Marriott: Marketing Strategies - Case Study Example

Case study: Marriot Question 1 Marketing research has important role to play in assisting Marriot to come up with sound marketing strategies. Marketing research helps in guiding marketing decisions done by the company. Strategies like segmentation and choice target market can only be carried out if adequate marketing research has been done. Opportunities for expansions and changing consumer needs can be determined through thorough marketing research. Marketing research is important when dealing with competition. It is vital to have information about the level of competition in the market and this information can only be gathered from marketing research. Knowing the strategies applied by competitors would enable the company to understand what to do in order to avoid stiff competition. Customer profitability analysis would enable the organization to maximize its profits. Increase of sales can be actualized through enough marketing research to look for emerging markets and new trends in the market. Marketing research reveals information that would not have been known to the management if they had done the investment venture without research. Marketing research avoids imminent losses and ensures that the business is ahead of competitors. Market research is very important for growth and development of Marriot chains of hotels. Question 2 Management decision problem Penetration of non-business-travelers segment will come with call for decisions concerning specific quality that customers need. Marriot will have to identify the type of competition that exists in the market and how to exploit the weakness of the competitors to gain entry into the market. The management will have to carry out a thorough marketing research with the aim of gaining knowledge on the needs of the customers in the United States market and how their needs are met by existing service providers. Surveys and focus groups will come in handy when it comes to investigating the customer reception of Marriot in the United States market. Trends and attributes in the market have to be learnt fully before Marriot sets to invest in the non-business-travelers segment. The size of the market has to be established at its profitability understood (Tabachnik & Fidell, 2001). Question 3 Marketing research problem on the identified management decision problem identified. Marriot will carry out a market research to establish the viability and profitability of the non-business-travelers segment in the United States. Marriot has to know whether the venture of penetrating into the United States non-business-travelers segment will yield returns and cover the costs incurred. The existing threats to market entry and strengths of competitors in the market have also to be determined. Marriot would seek to know the size of the market and the possibility of it yielding the desired returns (Patton, 2002). The hotel chain has to come up with a brand name that would sell in the United States market. Question 4 Research design to be adopted Randomized experiment design would be the most appropriate whereby surveys and focus groups will be used in carrying out market research to determine consumer perception and behavior in the United States market. Experimental designs are important since they give the management the clear picture on the ground instead using many theories and assumptions. Question 5 Major hotel chains market share in the world reveal that Marriot is best placed to become one of the leading hotel chains in the world. Intercontinental hotel takes up the largest share while Marriot follows it closely. The figure below shows the revenue collected by the largest hotel groups in the world in the year 2011 in Billion U.S. dollars. Worldwide companies Source: Company data From the figure it can be seen that Intercontinental hotel chains have maintained a lead of the market share in terms of the revenue realized. Marriot from the United States follows closely whereas Accor from France comes in at the third place. Hilton takes the fourth position while Starwood lies in the fifth position. Wyndham and Hyatt, both from the US take the sixth and the seventh position respectively (Hodge & Gillespie, 2003, p.45-55). Whereas other hotel chains are showing efforts of improving, Intercontinental still takes up the biggest share of the hotel chains market in the world. Question 6 Internal secondary data to be used by Marriot will include feedback from the customers; their recommendations, dissatisfaction, and memorable moments. Marriot will also look at the bookings by visitors that have taken place over time. Marriot will also look at the sales or the turnover trends to determine how the business will turn out to be. Marriot will make use of orders made by the customers to tell the most preferred dishes or drinks by the customers. Internal secondary data is important because Marriot will use the data to extrapolate into the unknown zone (Kotler & Armstrong, 2007). Question 7 Syndicated data to be used by Marriot will include government agencies records, data from research companies, magazines, periodicals, newspapers, and books. Any organized data that can be solicited externally will form part of syndicated data to be used by Marriot. The internet will be also an important source of data particularly concerning the competitors and the market share trends prevailing in the market. It is vital for Marriot to have enough information concerning the market where market penetration is to be done. Question 8 Qualitative research is very important in assisting Marriot further penetrate the non-business-travelers segment in the United States. Qualitative research will help in assisting in determination of qualitative quantities such as attitudes and personal preferences which are not easily determined through quantitative research. The perceptions of the customers can also be determined through qualitative research. Qualitative research is important in determining traits and trends that cannot be ascertained through quantitative research. Customer behavior can only be determined through qualitative research (Pride & Ferrell, 2011). Qualitative research will enable the management to learn about trends and attitudes of the customers and know how to deal with emerging trends. Question 9 Survey method for customer’s response determination Survey method that can be used to determine customers’ response to new hotel for families on vocation would be telephone interviews. The phone numbers of the customers who use the services of the hotel can be recorded then the customers called later to see their reaction of the kind of services that they received at the hotel. Telephone surveys are cheap and convenient to use since they would not travelling and it is easy to track down the customer who has used the hotel services. Telephone surveys are not tedious as compared to the in-person surveys. Telephone surveys are also effective than mail survey (Peterson, 1999). The level of response is high and it is most convenient to the management and the respondents. Question 10 Use of experimentation Marriot could use experimentation in