Task A

Introduction of the selected company:

(a) The Klagan Hotel
The Klagan Hotel is based in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. It is situated in Warisan Square, the heartland
of Kota Kinabalu city. Very suitable for those who wants to stay for leisure purpose and also for
those who comes for business purpose. It is very near to shopping malls, places to dine, and all the
entertainment centres because it is only right at the hotel’s doorstep (Theklagan.com, n.d.). The
guests are able to walk from one place to one place without using taxi/Grab/Uber because Warisan
Square is in the Central Business District of Kota Kinabalu, so the streets will always be busy from
morning until night time. Rather than waste their money on transportations like that, they can easily
access to different places in one day on foot. They can go to the city’s top attractions on foot around
15-minutes walk or 20-minutes walk. They can also try the locals’ fresh seafood restaurants nearby
and visit the most popular Filipino market which is less than 100 metres walk from the hotel.

Image 1.1 The map directions of The Klagan Hotel

Not only that The Klagan Hotel offers convenience to the guests to experience life in the city of
Sabah, but the hotel is also equipped with Wi-Fi in the lobby, hotel’s bar, and of course in the room
as well so that it serves excellency for both leisure travellers and business travellers. Not only that,
it provides car park as well to the guests and staffs of The Klagan Hotel, also a trail and public
washroom for the disabled guests. They also have non-smoking rooms upon request and also a mini
bar in each room. It has 296 guests rooms, a restaurant inside and also its own lounge. A banquet
hall to accommodate 280 people for dinner event and also four other smaller function rooms.
(Theklagan.com, n.d.) The Klagan Hotel has superb facilities and marvellous location which makes
a lot of guests to always come back to enjoy the excellent service while enjoying their stay in Kota
Kinabalu.


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(b) Le Méridien Kota Kinabalu
Le Méridien Kota Kinabalu is a is also located in the heartland of Kota Kinabalu. The most busy
city in Sabah since it is a Central Business District. Le Méridien is also not that far from all the
tourist attractions in fact, it is really located in the centre of Kota Kinabalu. Guests can see the
famous Waterfront esplanade from the doorstop of the hotel, also the Filipino markets just right in
front of it, and entertainment hubs and shopping malls. Not only that, tourists love how Le Méridien
Hotel is located due to the scenery that they can watch which is the stunning South China Sea. For
those who chooses sea view, they can literally enjoy the sunsets during the evening while drinking a
glass of wine by their window. They also have three innovative dining and entertainment locations.
And also they recently featured a leisure outdoor pool with a sunset bar and a restaurant which
really attracts the domestic tourists and also the international tourists.

Image 1.2 The entrance of Le Méridien Kota Kinabalu

Image 1.3 Sunset view from the outdoor pool

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I. Advertising
The nature of advertising is it can reach to a lot of audiences and moreover it costs cheaper per
exposure and also it enables the marketer to make their product on repeat to deliver its message to
the audiences. (Kotler and Armstrong, 2012) Due to the advertising’s public nature, the market
views advertised products or services as something that are more legitimate. Thus, it is more
suitable for those companies who want to reach a mass target audience. Advertising can come into
different forms such as broadcasting through televisions (TV), radios, and cinemas; printed which is
through magazines, newspapers, flyers, and brochures; outdoor displays which is in the form of
putting up billboards, posters, and transports; and most commonly through the internet nowadays.
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Through advertising, the company able to dramatise its products or services by monopolising the
five senses of human, which is through visual graphics, printing, sound, and colour. Advertising
also can be tool to build up a long-term product’s image.(Kotler and Armstrong, 2012) For example,
the TV advertisement of Pizza Hut where a bunch of people singing and dancing about the hotline
number for Pizza Hut delivery. Thus, until today, people still can remember the advertisement and
remember their delivery number on an instance.
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As for The Klagan Hotel, they are using the most low risk advertisement which is through the
internet. However, they still can reach a lot of potential customers whether those who are going for
a leisure travel or business purpose. They have their own website for a proper introduction of their
company, available rooms, check the availability dates, promotions, and events.

Image 1.4 The Klagan Hotel’s Official Website

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Aside from having its own website for booking, they also have an official Facebook page where
they often post and update any upcoming events and promotions for their regular customers or those
who are looking forward to make their reservations at their hotel. They also open the floor for those
customers who already have had enjoyed their stay at their hotel to make reviews on their Facebook
page. This way, they can scroll into those comments and maybe take into considerations if there are
somewhere or something they need to improve.

