Marketing Analysis of Hampton by Hilton Hotel in Birmingham - Report Example

Marketing analysis of Hampton by Hilton Hotel in Jewelry Quarter Birmingham By of School and Date Marketing analysis of Hampton by Hilton Hotel in Jewelry Quarter Birmingham Background Located in Birmingham, in the worlds famous Birmigham jewellery Quarter, 10 minutes from Birmingham city center and easily access through the M5 and M6 motorway, the Hampton is a luxurious hotel that offers guests a feel-at-home environment coupled with a wide range of amenities too guarantee a comfortable stay. Being a hotel operating within the mid-price segment, the Hampton Hotel encounters a significant level of competition formother players in the hospitality industry. The location of the hotel plays a big role in promoting this competition as many other similar businesses fall under its close proximity. However, despite this business strengths, including huge popularity and staff diversification have been instrumental in ensuring the hotel handles this competition, as diversification promotes new cultures and practices (Hastings, 2007). Despite this, the hotel faces weaknesses such as inability to reach a wider customer population resulting from the fact that the hotel has not fully exploited market opportunities provided by modern technological developments (Lusch, Vargo and Tanniru, 2010). Modern internet technology especially plays a key role in accessing wider market for products (Armstrong, 2011). This under-utilization of internet resources has limited the hotels influence over acquisition of newer markets. A promising fact however, is that the hotel enjoys opportunities such as continued expansion in the utilization of its brand name, meaning, the hotel is better placed in expanding its customer base (Cho and Hyoung, 2006). Also, the availability of social media provides access to wider customer range as it connects a large number of people globally (Nicholls, 2010). The Product Despite the fierce competition faced by the Hampton hotel from other players within the hotel industry, the hotel has been outstanding in the market, particularly its capture of the customers and ability to satisfy them. For instance, the hotel has been magnificent in providing value for money to its customers, since they provide customer-based services and have high value for and appreciation their guests. Hampton has the competitive edge over other players since it does not rest on the laurels it has, and maintains a contemporary attractive product for the franchises. The continuous new enhancements are an indication of the commitment by the brand to offer the guests with the finest experiences possible at the hotel. The hotel design contains the finish level categorized from mid-to-upper tier hotel with no all add-ons that are rarely used by the travelers, including the full-service restaurant. Given this approach, the hotel has been capable of building a much better rooms for the guests together with enhanced quality facilities while providing free amenities at cheapest prices at the delight and surprise of the guests. Hampton constantly improves its hotel with the most stylish lobbies, expanded areas for fitness, and the in-room entertainments. They also provide other services including free access to the high-speed internet, fresh waffles, clean, comfy, and fresh rooms and beds, which are all meant to enhance the entire stay of the travelers, from the moment they enter into the hotel premises. The friendly team at the Hampton hotel find delight in taking good care of the guests within the hotel, and are always at the service of their customers whenever there is need, including finding access to numerous other areas within and outside the hotel, and also give advice on the restaurant, attraction, and local hotspots. Hampton has set its sight on achievement of global advantage through leveraging of geo-flexible, innovative, and the geo-savvy positioning for the purpose of furthering the success of the brand. There has been a growing demand for Hampton services and products, thus leading to generation of excitement by the hotel in the business. Achievements The commitment by the Hampton towards providing exceptional services to both developers and guests is a contributing factor towards the long history and recognition of the hotel. For instance, the hotel brand boasts of its superiority for having been declared the winner on four different occasions among the Mid-Price Hotel Chains. In addition, the hotel was ranked number four in the annual Franchise 500 Entrepreneur magazine in 2009, the ranking that brings together the first, the best, and the most comprehensive world franchise. Hampton was also declared the first among the hotels in the Mid-Priced Tier in the Business Travel News for the 2009 Top Hotel Chains in the US. Additionally, the hotel brand has on various occasions emerged as the top Mid-Price Hotel in the US without Beverages or Food within the Business Travel News in annual hotel surveys. Target Market Hampton has a well defined target market, which reaches people of all classes and age.. The market segmentation adopted by the Hampton hotel is based on understanding customer behavior, as well as the quality of service the customers expect, classified as a price-quality segmentation. This mid-price segment hugely comprises