A Hospitality Business Marketing Report, Case Study Example

Executive Summary

In brief, Anchor multinational hotel chain (MHC) possesses several core marketing competencies. The case showed how the MHC, Savoy Hotel in London applied its core marketing competencies in presenting final service products in the marketplace and obtained competitive advantage through them. As the framework for this report uses standard service processes–human resources, operating and marketing—to identify the core competencies of organisations, similar core competencies appear in some hotel chains. However, the cases showed that the hotel brand could achieve different competitive advantages through similar core competencies by offering different versions of final service products to the marketplace.

For example, the new service development core competency possessed by the hotel brand results in the entertainment complex for the Accor MHC and the Oriental Spa, among others. The cases also showed that multinational hotel chains could use different configurations of core marketing competencies to generate a competitive advantage for strategies applied in the marketplace. For example, the Savoy Hotel sustainability initiatives and competencies help it to generate a competitive advantage for its differentiation strategy. However, the hotel can increase its competitive advantage by aligning current trends in its customer-orientated services and products.

The case showed that one has to be aware that for winning in the marketplace the quality of the overall configuration of a firm’s core competencies is more important than just having a large number of core marketing competencies. For example, the Savoy Hotel London has a number of core competencies, but their configurations of core competencies led them to fulfil their missions in the marketplace as well as gain a competitive advantage to be leaders in the industry. When determining the competitive advantage of firms, the quantity of core marketing competencies plays a less important role than the quality of their configuration.

Introduction

A hospitality business was chosen as a research subject for this marketing report because it plays a vital role in the world economy but has received less attention than other industries from strategy researchers (Abzari, Ghorbani, and Madani, 2011). The hospitality industry’ is one of the service industries that have recently exported services beyond national boundaries, and it encompasses hotels, motels, restaurants, and institutional catering as well as sports facilities, clubs, theatres, and concert halls (Slattery, 2002). Substantial increases in tourism in many areas of the world and the expansion of multinational hotel into new markets have led to remarkable market growth in the hospitality industry.

The United Kingdom, specifically in the city of London, was selected for this case study because it has been very successful in developing international tourism. The UK hotel industry in 2015 generated considerably huge revenue of 17.4 billion pounds (Statistica, 2019). The hospitality industry in the UK is composed of a large number of competitive multinational and local hotel chains. Hence, this case study of the hospitality industry in the UK seeks to understand how multinational and smaller firms compete in today’s marketplace. Multinational enterprises have large scales of operation, large research budgets, geographic diversity, and product diversity. They own intangible assets such as established brand names, proprietary technologies, and a reservoir of skills (Kumar, 2009). They differ from local firms in their technology choices, marketing strategies, employment practices, products, prices, and profits (Kumar, 2009). Multinational hotel chains (MHCs) operating in the UK include the Hilton Hotels, Hyatt International, ITT Sheraton, Holiday Inn Worldwide, Accor, Four Seasons/Regent International, and Delta Hotels and Resorts (Statistica, 2019).

This case study uses several perspectives—traditional microeconomics, dynamic theory of strategy, and industrial organisation economics (Seth and Thomas, 1994), among others for studying competition of multinational hotel chains in the European marketplace. The framework can be briefly described as encompassing three components: environmental factors, a firm’s mission statement, and core marketing competencies possessed by the firm. The core competencies of service firms are proposed as nurturing, empowerment, data management, operation, new service development, alliancing, and communication (Day, 1994). This case study also describes how organisations integrate assets and core competencies through competitive marketing strategies and growth strategies to achieve competitive advantages in the marketplace, and it emphasises the need for organisations to set future directions.

