2013

MARKETING PLAN

GROUP MEMBERS SECTION- D

ABHI SHAH (20) ANERI GANDHI (48) AVANI DALAL (45) DHWANI DESAI (29)

[THE GRAND HOTEL]

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THE GRAND HOTEL

T h e p r e s e n t e d s a l e s a n d ma r k e t i n g p l a n h a s b e e n w o r k e d u p o n wh i l e c o v e r i n g t h e theoretical knowledge gained during the duration of module. The sales and marketing plancovers only the rooms division strategy (Revenue aspects, food & beverage outlets, other revenue etc. are not being discussed). Glossary at the endof appendices features the key industry specific terms used in the plan.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:The Grand Hotel is an established luxury hotel located in the xyz city of India. The hotel follows the objectives that are consistent with the companys goals and mission statement. The marketing plan addresses following major attributes: Growing need to increase the high rated businesses. Increasing the market share. Segment wise in depth analysis to gain competitors business. Channel wise in depth analysis to gain competitors business. Laying down the processes to ensure the customer is satisfied INTRODUCTION: The Grand Hotel is a part of renowned hotel chain of India that has been a domestic market leader closely competing with 2 more major players. The brandrecall among the travellers is high and customer perception is of high service standards at ahigh price.

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CURRENT PRODUCT OFFERINGS: The Grand Hotel is a well-known 95 rooms small high end hotelthat not only providesaccommodation facilities to its guests but also a host of other services such as food and beverage (One Chinese Specialty restaurant, one coffee shop and one bar), spa, healthclub, pool, massage etc. 65% of the revenue share is contributed by the room division sales. Allthe rooms in the hotel have recently been refurnished and the technologies have beenupgraded to ensure a better guest satisfaction on the product front. The hotel is situated on the eastern coast of India. It is a major centre for IT support, defence, shipping, logistics, exports and heavy engineering industries with alarge sea port. The city also serves as a major transit point for the smaller industriallocations and set ups around the area and is about to witness a flurry in hotel development with one additional 5 star hotel aiming to open by the 2nd quarter of 2011 and another two big hotel projects to be operational by mid of 2012. ENVIRONMENT:1. PoliticalEnvironment: The current state of politics in the state is highly unstablewith a group of politicians working in order to get the region passed as a separatestate. In such a case, there might be instances of MNEs pulling off their investmentsaround the city affecting the hotel business adversely. However, on contrary, sincethe city will gain a reputation of state capital, it may attract further investment thusgenerating business for hotels. The matter is unpredictable and makes the futurehighly uncertain. 2. EconomicEnvironment: The regional economy is going through the ripples ofeconomic instability, affecting the business as discussedinitially.

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3. Social Environment: The parent hotel chain is run by a trust under a bigger brand. The trust believes in social causes and donates a part of Profit into a charitythat helps the victims of any terrorist attack across the world. 4. Technological Environment: Continuous improvements and technologicalenhancements call for a need of constant updating in order to maintain the productsuperiority over competition. 5. Legal Environment: With an unpredictable political future, the legal environmentalso is subjected to controversy since new legislative regulations will come into play ones the verdict is given by the government. 6. Ecological Environment: The hotel has acquired various initiatives f o r sustainability. Some of these are waste reduction, reusing and recycling, constantmonitoring of gas, oil and electricity usage etc.

SWOT ANALYSIS:

The following analysis highlights the internal strengths and weaknesses of our organization and the opportunities and threats facing the company in our external environment. We must work to improve our areas of weakness. Organizational strengths must be leveraged in order to capitalize on external opportunities as they arise, and contingency plans formulated in order to deal with threats presented by the environment.

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STRENGTHS Strong nation-wide brand presence and recognition Highly skilled workforce Experienced leadership team at the head quarters Recently renovated accommodation, banquet hall and restaurant facilities with state of art features Process driven approach in guest-servicing A strong global distribution system due to strong presence and strategic alliances and partnerships of parent company OPPORTUNITIES Potential to create additional recreational facilities for guests without incurring more open space Incredible India global campaign and thus attracting the tourists Creating a particular theme and attracting tourists.eg. Heritage theme

WEAKNESSES Frequent wear and tear of the outer property due to dusty environment Middle in the city so not enough space to develop the landscape around Inefficient employee reward system (as compared to competitors) Limited employee strength and thus long working hours for employees Limited funding for marketing/ promotional activities High tax structure of country may restrict tourists for staying.

