Hilton Hotel's Essay: Services Marketing Mix Analysis.

Analysis of the Marketing Mix

Discuss about the Services Marketing for Hilton Hotel.

Marketing mix plays the vital role in evaluating the desired growth of any of the firm by increasing the sales revenue.  The service marketing is also called as the extended marketing mix and it helps in highlighting the desired features of the products offered by a particular firm. In order to understand the services marketing in a better way, 7Ps of the marketing mix for Hilton hotel has been taken into consideration. Hilton, hotel and resorts were established on 31 may 1919 and has its headquarters, Virginia (Hilton 2016).  It is considered to be the largest hotel brands throughout the different parts of the world. The primary target of the hotel is both the leisure travelers as well as the businessman having locations throughout the major cities.  The managers play the most crucial role in the development of the growth of any of the firm and therefore the use of the effective marketing mix evaluates the business process of the firm throughout the concerned market segments. Delivering the best quality of the services to the customers helps in building the trust of the customers towards the firm. The role of the customers support as well as the employees of the organization plays the most vital role in enhancing the overall performance of the firm.  It becomes very crucial for the marketing managers to focus on the core products of the firm as this provides the desired elevation to the growth and expansion of the business process of the firm.

The marketing mix is defined as the vital tool mainly used by different marketers and the businesses for determining a product or the brand offerings.  There were four elements within the marketing mix but later on three more elements were discovered to provide the competitive advantage to the service industries (Doyle 2011). The services offered by the services industries plays a major role in increasing the number of the customers as well as they opt for more profitability.  

Hilton resorts and hotels are classified as to be the complete service industry. The hotel offers various services to all the customers, which includes meetings, weddings along with the banquet facilities, swimming pools, foods and the beverages services and many others. The products are mainly divided into three of the primary levels such as the core, supporting and the facilitating products. 

Core Product

Product Elements

These can be explained as the primary form of the products. The core products of Hilton Hotels and resorts are the different hotel rooms which are offered to the customers for a definite period of time. Moreover, there are certain other peripheral services offered to the consumers in order to get the desired competitive advantage within the concerned market segments.     

Supporting Product

These consists of those products which are offered to the consumers in order to have the best position within the concerned market segments and to gain the desired competitive advantages over the other competitors concerned.  The offer includes assistance to the customers along with the room service, magazines, and free newspaper.  This enhances the reliability of the customers by working as per their satisfaction.

Facilitating Product 

These consist of those products which help in assisting the customers regarding the consumption of the respective core products of the firm. There are a set of the facilitating products such as offering services to the customers, restaurants, bars and the reservation facilities online.  

Augmented Products

These products include the desired benefits from the peripheral as well as the core products. There are different augmented products such as membership discounts, exterior designs, luxurious designs, health and relaxed atmosphere and high-class restaurants.

It is recommended for the firm to increase the reliability and quality of the products per the satisfaction of the customers. The good quality of services and the products help in increasing the clients within the firm.

Selection of the suitable place plays the vital role in evaluating the business process of the concerned organization.  The distribution strategy needs to be effective as it enhances the desired growth of the firm to a large extent.  It has been seen that the website of the company offers the desired platform for the customers for booking hotels and rooms. On the other hand, the online platform acts as the distributing channel and helps in promoting the desired services and products offered by the Hotel towards the concerned marketplace (Fabozzi and Markowitz 2011).  The distribution of the services of the hotel is done with the help of different social media platforms as the users of the social media is increasing in large numbers. The hotel promotes its services and facilities to a wider group of the people throughout the different market concerned. The selection of the places reflects the distribution strategies related to the services offered by the company.

Place Elements

The selection of the places and the distribution channels should be as to attract a large number of the consumers. The selection of the place needs to be convenient for the respective consumers as it evaluates the expansion of the business methods towards a larger organization. 

The pricing strategies are considered to be of immense importance as they help in increasing the number of the customers for an organization. The pricing strategies bring out the differentiation between the services offered by the competitors of the concerned hotel within the targeted market segments. It is supposed to be very important for any firm to look upon the desired pricing strategies along with the products features it increases the satisfaction of the customers.

Figure: Pricing Matrix

Skimming as the pricing strategy is defined as the way of penetration in which the services, as well as the products, are offered at high prices in comparison with the competitors present within the marketplaces. The major foundation for the option of skimming price plan may encompass the wish to relate goods or services with exclusivity as well as a high superiority.

The premium strategies are supposed to increase the profitability of the company and it also includes various other features as to provide reliable facilities to the customers. Moreover, the managers, as well as the management team, ensure that the services provided to the clients are of excellent quality as it includes higher prices.   The rooms offered by Hilton are four and five stars rooms by which the company can charge all its customers at a premium price range as it also covers intangible advantages other than core products of the company. 

It is recommended that the pricing strategies should be as per the expectation of the clients and should be affordable for them. Moreover, the analysis of the prices offered by the competitors is important. Development of the framework for the determination of the effective pricing strategies will help in expanding the business process of the firm.

