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OrderThis research addresses the marketing strategies of Marriott International, one of the leading global networks of hotel companies. This study considers suggestions to the Marketing Director of Marriott International on the marketing best strategies. Thus, the research examines the marketing performance of Marriott International with the help of the following techniques: S.A.V.E. techniques, Porter’s Generic Strategies, Boston Matrix, and Servqual techniques. Based on the findings, the marketing operations at Marriott International are quite challenging in the hospitality sector.
As of 2016, Marriott International consists of more than a billion apartments across the globe. These rooms provide broad-ranging accommodation maintenance across thirty brands. Franchising controls many lodgings and possessions while creating more than fifty-five percent of guesthouse amenities. The company is the owner of the remaining equipment facing the durable administrative agreements. Such tactic of leading a business admits the organisation’s willingness to work with various business partners, thus making Marriott International one of the global industry brands known for its widespread hospitality and unique strategies applied throughout its franchises.
Thus, the intention of the research is to understand the implications of the company’s operations. It relates to the use of S.A.V.E. techniques, Porter’s Generic Strategies, Boston Matrix, and Servqual techniques. The idea is to perceive the principles of marketing that Marriott International performs in the hospitality sector.
Marriott International Company Overview
Marriott International organisation is known all over the world. It is an outstanding hotel network, which has over six thousand properties in more than a hundred locations all over the world. The ongoing marketing strategy of Marriott International is to operate within all hotel portfolios and manage them depending on the significant values of its founders. Nowadays, the marketing approach of the hotel group is performed by approximately ninety million faithful members internationally (Marriott International).
Thus, the primary marketing incentive of the company is to operate similarly to the other competing companies listed in “Fortune 500 Companies” by the New York Stock Exchange. As of 2016, the outcomes of such strategy were reflected in the net profit of Marriott International, which exceeded two hundred and fifty million dollars. The marketing objective of Marriott International is to accomplish its primary business goals to serve the target clients and meet the needs of all its stakeholders. The preferences of the company have a significant impact on both categories of people. Still, target customers trust Marriott International as the company meets their hospitality expectations (Marriott International).
The marketing mission and vision of Marriott International are to offer the fundamental features of temporary housing maintenance, which implies demonstrating a rational approach to the company’s cross-cultural environment while representing Marriott transnational brands. Managers control the operations of the room service in order to comply with the global marketing norms and objectives of the board of directors and lodging business. Corporate authorities engage the best marketing strategies for improving hotel facilities by utilising the best hospitality policies. Thus, the marketing mission and vision of Marriott International consider the operational viewpoints of its business leaders. The purpose is to prosper in the target hospitality and lodging marketplace (Marriott International).
Marriott International seeks to offer more value to the target customers, which makes them rely on the global services of the company. This kind of the company’s marketing strategy helps to outreach its profit procured by the rival hotel organisations. Besides, it is the primary marketing goal of Marriott International in the target hospitality industry. Therefore, the marketing intentions of Marriott International is to become a dominant hotel organisation that could attract its target customers all over the globe. The principle instruments used to reach prosperity consist of delivering wow-services to the target customers in the entire board and lodging niche (Marriott International).
The company currently utilises new technologies to address the needs of its staff and clients. The idea is to manage the working procedures by considering the marketing perceptions towards both intellectual and recreational inquiries of the target clients. The executives of the company are willing to continue being fair in the business processes. It helps to increase employee motivation and improve their interest in further achievements and professional growth. Such marketing approach contributes to maintaining collaborative relationships within the organisation. It also has a positive impact on offering high-quality hospitality services at Marriott International brand all over the globe (Marriott International).