Background of the Hospitality Organisation and Its Marketing Environment

Background information

The chosen hospitality organisation is a Multinational Hotel Chain (MHC) called, Accor. Accor is a French multinational hotel chain that started in 1982 and begun its operations in 1986 in Thailand (Aung, 2000). By then, the hotel chain offered three different products in its three brands of hotels. This includes the Sofitel that offered luxury products, the Novotel offering first-class products, and the Mercury that offered budget-oriented products (Aung, 2000). Accor traces its founders to Paul Dubrule and Gérard Pélisson, who opened the first Novotel in France, 1967 (Accor Hotels, 2019a). Although Accor hotel chain operates mainly operated in the Thailand markets, it started realising there was a growing demand for hotel services among American and European travellers. As a result, the hotels under the chain started transitioning from offering traditional services among Thai locals to reaching out to their group of travellers (Aung, 2000). Over the years, Accor hotel chains have grown into other global markets, particularly in Europe. This report will focus on Accor’s brand of the hotel The Savoy located in London.

The Savoy Hotel was established in 1889 and is exceptionally located on the banks of River Thames, one of London’s most popular multinational areas (Savoy, 2011). The hotel is only a short distance from the Covent Garden, London’s major theatre and entertainment area (Accor Hotels, 2019b). Other sites near the hotel include museums and opera houses; thus, it is suitable for those travelling for pleasure and those on business. The Savoy hotel has a total of 268 rooms and suites with a range of some of the famous restaurants in London. The rooms are endowed in the English Edwardian and Art décor (Savoy, 2011). Some of the rooms also look directly into River Thames, offering a stunningly beautiful view. The rooms are also set apart from the traditional rooms in other hotels by the fact that they each have unique features, such as fireplaces. This means that no rooms or suites are alike (Savoy, 2011). As mentioned earlier, Accor Hotels prided itself in offering different products under its major hotel brands. Subsequently, The Savoy Hotel, just like the Sofitel, offers luxury services and products. The hotel was the first in London to be purposely built to offer luxury comfort services (Accor Hotels, 2019b). It was the first hotel to be built with electricity in London, have electric lifts, and it would later be the first hotel to provide rooms with private bathrooms (Savoy, 2011). Today, the hotel boasts of its own museum which preserves its archives in the form of photographs and objects. Some of the most exciting archives include the hotels first Cocktail Book and Mariene Dietrich’s (a famous German-American actress and singer during the 1980-90s) guest card (Savoy, 2011).

Over the years, The Savoy Hotel in London has focused on redefining drinking and dining services, shopping services within a hotel, promoting wellbeing services, and environmental sustainability. The hotel is now refocusing its efforts to regain its lead with a significant turnaround effort to reinvent itself and its image. The reimaging came after Savoy came under the management of Fairmount Hotels in 2005 and closed in 2007 to undergo a significant renovation project. It re-opened in 2010 with new and improve services in Internet access, air conditioning, babysitting services, accessibility for the disabled persons, and boutiques (Savoy, 2011). The hotel also made changes in the management team; and is refocusing its effort towards strengthening product quality, consistency, and brand image. Despite the changes, the hotel does face stiff competition from other multinational hotels. Many multinational and local hotel chains are competing for market share in the United Kingdom. The multinationals include Whitebread, the owner of Premier Inn Hotel brand and Intercontinental Hotel Group (IHG) owner of Holiday Inn Hotels and Crowne Plaza (Statista, 2019). The average daily rates (ADR) and revenue per available room (RevPAR) provide a platform for measuring the most valued hotel brand between two multinational brands.

Additionally, a reliable indicator to measure performance is occupancy rates or the number of rooms (Statista, 2019). The Hotel Savoy, in terms of the number of rooms, has an upper advantage and seems well positioned to be a significant contender in the hospitality industry for years to come. The PESTEL analysis provides a framework for studying the Savoy Hotel’s marketing environment. The PESTEL analysis tool analyses the political, environmental, social, technological, legal, and economic areas of the environment in which the organisation operates.

Political factors

These are the ways in which the government exerts its influence on the operations in an organisation (Ho, 2014). The current political factor affecting business operations in the UK is the Brexit. The Brexit is a decision that is considered to both negatively and positively affect various sectors in the UK. For the hospitality industry, the decision has been considered as positive in that Britain has become cheaper than other travel destinations (Fox, 2016). However, the decision has led to a negative impact because food and beverage costs have increased (Fox, 2016). The Brexit decision has undoubtedly impacted the Savoy Hotel because it has attracted visitors from all over the world, but it has currently experienced an increased on F&B prices (Savoy, 2019).

