Sales Development and Merchandising of Hilton Hotel - Assignment Example

Sales Development and Merchandising of Hilton Hotel Introduction: This report is done to develop the business prospect of Hilton Hotel by analyzing the elements of the product and services in this context. The process will analyze the marketing mix strategy of the hotel. It involves detailed analysis about the key component of the product and its contribution on sales and profits and an assessment about market segmentation and its contribution on maximizing sales. Human resources have an important role in maximizing sales so this research also evaluates the training procedure of sales staff and technique use by sales persons to facilitate higher sales revenue. Hilton Hotels and Resorts is a most recognized name in the hospitality industry worldwide. It has an international chain of hotels and resorts. The founder was Conrad Hilton. It has an overall 92 years of experience. There are about 3000 hotels worldwide across 78 countries and 6 continents as of 2010 (Hiltonworldwide.com). Task A: Research report on describing the elements of the product in business and service context 1.1 Discussion about the key components of the product: Hilton hotel product and services are including mainly the following things: accommodations, dining, different kind of services for private person and corporate bodies. Accommodation: It involved rooms in hotel and the rooms in resorts also. There are different kinds of rooms and suits are available in these hotels. They are mainly decorated with bright and creative art work and large open windows to provide a good view of outside. These rooms are also complemented with decorated desk, min chaise, and bathrooms with sophisticated amenities. There are different names of different rooms using for accommodation such as guest rooms, Hilton deluxe rooms, Hilton deluxe room plus, king Hilton guest rooms, king royal suite ,Twin Hilton guest room etc. They also provides facilities like room for disabled people, customized and individually controlled air-condition room, mini bar. Prices depend on the type and facilities provided in the room. Dining: It depends on the place where the hotel is situated and related cultural background of the people. There are different types of restaurants which provide different kind of facilities to its customers according to their demand. Services related to corporate and individual person: These hotels hand big seminar halls to arrange corporate events and meetings with wide range of facilities. These halls are prepared for different event like informal event or business event. Facilities like different size of rooms, controlled air condition, other related facilities are also provided according to customer need. 1.2 The contribution of product mix in sales and profit: Contribution of products on sales and profit can be analyzed through the sales revenue. Now the role of revenue management in hospitality industry is to proper allocation of the resources and pricing strategy to different segment and product mix. Rooms: Rooms are the main resources in Hilton hotel to serve its majority of the consumer. Strategies like Gross operating profit per available room (GOPPAR) which refers to the gross profit of per available room per day. Dinning: Dining has a significant amount of contribution in the revenue generation of the Hilton hotel as it has chain of restaurants also which are of different types of restaurants like according to the culture of the target customer. There are facilities of mini bar, discos which charges separately from the customers. Seminar Halls: It contributes occasionally but it has very significant effect on the profit of the Hotel Hilton as it charges very high for a shorter period of time and it also includes other facilities like sound system, bigger screen, buffet etc. This contributes additionally to the profit margin of the hotel. Spa: They are the providing the facilities of spa and other related relaxation also which contributes positively towards their profit margin. 1.3 Market segments contribute to maximize sales: Marketing strategy is a core strategy to increase sales. It enables to identify the competitors and their strength so one can develop their marketing strategy accordingly. Helps to focus on specific needs of customers As Hilton hotel has their franchises worldwide so they need a geographic, demographic, lifestyle based segmentation and most importantly benefit segmentation which involved divide customers according to tourist spot or capital cities etc (Karppinen and others). Task B: Research report on external sales development techniques: 2.1 Factors affecting buyer behavior: Factors which influences buyer behavior when they are related to hotel industry are the following Cultural: It has the most widespread influences on the behavior of buyer in hotel industry. It involves different needs and behaviours, basic values; perception which comprehends from his surrounding society. Culture has a major effect on foods which is a very integral part of hospital industry. Social: It involves influence of groups, family and status each of which has major influence on hotel business and sales of its product. Lifestyle is also related with social factors. Personal: Consumer decisions also changes with change in life cycle, occupation, economic condition, and self concept. It has seen that unmarried persons have less financial burden and they buy accordingly and they are innovators, loved to try new things. Psychological: It involves motivation as needs like buying food when hungry or other kind of motivation, perception is also a kind of a psychological factor which persuades a consumer to try new things or different things and vice versa. Beliefs and attitude are also a kind of factor. Consumers often have certain positive or negative belief for a particular product or services. 2.2 Assessment of the advertising media that can be used for sales development situations: Marketing excellence in any industry depends on the strength of the advertising and promotion used for the purpose of sales development (Williams and others). It can be following types, Hotel website: Structure of the website has a crucial importance on promotion. It also includes proper description of products and optimizes content, proper keywords and Meta tags SMS marketing and advertising: Sending SMS is a good strategy to promote hotel and it can be used for other operation related purpose also like confirming booking reservation etc. Brochure: Well designed brochure can be a good media to promote hotels PPC: Pay per click is kind of search engine marketing. It is also a part of social marketing for example twitter, face book etc. Social Media: It is an attention grabbing advertising strategy which boosts the organizations to tell their stories in innovative ways. 2.3 Evaluation of use of external merchandising to maximize consumer volumes: It is kind of retail merchandising where Hilton Hotel merchandise their product not directly to its customer but through other means and promoting their business. In this regard Hilton can provide their facilities