Application and Analysis of the “S.A.V.E.” Techniques at Marriott International and its Marketing Strategy
Explanation of How S.A.V.E. Techniques Work in Unison with the Traditional Marketing Mix
S.A.V.E. techniques work more efficiently in online businesses. However, it makes sense to combine them with the traditional marketing mix. In other words, it refers to the well-known 4Ps of marketing, namely product, price, promotion, and place. Many digital marketers apply these four aspects in their daily strategies. Nevertheless, marketing perceptions change and the same relates to the traditional marketing techniques. It is vital to consider the use of 4Ps when referring to the place of business. The idea is to concentrate on the aspects that the company offers. Particular attention should be paid to the delivery of unique differentiators that could bring more benefit and overall value to the target clients. It corresponds to understanding psychology of the target industry. In particular, it reflects their needs to know the advantages and disadvantages of certain products and services before making the purchase. The target clients need to know the best features of the business offers, which differentiate them from the rest in the target marketplace (Meyerson).
Four Elements of S.A.V.E. Techniques and Their Application to the Marketing Strategy of Marriott International
The use of S.A.V.E. techniques has a positive impact on the hospitality business sector. In particular, it refers to the hotel companies that strive to reinvent the ways of managing their room services and serving the target customers. It is important to acknowledge that the use of S.A.V.E. techniques currently replaces the former 4Ps of marketing (Meyerson). The below application of S.A.V.E. techniques refers to one of the most successful hotels today:
Solutions changes the Product:
Along with many hotel companies, Marriott International also reconsiders its marketing strategies. S.A.V.E. techniques are introduced while offering the target customers the solutions they need, which is based on their demand in the marketplace. The idea is to understand the ways a business could operate more efficiently in the target hospitality and lodging niche.
Access changes the Place:
Nowadays, the geographic concern of many hotel companies refers to their location. However, Marriott International reconsiders its approach regarding the location of its hotels and emphasises on the increase of the purchasing power. It relates to the ability of the target customers to pay for hospitality products and services in new and old locations of the Marriott International Hotel. The value of Internet also adds more benefits to the target clients while erasing the former barriers related to the location of hotels.
Value changes the Price:
The perception of target customers regarding the value offered at Marriott International is a significant element of its marketing strategy. It is worth more than better pricing policies, available products and services or the location of hotels. The idea is to deliver maximum value to the target clients in order to make them purchase the most sophisticated hotel offers. Besides, Marriott International provides a broad range of hospitality and lodging products and services. Moreover, it provides target customers with exercise information on the possible aspects of the hotel business. It is critical for the target customers since they need to trust the place they are going to live.
Education changes the Promotion:
Marriott International has a critical approach concerning the promotion of its products and services. However, the company is more oriented towards educating its personnel. Professionalism of employees will serve as the best marketing promotion campaign. Thus, Marriott International takes advantage of S.A.V.E. techniques to draw attention of the target audience to the hotel group. Currently, the target clients can obtain everything they need without exception. For this reason, the staff of the hotel should be capable of delivering everything required at the highest possible quality. The use of S.A.V.E. techniques allows Marriott International to evaluate the promotion strategy from a different angle. In particular, it refers to the professional development of its employees so that they provide the target customers with a hundred percent satisfaction guarantee (Meyerson).
The Effectiveness of S.A.V.E. Techniques in the Marketing Strategy of Marriott International
In hospitality scenarios, it is crucial to consider the use of S.A.V.E. techniques with the purpose of concentrating on the traditional approach to the product-focused scenarios and with encouraging target consumers to join the community of a particular brand. In other words, it refers to attracting the target customers to the brand and developing client loyalty. S.A.V.E. techniques are the best option in such cases since they help people to recognise values of the promoted products and services. In such situations, S.A.V.E. techniques are ideal for the hospitality business since they make it possible to combine all appropriate marketing strategies to attract target customers. Overall, the focus should be on the solution-centred considerations of the target niche. S.A.V.E. techniques are claimed to be more efficient as compared to the four Ps of marketing due to the changes in the business environment as well as the needs and overall behaviour of the target consumers (The Economist & Ellwood).