The promotional activities play the major role in highlighting the features and the services offered by the concerned organization to wider market segments.   Different companies use different promotional methods in order to promote their products and services within the targeted market segments.   There are different other companies like McDonald corporation, Telstra Corporation, KFC who uses different innovative techniques to promote their products within the targeted market segments area.   Some of the platforms which are used frequently for promotional and advertisement purposes are Social media, televisions, radio channels, and newspapers, distribution of leaflets and brochures and by effective campaigning (Google’s latest accomplishment: refining marketing practice 2012).  The marketing activities can be divided into two broad categories such as online activities and the offline activities.  The offline activities include brochures, magazines, leaflets and newspapers whereas the online activities include Television, Radio, networking, and the internet. Moreover, the use of the social media has played a vital role in promoting the products and services of Hilton Hotels and Resorts.  

Price Elements

The company needs to utilize the latest technologies to promote all its products and services. Therefore, in order to attract a large number of the clients and visitors, the effective use of the social media platforms is very important.

This includes the employees, shareholders and the stakeholders of the concerned firm which helps in evaluating the growth of the organization.   The employee’s needs to be of high standards and well trained and the customer support should be available for 24*7.  They help in evaluating the expansion of the business methods to wider market segments.  The skills and the experiences of the different employees play the crucial role and moreover, there need to be effective communication practices as it will help in understanding the queries of the customers. Furthermore, the manager provides some sort of motivation to improve the desired skills and ability of the employees in order to bring out the positive outcomes for the concerned firm (Hooley, Piercy and Nicoulaud 2012). The above-mentioned description reflects that the people play vital role in providing the desired elevation in the growth as well as the expansion of their business process. 

It is strongly recommended that effective Human resource policies need to be developed for recruiting skilled employees.  Suitable means of training is needed in order to improvise the desired skills and the ability of the employees.

It is evident to know that the use of innovative tools as well as the innovative techniques facilitates the enhancement of the work process (Hughes et al. 2012).   Improving work and the business processes as per the suitability and satisfactions of the customers are supposed to be the most important for the organization. It has been seen that throughout the Hotel industries the services delivered by the employees as well as the hotel are considered to be of great importance as it enhances the satisfaction of the clients. 

The recommendations are clear that there is a crucial need to improve the overall production and the services as to attract a large number of the customers towards the business.  High level of the services is required to assist the clients with greater satisfaction.  

These consist of the tangible and the intangible resources of the particular corporation. The tangible thing reflects the brand presence of the firm, uniforms of the employees, logos, luxurious rooms, and interior as well as exteriors decorations (Maclaran 2010). On the other hand, the documents such as the files, brochures, and the services card are the physical evidence of the company which evaluates the business process of the firm. 

Promotional Elements

The physical resources reveal the ongoing business methods and the documents used for the promotional activity relating to the products and services of the firm. Therefore, it is recommended the company should use digital communication and security system for all its physical evidences. 

The use of the service marketing theory and concepts helps in evaluating the strategies in order to provide best services to the customers (Marketing services 2013). The firm has nearly 540 hotels and resorts throughout 78 different countries across different continents of the world and therefore it becomes very important to enhance the quality of the services as to become the leader in the concerned market   segments.  The theories and concepts of the service marketing highlight the desired fact that the promotional campaigns and advertisements play a crucial role in increasing the productivity and profitability of the corporation (Safir 2013).  There is the certain point which needs to be recognized such as the problem, endorsements, word of mouth, personal selling and the considerations.   Individual advertising is possibly the mainly influential promotional device for the different service marketers (the marketing mix: a review, 2014). Much business train selling public to give professional level leadership to customers that reflect the service throughout the finest promising light. Clients ask the question as well as discover out how the different service providers are able to congregate their actual needs, whilst the concerned sales personnel focus on tailoring different types of services to fit the personality necessities of a diverse clientele.

The identification of the key areas is important in order to enhance the quality of the services offered to the respective customers. Some of the crucial areas for improvement are online services, inviting the suggestions from customers,   effectiveness in the customer care, setting up of effective and efficient communication systems, carrying out internal audits, setting up of the regulations, the establishment of the effective management system and personal training and motivation to the concerned employees (Tybout and Calder 2010). Facebook and Twitter are supposed to have a large number of the users as compared with different other social media platforms.  Identification of the weaknesses of the firm in delivering the best services and rectifying it will boost the growth of the concerned organization. 

Services and the product offerings need to be of great quality and as per the satisfaction of the customers as this helps in evaluating the desired growth of the concerned firm within the targeted market segments. The numbers of social media users have increased significantly throughout the different parts of the world and therefore, it becomes very easy for the companies to target and attract the customers towards their particular business processes by offering attractive features.   As Hilton Hotel is engaged in delivering the premium services throughout 78 countries across different continents of the world and so it needs to improve the desired skills and the capabilities of its employees. Next, there should be an improvement in the communicational practices as this will help in understanding the appropriate requirements of the clients and to assist them as per their desired need.

Conclusion

Marketing mix has evolved greatly in enhancing the growth and the expansion of a particular business over wide market segments.  This particular research paper reflects the use of the marketing mix consisting of seven elements for Hilton Hotels and resorts.  The seven elements of the marketing mix are Product, price, place, promotions, people, processes and physical evidence.  The selection of the place needs to be convenient for the respective consumers as it evaluates the expansion of the business methods towards a larger organization. Hilton is one of the leading firms throughout the hotel industry operating in 6 continents and has created its brand name by working as per the satisfaction of the customers. The hotel promotes its services and facilities to a wider group of the people throughout the different market concerned. The marketing or promotional activities can be divided into two broad categories such as online activities and the offline activities.  The paper critically evaluates the detailed analysis of each of the elements of the marketing mix for Hilton hotels.

References

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