of individuals and families within the middle class capable of affording the middle-tier brand of services and goods. The Hampton hotel has been outstanding in providing customer-based services to much appreciation of its guests. This has been attributed to a strong leadership structure, which puts significant emphasis on provision of exemplary services. The hotel design, consisting of a finish level categorized from mid-to-upper tier, with improved guest rooms design, improved lobbies, expanded areas of fitness and services such as free access to high-speed internet complement its recognition as a quality performer in the hospitality sector. Image and Positioning An image for an organization is meant to enhance and augment the positioning concept communication. In cases where the concept is straightforward, there is no need of the image (Lefebvre, 2011). The right image serves to promote the objectives and interested of the business, whereas a tainted image limits the business fortunes and competitiveness (Chang and Zixue, 2005). The Hamptons current brand image focuses on market development, diversification of its products and services, development of new generation products and services and also growth in its already existing market. The Hampton hotel has been previously overshadowed by the popularity of the Hilton hotel and as such its poplarity in the market stood at a low point. However, with strategies such as extensive advertising and promises of a significant improvement in the level of excellence in its service delivery, an influx in the number of guest has been witnessed. Owing to the comprehensive examination of the current image also, the hotel realized that its competitors targeted higher customer segments because of affordable prices on their services (Steward and Bruce 2010), and in response, the hotel sought to provide services at affordable prices. Positioning stands as an important part towards the launch of a product and the organization as a whole in the market as it influences and controls the market perception of the organization. The image of the organization in the minds of the target customers is created by the positioning of the products offered by the organization (Frey, Carl and Gary, 2000). Ensuring above average profitability is solely dependent on the sustainability of competitive advantage of the company (Levine, 2010). Competitive advantage is demonstrated through differentiation and through low cost. With a sufficient focus on the two basic approaches to competitive advantage, the activities of the company may enable it achieve the three generic strategies, which are focus, cost leadership, and differentiation (MacInnis, 2004). The Hampton hotel has been keen in enhancing both its cost and differentiation advantages, which are the major factors for sustainable competitive advantage (Stephen and Frederick, 2005). Among such operations has been the hotel’s ability to deliver similar benefits to those of its competitors at a relatively low cost (Joseph and Aimee, 2008). Owing to the fact that competitive advantage facilitates creation of superior value by the firm for the customers as well as superior profits for the company (Neuendorf, 2002), the Hapmton hotel’s most important aspect is its ability to bring down costs while enhancing efficiency (Defourny and Nyssens, 2010), thus maintaining its positional advantage (Madill, Brouard and Hebb, 2010). Majority of businesses are bound to fail because of incompetence among its leadership (Madill, Brouard and Hebb, 2010) but in Hampton hotel, the invention and design of efficient human resource and employee satisfaction has been tasked to a competent management team which ensures smooth operation and profitability of the hotel (Richards and Catharine, 2002). Hampton hotel has the ability to identify avenues of profitability and understand the costs of internal activities which determine its performance in the marketplace (Potter and Karyn, 2007). This means that Hampton hotel can have a differentiation benefit and a relative low cost principle that would see its success irrespective of the challenges facing it (Nelson and Hye-Jin, 2007). Differentiation advantage makes consumers perceive that the hotel provides unique products that meet their needs. Upon achieving this, the hotel can exploit the advantage by increasing the price of its services until it offsets improvement in the consumer benefits or price its products below that of its competitors to build a large market share, a strategy (Stevenson and Linda, 2011). The low costs benefit would allow the company to maintain its productivity through maintaining current performance while gaining market share and matching the price of the competing services to increase its performance and profitability (Andreasen and Kotler, 2003). Hampton develops and maintains an inbound logistic that is well-structured, which is efficient in managing all its operations. For instance, the company has managed to maintain an upward trend in the number of customers using its services, and this has facilitated the expansion of the company operations (Kerr and Don). Strategy and Tactics in Marketing Among the common aspects of marketing are strategies and tactics. A strategy is the plan for attaining particular goals, such as increase in market shares or sales, as well as creation