Situational Analysis And Marketing Essay For Travelodge Group Of Hotels In UK.

Situational Analysis

Question:

Discuss about the Sustainable Tourism Development Strategy.

The service sector marketing s concerned with the management of various processes of manufacturing and production during the business activities within the tourism and hospitality industry. This will include a situational analysis of the Travelodge Group of Hotels in UK and the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the company will also be assessed here. The problems faced by the organisation will be illustrated here along with how it has created complexities during the management of feasibility of a project (Armstrong, 2012). The alternative solutions will be provided here along with suitable actions that can be undertaken for making the implementation plan successful and even apply contingency plans for overcoming the issues with ease and effectiveness.

Travelodge Group of hotels is a business organisation within the hospitality and tourism industry that provides over 500 hotels to choose from for the customers and offer great value with the upgraded rooms, good food and other services that can keep the customers satisfied and come back for more to enjoy and relax. It is a great choice for the groups because of the comfortable room services with shower and all these kinds of services are offered at great value for money to meet the demands and preferences of the customers (Atwal & Williams, 2017). The hotel chains are offered with free Wifi internet access with no booking fees as well by Travelodge Group of Hotels, UK.

The situational analysis for Travelodge is done by using the 5Cs analysis and Porter’s five forces analysis, which can further help to create a marketing plan. The marketing plan creation would allow Travelodge to communicate the benefits of the products and services offered to the consumers’ needs and requirements. With the help of situational analysis, a proper marketing plan is created for achieving the goals and objectives within the tourism and hospitality industry (Barkauskas et al., 2015).

The 5C analysis is used for analyzing both the internal and external business environment to identify the problematic areas of marketing and assess the changes that can be done. The components of this model are company, customers, competitors, collaborator and climatic conditions.

Company—The business organisation’s vision, strategies, culture and product line are understood along with the potential problems that can create a negative impact on the business functioning. The vision of the organisation is to deliver value for money services in leisure and business travel (Bowie et al., 2016).

5Cs Analysis

Customers—The situational analysis is done by using this framework and understand the customers, whose needs and requirements keep on changing from time to time. The targeted market segments, size of market and growth have been assessed too. Travelodge has a good market share and it has provided its services to multiple market segments (E. Dobbs, 2014).

Competitors—The analysis of competitors is done t understand the external environment and gain in-depth knowledge of the company’s strengths, weaknesses, positioning of services and threats of competitors. Few competitors are Premier Inn, Holiday Inn, etc.

Collaborators—These are the external stakeholders including suppliers, business partners, etc. who manage good relationships with the businesses and

Climate—The climatic here means the macro environmental factors which has been done with the use of PEST analysis for Travelodge Group of Hotels, UK (Kozak & Martin, 2012).

The rules and regulations followed at Travelodge are dependent on the political environment and have been set by the Government to manage its operations. The Digital Economy Act 2010 was introduced to reduce the inappropriate sharing of files and information and prevent the infringement of copyrights and trademarks of the company too. The immigration policies were utilized to ensure that the issues related to the lack of hospitality sectors resulting from caps could be reduced largely (Leonidou et al., 2013).

To maintain a stable economic condition, the organisation has provided good quality services at lower prices through the hotel chains in United Kingdom for meeting the expectations of the customers and ensured high level of customer satisfaction.
Social Factors

The online booking procedures have made it convenient for the service users and it has become a major trend nowadays. Due to this, more customers are attracted and they have even got discounts by booking the rooms in any of the hotel chains of Travelodge at a much reasonable cost. Many individuals were also provided with employment opportunities in the hotel chains of Travelodge, which has enhanced its brand image reputation too (Leung et al., 2013).
Technological Factors

With the advancement in technology and communication, booking hotels has become faster and easier and the market is made more competitive as well. Various market segments are attracted easily and with the involvement of social media, the company has created a good image among the customers and made them informed about the kinds of services delivered at the different hotel chains of Travelodge in UK.
Legal Factors

PEST Analysis

The laws, rules and regulations were implemented for managing the business operations with ease while the introduction of new laws has helped the company to capture different market segments, attracted new customers and retained the existing customers too (Line & Runyan, 2012).

The managers of Travelodge, UK have found it difficult to access credit because of the inconvenience of finding the right hotels for the customers. The new companies within the emerging markets have fewer resources to sustain in the marketplace, because of which, the threat of new entrants is low.

The demands of consumers change from time to time and regardless of the changes in costs of services, they will keep on consuming (Mok, Sparks & Kadampully, 2013). There are rivalries in business such as Premier Inn, Holiday Inn, etc. which have given stiff competition to Travelodge UK.

There are numerous substitutes for the services related to the hotel chains nowadays including camping, caravan clubs, country houses, which have changed the behaviors of consumers too by shifting to those rather than availing the services of the hotels (Reihanian et al., 2012).

The furniture and fittings present at the hotels are based on the quality of raw materials and resources provided by the suppliers. As Travelodge is a large company that manages services of a wide range of hotel chains, so the bargaining power of suppliers is quite high.

