Marriott Chain of Hotels - Research Proposal Example

Executive Summary Marriott chain of hotels is looking towards identifying the opportunity that the hotel business presents in the non business sector. To find out consumer preference regarding the hotel package a research is being conducted so that the defining variable which has an influence on their purchasing habit can be identified. To conduct a research the problem statement to ensure effective consumer preference is identified. This has resulted in the use of focus group and questionnaire as the mode of collecting relevant data. Along with it the sample size has being determined to ensure that all section of the population is entirely represented. Further, it has also been ensured that Marriott is ale to find out the perception by developing a questionnaire where the consumer has to rate different factors so that based on it a strategy to tap the correct market can be determined. This will ensure that Marriott is able to ensure that their new strategy doesn’t backfire and the chances of failure reduce which will thereby ensure smooth operations for the hotel chain. Table of Contents Introduction 3 Role of Marketing Research in formulating strategies 3 Management decision problem at Marriott 3 Marketing Research Problem for Marriott 3 Research Design to be used 3 Market share of major hotel chain 3 Secondary data useful for Marriott 4 Syndicated data useful for Marriott 4 Role of Quantitative research in market penetration 4 Survey method to identify consumer preference for hotel package 5 Experimental design suitable for Marriott 5 Scale to measure consumer preference for hotel chain 5 Likert, Semantic Differential & Staple Scale for consumer preference 5 Questionnaire 6 Sampling Plan to be used by Marriott 9 Sample size to be used by Marriott 9 Conclusion 9 References 10 Introduction The role of marketing research has increased especially in competitive times as it is imperative to understand the consumer preference towards a particular product or services. This paper looks to identify whether Marriott hotel chain should look towards conducting business by targeting the non business class. This thereby looks to find out the customer preference by conducting research. Further, the research method, the design, the questionnaire, sample size and the problem statement have been presented. This will help the management in understanding the manner in which Marriott will be able to use the findings of the research to develop their business and ensure maximum chances of succeeding. Role of Marketing Research in formulating strategies Marketing research will benefit Marriott in formulating marketing strategies as it will help them to find out the customer requirements. This will help Marriott to reduce the risk associated with a new hotel plan. This will also present before Marriott the different opportunities that exist in the market and will provide the direction based on which a new product or services can be developed. This will thereby help to develop a benchmark against which the success can be measured and will thereby help to reduce risk and reduce the chances of failure of the new services (Day, 2005). Management decision problem at Marriott The management decision problem for Marriott is to whether entering into the non business sector will be beneficial for the business or not. While looking to determine whether the decision benefits or doesn’t benefit special emphasis needs to be laid on ensuring that the brand name is not affected and the type of business that they look to develop should be based on the market requirements so that they are able to match the pocket of different group of people. Marketing Research Problem for Marriott The research design that will be used is to find out the whether conducting business will be beneficial for the brand image of the company over a loner period of time and the manner in which it will contribute towards the growth of the business over a longer period of time. Research Design to be used The research design that will be used is through conducting interviews and focus group. This will help to gather the data pertaining to customer requirements better as the non verbal cues can also be used. In addition to it all the queries that exists in developing a plan can be sorted out so that better decision can be taken by the management (Bristow and Frankwick, 2004) Market share of major hotel chain The market share of different hotel chain is as (Market Share, 2012) Hotel Chain Market Share Marriott Hotel, Resort & Suite 25.42% Hilton Hotels 16.99% Sheraton 16.43% Holiday Inn 11.41% Radisson 10.86% Ramada Inn 9.99% Hyatt Hotels 8.90% Secondary data useful for Marriott The secondary data which will be useful for Marriott will be to identify the customers who have visited their hotel chain for purposes other than business. While looking to identify the percentage of people special care and emphasis has to be laid out to find out the amount of money the people have spent on different hotels. Along with it a comparison has to be made regarding the increase or decrease in that particular sector and compare it with other players in the market. This will help to find out whether an opportunity to improve the business exist in the market and will also highlight the different areas which are showing increased consumer growth (Frank, 2008). Syndicated data useful for Marriott Syndicated data will consist of both structured and unstructured data which can be used by Marriott in the research. Using syndicated data will ensure that Marriott is able to gather relevant data pertaining to consumer preference as it will be able to use the unstructured data pertaining to different visitors to the hotel who had stayed in the hotel for purpose other than business. Analyzing this data pertaining to Marriott and other hotels will ensure that better research question is designed and information pertaining to the customer preference is gathered correctly (Frambach, Prabhu and Verhallen, 2003). Role of Quantitative research in market penetration Quantitative research has a lot of relevance here as quantitative information looks towards gathering statistical data. This method of research will help Marriott to identify the percentage of population that will prefer the hotel chain of Marriott for purposes other than business. This will also help to identify the percentage of people that looks towards using big hotel chains like Marriott for holidays, or to change their living due to boredom with regular life. This will help Marriott to gauge the market intelligence which will help to validate the final result and find out the manner in which it will benefit the business and reduce the chances of error or failure if the decision to go ahead with the research is taken (Brand, 2003). Survey method to identify consumer preference for hotel package The survey method which Marriott should look to identify the consumer preference for a hotel package is questionnaire. The prime reason for using it is that will help to circulate the questionnaire to a large number of people which will ensure that data pertaining to a large audience is gathered. Further, using the method of questionnaire is cheap and will ensure that they are able to ensure maximum penetration. This will also ensure that the data is collected from people at far off places which otherwise would not have been possible. Based on the