of a particular business image (Katz, 2010). Tactics on the other hand are used in the creation of a brand or image. Based on this, strategic marketing is inclusive of selling services and goods in a manner that facilitates achievement of set goals. Within the Hampton hotel, the set goals include increased sales, market shares, revenue, market segmentation, as well as creation of new brand position within the market (Faber, Brittany and Xiaoli, 2012). This strategic marketing however is criticized for not being conceptual and failing to specify the exact rates of growth expected out of the practices in the organization (Andreasen, 2002). Tactical marketing, on the other hand includes the action taken upon the establishment of the goal, together with the particular strategies to be used in achieving the goals (Desai, 2009). The Hampton hotel is keenly focused on planning adequately from its well equipped managerial team who have put in place staarategies such as price reduction on services. Free accommodation of a child aged below 16 years whenever there are free beds in the hotel is one strategy that has been implemented ia bid to attract more customers. Also, there has been installation of free internet throughout the hotel and this has promoted influx in guests as they are assured they could work and communicate through the hotel for free through the internet. Finally, a fully equipped standard gym had been fitted in thehotel and this has promoted guests relaxation and exciting fitness exercises tthat attract more guests. Through these strategic moves, an increased in the number of its guests has ben witnessed. Promotion The online and TV advertisement campaign by the hotel have been instrumental in reaching the loyal and new Hampton guests through combined humor and the call for action. The use of the social media has become an integral part of the modern day connection between customers and the organizations. The hotel has a fast-track vehicle for use in listening to the voices of the guests in order to offer a quick response to the varying needs of the customers. In terms of the brand value for the hotel, travelers have a great dependence on the value found at this hotel, especially the passion with which the staff serve the guests, which has been seen as the leading within the general hospitality industry. Among the outstanding aspects of the hotel is its value, which is constituted by the bundle of offering for good prices that delights its guests, the consistency demonstrated in its ability to implement consistent practices that enhance the loyalty of its guests. In addition, the great level of customer satisfaction leaves no room for guest risks, whereas its services are comfortable and casual, due to the connection and friendly atmosphere that exists between the staff and their guests. Building relationships Building relationship by the hotel would require the hotel management to integrate the various promotion mix elements in order to meet the requirements for information for all customers on target (Crano and Michael, 2002). This implies that the promotion mix is meant for the satisfaction of both regular and prospective buyers. Certain elements are thus meant for the customers who have no knowledge of the product, while the rest are for customers that are informed of the product have a higher likelihood of purchasing it (Ziegler, 2010). Customer relationship is also a vital aspect in the operations of the Hamptons Hotel. A friendly, welcoming staff awaits every guest. The hotel staff is usually vemotionally connected to the guests and sstrive to recognizing every guest by their first names. This created a feel at home environment with the guests who approve he high levels of hospitality.he hotel institutes motivational seminars too which inspire their guests thus romotng customer loyalty. Product promotion activities including vast and catchy advertisements on a number of websites help in educating the public about the numerous services at the hotel. Thus attracting new guests and informing the already existing guests of new developments in he hotel. Implementation and Control Among the major elements the hotel should embrace are high levels of advertisement through the numerous platforms that include the internet, radio, television, brochures, billboards and catalogues (Bailey, 2006). Secondly, promotions and exhibitions would persuade the public into adopting the hotels products and services and publicizing news that contain the hotel’s policies, which is cost effective and informative, should be adopted (Rodgers and Esther, 2000). Lastly, sales promotions stimulate the market, consumer demand, and improve product availability and when coupled with direct marketing, customers who lack access to advertising channels such as newspapers, radio and television are reached (Nyilasy and Leonard, 2007). Role of Organizational Culture in Successful Development of Hampton Culture refers to the values, goals, beliefs, norms, and ways of solving conflicts shared among the members of a company. Culture influences the development of large multinational companies by influencing employee behavior at the workplace. It ensures that, employees act in accordance with the desired workplace ethics to foster success. Companies that have embraced effective organizational cultures have seen