Recommendations on the Improvements in the use of S.A.V.E. Techniques at Marriott International
Marriott International already performs quite well by applying S.A.V.E. techniques to scale its business globally. However, the company could implement S.A.V.E. techniques more effectively in order to improve its international operations (Ryan). The recommendations are as follows:
Focus on Solution instead of Product:
Marriott International should apply the best marketing techniques to deliver high-quality hospitality solutions to all target customers worldwide. The purpose is to find ways to dominate in the target industry and perform better as compared to their competitors. The target audience deeply values the ability of the hotel companies to solve their problems irrespective of their nature. Thus, the promoted products and services of Marriott International are aimed at delivering the essential supply of the business offers that satisfy the target clients with their benefits and the lack of drawbacks.
Focus on Access instead of Place:
Marriott International should make its business offers available to the target customers based on the particular hotel location. It means that the target audience could review the information they need about the hotel at any time and place through the Internet. They could also talk to the online representative and ask any questions about the possible booking of room services. For this reason, the website of Marriott International is ideal for the target clients since it provides them with all-inclusive digital communications. Besides, it is responsible for the use of mobile solutions and is accessible all over the world.
Focus on Value instead of Price:
Marriott International should focus on the essential requirements of the target clients across the hospitality niche. It allows the company to provide the target audience with everything they require, including the additional products and services that add more benefits to their stay in the hotel. Such marketing positioning is correct from the perspective of scaling the business. The idea is to share the information on the hotel benefits, comprising the attractive cost of living and all-inclusive lodging packages.
Focus on Education instead of Promotion:
Marriott International should take advantage of the hospitality education with the help of online and offline training that could improve the standards of serving the target clients. The idea is to gain trust of the potential audience and at the same time allow employees to feel comfortable in the workplace. The workers should be sure they can rely merely on their personal qualities and professional qualifications while working at Marriott International (Ryan).
Evaluation of Marriott International with Porter’s Generic Strategies and Boston Matrix
Brief Explanation of Each Model Used to Analyse Marriott International
Porter’s Generic Strategies
Porter’s Generic Strategies is a model used to examine the company’s operations in the marketplace. It considers such elements as differentiation, the cost leadership, and focus. The cost leadership reflects the ability of the company to gain a larger market share with decreased pricing policies. Besides, it allows the company to remain sustainable and slightly increase its annual revenues. However, companies manage to reduce their expenses at the level below the competing companies. The differentiation strategy allows companies to win the market share by providing their target customers with unique business offers that are deeply valued by the target market. The focus strategies act by combining both the cost leadership and differentiation in the target niche. The purpose is to make the products and services of the company more affordable and beneficial as compared to those of competing companies (Khan).
Boston Matrix
The BCG growth-share matrix takes advantage of business units while evaluating both the market growth rate and the market cap of the industry rivals. The graphical representation of the BCG matrix is provided below:
Figure 1: BCG Matrix (Kotler & Kotler).
Applying Each Model at Marriott International Considering its Effectiveness
Porter’s Generic Strategies
Marriott International takes advantage of the differentiation strategy, which appears to be rather effective as compared to the other companies in the hospitality industry. Porter’s Generic Strategies are applicable at the business level of the hotel group. Marriott International is an international franchise company operating in the board and lodging hotel business. According to the public data of the company, its hotel facilities are in the top list of the global marketplace. Marketers state that such position of the business will remain in the future, referring to its competitive advantages. In particular, it relates to the cost of hospitality products and services, the uniqueness of the business offers, and the overall competitiveness of the entire business model. Porter’s Generic Strategies are applied at the entrepreneurial level to manage all its plans according to the vast brand portfolio. It allows Marriott International to establish a strong market presence through the board and lodging target market. Such approach of the company is aimed at perusing differentiation across all its business offers in the global context (Khan).
Boston Matrix
In the destination hospitality industry, Marriott International along with the other hotel players do not own more than twenty percent of the market share. It is important to acknowledge that the hospitality industry is growing in a geometrical progression globally, including the domestic scale potential. The positioning of Marriott International is in the middle of the Star and Question mark. It means that the company should constantly struggle for its position between the high and low market growth. It refers to both international and domestic positioning. Below is the graphical representation of the Boston Matric on Marriott International (Kotler & Kotler):
Figure 2. Boston Matrix (Kotler & Kotler).
