Running head: HOSP & TSM MARKETING & SALES
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Hosp & Tourism Marketing & Sales
Module 1
In the this module it came out clear that marketing is a very important component in the
service industry for it is what makes the firm to stand out and get known by the customers. It was
noted that marketing is the process by which tourism and hospitality industry in general generate
values for their customer through fashioning lucrative customer relationship to confine value
from them. Tourism and hospitality sector are some of the fastest growing industry and with
proper marketing they can attract huge customer base and generate lots of profit. As such firms
in this industry must develop marketing strategies that assist the hospitality in the creation of
value for the customer by developing profitable relationship with them. In developing a
marketing strategy the target customer must be identified. The hospitality industry is very
competitive and the firms must market itself through effective promotions, reasonable pricing,
suitable product placement and provision of the right products to the target customers.
Hotel firms must also position themselves in the industry by providing unique yet
satisfactory products that will make them stand out amongst their competitors. The hotels must
address maintain sanitation and hygiene besides providing excellent customer service.
Application of technology in the hospitality industry will ensure efficiency besides promoting
positive customers experience as seen with the Baltimore hotels. Technology will promote online
book and real time reservation of rooms through the hotel websites. It was also noted that every
internal stakeholders have marketing roles that they must effectively play to impress and attract
the customer to the firm. Customers should be given first priority, treated with highest levels of
courtesy and listened to in order to create greater understanding.
Module 2
The module dwells on customer segmentation which is the process of dividing a
customer base into groups of individuals based on similarities in specific behaviors that are
relevant to marketing. This can be achieved in terms of age brackets, gender affiliations, interests
and the spending habits. Customer segmentation also allows the firm to obtain a better
understanding of the target customers and thus proceed to design products that perfectly suits a
given group of customers. Segmenting the customer base also enhance communication with the
customer as they will find the information communicated to them by the firm to be relevant to
their needs. It is effective for the resources employed usually provide positive feedbacks in-terms
of increased guest traffic and firms popularity. Customer segmentation requires effective
marketing mix such that they are effectively reached by the firms marketing efforts. Market
segmentation is data based and as such the firms must have necessary information about its
customer base in order to effectively segment its customers
Customer segmentation involves first defining the firms market of interest, its submarkets
and their geographical boundaries. The next step involves identifying the markets segments that
make the market of interest based on consumers classification. The third step involves evaluating
the viability of proposed segments; this will be done by assessing the segments against a
checklist of specific factors. After the evaluation, the segment profiles are constructed by
carefully describing them in respect to several factors. The attractiveness of each segment will be
evaluated in order to identify the most profitable segment based on financial issues, marketing
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expertise, strategic direction and marketing expertise. The segment with the best score is selected
to be the target market for the hotel firm, e.g. El Sombreroa Mexican Grill and Bar has the
college students as its target customers and thus offers wide variety of food at affordable prices.
Module 3
This module focused on how to effectively develop revenue-generating service solutions
by considering factors such as fundamental aspects and strategies in pricing and developing
consumer-centric solutions at multiple service level. An effective product solution should feature
core product which is the most basic level, the facilitating product which allow the guests to
utilize the core product, the supporting product that adds value to the core product and make it
different from the competitors and the augmented product that facilitate hotels’ accessibility,
suitable atmosphere and customer interaction with the firm and amongst themselves. The
solution development process involves generation of idea, screening of the idea, testing of the
market, business analysis, development of the concept, marketing development and strategy
commercialization. Products go through five stages in their life cycle; the development stage, the
market introduction stage, the growth phase where they are in the main stream market, the
maturity stage and the decline that makes the end of the product.
The module notes that price is determined by comparing the internal (marketing
objectives, costs etc) and external factors (nature of the market, competitors pricing etc). The
pricing strategies on the other hand include; cost based approach, competition based approach
and the break even approach. New product pricing strategies on the other hand include price
skimming, value based pricing and price penetration that is aimed at attracting customers of the
new product. Pricing impacts can be achieved by psychological pricing, promotional pricing,
valued based pricing and price-adjustment strategies such as volume discounts on large quantity,
timing of purchase seasonality and discriminatory pricing. HR can also be used for marketing
through creation of positions to attract good employees, rewarding customer service and
satisfaction and providing employees with initial training that promote customer service culture.
Module 4
The module dwells on the effective ways of communicating marketing message to the
target customers. Effective communication is very important for the marketing process for
without it the customers will not get to know of the firms and the services and products that they
provide. Effective marketing information is disseminated to the customers through promotional
activities. There are several promotional tools that can be used by the firms in the hospitality
industry to communicate with their customers; they include, advertising in the digital and
traditional platforms, sales promotion through coupons and discounts charges or foods, public
relations, direct marketing and personal selling. The distribution channels that involve parties
that make the service available to the customers can also be used to distribute the marketing
information. They include the online travel agents, travel agents & tour wholesalers, tourism
agencies and property representatives. Converged media that incorporate the paid media, the
social platforms, owned properties and earned media is very effective for promotion.
The effectiveness of the marketing communication can be measured through direct rating
of alternative adverts and selecting the best, portfolio tests that recall ads after listening to them
and laboratory tests that measure the physiological reactions to adverts. Marketing system on the
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other hand consist of conventional independent producers, wholesalers, and retailers, the vertical
unified system of producers, wholesalers, and retailers acting as a unit, the horizontal system that
consist of two or more companies at a level to pursuing new marketing opportunities through a
combination of skills and the multichannel that involve one firm setting up multiple marketing
channels. Digital promotional platforms include; podcasting, email, mobile and social sites such
as Facebook and Twitter. The main marketing communication domains are the business to
business, business to customers, customers to business and customers to customers.