Image 1.5 The Klagan Hotel’s Official Facebook Page

Based on the picture above, we can clearly that almost all of those who have experiencing their
service have left a very good reviews. Even the rating says it all. 4.2 stars out of 5 stars. That is
quite impressive for a 4-star hotel located in a busy city of Kota Kinabalu.
!Apart from having an official website and also an official Facebook page, just like any other hotels,
they also registered their company in the online booking sites, such as the Asiatravel, trip.com,
booking.com, agoda.com, hotels.com, TripAdvisor, and many other online booking sites on the
internet platform. Using this advertising method, it is surprising that The Klagan Hotel is one of the
famous most search hotel in Kota Kinabalu area.

Image 1.6 The Klagan Hotel on the online booking sites

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Next, after analysing the form of advertising method of the Klagan Hotel, we are moving on to Le
Méridien Hotel. Le Méridien Hotel is under Marriott International Company. Le Méridien is only
one of its companies. It is a 5-star hotel, so it will be using different kind of advertising method of
course. One of the advertising method is through advertising its hotel through the newspaper. When
they think it is not enough, they also broadcast through the Radio. The usual radio stations that they
use to deliver the message is through Suria FM, so there is one video footage of Suria FM crew
went to Le Méridien Hotel interviewing about the famous concept of Le Méridien which is their
Circle Restaurant.

Image 1.7 Footage of Suria FM crew interviewing a host in front of the

restaurant counter about the Circle Restaurant

Other than that, like other hotel industries, they also have their own Facebook page to post their
upcoming events and seasonal promotions. They also attach their video advert on their Facebook
page. They were rated 4.3 stars out of 5.0 stars which is not so bad for a 5-star valued hotel.

Image 1.8 Le Méridien Hotel Kota Kinabalu’s Official Facebook page

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Of course Le Méridien Hotel also has its own official website where they basically post their
customers’ reviews, photo reviews through instagram posts, their hotel overview photos, updated
special offers, room/s reservations, location, promotional videos and etc. Compare to the Klagan
Hotel, Le Méridien Hotel’s website contains a lot more features. Their customers can really engage
to the hotel just through its website, talk more of its own official Facebook page.

Image 1.9 Le Méridien Hotels’ Guest Reviews on its website

Image 1.10 Le Méridien Hotels’ Ratings on Facebook

Comparing two different platforms, it is clearly saying the Le Méridien really engage with its
customers not only on the internet, but also in real life. More customers are very happy because of
the service talk more that it is a very prestigious hotel in Sabah. Even though the value for money
for the hotel is quite expensive, but Le Méridien really reach their customers well. Even so, the
ratings altogether not really quite satisfying because for it to look really like a 5-star hotel, the
ratings should be around 0.3 or 0.2 nearer to 5.0 star. Seeing the ratings, there are still
improvements ought to do on the advertising of the company.
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II. Sales Promotion
According to Kotler and Armstrong, sales promotions offer short-term yet strong incentives to add
value to a product or a service in order to encourage the purchase or a sale of a product or service
thus achieving the marketing objectives. As per said, sales promotion is for the consumers to have
the desire to actually purchase and also can be equipped as for dramatising the product offers and
boost sales which are in the midst of going into the drain. As different as it sounds like compare to
advertising, they invite and recompense with a very swifty response from the consumers. Usually
sales promotion are held in a short period of time. They are not really for something like if you want
to build customer relationships with your customers.
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It is very common in hotel industries to have sales promotion. Of course they will gain a lot
revenues from actual guests to stay at their hotel per night, different rooms have different rates even
though truth to be told all of them are only in one building. The owner somehow needs to also think
of its employees and the electricity bills and the building rental fees. Therefore, they have to create
an incentive for the customers in order to achieve their marketing objectives. This is where
discounts, vouchers, limited time offers, and loyalty award scheme came up, to attract more
customers. Both of these hotels are using this integrated marketing communication in their business.
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For The Klagan Hotel in Warisan Square, they are doing their sales promotion through their
Facebook page. They do not make any special offers to their rooms, but they made a pretty great
deal with their foods. And it is seasonal. Some of the recents promotional offers of their dine-in
menu.