Recommendations on the Application of Each Model at Marriott International
Porter’s Generic Strategies
The improvements of Porter’s Generic Strategies at Marriot International are possible with a better plan of actions towards delivering better products and services. It is necessary to indicate that they should be unique in order to satisfy the needs of target customers. In other words, Marriot International could provide the target market with more options of lodging, including the cheap and premium packages. At the same time, the hotel company should deliver more value than expected from the hospitality offers (Khan).
Boston Matrix
The use of the Boston Matrix could be enhanced with the improvements of the lifecycle for both products and services delivered in the hospitality niche. Marriot International should make it a particular priority to create its portfolio of the appropriate room services across the hotels. The company should continue with the procedure of delivering more value to the target audience through its sophisticated business offers. It will allow Marriot International to add more cash inputs and help the hotel grow its market share. The idea is to develop a larger market cap to grow more efficiently in the target hospitality industry (Kotler & Kotler).
Analysis of the Servqual Techniques’ Effectiveness at Marriott International
Identification of Servqual Techniques and Effectiveness of Applied Models
Servqual Techniques are ideal solutions that could help the companies increase the satisfaction of target customers by offering high-quality hospitality and lodging business offers. The performance of the company should be better compared to the competing firms in a way to deal with all the possible dissatisfied customers. Thus, the Servqual Techniques are the tools used to measure the quality of services through twenty-two service aspects. However, the measuring device applies a set of dimensions, such as reliability, assurance, tangibles, empathy, and responsiveness. Below is a graphical representation of the Servqual Techniques with five gaps that exist between the target customers and the marketers (Scott):
Figure 3: Servqual techniques and five gaps between the customers and marketers (Scott).
Outline of the Application of Servqual Techniques at Marriott International
The use of Servqual Techniques helps Marriott International to operate efficiently in the target hospitality market. Applying Servqual Techniques is beneficial as these models are considered the most reliable to measure the quality of delivered services. Servqual Techniques emphasise the creation of outstanding room service apart from dealing with the possible adverse outcomes. Moreover, the use of Servqual Techniques allows Marriott International to prevent any possible contradictory situations. The use of such models is also considered to be valid and could be changed to meet the needs of the target customers. It also helps to improve the system by addressing the possible suggestions on the quality of hospitality products and services (Scott).
Recommendations on the Use of Strategies to Improve the Servqual Techniques at Marriott International
The possible improvements in utilising the Servqual Techniques correspond to making the models simple to apply in the hospitality business. It refers to managing both the quality of services and the possible outcomes that could have an adverse impact on the hotel reputation. Besides, it directly relates to the gaps in customer and market expectations from the lodging industry (Aubrey).
Conclusion
Marriott International uses S.A.V.E. techniques within its marketing strategy. These techniques are known to work in unison with the standard marketing mix and they are also effective in commercialisation strategies. The research focuses on discussing four elements of S.A.V.E. techniques and applying each of them to the marketing strategy of Marriott International. It is also important to mention the recommendations on the ways Marriott International could improve their operations, and thus enhance the use of S.A.V.E. techniques.
The study also evaluates the use of some marketing models, such as Porter’s Generic Strategies and Boston Matrix, which are suitable to the marketing strategy of Marriott International. The research explains the models in detail by referring to their effectiveness in the context of promoting hospitality services. The application of these models improve the business strategy of Marriott International.
The paper also analyses the effectiveness of Servqual techniques in the marketing territory of the Marriott International. It identifies a range of Servqual techniques and other diversified models. The study outlines their application considering the specifics of these technologies in the business context. It also examines the effectiveness of these techniques in the advancement of marketing strategies of Marriott International. Thus, the research helps to understand the application of the best marketing strategies in the context of the chosen organisation. Finally, the study offers recommendations on applying S.A.V.E. and Servqual strategies to the operations of Marriott International.
