Marketing Plan The Mountain Side Hotel
MarketingPlan: The Mountain Side Hotel
ExecutiveSummary
TheMountain Side Hotel is a five-star hotel that has a total of threehundred and twenty-five luxury guest rooms, and its primary specialtyis in servicing clients who are in the business and corporate world.The hotel is located in downtown Manhattan New York and serves thebusiness community and visiting clientele in this locality. Thehotel`s major clients are corporate customers who have beencontracted from both the local and international markets and who arewithin the tourism and travel industry, the information technologysector and the automotive industry. The hotel`s key to the successthe strategic position in which it is situated and the modernfacilities that are provided to their clients within the conferencerooms and inside the guest rooms. The repeat businesses that thehotel gets on an annual basis and the high levels of customer loyaltyare also factored in the high levels of success the hotel enjoys.
Thehospitality industry in the country is currently undergoing adepression because of the restriction the government is making oncorporate travel within the country and due to the economic meltdownall over the globe (Bonn, & Forbringer, 2012). However, thesechallenges can be considered to be short to medium term threats. TheMountain Side Hotel has to continue focusing on the delivery ofexcellent and commendable services that are affordable to itsclients. Thus, this will be done with intent to establish a long-termrelationship with customers. As a strategy to attract more contractcustomers, rates for hiring rooms and conference facilities have beensignificantly reduced for twelve months. The survival of the hotel inthe current political and economic climate is based on customerloyalty to its brand and repeat corporate and business contracts.Therefore, the hotel brand has to continue delivering on its valuesand promises.
Theintent of this marketing plan is to strengthen the brand that TheMountain Side Hotel has managed to build over the years. The projectintends to cover the corporate mission, market analysis, productpositioning and differentiation, competitive analysis, marketingstrategy and an overview of the competition.
CorporateConnection: Mission Statement
TheMountain Side Hotel is committed to ensuring that its clients havethe highest quality of service and standards. The hotel seeks todeliver its promise of quality and value above everything else. Thehotel highly values its place in the community and will endeavor atall times to develop relations that protect and respect theenvironment. The hotel will at all times strive to create value forall stakeholders while honoring the values entrenched in its brandand encourage its personnel to grow in a loyal and trustworthyenvironment.
MarketResearch
PESTAnalysis
Thismarketing plan intends to use the “PEST analysis” as the markettool that will help to analyze the exterior and environmental issuesthat affect the Mountain Side Hotel.
Political
Astable political environment that has little effect on businesses’ability to generate revenue is suitable for the hospitality industry(Ong, 2012). However, the current restrictions that the governmenthas placed on corporate and business travel have affected the hotelnegatively even though measures are being taken to cushion itseffects.
Economic
Thecurrent economic recession has influenced the hospitality businesssignificantly. It has led to the liquidation of smaller businessoriented hotels that do not have enough resources and infrastructureto support underperforming sales (Simkin, 2014). Even though theeconomic situation has begun to recover, it will take quite some timebefore fully lifting all corporate travel policy restrictions andreturn the travel business back to where it was three to five yearsago.
Social
Thereis an emerging trend that is oriented towards cost effectiveness inbusiness travel and tourism. This trend has made clients always toprefer acquiring things that are worthy their money’s value. Thehotel’s value-added differentiation strategy comes into play atthis point.
Technological
Someairlines have set up “on board” room reservation structures ontheir aircraft. Thus.this requires that the hotel integrates suchsystems in their central reservation system so as to access clientswho will make reservations as they travel by air. Integration of suchtechnology is quite costly and will require high investment levels.
Positioning& Product Differentiation
TheMountain Side Hotel has been placed as a five-star hotel with itsniche being business and corporate clients. Hence, this is as aresult of the hotel’s dedication to the provision of high-qualitypersonalized services and also as a result of its strategic position.The focus of the hotel is to offer its clients added value and todifferentiate itself in its levels of personalized service. The hoteloffers an experience that values and respects its customers and trulyappreciates their business. By providing high-quality personalizedservices and maintaining state of the art facilities, the hotel hasmanaged to differentiate itself from competitors on overall brandstrategy. This approach has managed to secure multiple repeatbusinesses.
CompetitiveAnalysis
SWOTAnalysis
Thisreport shines a light on the organization`s internal strengths andflaws and also highlights threats and prospects that the hotel facesexternally (Yasin, & Yavas, 2015). The hotel intends to work andimprove on its areas of weakness and also undertakes to come up withcontingency plans to counter the threats it is potentially facing.The hotel is also leveraging its organizational strengths with theaim of capitalizing external opportunities that may come to pass.
Strengths
Themajor advantage of the Mountain Side Hotel is its personnel. Thehotel has pride in the level of diversity of skills that are withinthe staff and the management. The team is specialized, experienced,well trained and most importantly, it is proud of the hotel values,and they respect and promote these values at all times.
Thereputation and the brand of the hotel are another major strength thatthe hotel possesses. Its reputation for reliability, quality, andprovision of exemplary services precedes it in the local, corporate,travel and tourism markets. The brand values of the hotel are wellrepresented, and they engender loyalty among the new and the existingclients.
Thestrength of the hotel`s high participative culture and its valuesthat are clear and well communicated cannot be over emphasized. Theother advantage points that the hotel has included a well-placeddifferentiation strategy and a decentralized structure.
Weaknesses
Althoughthe company possesses an exemplary differentiation strategy, it needsto be more clearly and well communicated to both the localinternational market. Another point of weakness within the hotel isthe rate of seasonal turnover. As such, this is costly as brings theneed for ongoing training and orientation of new employees.