determining the perception of the customer on the idea of launching the non-business traveler segment in the America market. Marriot will want to know how it would be received in the new market. Experimentation will give a clear picture of what is expected on the ground. Focus groups experiments will be most appropriate for investigating the customer reaction in the new environment. It will make it possible to tell the trends in the market and the appropriate way of customer satisfaction (Bradley, 2007, p.45-9). Question 11 Use of primary scale for measurement of consumer preferences for hotel chains Primary scales for consumer preference involve provision of a variety of choices from which a respondent is allowed to make a choice without any influence. The use of semantic differential, stapel scales, and likert scales are important in making respondent make accurate decisions on issues under investigation. Primary scales give an opportunity of ordering values that give an indication of the desired value (Holliday, 2007, p.33-9). Question 12 Likert scale, semantic differential and Stapel scales for consumer preference measurement for the hotel chains. Likert scale entail provision of list of items that a respondent uses to rank the desired outcome. It involves an ordered and one dimensional scale that respondents select one option that best represents their view. In many occasions 4 to 7 options are provided. Five are very common. Such option will include the following options: Agreement Marriot offers the best services in the world (a) Agree Strongly (b) Agree Moderately (c) Agree Slightly (d) Disagree Slightly (e) Disagree Moderately (f) Disagree Strongly How often have come to Marriot hotels? (a) Very Frequently (b) Frequently (c) Occasionally (d) Rarely (e) Very Rarely (f) Never How do you rate service quality at Marriot? (a) Very Good (b) Good (c) Barely Acceptable (d) Poor (e) Very Poor Semantic differential is used to measure reaction of people to stimulus concepts and words using terms of ratings on bipolar scales defined with adjectives that are contrasting at each end. An example could be: How can you rate the services at Marriot hotel? Good-3-2-1-0-1-2-3-Bad The position marked 0 represents neutral ground. The values obtained from this rating are used to interpret the behavior of customers. Scapel scale is used in the measurement of attitude. It is small modification to semantic differential scale. The scale has no neutral point and respondents are asked to choose the available adjectives. How would say about quality of rooms at Marriot Hotel? (1) Very unattractive (2) . (3) . (4) . (5) . (6) . (7) Very Attractive (Hodge & Gillespie, 2003, p.45-55). Question 13 Questionnaire sample for assessing consumer preferences for hotels during holidays What would you remember MOST about this hotel? (You can choose more then one options) (a) Quality service (b) Proximity to town (c) Friendly workers (d) Delicious food (e) Beautiful rooms (f) Beautiful scenery What do you think need improvement? (a) Quality of food and service (b) Room arrangement (c) Workers behavior (d) Response customer complaints What do you look for in a hotel? (a) Affordability (b) Accessibility (c) Quality (d) Convenience (e) Cleanliness (f) Others……………………….. What can make you change your choice this hotel? (a) Noisy environment (b) Small parking (c) Inaccessibility (d) Expensive meals (e) Unfriendly workers (f) Inconsistency in service What is your opinion on the quality of service offered at the hotel? ………………………………………………………………………… Will you ever what to come back? Yes….. Why? ……………… No…… why? ……………. May be……why? ……………….. Are you satisfied with the travel arrangements made? Yes…… No…… Somehow……. Do you like the walk colors of your room? Yes….. No….. Somehow…… How would say about quality of rooms at Marriot Hotel? (1) Very unattractive (2) . (3) . (4) . (5) . (6) . (7) Very Attractive Did you enjoy your stay at the hotel? Yes……. No…… Some how….. What needs improvement? …………………………………………………………………………………….. What were your best moments as in this hotel? ……………………………………………………………………………….. How can you describe out prices? (a) Expensive (b) Average (c) Worth the quality (d) Cheap (e) Others… (Explain)………………………………………. Did you like the environment of this hotel? Yes………… No………….. Somehow…………….. How can you describe workers at the hotel? (You can choose more than one option). (a) Cheerful (b) Friendly (c) Generous (d) Caring (e) Understanding (f) Respectful (g) Arrogant (h) Short tempered (i) dramatic What was your favorite hangout in this hotel? …………………………………………………………………………………………. What was most annoying thing you witnessed? ……………………………………………………………………………………. Will you recommend this hotel for a friend? Yes……No………May be On a scale of 1 to 7 how would you rate the workers’ competency? 1-very poor 2-Poor 3-Fair 4-Good 5-very good 6-Excellent 7-Exceptional Would you want to come back? Yes…… No…… How do you rate service quality at Marriot? (a) Very Good (b) Good (c) Barely Acceptable (d) Poor (e) Very Poor Do you think this hotel is appropriate for family outings? Yes…….. No…….. Not sure…… Can you stay for a month in this hotel without getting bored? Yes…….No…… Apart from Marriot chain of hotel is there any other hotel that you will prefer its services? (Name it and give a reason for your preference)………………………………………………………… Thank you very much for taking your time to answer the questions in this questionnaire. It would be a pleasure hosting you again at Marriot. Have a wonderful journey and may God bless you. Question 14 Sampling plan can be determined through stratified random sampling. The customers have to be arranged in groups using basic but major features and then a give number of customers picked randomly from every group. The grouping is what is what is called stratification but the picking of participants from the group is done randomly. However, there is a limit on how many members should be picked from each group. Question 15 The sample size to be used in the case of question nine is size The sample size will be determined on the basis of how many target customers are involved. Thirty percent of the stratified population will be representative enough to give a clear picture of the customer perception on the ground. A proportion relative to the population in each group has to be calculated for the entire population. References Hodge, D. R. & Gillespie, D. F., 2003, Phrase Completions: An alternative to Likert scales. Social Work Research, 27(1), 45–55. Peterson, R.A., 1999, Constructing Effective Questionnaires, SAGE, New York. Tabachnik, B. G., & Fidell, L. S., 2001, Using multivariate statistics (4th ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Holliday, A. R., 2007, Doing and Writing Qualitative Research, 2nd Edition. London: Sage Publications. Patton, M. Q., 2002, Qualitative research & evaluation methods ( 3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Bradley, Nigel, 2007, Marketing Research. Tools and Techniques. Oxford University Press, Oxford. Kotler, P. & Armstrong, G., 2007, Principles of Marketing Pearson, Prentice Hall, New Jersey. Pride, W.D. & Ferrell, O.C., 2011, Marketing, Cengage Learning. Read More