Environmental factors

The marketing environment at The Savoy Hotel is heavily reliant on environmental sustainability initiatives. In its mission statement, Savoy hotel states that:

“We work diligently to minimise the environmental impact our hotel has on the planet and also focus our efforts on social and economic development to provide a greater comprehensive impact on our operations and to be truly sustainable” (2019, p.1).

Sustainably issues have been very rampant in the globe today and organisations have been increasingly finding interest in being sustainable. Sustainability is described as the development of a strategy that aims at instilling ethical and moral principles into society (Kumar, Rahman, Kazmi and Goyal, 2012). Sustainability is deemed necessary because it not only reduces waste but also increases customer loyalty and engagement, thus offering an organisation competitive advantage in the market (Obermiller, Burke and Atwood, 2008). Some companies, such as Exxon, Enron, Nike, and McDonald’s have suffered over the decades because they failed to communicate their intention on sustainability initiatives (Obermiller, Burke and Atwood, 2008). In the field of marketing, sustainability is discussed in different areas like environment/green issues and social issues (Kumar et al., 2012). It has been widely suggested that marketing activities are slightly accountable for environmental issues caused by consumption and over-consumption (Polonsky, 2011; Sheth, and Sisodia, 2006). The assertion has been widely made because marketers are believed to be responsible for creating environmental awareness among consumers by providing friendly products and services.

Consequently, efforts in strategic marketing have currently been geared toward sustainability development (Quoquab and Mohammad, 2016). Sustainability development has been a significant focus of The Savoy Hotel, and it recognises a commitment to using carbon as an attempt to maintain an environmentally friendly society (Savoy, 2019). This marketing strategy is communicated to its customers through its website and annual fact sheets.

Social factors

Social factors in society have a way to affect the hospitality industry. Social factors may include culture, norms, traditions, and religious beliefs (Ho, 2014). These factors are of vital importance because they determine the purchasing behaviour of customers in hotels. The UK is considered the biggest consumer market in Europe, although it has been historically impacted by social class (David, 2018). Due to an increasingly diverse society, companies in the UK develop their services and products to meet the different needs of people from different races and even religions (David, 2018). The Savoy Hotel aims at engaging their customers from all over the continent. As a result, their products and services are shaped to conform to the needs of people from all kinds of cultures. To also cater to the needs of the locals, the hotel holds entertainment events. For instance, during the festive season in 2018, the hotel had live music performances to celebrate Christmas and New Year’s Eve (Elias, 2018).

Technological factors

The Savoy Hotel has made significant steps incorporating modern technology into their traditional services. According to the hotel’s managing director, Kiaran MacDonald, technology plays a crucial role in the hotel, but it cannot replace their concierge (LMA, 2015). On the contrary, technology such as tablets or iPads is used by the hotel to provide their guests easy and fast access to information (LMA, 2015). Hence, the hotel only uses technology for their guests, so that they prevent it from creating a barrier with staff. Savoy’s Hotel strategy in using technology only among their customers and not operations such as concierge is effective. This is because people are more technologically savvy today, and when travelling will need rooms that offer access to the Internet (Puthak, 2015).

Moreover, technology is a potent tool, and the hotel industry has been using it to boost their marketing communications strategies. For instance, during the Hotel Digital Lab held in London, 2018, Sofitel St James hotel seeking advice on how to use technology and digital marketing to increase its sales (Rondy, 2018). Some of the speakers and experts in the room offered their valued input into the question. The most striking answer most gave was that a hotel should take advantage of developing its website or utilising that of the numerous travelling sites to promote their services and products (Rondy, 2018). One of the speakers, Edward Lines of Google, posited that most travellers are usually unaware of their travel destination and will visit a website to decide. Thus, this is the opportunity for a hotel to provide inspiring content about their services and type of experiences it offers its guests (Rondy, 2018). Savoy Hotel uses technology via its website to attract customers by outlining some of its luxury services and products.