to external customers like they can open food shops in nearby market or provide guidance for tourist. Hilton group has a specialty on their spa so they can open outlet outside their hotel or merchandise spa kit in retail. Task C: Internal sales promotion and Merchandising: 3.1 Assessment of the influence of design and layout on consumer spending: Value of the brand in customer increased on the factors of how a corporate communicates with the customer. Organization’s primary focus should be on consumer’s needs and wants to retain them. Here emotion has a profound influence on branding and design, layout and overall ambience has a profound impact on consumer spending. Location of the hotel, interior design, and service generates a strong impact on the customer and trigger their spending on the amusement. It changes according to the country and the culture and tradition of that area. 3.2 Evaluation and review of the effectiveness of internal merchandising materials: Internal merchandising basically increases the occupancy rates and increases the profitability. In hospitality sector the best way to retain customer and gain their loyalty is to indulge to customer the best way possible. In house promotional materials such as displays, poster, and menu cards to promote additional sales can be a good technique. It increases cohesiveness between the customers. Logo ,name of the brand ,location this are also internal merchandising element but these are constant whether menu card ,posters or boards for new menu can be tailored according to the need. Most importantly merchandising materials should have coordination between then and cost effective. 3.3 Evaluation of different kind of promotional activities on different scenarios: Hilton group of hotels use different kind of promotional techniques for different localities and culture worldwide and for their different range of product also. Hilton hotel have dedicated promotional team. Advertising: Majority of their promotion advertised through interment. They use slogan like ‘Stay Hilton, Go everywhere’ which communicate the image of a global brand. Popular magazine such as Fortune, Forbes, and The Economist and other magazines from different country also used to advertise the brand. They use leading news papers also to advertise about their recent deals. Public Relation: Hilton maintains their PR through issuing online-offline press release, using newsletter to communicate with stake holders. They involved their customers as well as all other stakeholders to build a value based public relation. Use of Internet also has a crucial part here as they provide mobile apps, use email, SMS facilities to connect with their stakeholders. Personal Selling: It involves sales personnel contacting potential customers or corporate giants through various channels. Sales Promotion: Hilton Hotels have a point based reward program that is HHonour and they also issues discount voucher. They also introduce wide range of offers to increase their revenues. Task D: Role of staff on maximizing sales: Hilton hotel has well skilled employees to offer the best possible services to their customers which can be understand by their brand image and level of customer loyalty worldwide. 4.1 Evaluation of personal selling technique: Hilton Hotel has trained sales representatives who contacts with potential customer and corporate giants to sale their product and services. Personal selling has many advantages such as attract potential customer attention and establish a brand image through interpersonal skill. It has also some disadvantages like it is expensive and reaches only fewer numbers of people. 4.2 discussions on the influence of operational design on sales revenue: To increase its revenue organization should focus on its supply chain management and its operating cost to maximize the purchasing power of the ultimate customer. The division of supply chain management of Hilton offer value based and comprehensive solutions for their world wide suppliers. They also use third party properties to maximize purchasing power of good quality resources. They have a sustained relationship with their suppliers so that they can be able to get low price high quality raw materials. They have new technologies to facilitate this process like e procurement which can be assessed worldwide. They also have the facilities like field operation with offices around the world. They have a commitment to facilitate value based relationship and competitive pricing strategy. 4.3 Principles of sales training program: For hospitality industry sales training has a crucial part. So it needs to have some principals such as the following Alignment of sales process: Training process should be in the alignment with the actual process adopted by the company. The competencies required for a successful sales person should be emphasized. Sales and promotional tools need to be familiarized with the trainee sales persons. Practical Training plan: Training projects should include practical experience also to provide chance to the trainee to incorporate themselves with real market and reinforce performance improvement. It can be done through on the job training program also (Lassk et al.). Assessment and measurement: Evaluation of acquired knowledge and skills of sales professionals is important to recognize the gap in the training. Impact of training can be judged through assessment. Comprehensive curriculum: Sales training should be focused on every single aspect of the sales and do not deal with many aspects at a time. Sales person need to acquire core selling competencies like interpersonal skills, negotiation, selling technique to corporate and individuals ,value selling etc. Unlimited learning opportunity: Training program should facilitate unlimited learning opportunity to the trainees though cost of the training program need to be in mind when designing such training program. Conclusion: As we know Hilton Hotel is a big brand in hospitality industry. Through this report we have tried to analyze the various elements of the product and services of Hilton Hotel. The marketing mix strategy of the hotel is very unique and advanced, which helps the Hilton Hotel to engage and retain their customers. The Hilton Hotel has lots of key component of the product and services, which contributes on sales and maximizes their revenues to earn more profit and it also enhances their brand value in the global market. Human resources of this company are plays an important role to maximize profit and gives a big impact on the customers by maintaining a good relationship. Works Cited: Hiltonworldwide.com,. 'Hilton Worldwide Brands | Global Hospitality Company'. Web.2014. Karppinen, Maarit, and others. 'Strategic Marketing Plan For A Hotel'. Vaasan ammattikorkeakoulu.2011.Print. Lassk, Felicia G et al. 'The Future Of Sales Training: Challenges And Related Research Questions'. Journal of Personal Selling \& Sales Management 32.1 .2012. Print. Williams, Christopher, and others. 'Marketing Process Of Hotel Services: Case: Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Nigeria'. Lahden ammattikorkeakoulu.2010.Print. Read More