Image 1.11 Christmas Offer

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 Image 1.12 Sunday Hi-Tea Buffet Promo

Through this promotional offer or seasonal promotion, walk-in customers will have the opportunity
to survey this hotel. Not only they will savour the taste of the foods served, but they will also at
some point will want to walk around the venue and take a look and survey the hotel room rates and
maybe give a consideration of actually purchasing the service. They are also able to enquire
regarding the hotel room with the front desk clerk and in this very moment they have become their
potential customers.
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Moving on, Le Méridien sure has a lot too offer than The Klagan Hotel obviously just judging from
the physical of the two different hotels. Le Meridien Hotel has this one button in its official website
called “Special Offers”. There, the customers can go through its website and check which offers that
they are eligible to use. They have six options of offers categories altogether. For example, if a
customer wants a cheaper room rates maybe, they can browse through the special offers button and
click for the “Room Offers” and check out the offers available. When they see an offer that they
think it is quite decent and okay for them to book, they should check the terms and conditions
before choosing the offer first and then they can click the book now button to complete their
reservation using the offer.

Image 1.13 Special Offers selections Page 8!

Not only that Le Méridien Hotel is a 5-star hotel, but it also make great deals with its customers
which makes a lot of tourists that come from Sabah itself want to make reservation at Le Méridien
due to the offer to enjoy their free time in luxurious hotel and excellent hospitality. The offers that
Le Méridien Hotel gave makes the customers think that they have got something for less thus
providing an incentive for the customers to come and stay at the hotel.

Image 1.14 Special Offers for the Malaysian Residents

Not only that, Le Méridien Hotel has something bigger than all the other five offers which is the
‘SPG Offers’. SPG is an abbreviation for Starwood Preferred Guest. Which means these guests that
registered for the membership of SPG online will have the privileges such as: i) best rate guarantee,
ii) earn free nights without blackout dates, iii) free in-room internet, iv) an enhanced room at check-
in and more. Anyone can be a SPG member as long as they are aware of these benefits. The offer is
very good to maintain the loyalty of a customer towards the service.

Image 1.14 Starwood Preferred Guest Overview

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As from what I have analysed between these two hotels, The Klagan Hotel is giving out
promotional offer as well as Le Meridien Hotel. However, keeping the customers to keep on coming
back is the issue. Even though with all the dining offers that The Klagan Hotel gives out to the
market, it is not really as effective as how Le Meridien Hotel is trying to maintain quite a
relationship with its customer by giving them an offer to register as a member of the Starwood
Preferred Guest (SPG) which means a lot of privileges will be given to these loyal customers under
this membership. No matter where they go, as long as they are going to a place or a country that is
listed under the SPG, they can book earlier and will be given the best treatment they can get. This
idea surprisingly increases the credibility of the company and maintain a high loyalty towards the
company. 


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III. Public Relation
Public relation is the deliberate, planned and sustained effort to build good relations with the
company’s various publics by obtaining favorable publicity, building up a good corporate image,
and handling or heading off unfavourable rumours, stories, and events. The message gets to buyers
as a “news” instead of as a sales-directed communication. For an instance, the release of iPhone 8
and iPhone X. The company called for a press-release and introduce both the iPhone 8 and iPhone
X. Medias will come and publish it on magazines, TVs, radios, and all the platforms they can use.
The company will benefit for this because press-release is not even paid for the advertisements, but
this is to capture as many audience as possible for the company.
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The Klagan Hotel, since it is a small hotel, it does not has any ongoing or upcoming or previous
public relation happening. It has not organise any events and give any sponsorships to the
community. This is one of what it lacks to keep a good relation with the customers.
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Le Méridien Hotel, due to its big company, it tends to be involved in a lot of public relations to
dwell into the communities. Last year during the festive season, which is on Christmas season, the
hotel celebrates Christmas with lighting of a 15-foot tall abstract Christmas tree made of mineral
water bottle, bottle caps, toilet roll tubes, old newspapers and also magazines and boxes. They also
decorated the tree with handmade ornaments using recyclable products from the hotel. (Borneo Post
Online, 2017)
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Apart from that, Le Méridien Hotel also organised annually a marathon called “Run to Give” with a
special theme every year to of course attract the community at the same time give back to the
community what they have taken. And it is beneficial for the health as well.

