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INFORMATION NEEDS FOR THE MARKETING PLAN OF HOTEL X

The report highlights the importance of information collation as a pre-requisite to the marketing plan process.

In order to lend sensibility to this exercise, information must first be collected on a macro level followed by a narrower focus to the confines of the immediate environment that impacts Hotel X. The paper also looks to address sources of information that may be used and highlights potential problems that the researcher may face in the process. The report concludes with a synopsis of what is required with regards to the collation of information and how to go about delivering it.

Marketing plans are essential to the effective functioning of any organisation. They require to be synchronised with the overall business plan and larger objectives of the company. In this case, Hotel X requires to put together a marketing plan for the year 2006. However, as a pre-cursor to the activity, it is important to understand the information needs that would be able to help direct the process in the most appropriate way forward. This report looks to identify the various sources of information that can be used in the marketing plan, the issues with the collection of the information, the processing of the information into intelligent data and the analysis of information.

RESEARCH PROBLEM

A marketing plan is the roadmap for an organisation. It is the document that gives the team direction and vision of where they want to get to. It also helps define the deliverables and the resource capabilities of the organisation. Hotel X is at the preliminary stage of information collation. It is important to define how this process needs to be conducted so as to ensure consistency and continuity in the creation of the marketing plan.

DISCUSSION

Information Needs

Planning is the key ingredient for a successful marketing strategy. Through an organised and well thought through plan, Hotel X can leverage the use of information that it gathers, and finally convert it into intelligent data to be utilised for more effective decision-making. To ensure the accurate delivery of the marketing planning process, Hotel X must undertake the exercise in a phased manner. Hence, the way forward is to ensure that the Director of Sales and Marketing prepares a marketing plan in accordance with the various phases that follow.

Typically, considering the pre-requisites of the hospitality industry, the first step in the planning process would be to develop an insight into the current market situation. Following which; objectives need to be established as to what the organisation desires. This would then translate into a feasibility study which looks to understand if the goals and objectives can in fact be met through the analysis of opportunities, threats etc. Finally, the marketing plan for Hotel X must define the deliverables and expectations that would dictate the progress of the plan and its final implementation.

Square One

According to Kotler (2003), the first step in the planning process requires the understanding of the current scenario in the market place. Only after a marketing manager is able to conduct a situational analysis, is he / she in a position to take decisions on how they should move forward.

(Kotler, Philip (2003) Marketing Management, pg 116)

This first step is also perhaps the most important. It provides the foundation stone on which the remaining areas of the strategic planning process moves forward. Therefore, Ms Tessa Lander should ideally look towards collating information on the environment that surrounds Hotel X. This is segregated into 2 primary areas - the macroeconomic environment and the microenvironment. Information collation at the macro level would be concerned with the political and economic policies that influence the hospitality sector, government regulation and local legislation.

Regulation and guidelines are imperative to the success of the overall marketing plans. For instance, the hospitality sector has stringent rules on quality compliance, timings and processes. Unless Hotel X is aware of these, it cannot move forward. In addition, there are a number of government policies related to taxation, corporate responsibility and human resource requirements that are of primary importance.

(Dibbs, Simkin, Pride & Ferrell (2001) Marketing - Concepts & Strategies, pg 697)

Information at the macro-economic level is best collated through government and trade publications. Some of these are:

The Department of Trade & Industry

The Office of National Statistics

The British Hospitality Association

The Environment Agency - http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk

http://www.caterer-online.com/news/

http://www.hotelnewsresource.com/

It is important to remember that information collated can be biased even though it might be present in trade publications. The more reliant and non-biased sources of information are limited to the government led agencies and organisations.

Microscopic

On the other hand, the microenvironment would involve areas such as the internal functions of Hotel X, its suppliers, distributors and vendors as well as encompass the competitive landscape. For instance, it is imperative to be abreast on the hotels that are in the area close to Hotel X, what their rates and service offerings are, the kind of customers that they look to target, the value-adds of staying at those hotels and other peripherals that impact Hotel X either directly or indirectly.

Once this is done, information collated in the above would help establish certain specifics in the research and planning process. For instance, a view of the competitive landscape would be able to help establish the opportunities and threats that are existent in the marketplace. In this case, information would need to be analysed from what was discovered on the competitive landscape and other areas such as regulations, policies etc. Should research find that there are a number of hotels within the vicinity of Hotel X; there is a definite threat to the acquisition of Hotel X's customer base. At the same time, with more in depth research, an opportunity may present itself since the target segment of the surrounding hotels could be very different from the segment that Hotel X are looking to target.

Information requirements on the micro environment need to be collated through interviews and questionnaires, articles on competitors, printed publications by other hotels and industry critics, travel agencies, and finally mystery shoppers who pose as customers and gather insightful information on the service offerings of the competitors. When analysing the strengths and weaknesses of Hotel X in comparison to others, the external information can be collected from the above sources, but the internal comparison can only be conducted through the collation of information from internal sources such as the accounts departments, sales performance and senior level management who can share a strategic outlook that Hotel X has planned. It must be noted that primary sources of information are usually far more accurate albeit occasionally biased.

(Dibbs, Simkin, Pride & Ferrell (2001) Marketing - Concepts & Strategies, pg 696 to 698)

Some of the external sources that provide statistics such as sales figures, room occupancy levels etc are held by organisations such as Datamonitor and Mintel. In addition, there are a number of market research companies who have undertaken specific projects on issues related to the hotel industry, competitive figures and trends in the market. Hotel X should utilise statistics from these sources provided it can incorporate them into their analysis. What would be of exceptional interest would be statistics related to hotels that are in close proximity to Hotel X.

Once information has been collated, it is important that objectives, aims and goals are set in accordance with the findings. This would help provide an overview of sorts to the readers of the marketing plan. At the same time, senior management and key stakeholders utilise this to gain an understanding of where the plan falls into the remit of the overall business strategy.

(Johnson & Scholes (2002), Exploring Corporate Strategy, pg 268)

The objectives phase is followed by the implementation stage where actions that are required during the roll out of the marketing plan are documented. The information needs here are usually limited to past experiences and contributions from the operational departments. Here, financial projections would also be made, keeping in mind the overall strategy and financial resource capabilities. Information on the level of financial resource, the options available to the management in terms of generating finance for the roll out etc would be required - all of which can be sourced from the financial analysts and finance managers within the company. In some cases, especially in the case of resource constraints, the use of external consultants can also be utilised.

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CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS

We know that the importance of an effective marketing plan cannot be undermined to ensure the success of Hotel X. The report attempts to highlight the more pressing issues with regards to information needs that are most likely to present themselves. For the purpose of ease, the information collation exercise must be segregated into two areas - the macro environment and the micro environment. This would provide the process a methodology that works from the outside by considering options that will impact Hotel X on a holistic level and permeates down to core areas of concern where the impact is more immediate.

The sources that have been suggested in this report are by no means, exhaustive. They are merely the triggers on which other areas of investigation can be initiated. At the same time, the quality of the information should be upheld as the highest priority.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Kotler, Philip (2003) 'Marketing Management', USA (116 to 119)

Dibbs, Simkin, Pride & Ferrell (2001) 'Marketing - Concepts & Strategies', USA (689 to 701)

Johnson, Gerry & Scholes, Kevan (2002) 'Exploring Corporate Strategy', Italy, Rotolito, Lombalda (267 to 288)

Available on the Internet: http://www.dti.gov.uk/

Available on the Internet: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/

Available on the Internet: http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk

Available on the Internet: http://www.caterer-online.com/news/

Available on the Internet: http://www.hotelnewsresource.com/