The Best Techniques for Hotel and Leisure Business Venture - Research Proposal Example

Market research

It is said information is key to any business venture; market research is the process of gathering, analyzing and interpreting data about a market, product or service. The viability of the product or service is tested through a series of techniques such as surveys, product testing, secondary sources, and focus groups. The research can be conducted by the company itself, or it can hire a third party company that specializes in doing market research (Esomar, 2008).

The importance of market research

A market research enables one to identify new market opportunities for either existing or new service. The study will provide information on market share, the nature of competition, customer satisfaction levels, sales performances and channel of distribution. This information will be key to the hotel management in solving problems. Information on nature of competition will allow the hotel to develop a different approach to marketing its services (Grewal, 2006).

Data gathered from the market research will be used in formulating market strategies. In the era we live in markets are not only local but also global, business owners are finding it difficult to control distribution channels or contact customers as competition is severe. Client needs can be difficult to predict at times, and market segmentation becomes difficult especially in broad markets. Market intelligence provided through the market research will help to frame and implement market strategies for the hotel (Gupta, 2004).

Market research is used to determine customer needs and wants as markets have become more customer centric. The research will thus help in collecting information on consumers from structured delivery research. The research will also support the marketing approach as well as the services to be provided by the hotel (John, 2011).

Information from market research allows for an efficient communication mix. Communication plays a vital role especially in an era of micro rather than mass marketing. The market research process will use promotional research to study media mix, advertising effectiveness, and integrated communication tools. When information is gathered on such aspects through the market research, it will help to promote the hotel’s packages or services in the market effectively (Ronald, 2007).

The sales activities of an organization can be improved by using data gathered from a research survey. The research will be used to analyze and evaluate the performance of the hotel in the market and the effectiveness of the sales force. The information will also help to identify sales territories of the hotel. This information will enable the hotel in future to examine alternative methods of providing the services. Keeping the optimum level of loyal customers who keep coming back for services especially in the hospitality industry is said to be a challenge for most businesses. Moreover, services are provided in anticipation of demand (Esomar, 2008).

Revitalizing brands or packages offered by, for instance, leisure based companies are made possible through market research. This is because information gathered will enable a company to explore the possibilities of brand extension or even the prospects of changing existing brand packages of services offered in future. Marketing is done to mainly create a brand loyalty; market research will thus help to develop techniques to popularize and retain brand loyalty (Gupta, 2004).

A market research is a core when a company is introducing a new product or service to the market or is a new business venture. The study will help test the product and services to be offered by the hotel on a small scale. The aim will be to find out customers response to the new services the hotel will provide and develop a suitable marketing mix (Joanna, 2002).

In the recent decades, there has been a lot of development in communication and digitization of all walks of trade. In regards to leisure ventures especially there is the need to know on how best to use such platforms to attract local and foreign tourist. By collecting data from customers from different countries, for instance, will help to best package hotel services. Market research helps managers and other stakeholders involved to make informed decisions. This is by supplying up to date, accurate and relevant information on competitors, technological changes, customer needs among others (Esomar, 2008).

Types of market research

Primary market research

It refers to gathering information from the source and in this case directly from potential clients. One can gather information themselves or hire a company to do so. Two basic type of information can be collected in a primary market research; exploratory or specific. In regards to the former, research is open-ended and helps define a particular problem. It involves detailed unstructured interviews in which lengthy answers are implored from a small group of respondents. This approach is suitable for the market research of the leisure business venture (John, 2011).

On the other hand, specific research is precise in scope and is hence used to solve a problem that exploratory has identified. In specific studies, interviews are structured and are formal in approach. Specific research is usually more expensive in comparison to exploratory studies. When conducting a primary research one has to decide how to question the targeted group. This can be through direct mail, surveys, experiments, observations, personal interviews or telephone calls (Ronald, 2007).

Depending on the method the hotel decides to use, certain considerations should be met so as to increase the response rate, reduce cost and improve accuracy as well as the validity of the information gathered. For instance, if direct mail is used to collect information by use of questionnaires, the questions should be short and direct to the point. Telephone calls are most suitable because they will allow one-to-one interaction with the respondents, have wide coverage and are cost effective as one can take advantage of low rates during certain hours (John, 2011).

Personal interviews will be used as it is an efficient form of primary market research. This can either be in the form of group survey or in-depth interview. On the other hand, in-depth interviews are one-on-one interviews that are either focused or non-directive. When questions are selected ahead of time it becomes a focused interview, on the other hand, nondirective interviews encourage respondents to address certain topics with minimal questioning. Both types can be used by the hotel for the market survey. Focused interviews are best suited for the leisure business venture as it will allow the hotel complex to get feedback on certain key areas (Ann, 2012).

Secondary market research

This type of market research does not aim to get information from scratch; rather it uses information already gathered and is available for use. This can be free or at a fee. The sources of information can include government data, office data, newspapers, magazines, the internet among others. The sources of data in secondary market research can be categorized into public sources, commercial sources and educational institutions. Public sources are usually free and offer a lot of good information. They can include government departments, business department of public libraries among others. This information will enable the leisure business venture to gather information on the demography of the area, spending patterns among other key information (David, 2013).

