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Easily Integrate These Wall Street Journal Articles in Your Class
THIS WEEK'S ARTICLES
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Postcards From the Hedge: Faking a
Vacation at Home
Delta Launches Online Boarding-Pass Ads
Marriott Posts 24% Drop in Profit
Postcards From the Hedge: Faking a
Vacation at Home
by Mary Pilon
Jul 16, 2008
Page: D1
Click here to view the full article on WSJ.com
TOPICS: Travel and Tourism
Have you visited our redesigned web site? It will
SUMMARY: Ms. Ash, a legal assistant who lives in
provide you with Integration Ideas, Teaching Tools,
that New York City borough, called off her plans to
Order Forms and more - making it easier than ever to
travel to Japan this summer. The ballooning cost of
integrate The Journal into your classes.
airfares, weak dollar-to-yen exchange rate and
difficulty saving travel money while keeping pace
Check it out at ProfessorJournal.com.
with bills forced her to rethink her summer plans. So
she's determined to have the ultimate "staycation,"
or vacation spent at home. While more hard-pressed
Americans are spending their vacation time at home lately, not everyone is happy about it. Barbecues and reruns
don't match the thrill of travel. So some are going to great lengths to foster the illusion of a wayfaring vacation.
They'll sample foreign tourism, wilderness camping, hotel living, and beach-going without ever leaving their living
rooms.
CLASSROOM APPLICATION: This article can be used to discuss the definition of marketing, which is "identifying
evolving consumer preferences, then capitalizing on them through the creation, promotion and delivery of products
and services that satisfy the corresponding demand. This is done by solving the right customers' problems, giving
them what they want or need at the time and place of their choosing, and at the price they are willing to pay."
Students can be asked to identify the following issues: (1) the problems consumers are trying to solve, (2)
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consumer preferences and how they are changing, (3) the price they are willing to pay; and (4) where and when
consumers want the product delivered. After this information is brought forth, students can then be instructed to
design products and services that will solve these problems. The article can also be used to illustrate how
environmental factors (e.g., economic trends) can change consumers' behavior.
QUESTIONS:
1. (Advanced) What products/services can hotels develop that can counter the "staycation"? Provide clear
examples of how your strategies will fulfill the needs or solve the problems of the customers.
2. (Introductory) It has been said that "consumers do not buy 1/4" drill bits, they buy 1/4" holes." What is the
customer actually buying with a "staycation"? Provide support for your answer.
3. (Introductory) What environmental factors are driving the demand for "staycations"?
4. (Advanced) How long will this trend last? What type of information would one need to answer this question?
Where might this information be found?
Reviewed By: Stowe Shoemaker, University of Houston
Delta Launches Online Boarding-Pass Ads
by Anna Prior
Jul 15, 2008
Page: D7
Click here to view the full article on WSJ.com
TOPICS: Sales Promotions
SUMMARY: Delta Air Lines passengers checking in online for Las Vegas Tuesday will notice something new on
their boarding passes: lots of ads. Sojern Inc. of Omaha plans to announce that it has partnered with five airlines
to offer online boarding passes that will be splashed with coupons, weather information and restaurant and event
promotions for their destinations. The move is just the latest attempt by cash-strapped airlines to generate more
revenue -- this time by charging advertisers for fliers' eyeballs.
CLASSROOM APPLICATION: This article can be used to motivate a discussion on the communication process.
The communication process can be defined as "All communications between the firm and the target market that
increase the tangibility of the product/service mix, that establish or monitor consumer expectations, or that
persuade customers to purchase." This article addresses the use of promotions. There are six issues of the
communication process that need to be addressed. They are (1) To whom to say it (2) Why to say it (3) What to
say (4) How to say it (5)How often to say it; and (6) Where to say it.
QUESTIONS:
1. (Introductory) Do you believe on-line boarding-pass ads are a good idea or a bad idea? Be specific, and use
concrete facts to illustrate your arguments.
2. (Introductory) Which products/services are most likely to take advantage of this form of advertising?
3. (Advanced) Consumers print their boarding passes 24 hours before they fly? Is this too late for consumers to
take advantage of the advertising? That is, are parts of the trip already planned? Is there a better time in the
purchase cycle to create these "billboards"?
4. (Advanced) Go through each of the six questions a communication strategy should answer. How would you
respond to each question? (The questions are: To whom to say it Why to say it What to say How to say it How
often to say it Where to say it
Reviewed By: Stowe Shoemaker, University of Houston
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Marriott Posts 24% Drop in Profit
by Angela Pruitt
Jul 11, 2008
Page: B4
Click here to view the full article on WSJ.com
TOPICS: Hotel Industry Demand
SUMMARY: Marriott International posted weak quarterly earnings, an ominous sign for hotel companies banking
on the U.S. market. The company reported a 24% decrease in second-quarter net income. With costs of travel
soaring, the U.S. business world is cutting back on its road warriors, leaving Marriott rooms empty even as the
hotel chain continues to build new ones. The hotelier -- which operates and franchises hotels under the Marriott,
Ritz-Carlton, Residence Inn and Courtyard names, among other -- recorded net income of $157 million, or 42
cents a share, down from $207 million, or 51 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 2% to $3.19 billion from
$3.12 billion.
CLASSROOM APPLICATION: This article can be used to discuss the impact of the economic environment on the
hotel industry. The article can also be used to illustrate how the hotel industry is dependent upon the airline
industry for approximately 4% of its customers. Finally, the article can be used to illustrate the importance of
overseas markets for growth.
QUESTIONS:
1. (Introductory) How does the impact of the airlines pull back, compare to the decrease in demand after the 9-11
attacks? What implications can be learned from this analysis?
2. (Introductory) Why is Marriott particularly vulnerable to the downturn in business travel? Will other hotel firms
suffer the same fate? Why or why not?
3. (Advanced) What does the statement "with revpar outside North America rising 15.5%, or 7.2% in constant
dollars" mean?
4. (Advanced) Who are Host Hotels and Resorts? What, if any, relationship do they have with Marriott? What is
their business model?
Reviewed By: Stowe Shoemaker, University of Houston
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