Legal factors

The hospitality industry is impacted by a wide range of legal issues and government policies. The legalities may include rules and regulations in the food and beverage sector, operating business, or acquisition of assets (Mitek, 2018). Thus, the laws and regulations impact the building itself, the services offered, and local decrees (Mitek, 2018). For hotels in the UK, they are required to follow local laws and those of the European Union, which is still a member (Mitek, 2018). In addition to following UK’s laws and international laws guiding the hotel industry, the Savoy Hotel also has to follow British traffic regulations strictly. The hotel is equipped with a court to make customers driving in and out of the hotel do so in an effortless manner (The Guardian, 2011). This traffic control was made accessible due to a particular parliamentary act that gave Savoy hotel the privilege of driving on the right (The Guardian, 2011).

Economic factors

Economic factors describe the operations in the hospitality industry. These factors can influence expenses, revenues, and profits within hotels and the industry can be impacted by prices of products or services in the general economy (Ho, 2014).  Over the past few years, the hospitality industry in the UK has experienced tremendous economic growth. For example, in London, revenue per available room has increased by 9%, Average Daily Rate (ADR) by 6.3%, and occupancy of 2.6% (RG, Group, 2018). The growth is attributed to an increase in the budget sector, a drop in British currency, and economic recovery. With the introduction of budget-oriented options in most hotels in the UK, an increase in revenues has been realised (RG Group, 2018). Just like other sectors in the UK economy, the hotel industry was affected by the drop in British currency because it made hotels cheaper than they were before, thus, attracting more visitors (RG Group, 2018). Finally, the economic recovery period in Europe for the past decade has allowed many nations, including the UK, to penetrate the global market.

Consequently, the recovery has allowed more tourists and travellers to come into the UK, boosting the revenues of hotels (RG Group, 2018). While these factors significantly improved the revenues in the hotel industry, the Savoy Hotel in 2017 experienced losses instead. The hotel recorded at total revenue of £56.7m from £57.8 million, thus a decline of £1.1m (The Caterer, 2018). The drop in revenue for Savoy came as a shock because the overall hotel industry had experienced unprecedented growth. Moreover, the Professional Services Group, PwC had projected that there would be a significant tourism boom in the first half of 2017 due to the weakening of the pound following the Brexit vote (Evans, 2018). The major reason Savoy gave for the decline in revenue was due to the terrorist attacks experienced in June 2017, London (The Caterer, 2018). The attacks took place near the hotel’s proximity, and this could have scared off potential customers. Undoubtedly, the hotel’s management did disclose that there was a drop in North American guests after the four terrorist attacks in London, including the Islamist attacks on Westminster and London bridges (Evans, 2018). However, the Savoy Hotel has been gearing to recover the losses experienced in 2017even thou its revenue statistics for the year 2018 are yet to be released.

Current Branding, Marketing Communications: Strengths and Weaknesses

Marketing communication strategy is described as the strategy a company uses to reach its target market via communication. Accordingly, marketing communications strategy follows the “4Ps of marketing”; i.e. product, place, price, and promotion (Dragilev, 2019). Other marketing factors include people and physical evidence.

