COMPANY DESCRIPTION
Fantasy Hotels is a leading UK based hotel chain which was established in the year 2004. The company mainly focuses on establishing and running budget hotels across Europe. Over a quick span of time, Fantasy Hotels had grown into a leading player in the European hospitality sector. Even though a budget player, the company’s hotel properties provide all the basic facilities like wireless internet, LED televisions with cable access, swimming pools, dry cleaning, etc. The company manages to provide these additional facilities by charging an extra fees over and above the regular room charges. As Fantasy Hotels is already is well spread in the European market, it was looking to new Asian markets to expand further. The company had selected to the Indian market in view of the growing market for budget hotels in the country. As most of travellers in India could not afford premium full service hotels, they tend to focus on budget hotels. As a result many domestic budget hotel chains in India like Ginger and Lemon Tree have seen their businesses grow at a faster rate. The current marketing plan details the issues related to marketing Fantasy Hotels in the Indian market.
INDIAN HOSPITALTY SECTOR
The Indian hospitality sector has seen tremendous growth over the past two decades. The economic reforms which were initiated in the early 1990s resulted in a rapid growth for the economy. Growth in the economy also resulted in an increase in business travel. The number of tourists visiting the country has also been increasing over the years due to the initiatives taken by the government. All this lead to a boom in the hotel industry with several big names in the industry like Best Western and Marriott International setting up their hotels in the country. The contribution of tourism and hospitality sector to India’s total GDP increased from US$ 34.7 billion in the year 2007 to US$ 40.8 billion in the year 2012. Rapid economic growth had also increased the number of Indians who travel within the country for business and pleasure. Despite the rapid economic growth rate, the income levels of many Indians is still low and they can’t afford to stay in expensive hotels. This made the growing number of budget hotels as the preferred choice for many middle class Indians. The Indian hotel is still dominated by unorganized players with 70 percent of market share. Players in the unorganized sector don’t offer good quality service and modern offerings like Internet booking. This presents lot of growth for existing/players in the organized sector.
MISSION STATEMENT
Fantasy Hotel’s mission in the Indian market where it is going to launch its operations is emerge as the leading player in the budget category of India’s hospitality sector. For this purpose, Fantasy Hotels wants to come out with a marketing plan which is suitable to the Indian market. Fantasy Hotels will put every effort to quickly increase its brand image and identity the unique needs of Indian customers and come out with suitable solutions to meet them profitably.
OBJECTIVES OF THE MARKETING PLAN
- Facilitate the speedy growth of the Fantasy Hotels brand in the Indian market.
- Decide upon the proper pricing strategies for the firm in the new market.
- Decide upon the proper marketing communication plan which will lead to a quick increase in the brand identity and brand image in the new target market.
- Increase the satisfaction levels of consumers by identifying and services desired by them.
- Come out with an appropriate plan for hiring and training suitable human resources for running the operations of the hotels that will be set up.