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Image 1.15 Run to Give poster (2017) Image 1.16 Run to Give poster (2016)
Not to mention that Le Meridien Hotel also has ever collaborated with Queen Elizabeth Hospital
Kota Kinabalu to organise a blood donation campaign to support Queen Elizabeth Hospital in their
continuous mission to extend their blood bank for their patients.

Image 1.17 Blood Donation Campaign poster

It is very important for a company to have their own public relation team or department because
when they organise such events, they will have the advantage of being potentially at low cost and
often perceived as less biased and credibility is much higher. Not that having a public relation is a
must, but if the company has a bit better earning, they can start doing public relation to increase
their corporate image.


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IV. Direct Marketing
As much as it seems like, direct marketing is indeed direct which involves direct connections with
carefully targeted individual consumers to obtain both a quick response and develop long-lasting
customer relationships. This can be done through catalogs, telemarketing, direct mail, e-mail, and
direct-response television. However, they all share distinguishing characteristics. Compare to the
other methods of integrated marketing communications (IMC), direct marketing seems to be more
personal and less public. Usually the message will be directed to only one person. It is very
customised and promptly. Messages can be developed in a jiffy and tailor-made to fit a specific
customer. Another thing about direct marketing is the interactiveness between the marketing team
and the consumer. Messages can be tailored depends on the respond of the consumer. Therefore, it
is very suitable for companies who want to keep their customer relationships one-to-one and
understand each other better.(Kotler and Armstrong, 2012) It is better because of the two-way
communication and easier to evaluate compared to the other tools before.
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In my opinion, I believe both The Klagan Hotel and Le Méridien Hotel are using the e-catalogue
and e-mail as a direct marketing to build their customer relationships. As of many of the technology
has appeared in today’s life, a lot of people find it more convenient to accomplish when it is done
through online or internet. Therefore, whenever a guest left the venue, they will send them an e-
mail saying that they are thank you so and so forth and then will give them an e-feedback form.
This way, all the feedback forms that have been answered will enter their system and it will be
easier for them to evaluate the rooms for improvisations and the compliments. It is immediate and
at some point the marketing team will gather the important datas at the same time.
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V. Personal Selling
Personal selling is more to face-to-face encounter. It is an interpersonal communication tool which
involves face to face activities undertaken by the individuals, often representing an organisation, in
order to inform, persuade, or remind an individual or group to take appropriate action, as required
by the sponsor’s representative. Even though it is the most effective tool to build a longer-term
relationship, yet it is the most expensive one either.
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It all depends on the salesperson as well. An effective salesperson will make the customer to have
high interest not only on the product but also to build a long-term relationship and by solving their
problems. (Kotler and Armstrong, 2012) Now that we have come across personal selling, I wonder
if The Klagan Hotel has their own salesperson who stands outside of the hotel door giving out flyers
and saying that they have exceptional promotion for that day. Absolutely not. Why is that? The
Klagan Hotel does not do personal selling to build relationship with its customers. First of all,
personal selling costs a lot of money if the company needs to hire some. Therefore, they do not
want to hire any salesperson to do their personal selling. It is not that because they do not want a
longer-term customer relationship, but a personal selling comes with a longer-term commitment
than the other tools. Therefore, they have to let go of personal selling as well.
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On the other hand, Le Méridien Hotel, since it is an international company under the umbrella of
Marriott International Company, their organisational structure and marketing tools have been
decided by the parent company. Thus, they will always have those times going to trade shows to do
personal selling. This is also because their company is eligible and capable to do personal selling.
Apart from that, it is very crucial for such a big company, talk more of it is one of the 5-star hotel in
Kota Kinabalu that is mostly favoured and visited by tourists from different parts of the world. They
usually go to tourism exhibitions and operate the personal selling. Talk to their customers one-to-
one and face-to-face. This way, they can get on the spot feedback, and most important thing is
personal contact. The flexibility of the conversation may lead to the cultivation of relationship.
Therefore, it is very essential to have well-trained salesperson thus training should be put into
investment for the sake of the company.
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Task b
As a consultant of a marketing service agency, there are a lot of rooms for improvisations on the
local company for future improvement. Not to mention that they are still expanding and quite new
to the hotel industry. I will recommend a few improvements or suggestions of IMC strategies that
they can use to apply for their hotel.
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For the advertising, since it is a local company, it should be at a very comfortable zone since it
knows that even though it is still new and just opened a few years back, it has already grasped a lot
of customers already even without a proper advertisements. Since the location of this hotel is quite
convenient and very centrally located because it is exactly situated in front of Centre Point
Shopping Complex, therefore there is a danger of being super comfortable. Other hotels might
compete with it maybe by lowering their room rates and leave The Klagan Hotel in despair. Thus,
The Klagan Hotel should improvise its advertising method maybe by making a request to the Radio
station to broadcast it. They can try broadcasting it in the most famous radio station in Sabah now,
which is the Kupi Kupi FM since they are really good in advertising products and at lower cost too.
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For sales promotion, The Klagan Hotel should really consider of the room rates offer. It should not
maintain the same price from the early year until the end. It should plan well on which season it
should increase the room rates and at what season it should lower it. For an instance, The Klagan
Hotel can make a promotion of normal days like weekdays the room rates will be normal and at
festive seasons like Pesta Ka’amatan (Harvest Festival) and Christmas those are the seasons when a
lot of tourists will come and visit Sabah, thus they can lower their rates. Because as they lower their
rates, more people will come eventually so it is never-ending and worth it as well.
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In terms of public relation, The Klagan Hotel lacks this a lot. It needs to keep up its image by giving
back to the community as a charity. It can organise little events just to raise funds for the old folks
home or orphanages. For an instance, the hotel can organise one charity dinner with a price of
RM50 per ticket and all the money will be funded into the donation box of Bukit Harapan, Tuaran,
an orphanage home.
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For the direct marketing, maybe they can send a text message rather than e-mail to the customers to
get feedbacks and reviews from their experience staying in the hotel. Other than that, direct
marketing also can be in the form of phone calls made by the hotel. Usually this can happen when
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the customer is new to that place and not familiarise with the area, the hotel can always be attentive
and give phone calls to every customers that have made reservations. Take Sharon for an instance,
she is a Singaporean and it will be her first time in Kota Kinabalu and she just made a reservation
for one single room in The Klagan Hotel. As soon as they receive her booking details, they will
have to start call her already and ask her if it is her first time around and does she needs anything in
specific, and will she needs a cab to get to the location and such. It is very essential for the hotel to
be in touch with the customers even before meeting them in person.
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For personal selling, if the company has the opportunity to be in an exhibition, they can start off
small first. This way, they will eventually be recognised by the other big hotel companies. They can
send two or three sales representatives to the exhibitions just to give them a little bit of exposures to
the hotel industry. Therefore, they can expand their hotel not only in Warisan Square but in other
locations as well. Because the first thing to capture in the tourism and hospitality industry is the
customers’ hearts. Once the company captured their hearts, it is very hard for them to not be loyal to
the company already.