Differences between primary and secondary market research

A primary market research is custom-made to a company’s specific needs and is done by the company itself or through a third party. It allows one to get feedback about the business, assess demand for proposed services or even how much a customer is willing to spend on the product or service. On the other hand, secondary market research involves getting secondary data that best fits the issue at hand. This is because it is hard to find secondary sources that are tailor made to solve a problem at hand. In secondary market research getting feedback and other statistics in regards to a business venture, product or service is often difficult (Joana, 2002).

Information accuracy is determined by self in regards to primary market research while for secondary market research one has little control. In primary market research, one is solely responsible for choosing a sample size of the targeted population, formulate and analyze questionnaires among other tools used. This results in a validated accurate data. In secondary market research, it is hard at times to validate the accuracy of the information available (Anne, 2012).

Primary market research, usually takes longer due to the processes involved to gather, analyze and interpret data. On the other hand , secondary market research takes shorter period as the information is readily available. Collecting and analyzing data makes primary market research more expensive in comparison to secondary market research, particularly when information is available for free. Secondary market research can have data that is too old compared to primary market research. However, best results are achieved when both primary and secondary market research are employed (David, 2013).

Merits and demerits of qualitative and quantitative data

Qualitative data refers to data that cannot be expressed as a number and can represent nominal scales such as gender, socioeconomic status, and religious preference among others. Quantitative data, on the other hand, refers to data that can be quantified or expressed as a number such as the weight of a person, scores of a test among others (David, 2013).

Advantages of qualitative data / research

The data is based on the participants own categories of meaning and is useful for studying a limited number of cases in depth. This type of data is also helpful for describing complex phenomena as it provides individual case information. It allows cross-case comparisons and analysis and provides an understanding and description of personal experiences. As a researcher, one can be able to identify contextually and setting factors as they relate to the phenomenon of interest (Ronald, 2007).

It allows a researcher to study dynamic processes in regards to documenting sequential patterns and change. Data is collected in a naturalistic setting, and the approach is usually responsive to local situations or conditions. This method is also sensitive to changes that may occur in the course of the study. Qualitative data also helps to determine ideographic causation thus contributes to determining causes of a particular event (John, 2011).

Disadvantages of qualitative data / research

The knowledge produced through qualitative data may not generalize to other people or set. This means that findings may be unique to the relatively few people included in the research study. Qualitative data makes it hard to have quantitative predictions. The data also makes it difficult to test hypotheses or theories with large participant pools. In some instances, qualitative data may have lower credibility with some administrators of programs. In comparison to quantitative data, it takes a longer to collect data, and the analysis is usually time-consuming. The results of qualitative data can be easily influenced by the bias of the researcher in comparison to quantitative data (Joanna, 2002).

Advantages of Quantitative data / research

Quantitative data allow one to test and validate already constructed theories of how and why phenomenon occur. It also allows testing of hypotheses created before data was collected. This data can be used to generalize research findings where data is based on random samples of sufficient size. The data generated can be used to make quantitative predictions. Data collection using some techniques is faster such as telephone and the data collected is precise, quantitative and numerical. Analysis of data is faster, particularly when statistical software is applied. The results of quantitative data are more independent from the researcher in comparison to qualitative data. This data may have more or higher credibility with many people such as administrators or even politicians. Quantitative data are usually suitable for studying a large number of individuals (Joanna, 2002).

Disadvantages of Quantitative data / research

The categories used by the researcher in the study may not reflect local understanding. The theories used in the survey or research may not adequately reflect the understanding of the locals. A researcher might miss out on a phenomenon that is occurring as a result of focusing on theory or hypothesis testing rather than theory or hypothesis generation. This is at times referred as confirmation bias. The knowledge produced may at times be too abstract and general for direct application to specific situations, individuals, and contexts (David, 2013).

For the proposed hotel and leisure business venture there are several approaches in collecting data I would recommend for researching the market. In regards to primary market research method, surveys will be best suited for this study. Surveys will have concise and straight forward questionnaires from a sample group representing the target market. In-person surveys will be conducted in high-traffic areas such as malls as they provide a high response rate, is accurate and has high validity (Esomar, 2008).

The telephone survey will be suitable as they provide fast and reliable response and the information gathered will be accurate and valid. The response time rate is also short in comparison to other methods. Observation is another suitable approach as one can learn a lot by observing other hotels and leisure business ventures in the area. This approach is cost effective and information gathered is precise. Secondary data like the figure above will be useful especially the demographics of the target population; this data is available from the government through the internet. This provides data on the purchasing power of people, age composition among others. Secondary data is fast to obtain, cost effective and accurate (Esomar, 2008).

Conclusion

The market research will impact the business in many ways. It will influence the type of products, services, and packages that the hotel and leisure business will provide. By finding out the competitors approaches in regards to retaining customers, the business venture can employ the same strategies and even add more approaches. The market research will help frame and implement market strategies that will best enable the hotel and leisure business venture to meet customer needs effectively and in an efficient manner. The results will inform stakeholders whether it is a viable business venture.