a significant increase in the engagement, commitment, and attraction of new consumers to utilize their products and services. Over the past decades, Hampton has tried to offer comfortable and ample working environment for the employees, as well as developing a significant number of programs that enhance forward thinking. Implementation of these strategies enables the hotel to access exceptional opportunities for growth at both personal and professional level. In respect to this, the company has embraced the culture where a strong loyalty sense is cultivated among employees. This has consequentially enabled the company to sustain continuity as well as providing it with the leadership spot in the cruise industry. According to Elgazzar (2012), culture facilitates adoption of the desired change. Hampton has an ever-changing history, apparent because it has diversified its brand in almost every significant cruise’s market in the globe. This shows that throughout the years, the organization has been able to transform in accordance with the changing technological, cultural, and economic demands. Organizations such as the Hampton report that culture unifies the employees and promotes understanding between them. This results in the unification of their varied background and experience to a common organizational goal. Shared organizational culture promotes healthy competition among the employees. This makes them strive to achieve the best in their performance resulting in the enhancement of the organizational performance. Conclusion and recomendations Following evaluation and implementation of these activitiesd, the Hamptons ensures it maintains its credibility and maintain customer loyalty while at the same time provide top nnotch hospitality services at an affordable price. The position occupied by a firm in the industry is the basis upon which either profitability or underperformance is based on the firm’s industry’s average. Ensuring above average profitability is solely dependent on the sustainability of competitive advantage of the company. Competitive advantage is demonstrated in two ways, namely, through differentiation or through low cost. With a sufficient focus on the two basic approaches to competitive advantage, the activities of the company may enable it achieve the three generic strategies, which are focus, cost leadership, and differentiation. A competitive advantage over rivals is evident if the company manages to sustain profits surpassing its industry’s average. Sustainability of competitive advantage is a key factor in Hampton. The hotel has been keen in enhancing both its cost and differentiation advantages, which are the major factors for sustainable competitive advantage. Among such operations has been the hotel’s ability in delivering similar benefits to those of its competitors at a relatively low cost, thus gaining cost advantage over them. Similarly, the hotel has been keen on delivering benefits that surpass those delivered by their competitors, which earns it the differentiation advantage over them. In essence, competitive advantage facilitates creation of superior value by the firm for the customers as well as superior profits for the company. Among the most important aspects of the hotel, which have undoubtedly enhanced its competitive advantage in the market is the ability to bring down costs and enhance efficiency within the hotel industry through their innovations. Despite there being more players in the field, all of which provided services of similarly high quality, the effectiveness of their innovation, the hotel’s ability to consistently succeed in delivery of cost-effective and quality breakthrough is important. Hampton has thus maintained its positional advantage through reducing the service costs for services, making it the lowest in the industry. To realize this, the hotel moved to study the competitive weaknesses of the incumbent firms, and established that there was so much more affordable but quality services and prices for the meals offered to its guests. Another factor that provided the hotel with an advantage over its competitors is the skills and experience possessed by the top management and experts within the organization. Majority of businesses is bound to fail because of incompetence among its leadership. In Hampton hotel, however, the invention and designing of the efficient human resource and employee satisfaction has been important in promoting higher levels of operation and profitability of the hotel. The hotel also has an upper hand over its competitors owing to the comprehensive examination of the strengths and weaknesses of the competitors prior and during its operations. For instance, they realized that the competitors targeted higher customer segments, hence provided services at higher and less affordable prices on their services. In response to this, the organization sought to target varying consumer segments, hence providing services at affordable prices. References Andreasen, A. R., 2002. Marketing social marketing in the social change marketplace. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 21(1), pp.3-13. Andreasen, A R. and Kotler, P., 2003. Strategic Marketing for Non-profit Organizations, 6th edn. Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Armstrong, J. S., 2011. Evidence-based advertising., 30 (5), pp.743–67. Bailey, A. A., 2006. A year in the life of the African-American male in advertising: A content analysis. Journal of Advertising, 35(1), pp.83-104. Chang, T. K., and Tai, Z., 2005. Mass communication research and the invisible college revisited: The changing landscape and emerging fronts in journalism-related studies. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 82(3), pp.672-694. Cho, C. and Hyoung, K., 2006. The State of Internet Related Research in Communications, Marketing, and Advertising: 1994– 2003. Journal of Advertising, 35 (3), pp.143–63. Crano, W. D., Burgoon, M., and Oskamp, S. (Eds.)., 2001. Mass media and drug prevention: Classic and contemporary theories and research. Psychology Press. Defourny, J., and Nyssens, M.,2010. Conceptions of social enterprise and social entrepreneurship in Europe and the United States: convergences and divergences. Journal of social entrepreneurship, 1(1), pp.32-53. Desai, D., 2009. Role of relationship management and value co-creation in social marketing. Social Marketing Quarterly, 15(4), pp.112-125. Donovan, R., 2011. Social marketings mythunderstandings. Journal of Social Marketing, 1(1),pp. 8-16. Faber, R,J., Brittany, D. and Xiaoli, N., 2012. Coloring Outside the Lines: Suggestions for Making Advertising More Meaningful. in Advertising Theory, Shelly Rodgers and Esther Thorson, eds., New York, NY: Routledge, pp.18–32. Ford, J. B., and Merchant, A., 2008. A ten-year retrospective of advertising research productivity, 1997-2006. Journal of Advertising, 37(3), pp.69-94. Frey, L, R., Carl, H, B. and Gary, L, K., 2000. Investigating Communication: An Introduction to Research Methods, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Hastings, G., 2007. Social marketing: Why should the devil have all the best tunes?. Butterworth-Heinemann. Pasadeos, Y., Phelps, J., and Edison, A., 2008. Searching for our “own theory” in advertising: An update of research networks. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 85(4), pp.785-806. Kamhawi, R. and David, W., 2003. Mass Communication Research Trends from 1980 to 1999. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 80 (1), pp. 7–27. Katz, H., 2014. The media handbook: A complete guide to advertising media selection, planning, research, and buying. Routledge. Kerr, G, F. and Don, S., 2010. Maintenance Person or Architect? The Role of Academic Advertising Research and Building Better Understanding. International Journal of Advertising, 29 (4), pp.547–68. Lefebvre, R. C., 2011. An integrative model for social marketing. Journal of Social Marketing, 1(1), pp.54-72. Levine, T. R., 2010. Rankings and trends in citation patterns of communication journals. Communication Education, 59(1), pp.41-51. Lombard, M., Jennifer, S. and Cheryl , C, B., 2006. Content Analysis in Mass Communication: Assessment and Reporting of Intercoder Reliability,” Human Communication Research, 28 (4), pp.587–604. Lusch, R. F., Vargo, S. L., & Tanniru, M., 2010. Service, value networks and learning. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 38(1), pp.19-31. MacInnis, D., 2004. Where Have All the Papers Gone? ACR News, Spring, pp.1–3. Madill, J., Brouard, F., and Hebb, T., 2010. Canadian social enterprises: an empirical exploration of social transformation, financial self-sufficiency, and innovation. Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing, 22(2), pp.135-151. Nan, X., and Faber, R. J., 2004. Advertising theory: Reconceptualizing the building blocks. Marketing Theory, 4(1-2), pp.7-30. Nelson, M. R., & Paek, H. J., 2007. A content analysis of advertising in a global magazine across seven countries: Implications for global advertising strategies. International Marketing Review, 24(1), pp.64-86. Neuendorf, K., 2002. The Content Analysis Handbook, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Nicholls, A., 2010. The Legitimacy of Social Entrepreneurship: Reflexive Isomorphism in a Pre‐Paradigmatic Field. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 34(4), pp.611-633. Nyilasy, G. and Leonard, N, R., 2007. The Academician–Practitioner Gap in Advertising. International Journal of Advertising, 26 (4), pp.425–45. Potter, W. J., and Riddle, K., 2007. A content analysis of the media effects literature. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 84(1), pp.90-104. Richards, J. I., and Curran, C. M., 2002. Oracles on “advertising”: Searching for a definition. Journal of Advertising, 31(2), pp.63-77. Rodgers, S., and Thorson, E., 2000. The interactive advertising model: How users perceive and process online ads. Journal of interactive advertising, 1(1), pp.41-60. Stephen, L. and Frederick, F., 2005. Analyzing Media Messages: Using Quantitative Content Analysis in Research, 2nd ed., Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Stevenson, T. H., & Swayne, L. E., 2011. Is the Changing Status of African Americans in the B2B Buying Center Reflected in Trade Journal Advertising?.Journal of Advertising, 40(4), pp.101-122. Steward, M, D. and Bruce R. L., 2010. A Comprehensive Analysis of Marketing Journal Rankings. Journal of Marketing Education, 32 (1), pp.75–92. Ziegler, R., 2010. Innovations in doing and being: capability innovations at the intersection of Schumpeterian political economy and human development.Journal of social entrepreneurship, 1(2), pp.255-272. Read More