence=1 Karppinen, M., 2011. Strategic marketing plan for a hotel. Hotel and Restaurant Business. Loncaric, D. Radetic, N., 2015. The Implementation Of E-Marketing In The Hotel Industry: The Case Of Istria County. Marriott, 2013. Stylish hotels for urban spirits, Available at: https://www.marriott.com/Multimedia/PDF/Hotel_Development/ACHotelsbyMarriottDevelopmentPresentation.pdf Metro, O., 2015. Convention Center Hotel: Project fact sheet, Available at: https://www.oregonmetro.gov/sites/default/files/Hotel_fact_sheet%2012-28-15.pdf Mulholland, R. Cachon, J., 2004. Online Marketing Communication in the Tourism Industry: An Exploratory Study of Website Effectiveness Among Tourist Lodge Operators in Northern Ontario. Journal ofSmall Business and Entrepreneurship, 17(3), pp.177-88. Pereira, L. Almeida, P., 2014. Marketing and Promotion in the Hotel Industry: A case study in Family Hotel and Hotel Group. Tourism and Hospitality International Journal, 2(1), pp.92-105. Powell, T., 2015. The U.S. Hotel Advertising Marketplace: Industry Sizing and Trends 2015, Available at: https://s3.amazonaws.com/rdcms-hsmai/files/production/public/FileDownloads/PCWI_WP_HotelAdSpend_HSMAI.pdf Prasanna, K., 2013. Marketing Strategies for Standalone Hotels: With Reference to Mayur Aaditya Resort, Dharwad, India. Research Journal of Management Sciences, 2(5), pp.14-19. RezNext, 2015. Key Consumer Insights for Effective Hotel management Strategy, Available at: https://www.reznext.com/rez/Key-Consumer-Insights-for-Effective-Hotel-Marketing-Strategy-July-2015.pdf Services, S.H., 2015. Sales and Marketing Program, Available at: https://www.strandhospitality.com/pdf/doc-strand-revenue-management-marketing-presentation--2015-1442866227.pdf Smith, J., 2015. Sales Marketing Plan: Sample Hotel, Available at: https://ciscapture.info/assets/resource_documents/SalesMarketingPlanSAMPLE.pdf Team, H.A., 2015. Hotel sales and marketing: key trends and issues, Available at: https://images.template.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/01214641/hotel-sales-and-marketing-plan.p