• Product: A product should always align with the consumers’ needs and expectations (Khan, 2014). Savoy Hotel ensures that this strategy is met by offering luxury services and products that conform to the 21st century traveller (Savoy, 2011b). The emphasis on guest preference and loyalty has resulted in the creation of a portfolio of brands designed to meet the unique needs of the various segments of international travellers (Wonderland, 2018).
• Place: It describes the availability of a product or service to customers (Khan, 2014). As observed earlier, Savoy is strategically located in a cosmopolitan area, thus attracting all kinds of visitors (Savoy, 2011).
• Price: It is the most important factor in the marketing matrix because it determines the revenue and organization generates, and at the same time, alluring customers. To ensure that prices are fair, the Savoy Hotel has prices that are both budged-oriented for smaller room and increased prices for its suites (Accor Hotels, 2019).
• Promotion: this is the selling technique used by an organization to make their customers and potential ones aware of their services and products (Khan, 2014). The Savoy Hotel’s focus on promotion is articulated in its mission, which is to operate in the versatile environment by offering luxury services that serve the needs and preferences of all their customers (Wonderland, 2018).
• People: this factors refers to employees in an organization offering or producing the company’s service or product (Khan, 2014).While seeking to make all guests welcome and happy, Savoy Hotel also recognises and encourages loyalty to maintain the industry’s most motivated employee group. The organisation’s overarching strategy is to make its portfolio of hotels the guest’s preferred choice so that the organisation becomes the world’s leading and most preferred hotel organisation. To do this the company always seeks to have an effective and motivated workforce (Savoy, 2011).
• Physical evidence: this factor describes the environment under which services or tangible products is offered. It is an important factor because a customer uses it tO judge the quality, thus the likelihood of using the product or service again (Khan, 2014). Savoy’s Hotel’s overall strategic emphasis on physical evidence is through total quality improvement, and the number one driver throughout the organisation is to build brand/guest preference in a world that values safe or friendly products and services (Kanani, 2014). This focus extends its environmental sustainability initiatives throughout the organisation. Hence, the renovation staffs is looking for ways in which it can deploy sustainable products to enhance customer satisfaction, build preference, and generate guest loyalty. Savoy’s innovation mission statement centres on the importance of implementing “energy-saving measures to support and enhance the hotel’s luxurious ambience and never comprising guests’ experience” (Savoy, 2019). The mission helps the hotel to bear in mind that the environment plays a crucial role in affecting people and the places they call home.

It is vital for today’s firm to learn about customers, competitors, and political and regulatory factors in the hospitality marketplace. Marketing communications implies the use of information processing activities through which organisations learn about their market environment (Dragilev, 2019). A marketing communication competency enables a firm to collect and act on information about environmental factors and customer needs. This undertaking takes place through advertising, promotion, selling, and public relations (Fill, 2009). Organisations can also conduct market research by defining research objectives, designing plans, and collecting and analysing data (Fill, 2009). Market research can be done on the influence of environmental factors as well as on consumers’ needs, attitudes, and values. Problem-solving inquiries probe for problems and shortcomings in services and identify improvements that customers would like to see (Kjellberg et al. 2012). Direct experience is usually gained by front-line employees who are directly exposed to the customers. Therefore, it is proposed that to operate its marketing function efficiently, and a firm should possess a marketing communication core competency—knowledge of its market environment and skills that can be applied in conducting market and consumer research (Csikósová, Antošová, and ?ulková, 2014).

While The Savoy Hotel has managed to have a robust marketing strategy in environmental sustainability, it still seeks to implement a central reservation system and, later, online booking on the Internet with direct access to the organisation’s CRS. Another initiative currently underway at the Savoy’s aggressive promotional campaign is to entice consumers through an array of incentives to book via the web to drive volumes upwards and to reduce the look-to-book gap (LMA, 2015). The larger volumes will help the organisation achieve more significant economies of scale and offset many of the high, fixed costs incurred in developing this channel. The organisation is also working to increase bookings made through its nine central reservations offices (CROs) by channelling reservations traffic away from its properties, especially during peak hours of operation. The organisations` statistics suggest that its CROs, on average, tend to sell higher rated rooms and convert a higher percentage of calls to bookings than property reservations staff because they have more and better training in selling and are considered to be sales agents versus order takers. To increase the number of 259 calls taken by the CROs, the organisation wants to launch a Virtual CRO project to automatically route reservations calls to one of its call centres during off-peak periods or when all agents are busy.

Strengths

The Savoy Hotel is a leading hotel chain that could beat its competition easily in terms of providing value to its customers. Most of its competitiveness, however, seems to stem from its personalised and innovative service to its customers’ 24-hour room service, complimentary overnight valet, complimentary shoe shine service, twice-daily maid service, knowledgeable and reliable help and information around the clock, in-house green spaces, and in-room wi-fi (Savoy, 2011). These amenities have helped the hotel in differentiating itself from competitors in the marketplace. Furthermore, its nurturing core competency has generated a motivated employee group, in line with its mission statement, reaped several awards due to its sustainability initiatives. Some of these awards include Virtuoso Best of the Year Award, Green Hotel of the Year by European Hospitality Awards, Best Food Waste Energy by the Sustainable Restaurant Association Awards, and the 3Start Award for its Seafood Bar and Grill (Kanani, 2014). Some of these achievements have given the Savoy Hotel a competitive edge in the marketplace.