preliminary round of gathering information about consumer preference through questionnaire Marriott then should look towards focus groups. This will help to understand the consumer preference better and will help to gather the non verbal cues. This will also present with an information to ask more questions and ensure that all the doubts gets solved so that better policies and strategies can be developed to identify the consumer preference for a particular hotel package. Experimental design suitable for Marriott Marriott chain of hotel after identifying the consumer preference towards a particular hotel package can look towards using it in one of the hotel or a few hotels. This will ensure that the model is tested on a few hotels. While choosing a hotel care should be taken that there is no biasness and the hotel which is chosen has both business and non business visitors. This will help to check the accuracy and research design. If the research design provides positive result through the experiment which has been conducted it can be applied to other hotels. Marriott has to take special care in ensuring that all hotels are not given the package as it will lead towards dilution of the image and make it difficult for the business to be able to attract the same category of customers. Scale to measure consumer preference for hotel chain The management of Marriott has to develop a scale to measure preference of consumer towards a hotel chain. While developing the scale the management has to provide different scale especially for closed ended questions so that the consumer are able to rate it easily and based on it the chances of the research being accepted or rejected can be determined. The scale will be as 1 – Highly Recommended 2 – Recommended 3 – Unsure 4 – Unrecommended 5 – Highly Unrecommended Likert, Semantic Differential & Stapel Scale for consumer preference The Likert Scale is a measure which looks towards measuring the consumer preference towards a particular option by having the following scale to measure their preference. This is as follows Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree The Semantic Differential Scale is a measure which looks towards measuring the consumer preference towards a particular option by having the following scale to measure their preference. This is as follows Good _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Bad 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 The Staple Scale is a measure which looks towards measuring the consumer preference towards a particular option by having the following scale to measure their preference. This is as follows Rating the different factors from -5, -4, -3, -2, -1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Thus, the different models to measure the consumer preference towards a particular hotel package can be identified by using the different scale. Questionnaire The questionnaire for the research is as Name: Age: Sex: No of days spent in a year in hotels: Annual Income: Type of Hotel preferred: Economy Hotels Mid range Hotels Upscale Hotels Type of economy hotel preferred: Motel Bed & Breakfast Inn Boutique Hotel Type of Midrange Hotel Preferred: Bed & Breakfast Inn Boutique Hotel Standardized Chain Type of Upscale Hotel Preferred: Boutique Hotel Standardized Chain Conventional Style Hotel Internet Access in Room 1 – Highly Recommended 2 – Recommended 3 – Unsure 4 – Unrecommended 5 – Highly Unrecommended Business Centre in Hotel 1 – Highly Recommended 2 – Recommended 3 – Unsure 4 – Unrecommended 5 – Highly Unrecommended Internet Reservations Required Not Required Flexible Check in 1 – Highly Recommended 2 – Recommended 3 – Unsure 4 – Unrecommended 5 – Highly Unrecommended Room Customization 1 – Highly Recommended 2 – Recommended 3 – Unsure 4 – Unrecommended 5 – Highly Unrecommended Childcare Facilities 1 – Highly Recommended 2 – Recommended 3 – Unsure 4 – Unrecommended 5 – Highly Unrecommended Personal Kitchen 1 – Highly Recommended 2 – Recommended 3 – Unsure 4 – Unrecommended 5 – Highly Unrecommended Room Service 1 – Highly Recommended 2 – Recommended 3 – Unsure 4 – Unrecommended 5 – Highly Unrecommended Car Parking Facilities 1 – Highly Recommended 2 – Recommended 3 – Unsure 4 – Unrecommended 5 – Highly Unrecommended Any Recommendations: Sampling Plan to be used by Marriott The sampling should be done on a random basis where the people to be researched are selected at a random. While looking to use a random method of selecting the population for the research emphasis should be laid to ensure that all section of the society is adequately represented. This will require that randomized stratified sampling method is used which will ensure that the correct sample size is selected and the research helps to gather valuable information regarding the customer preference towards a hotel (Considine, 2005). Sample size to be used by Marriott The sample size should be such that it represents the entire population. While selecting the sample size effort should be laid that people of all age, class, sex and gender are provided an opportunity to participate in the survey. This will help to gather relevant data pertaining to the customer preference and will help to identify the different areas which need to be looked at the research. The sample size selected should ensure that the entire population is adequately represented so that the final finding is not skewed and the results derived are applicable and can be used for the development of future strategies of Marriott (Considine, 2005). Conclusion The paper thereby presents the different research methodology which can be used by Marriott to identify the consumer preference towards a particular hotel package. This will look to find out whether Marriott should look towards the market which doesn’t target the business class and the changes it will have to undergo. This will thereby help to understand the effect it will have on the brand image and will help to develop strategy to find out consumer preference. Looking towards gathering information about customer preference by conducting primary research through questionnaire and focus group will provide Marriot the direction they are looking at. References Bristow, D. and Frankwick, G. 2004. Product manager influences tactics in marketing strategy development and implementation. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 2 (3), pp. 12-31 Brand, M. 2003. Market Intelligence: Making Market Research Work. Accion’s Insight Series, 7, Retrieved on August 30, 2012 from http://www.ssrn.com Considine, J. 2005. Developing a marketing research process for religious organisations. Journal on Ministry Marketing and Management, 1 (2), pp. 1-13 Day, M. 2005. Why is market research important? Retrieved on August 30, 2012 from http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-articles/why-is-market-research-important-8603.html Frambach, R., Prabhu, J. and Verhallen, T. 2003. The influence of business strategy on new product development: the role of market orientation. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 20 (4), pp. 136-148 Frank, L. 2008. Focus Group Research in American Politics. Voices of Victory, 1, Retrieved on August 30, 2012 from http://www.pollingreport.com Market Share. 2012. Top Market Share Hotel Companies. Retrieved on August 30, 2012 from http://www.franchisehelp.com/franchise-research/Hotel-Franchise-Industry-Research-Report-2001.pdf Read More