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References
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Borneo Post Online. (2017). Le Meridien lights Christmas tree. [online] Available at: http://
www.theborneopost.com/2017/12/13/le-meridien-lights-christmas-tree/ [Accessed on: 6 January
2018].
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Kotler, P. and Armstrong, G. (2012). Principles of marketing. 14th ed. Boston: Pearson Education,
p.424-425
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Le Méridien Kota Kinabalu. (n.d.). 5 Star Kota Kinabalu Hotel. [online] Available at: http://
www.lemeridienkotakinabalu.com/ [Accessed on: 3 January 2018].
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Theklagan.com. (n.d.). The Klagan Hotel. [online] Available at: http://www.theklagan.com/
[Accessed on: 3 January 2018].
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YouTube. (2014). Circle Restaurant, Le Meridien Kota Kinabalu. [online] Available at: https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNHOBVsNvjM [Accessed on: 6 January 2018].
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Table of Contents
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Task A 1
Introduction of the selected company: 1
I. Advertising 3
II. Sales Promotion 7
III. Public Relation 11
IV. Direct Marketing 13
V. Personal Selling 14
Task b 15
References 17
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PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING (PMK3103)
ASSIGNMENT 2 - INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT
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“Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)”
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Student Name: Azlinda Jonathan
Student Matric ID: LBUAF22-10/17-00006
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Lecturer’s Name: Ms Wong Choon Fah
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INSTITUT TEKNOLOGI PERTAMA
SEPT/OCT 2017