THREATS Likely entry of new competitors

Vulnerability to recession and business cycle Growing bargaining power of customers or suppliers More complicated law and regulations

MISSION, DIRECTION AND MARKETING STRATEGY The Grand Hotel is dedicated to providing its guests with the highest quality of service and standards. We seek to deliver on our promise of value and quality above else. We value our place in the community and will work to develop those relationships and to respect and to protect our environment. We will continue to strive to create value for both owners and customers whilst honouring our brand values and encouraging our personnel to

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develop themselves in an environment of trust, loyalty and encouragement. The GRAND hotels objective is to communicate the unique set of services that the hotel offers to discern hotel guests. We attempt to direct the focus of our guests to the issues of quality and value for the money as opposed to simply the bottom line costs associated with their stay. Our marketing strategy will allow us to communicate our brand values, develop close working relationships with our customers and suppliers and to identify the needs of our guests in an effective manner. Continued differentiation and growth are the two goals we have set for ourselves. Growth will take place by targeting new areas of business within both local and national communities.

OBJECTIVES The GRAND hotel have set two kinds of objectives such as : o Financial objectives: Increase overall revenue by 10 % on the past year Accomplish growth within the given budget Increase corporate contracted rates to reflect the return of confidence in the corporate travel market. Keep payroll expenses down and reduce the level of overtime within the workforce. o Marketing objectives: To continue to communicate our strategic objectives to our target markets effectively. To provide a positive hotel experience to all our guests. To accomplish our growth targets within the given time and budget. Expand our markets and identify new markets for our product and services. TARGETING AND POSITIONING DECISIONS Our primary targets continue to be professional visitors to the region from the following industries, where annual corporate contracts can be entered into: o Travel trade o IT industry o Automotive Local firms will be targeted for day use of conference facilities, room nights for visiting executives and long stay professional guests.
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The GRAND hotel is positioned as a five star plus business travellers hotel strategically located and offering a high level of personal service. We provide a quality hotel experience where guests are valued, respected and their business is truly appreciated STRATEGY PYRAMIDS Our marketing strategy is to focus customers attention on the high quality of the services we offer. Within this strategy are three main points aimed at different market segments. We will provide o The best business facilities o Personalized services o Luxurious amenities

Fig: Strategy Pyramid

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MARKETING MIX Product and service information are sold to the guest via personal selling, direct marketing, advertising and the internet. Delivery channels include travel agents and international reservations systems. PRODUCT MARKETING High quality facilities accompanied by exemplary personal service, differentiated form competition quality with the overall brand strategy has proven to be a successful approach generating high levels of repeat business. Brand Marketing Decision Brand value enhancement to be undertaken in line with the corporate marketing strategy. On a local level, the hotel will get associated with the high end exclusive shopping arcades, monthly magazines etc for joint promotional activities. PricingDecisions In line with the overall company strategy, The hotel has prepared an expected demand calendar that considers the past occupancy trends and future Business on Books. Accordingly, dynamic discounted price (Rate of the Day) has been set against each day of the year. The rates are to be loaded on the system and will be visible on all the distribution channels simultaneously. These rates can be changed by the hotel as and when required. MarketingCommunicationsDecisions Advertising : Advertisements to appear in print media in feeder m a r k e t s . Advertising this year will concentrate on the enhanced product of the hotel. Public Relations : Press meets will be conducted before every food promotion and will include all publications from the city. The press meet will also be conducted in order to showcase the rooms to the general public. Cricket teams that are scheduled to
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stay with us in March, June, August and September will increase the buzz surrounding the hotel. Personal Selling : S a l e s t e a m wi l l c o n t i n u e t o v i s i t t h e c o r p o r a t e h o u s e s a n d maintain the relationship with users and to flourish the relationship with the competitor users. Direct Marketing : Reservation department has been given an authorization to go 1 l e v e l b e l o w t h e a p p r o v e d B e s t Av a i l a b l e R a t e a s me n t i o n e d o n t h e D e ma n d Calendar in case they feel the customer is not willing to pay the rate of the day. CustomerServiceandInternalMarketing Customer Feedback System is in place as per the corporate office guidelines. All the feedback as received is being addressed by the General Manager within 24 hours of feedback receipt. The practice will continue to be followed. The sales team will send E-Mailers to their respective clients about any new activity taking place in the hotel or is related to the hotel. The sales team will take customer feedback after the sale and feed it into the online Customer Feedback System as per the process. ProcessDecisions In order to make the decision process faster, employees working in the Front Office Department are authorized to do the following in order to do customer recovery in case of a complaint: 1. Charging one slab lower than the Best Available rate of the day. 2. Including a breakfast/ lunch/ dinner complimentary in the rate 3. Including a complimentary airport pick up/ drop in the rate. 4. Including a complimentary fruit basket/ cookies platter in the room.

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The Sales and Marketing plan uses the above 7 P model to attain the objectives asmentioned in the plan

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