Executive summary
For any competitive industry, many players always try to outshine the other parties to become the top at their game. For the case a good marketing plan is good to distinguish between the good and the best, a good marketing plan focuses on selling out the products to the consumers. In addition, influencing them positively to buy the products is achieved by a good marketing plan (Robert 24).
This marketing plan is for a five star hotel company that is located across Europe. In all the major cities in Europe, is where The Four Seas Hotel is located.
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Hotel (Company) snapshot
The Four Seas Hotel located across Europe is one of top rated five star hotels in Europe at large. It is a one-stop destination for people travelling for leisure purposes and for business activities. The Four Seasons Hotels on average in all the countries that it is located in Europe has 531 spacious guest rooms that are fitted with DSTV and internet connection. The company is very established one and contributes highly to the economies of all the countries that it is set up in and the whole of Europe at large.
The Four Seas Hotels room occupancy has been segmented to single rooms, double rooms, triple rooms and quadruple rooms. The Hotels located in Europe are fitted with several conference and meeting rooms that can host up to 1100 guest in a sitting. The hotels targets different customers in the market from families, businesspersons, couples and teenagers, as well. (Simon 256)
Industry review performance and characteristics.
The hospitality and tourism industry is a broad industry that mainly focuses on service provision. This multibillion-dollar industry largely relies on the leisure time and disposable income accessibility.
The hospitality unit majorly deals in restaurants, hotels and maybe an amusement park while the tourism industry independently spreads its wings to traveling, traveling agents, tour operators and travel agents. This is one of the major industries that most governments would want to call London the backbone of the economy at any given point in time.
Hospitality, as a matter of fact the Hotel and restaurant industry, is marked by a several number of factors that are distinguishable to every member that contributes to the same. In the hotel industry, for one, there are the ratings of the hotels, which are decided upon by the facilities that a particular hotel has and the services that are offered in the hotel.
The most popular rating that is used in the industry is the star rating technique that can easily give one a perception of any hotel at a glance. For example, a one star hotel must necessarily be clean and at most, times may not have a private bathroom. A two star hotel, on the other hand, usually has a private bathroom. Room service is least expected, and a telephone and a television set are available in the rooms. In addition, if the hotel is located far away from the main town a small restaurant in the premises exists.
A three star hotel is miles ahead form the two- star hotel. Here, the hotel comes with good furniture in the rooms also room service is provided. The hotel also has a restaurant that is open for all the three meals and a fitness center might be included in the hotel. The four star hotel is a higher end restaurant with a bar room service 24 hours is guaranteed, and the rooms are fitted with safes. In addition, the hotel has a fitness center, swimming pool and a spa together with a lounge. The rooms are also fitted with a Jacuzzi at the bath tabs and a bar. Satellite television and wireless networks are provided.
For the five star hotel ratings, these are the hotels that are usually referred as state of the art hotels. Room service is 24 hours guaranteed and from trained persons. Special services like massage are offered at the spa. Laundry and tailoring is offered. Valet parking service and a concierge are also available in the hotels (Robert 234).
The hotel industry is at large a good performing industry. The key players to this industry can attest to this. Like in this scenario, the Four Seasons Hotel can attest to the growth they have witnessed so far in the industry. They have been growing and opening new branches in almost every part of the world ever since the Four Seasons Hotel came to life. A good example being the Four Seasons Hotel that is about to be opened in Europe.
The hotel industry growth also determined by other factors that makes it either grows or collapse. For instance in Europe where the Four Seasons Hotel is located is a peaceful country and a one of the first world countries on the face of the earth. Therefore, most businesses meeting are held there, and this gives a good opportunity for hosting the guests that seek accommodation during such global events and others. Therefore, one of the major characteristics of this industry is that it is an already established and grown industry. Innovations are just being made to improve service provision. Another key thing to point out is that the industry is a very competitive one. In our case, the Four Seasons Hotel is facing rivalry form other five star hotels in areas where it is located like the Hilton Hotels that are also available in Europe. As a conclusion, the hotel industry is majorly affected by social factors like political stability, security, how developed the country is, and the image the country portrays to the world. In the same vein, proper marketing and advertisement has a very great impact on the growth of the hotel in any locale in the world. An improvement on the social life encourages positive growth on the hotel industry.
Strategic positioning of the hotel.
The hotel in Europe is conspicuously located in almost all the capital cities of the European countries. From the map obtained from Wober’s book, Benchmarking in tourism and hospitality industries: the selection of benchmarking partners (96), a list shall be provided of the location of the Four Seasons Hotel across Europe. The cities are Baku, Budapest, Dublin, Florence, Geneva, Hampshire, and Istanbul at Sultanhamet, Istanbul at Bosphrou, Lisbon, and London at Canary Wharf, St Petersburg, Prague, Milan, London at Park Lane, and Paris.
Being located in the cities mentioned above, from the maps and atlases it can be concluded that the cities are also close to most of the international airports in the respective countries. This gives the visitors easy transport that is accessible at their convenience. In addition, the positioning of the hotel at the major big cities in Europe guarantees security to the visitors at all times and the infrastructure in the hotel and outside the Four Seasons Hotel without any doubt is state of the art.
