Hospitality industry is one of the most supportive services that affect the number of tourist a particular country attracts. Building the hotels is not enough for the hospitality professional, It is equally necessary to communicate to the consumers about the services offered. Hospitality marketing is no different from other service marketing. However the hospitality marketing is much more fiercely competitive as the business is very seasonal and volatile to various social economic activities. It is necessary for any hotel chain to be competitive and innovative in their marketing campaign for their survival.(Kotler, 2008)
1.1 Hotel Defined
A Hotel can be defined as “A place where all possible facilities like accommodation, entertainment are provided to the people for a temporary period, they stay.” (K.K.Sharma, 2008)
1.2 Some Basic Assumption about Hotels
The Consumers of a hotel services are referred as guest. They receive the hospitality services from accommodation to entertainment and from food & beverages to business conferences. A hotel facility or property is immovable in comparison to goods or other manufactured item which are mobile or portable. The capital investment in hotel industry is on little bit moderate to higher side and the breakeven point is normally requires a large span of time. The demands for hotel services vary from customer to customer. Most of facilities which provided by hospitality industry are highly perishable in nature. Hotel industry is not having the competition within itself it also faces the external competition from other industries. (J. Christopher Holloway,2004)
1.3 Importance of Hotel Marketing
Hospitality industry is considered one of the major industries in the world. In United States it is the second largest employer alone. Marketing has taken an important role in the hospitality industry. The entrance of the corporate giant has made it from Mom and Pop stores where an individual is having a hotel or restaurant to large hotel chains. These chains work in a highly competitive environment where they need to be innovative more accurate and sophisticated in their offering and marketing to win the customer. 10 % of the Hotel chain in United States account for 80 % of the total hospitality business.
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The Hotel industry is undergoing the consolidation process where large chain like; Intercontinental, Marriott International, Wyndham hotel group, Hilton Hotels, Accor Group, Global Hyatt, Carlson Hotels, Starwood Hotels & Resort, Best Western, Choice Hotels are merging or buying the small hotels. It has been found on organization is marketing their services under different brands to address the different customers. The marketing expertise of these large firm lead to the creation of highly competitive hotel industry. Now the position of marketing director is equally important as food & service director or room division manager. (James C. Makenes,1999)
Marketing initially evolved in connection with the physical products or goods like toothpaste, soap, Detergent, Cars, and Electronic Item etc. But now later on a different trend in the world economy has been observed the exceptional growth of services or product which has little physical content. In developed economies service industry account for 60% of the total GDP. Services have their own characteristics which are different from products hence they require a different marketing approach than products.
1.4 Marketing Concept in Hospitality Industry
Marketing is business philosophy in hospitality industry which places the customer at the centre. As it rightly said “Customer is King” now it is going to be changed it will now “Customer is God.” Now hotel professional understand the importance of building long term relation is mutually beneficial. There is an exchange activity between the customer and hotel service provider for mutual benefit. The core idea behind the hotel marketing is to manage demand and supply. Marketing is the management process which decides the future of any organization and success or planning of any organization up to a great extent depend on marketing activities. There are several marketing tool those are applied by marketing managers to understand the need and wants of the consumer which help them to enhance the service level and to satisfy or delight the customer. (Francis Buttle &David Bowie, 2004)
1.5 Need for hotel Marketing
As it has been already discussed the nature of services different from goods hence it require more sophisticated marketing. Once opportunity gone it is not retrievable. Intangibility, Inseparability, Variability and Perish ability are few main characteristics of hotel services. With the advancement of information and communication technologies and due to globalization consumer are more aware about the offering and particular about their taste and wants. Any information is available with a click of mouse at anytime from anywhere. The chain that has more international recognition is suppose to attract more guest as it has its own brand image and connections with customers, travel agencies, agents, Groups, travel ministry etc. Hence it is imperative for hotel service provider to market their product and services to differentiate it from competitors.
2 Literature Review
The history of hotel industry is days back to the colonial period in the late 1700s. It has gone through the two world wars and the great depression of 1933. It has experienced the significant changes. Today it is much more advanced and developed. The Modern hotel industry has started taken its shape in the early 1950s.
The word hospitality arrived from the French word “Hospice” which means to provide for the weary and take care of those who are travelling. In the early era of hospitality industry Romans are considered to be the first delighted travelers. As early as 40 BC Roman travel for social and business purposes. Business needs were also one of the reasons. After fall of the Roman Empire public hospitality drastically fall into religious order. (Kaye Sung Chon,1999)
In the medieval period English travelers comes into the picture. Inns were available those were private homes which are available for a monetary benefit. Monasteries are available for religious and spiritual travelers.
In the 16th Century also known as “Renaissance Period” the demand for Inns and taverns peaked which lead to the formation of first hotel of the world “Hotel de Henry IV in 1788. It cost around USD 17,500 and it’s consisting of 60 bed accommodation and a coffee house.
The new era is started in 18th century with the eating and sleeping places. Taverns are created in New York and New England. Inn’s are available in Pennsylvania and Ordinaries are common name in southern colonies. After that the French revolution taken place in hospitality industry which leads to the creation of new hotel in 1898 named Savoy in London. General Manger of this hotel was Cesar Ritz and the chef was Auguste Escoffier.
In 20th century with the advancement of transport facilities and due to globalization people are travelling never before. Hotel industry is growing at a very higher pace. The offering are not limited to accommodation and food, now it is more personalize and sophisticated in nature. The hotels now have restaurants, recreation centers, swimming pools, pub, discotheque, conference room, bar b queue etc. Now the typical hotel service starts straight from picking up the customer directly from the flight or the railway station till him/her sign off. (J. R. Brent Ritchie & Charles R. Goeldner, 2006)
2.1 Classification of Hotels
Though there are different parameter and basses for hotel classification but for a simple understanding broadly they can be classified as below.
• Residential
• Commercial
• Resort
• International
• On the basis of Standard and Control (Approved or unapproved by the government and tourism department)
• On the basis of Stars (Facilities, Luxury Aspects and qualities)
A residential property can be used for a longer stay. It may vary from one month to years. The payment can be made monthly. On the other hand a commercial hotel is placed near to the business hub or in the centre of the city, where traveler stay for a shorter duration of time. The charges in commercial hotel are premium and occupancies are high. Resorts are placed in exotic location for fun trip or relaxing period. International hotel have their branches all over the world. In the current most of the hotels belongs to international chains.
The other bases for classifications are govt. approval and regulation criteria fulfillment. The other measure to judge the hotels are star which they own which depends upon the level of facility, quality and luxury aspects of any property. (Andrew Lockwood,2001)
2.2 Customer Segment
As services are very personalized hence a hotelier is require to identify their customer, how the consumer will be served, what will provided, how it will provided and how much it will provide etc. these question need to be answered at first phase. The guests are of two type the first is individual customer and other is group customers.
2.3 Hotel Offering
A hotel has product line and service line to offer its customers. The product line consist of accommodation, Food & Beverages, Recreation, Health, Shops, Car rental cervices etc. while on the other hand a service line consist of Online Booking, First aid Box, Barber shop & beauty salon, In room Electronic safe, Doctor on Call, Baby sitting services etc. (Turgut Var,2002)
2.4 Marketing Strategies
Hotel marketing communications are either direct or indirect. Direct communication takes place through phone call, personal mail, personal sale, advertising etc. Indirect communication for hotel includes publicity and public communication. For example Hilton hotels are in news because of actress Paris Hilton.
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