Weakness

Despite the achievements made by the Savoy Hotel, it has a weakness. One, its local alliances have given it less variety of attractions for consumers than the other hotel chains in the marketplace which are offering comprehensive holiday packages for consumers (e.g., Premier Inn Hotel and Holiday Inn Hotels) (Statista, 2019). Thus, the Savoy Hotel in London could still add value to its service offers by improving its alliancing competency and offer combined promotion packages with other private organisations. By overcoming its weaknesses, the hotel may be able to maintain its record in the marketplace as well as maintain the fulfilment of its mission statement.

Future Marketing Communications Strategy

The Savoy Hotel London applies the focus-differentiation strategy by targeting only the luxury market segment, which is in line with its global operations. Therefore, the hotel delivers a quality service which includes 24-hour room service, complimentary overnight valet, complimentary shoe shine service, and twice-daily maid service (Accor Hotels, 2019b). Its quality service is generated by its nurturing core competency, encompassing some of the best recruitment practices, internal marketing, and training programs in the hospitality industry. To date, the Savoy Hotel is recognised worldwide for the exceptional quality of its guest facilities, service and atmosphere.

In contrast Intercontinental Hotel Group (IHG)’s Holiday Inn Hotels and Crowne Plaza hotels, the Savoy Hotel practices a focus differentiation strategy and offers services tailored only to the luxury market segment of the global marketplace (Accor Hotels, 2019b). Specifically, to differ from its competitors, the hotel emphasises personalised services of value to its customers. It also introduces several unique service products resulting from its new service development core competency. These core competencies have helped it in differentiating itself from competitors in the marketplace. In brief, the Savoy Hotel generates a competitive advantage in the luxury market segment through its core competencies in nurturing and new service development such as nurturing, empowerment, data management, operation, new service development, alliancing, communication, and market sensing (Wonderland, 2018). These core competencies have also generated a competitive advantage for its growth strategy, a single-business-line strategy.

In the hospitality marketing area, many studies have been conducted on market-oriented approaches by organisations, their business applications and the related outcomes in the marketplace. This approach highlights the responsiveness of organisations to the needs of consumers in the marketplace (Mohammed and bin Rashid, 2012). It is believed that companies that can respond to the market need better than their competitors relish competitive advantage and better profitability over time (Day, 1994). However, little has been done on studying the role of competencies in providing a competitive edge to market-oriented organisations. Yet, Day (1994) relates the attributes of market-driven organisations to broader use of market intelligence by organisations, pointing the need to sense and act on market changes, present and future. Day proposes that “superior business performance is the result of superior skills in understanding and satisfying customers” (1994, p. 39). Despite this progress in developing the concept of core competencies for market-oriented organisations, many shortcomings still remain. Fortunately, current studies have proved that the market-oriented approach can indeed work for the hotel industry (Tajeddini, 2010). Customer orientation factors should accompany the approach because the primary purpose of marketing is to deliver quality services and products to customers (Tajeddini, 2010). Therefore, for Savoy Hotel to overcome its difficulty in aligning its services with current consumer needs, their marketing orientation approach should be restructured to revolve around customers as the primary input.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Savoy Hotel London possesses many marketing core competencies. The report presented how Savoy applied their core marketing competencies in presenting final service products in the marketplace and obtained a competitive advantage through them. As the framework for this study uses conventional service processes–human resources, operating and marketing—to identify the core competencies of organisations, similar core competencies appear in some hotel chains. However, the case showed that hotel chains could achieve different competitive advantages through similar core competencies by offering different versions of final service products to the marketplace. Additionally, hotel chains use different configurations of core competencies to generate a competitive advantage for strategies applied in the marketplace. For example, Savoy’s sustainability competencies generate a competitive advantage for its focus-differentiation strategy. Therefore, hotel chains have to be aware that winning in the hospitality marketplace depends on the quality of the overall configuration of a firm’s core marketing competencies.

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