A good example to conclude and support that the Four Seasons Hotel are located at the best places one could think of is Geneva. Geneva being the headquarters of the United Nations means that there is accommodation cannot be an issue to the diplomats that attend the meetings, summits, and conferences a good number of times each year. This is attributed by the five star ratings of the Four Seasons Hotel that guarantees quality services as mentioned in the ratings of the hotels above. The Four Seasons Hotel, therefore, brags for it perfect location across Europe that not only makes life enjoyable and comfortable for the visitors, but also very easy and everything has been brought together and centralized at their disposal.
Target segments of the market.
The market is usually segmented into different portions based on geographic, demographic psychographic and behaviorist variables. These are the factors that the Four Seasons Hotel considered before setting up their hotels and restaurants across the world (Richard 45).
For the geographical point of view in selecting the target market, data shows that the Four Seasons Hotel was located in mostly urban areas and capital cities across Europe. Since Four Seas Hotel is located in Europe and more specifically the large cities of Europe, good infrastructure and well-maintained traffic is catered for. This would be effective because it will help solve the problem of traffic congestion in major urban cities that are visited by the tourists both local and international. The targeted market then under the geographical location segment will be the people living in the urban areas and those who regularly visit the urban areas.
The family size is a matter of consideration because the Hotel can only accommodate a good number of family sizes. This is because of the availability of different structures of the rooms to suit the different types of families that will be visiting and staying at the Four Seasons Hotel. There are large rooms for large families that are designed like the normal apartments that people often occupy at their homes. This just brings that aspect of home in another country for the sake of satisfying the customers’ needs and demands. The Four Seasons Hotel also provides as section for the couples and also special treatment is catered for them. The research to determine the target market also showed that the prices that would be set up for the services that will be offered for the visitors that come to the Hotel. Visitors that live on more than a dollar a day were considered. The Four Seasons Hotel is versatile and flexible enough to provide services for the middle class and the super-rich people in the society; this is based on the services that are offered at the hotel.
Occupation was also a subject to consider. This project will be very beneficial to working people who only come to Europe mainly for business and recreational activities. People that come for business purposes are catered for differently In terms of transport and other services, which depend on their schedule. The other visitors at Four Seas Hotel are not be disqualified because they may as well benefit, but not as largely as the visitors with “busy” schedules. This makes the Four Seasons Hotel a place for all irrespective of your occupation and reason for travel.
The other segmentation that helped in making the choice for the target market is the psychographic segment of the market. Under this section of the market, social class of the people and the visitors across was a determining factor on whether to put up a five-start hotel in the region. The social classes that are targeted by the Four Seasons Hotel are the working class and upper-upper class in the society because of the prices that this service would cost. This would be a controversial point, but the truth of the matter is that the services that are offered at the Four Seasons Hotel are directly proportional to the amount of money that the guests in the hotel pay for their stay. The Four Seasons Hotel is very affordable, and the prices are pocket friendly to any individual up for good and excellent services at a five star hotel. The majority of the people that live in Europe and intend to visit Europe expect the best out of their hotels and that is what the Four Seasons Hotel is trying to achieve.
Competition analysis.
The competition that the Four Seasons Hotel in Europe is likely to face is from the other international five star hotels that are located across Europe. These hotels include the Hilton Hotel, Inter-continental hotels among other five star hotels in Europe. These hotels basically offer the same services based on their star rating, but the icebreaker in this case is the ease of access to transport and the location of the hotel. Without forgetting, the versatility of the hotel services about the type of customers that the Four Seasons Hotel receives also distinguishes it from the rest (Simon 32-34).
Most hotels are located far are away from the major urban centers just for the sake of provision of a serene environment that is noiseless at the expense of what the major urban centers have to offer as far as customer demands are concerned. This is done at the expense of moving further away from the major airports and other essential infrastructure that is needed for everyday life.
This is the loophole that Four Seasons Hotel decided to fill by providing flexible services for their customers depending on their purpose of visit. In addition, locating the hotel at a strategic position centralized almost all the visitors’ needs and wants throughout their travel period.
The marketing budget.
For proper marketing of the Four Seasons hotel that will include the printing of posters, Television and Radio commercials and advertisements in the internet it will cost the company a wholesome amount. For the use of adverts, the TV commercials will cost 1000$ and a monthly rate of 100$ while the radio adverts will amount to 435$ and a monthly rate of 45$. For the printing of the billboards, the company will incur a cost of 640$ per billboard. The pop up ads that will be used will not be costly as the website will definitely show this and it will be included to other website at a fair charge of 100$.
Work cited
Wöber, Karl W. Benchmarking in Tourism and Hospitality Industries: The Selection of Benchmarking Partners. New York: CABI Pub, 2002. Print.
Hudson, Simon. Tourism and Hospitality Marketing: A Global Perspective. Los Angeles: SAGE, 2008. Internet resource.
Reid, Robert D. Hospitality Marketing Management. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2006. Internet resource.
Luecke, Richard. Marketer's Toolkit: The 10 Strategies You Need to Succeed. Boston, Mass: Harvard Business School Press, 2006. Internet resource.