Dueto the constant change of technology, the hotel needs to upgrade itsfacilities consistently. Therefore, guest rooms and conferencefacilities require constant renovation so as to fit in technicalequipment that includes laptop links and high-speed internet.
Opportunities
Theeconomic recovery in the hospitality industry after a hunch period isa significant opportunity to the hotel. Mostly, the aspect isattributed to the fact that the hotel does not have any directcompetitors within its niche.
Thehotel has a long-term well-established relationship with itssuppliers. Thus, times of economic difficulties will not affect thepresence of supplies. Another significant opportunity that the hotelhas is the level of dependency that clients have on it. Personalizedservices and quality delivery have made corporate and businesses tohave repeat contracts with the hotel (Christou, 2012). Also, theluxurious environment that has been created by the hotel cannot beignored by the clients.
Threats
Asmuch as the hotel enjoys a monopoly in its niche, there is the threatof potential entry by competitors with similar services and brand.Another essential threat is from the slowly growing property marketsthat offer fully furnished apartments that are customized forbusiness activities and are offered at lower rates. The recovery fromthe economic recession may take time and thus will affect theprofitability of the hotel.
MarketingStrategy
Product
Byproviding high-quality personalized services and maintaining state ofthe art facilities, the hotel has managed to differentiate itselffrom competitors concerning the overall brand strategy. The model hassucceeded in securing multiple repeat businesses.
Price
Thehotels pricing strategy has maintained high consistency with itsdifferentiation objective of providing added value at a reasonableprice instead of having discounts on its products and services andthen devaluing them in the long run.
Placement
Theinformation on the services provided by The Mountain Side Hotel ismade available to its clients through advertisements, personalselling, the internet and direct marketing. The channels of deliverythat the hotel marketing department uses include internationalreservation systems and travel agents.
Promotion
Masscommunication has been the prime focus of advertising. The processhas been done through printed advertisements on social media andtrade publications, personal selling in the local market and directmailing to both potential and existing clients. Through personalselling, the hotel has managed to develop a relationship with thelocal community, and through the business society, it has generatedcorporate activities of high levels (Christou, 2012). Through publicrelations, the hotel has been portrayed as a supportive member of thelocal community. The hotel’s participation in the main localactivities has assisted it in securing repeat businesses anddeveloping an ongoing cooperation with the local community.
Competition
DirectCompetition
Althoughthere is no much direct competition from establishments of the samestatus as The Mountain Side Hotel, serviced apartments and otherhotels compete for the same clients in the business and corporateworld. A principal competitor to the facility include The WestonHotel that has similar room rates as the Mountain Side Hotel, buttheir facilities are older. The Hilton Hotel that has almost similarservices has its standards place at 10% higher than those of themountain side.
ThePhoenix Apartments and The Marylyn Residence have five star furnishedapartments that are customized for business and corporate activities.These suites are priced at a rate that is 20% higher than themountain side’s suites and double deluxe rate. These facilitieshave also incorporated leisure and recreation facilities that TheMountain Side Hotel does not currently provide.
IndirectCompetition
Theprimary indirect competition that The Mountain Side Hotel faces isthe resolve of businesses and corporations to undertake “distance”meetings (Zaibaf, Taherikia, & Fakharian, 2013). Technology hasmade it possible for companies to conduct their business meetingsover the phone, by use of video phone technology and through webconferencing technology. As fewer people travel The Mountain SideHotel is negatively affected. Therefore, the hotel has resolved tokeep abreast with all the future distance meeting technologies andhas embarked on a crusade to reinforce with the clients` belief thatthe best way to conduct business meetings is by in-personcommunication.
Conclusion
Themarketing plan above has critically evaluated the internal andexternal aspects that affect the day to day progress of The MountainSide Hotel. The project has enlightened on the strategies that thehotel has put into place so as to gain a competitive edge at alltimes and to mitigate any possible threats that the hotel might befacing. From the plan, it is clear that the hotel has placed a highvalue on the loyalty of its customer and does not take the businessesprovided by different clients for granted. By provision of customizedservices, the hotel has managed to attract loyal consumers who makerepeat contracts. It is also evident that the hotel values itspersonnel and trains well so as to offer high-quality services.
References
Bonn,M., & Forbringer, L. (2012). Reducing turnover in the hospitalityindustry: an overview of recruitment, selection andretention. InternationalJournal of Hospitality Management, 11(1),47-63. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0278-4319 (92)90035-t
Christou,E. (2012). Exploring Online Sales Promotions in the HospitalityIndustry. Journalof Hospitality Marketing & Management, 20(7),814-829. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19368623.2011.605038
Ong,B. (2012). The Perceived Influence of User Reviews in the HospitalityIndustry. Journalof Hospitality Marketing & Management, 21(5),463-485. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19368623.2012.626743
Simkin,L. (2014). Marketing is marketing – maybe!. MarketingIntelligence & Planning, 18(3),154-158. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/02634500010327944
Yasin,M., & Yavas, U. (2015). Improving Service Quality in theHospitality Industry. Journalof Hospitality & Leisure Marketing, 7(4),33-44. http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/j150v07n04_04
Zaibaf,M., Taherikia, F., & Fakharian, M. (2013). Effect of PerceivedService Quality on Customer Satisfaction in Hospitality Industry:Gronroos’ Service Quality Model Development. Journalof Hospitality Marketing & Management, 22(5),490-504. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19368623.2012.670893
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