Takeaway1: Application of HR in Marketing
It was interesting to discover that the HR department also has the role of marketing the
firm. It came to my attention that the HR department through its functions of hiring and
recruiting employees promotes the image of the firm. The employees that are recruited in the
firm must be very competent and have customer service skills. Through these skills the
employees would portray the firm as customer friendly and thus improves its reputation amongst
the clients. This knowledge s very important and it will help in running my future hotel firms. I
will ensure that the hotel employ people with knowledge of customer services besides taking
them through additional training to improve their customer service knowledge and skills.
Takeaway2: Importance of market segmentation
Module was an eye opener; it got me informed of the benefits of segmenting the
customer base into groups and then applying the best marketing mix while providing them with
the right kind of products. Initially I thought businesses are created to serve everybody in the
market without not knowing that there are specific groups that targeted by the firms. Market
segmentation is very effective as it allow easy designing of products that perfectly fits the need
of the segmented customer group. Market segmentation also improves the effectiveness of the
communication process as the marketing information passed to the segmented groups is always
relevant to the group. It also creates a better understanding of the customers by the firm thus
facilitating provision of relevant information and products. The customer segmentation concept
will help me in identifying the profitable customer bases to invest in and to eliminate the
wastages of resources on the unprofitable customer segments.
Takeaway3: Application of social media in marketing (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram)
It was also awesome to learn that the social sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
and blogs were not just for social interaction but can also be used effectively by firms to promote
their businesses and to communicate with the customers. The digital platforms also have
provided effective distribution channels that can be used by firm to communicate with the
customers. The application of podcast, emails and mobile marketing are also new knowledge in
the marketing that are quite impeccable. This concept of social media marketing is effective and
I will definitely use it to promote by hotel business. Through Instagram I will post catchy photos
of the services offered at my hotel so as to inform the potential customers of what they are
missing and thus attract them to the firm. The business Facebook page and the Twitter accounts
will also be used to get the views of the customers and to carry easy market analysis..
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Takeaway4: Psychological pricing impacts on the consumers
The application of pricing technique to influence the reaction of customers is a very
interesting strategy. Prestige pricing, usage of reference points, rounding down of figures and
ignoring end figures were new knowledge to me. Firms can price their products at $999 so as to
convince the customers that the product is cheaper as compared to the ones marked $1000 and
the customers will fall for it. It is a attractive pricing technique that I will apply in the pricing of
my hotels food so as to psychological convince the customers that they are cheaper and
affordable as compared to the rounded figures.
Takeaway5: Measuring Return on Investment in Marketing.
The discovery of the various ways of measuring effects of marketing communication was
appealing. It came to my attention that a firm does not just disseminate marketing information
but they must also measure their effectiveness through; direct rating of alternative ads and
selecting the best, portfolio tests and laboratory tests to measure physiological reactions to an
advertisement.
Professional Application
The marketing course was very informative and from the knowledge learnt from it, one is
able to get the best insights that he can apply to market himself in the labor market. Marketing is
very important in the job search as it makes on known by the recruiting firms which are his
customers. One therefore needs to exhaustively use the available marketing opportunities to
promote himself in the job market. A person must position himself in the job market such that
they stand out amongst other candidates. This can be achieved by taking several courses that
augment the hospitality courses; this may feature taking customer service courses, computer
trainings and taking training courses in other extra languages such as Italian, French and
Germany. A person should even consider taking volunteer programs in the hospitality fields so
that they acquire the initial skills that will help in their future jobs. Industrial attachments and
internship programs will also enable one to achieve a high level of uniqueness which will make
him very competitive in the labor market.
In order to improve the effectiveness of the job search a person need to segment the
markets in order to have a better understanding of his potential employers. Better understanding
of the potential employers enables one to design marketing information that is relevant to the
said employer. The job searcher will be able to eliminate firms that are not likely to employ him
and thus remain with interest employers that are mainly in the hospitality industry. The job
seeker will then proceed to evaluate the employability of the remaining firms. This will be done
by assessing the firm based on the factors such as their employment rate, the experience they
require, the age bracket they need, the skills and qualifications that they consider in their
recruitment. Based on the evaluation to scorers will be retained and the low performers
eliminated. The job seeker will then need to develop the profiles of these firms and start the
designing of CVs, application letters and any other marketing information based on the nature of
their profiles. The customized promotional information will thus be disseminated to the selected
firms.
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In the dissemination of these designed messages one will need to apply the best
promotional mix possible. The promotional mix should feature advertising, personal selling and
direct marketing. In the advertising, one will need to use technology to promote his CVs; this
will be achieved by registering with the online recruiting agencies and uploading the CV so that
it can be accessed by the prospective employers. Registering with pages such as Skills Pages,
LinkedIn and Brighter Monday will also form good distribution channel for the job seeker
information to the employers. Using social sites such as Facebook and Twitter Pages of the
prospective employers will also be useful in informing one of the possible vacancies that exist in
these firms. One should also constantly visit the employers’ websites and check any job
opportunities that they may be offering. In personal selling one would need to do extremely
charming things that will get them noticed by the potential employers; these will see one get
involved in charitable programs where they support the society. Volunteering will help in CV
building but they also build good reputation of the job seeker which will prompt the employers to
pick them for employment opportunity for they believe that offering for volunteer programs is a
good indicator of a dedicated heart and determined mind; qualities that employers look in their
employees. Direct selling requires one to personally visit the firms and inform them of your
skills and abilities. This will get one noticed and thus increase their chances of landing a job.