Travelodge do hold a huge amount of capital to develop new hotels and here the bargaining power of consumers is comparatively low (Serra, Correia & Rodrigues, 2015). For the smaller hotels, the bargaining power is high while for the larger hotels, the bargaining power is high.

The hotels chain services are offered at affordable prices and with the help of new technologies, Travelodge UK manages account cards for the customers, which creates ease of booking. The company is even committed to its sustainability campaign and has focused on its vision properly to achieve the business goals and objectives.

The luxury services are not up to the mark and the customers’ services are limited too. The hotel chains are not suitable for family meetings and large parties, which may sometimes require more space (Sigala, Christou & Gretzel, 2012). Being known as a luxury hotel chain company, Travelodge is far behind the kinds of services that a luxury hotel offers.

There are enough scopes to expand business globally, especially the European market where tourism is one of the major sources of income. The business partnerships with other companies can attract more customers, enhance its reputation and generate more revenue in business (Sotiriadis & Van Zyl, 2013).

Marketing Plan

Most of the budget hotels in UK are price competitive, because of which, customers can get inclined to those. The competition by other rivalries is another threat whereas the enhanced size and accommodation facilities can also make the customers avail the services of some other hotels. Travelodge though has created a sustainable position in UK; still there are no signs of international expansion, which is a major threat too.

One of the major problems faced by Travelodge group of hotels, UK is that the services offered by the company are not up to the luxury standards that a luxury hotel offers. Another problem is the lack of global business expansion outside UK, especially in the European market segments, where tourism and hospitality is one of the major sources of income (Testa & Sipe, 2013). The bargaining power of suppliers and consumers can also create problems, because if the suppliers are not provided with good amounts of money, then the raw materials and resources will not be of good qualities, which might deteriorate the quality of services offered to the customers and make them unsatisfied.

The issue selected here was the kinds of services that could not meet the standards of a luxury hotel. Customers expect luxury services from the Travelodge hotel chains, UK and so the company must provide them with the best quality services to keep them satisfied and create a positive mindset among them to influence their buying behaviors (Armstrong, 2012).

The issues that are being faced by the Travelodge group of hotels is based on the services that are being provided by the hotels. The hospitality industry to which the hotels belong mainly focuses on the services that are being provided. Therefore, in order to make improvements in the situation of the hotels in the market, the certain steps that the hotels might focus on are being discussed in this section of the analysis. The most important consideration, which must be undertaken by the hotels, is based on the requirements of the consumers (Mok, Sparks & Kadampully, 2013).  The industry survives on the services that are being provided to the consumers; therefore, the hotels must improve the quality of the services based on the expectations of their external benefactors, the consumers.

The information lays a major role in making the clients aware of the whereabouts of the hotel and the facilities that are being provided by the hotel to their clients (Testa & Sipe, 2012). It helps the people to judge the situation of the hotel and make a choice from among the others in the market.

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats analysis

Proper planning of the services must be done to make sure that the promised services are delivered. The planning process also enhances the integration of the internal and the external departments of the hotel, which helps in maintaining the quality of hotel services and keep the customers satisfied (Atwal & Williams, 2017). 

Among the various alternatives, the break even analysis can be the most suitable to determine the volume of sales and identify the remaining capacity when the breakeven point is reached. The budgeting procedure would also be useful for creating a plan about how to invest money and make necessary changes and improvements to enhance the quality of services and ensure that the luxury standards of the hotels are met. The organization must make sure that the clients receive the correct information through the appointment of the manager or a team of experts who would be looking after the information technology of the line of hotels (Bowie et al., 2016). The organization must make sure that the clients receive the correct information through the appointment of the manager or a team of experts who would be looking after the information technology of the line of hotels. Technological implementations would drive the business processes and make the organisation achieve the desired positive outcomes with ease and effectiveness as well.

The group of hotels can bring in the improvements through the modification of their services in a number of ways. The ways are being enumerated in order to better understand the organizational needs of the hotels.

Monitoring over the services is an important steps that the organization must take in order to assess the services being provided to the clients.  Monitoring the services helps the organization in understand the basic requirements of the clients based on the feedback that the client gives after receiving the service (Brotherton, 2012). The feedbacks will be helping the organization in modifying the services according to the client’s needs. 

The implementation plans help in making the services more efficient based on the plans that are being formulated to undertake the development of the organization. For implementing the strategies, the organization must take steps that were enumerated in this section of the analysis. 

• The organization must identify the challenges faced in the communication process and make modifications in the channels of communication. It helps in making the most of the human resource that works for the company.
• The organization must take board meetings in order to make the employees aware of the changes that the organization had undertaken in the system of the facilities (Sisson & Adams, 2013).
• The organization must appoint a manager in order to monitor over the services that the organization promises to provide. It helps in keeping a track of the client’s needs.

The contingencies that might be faced by the company while implementing the steps are due to human resource that the organization selects for the job roles and the applicability of the concerned person. The major consideration undertaken by the organization is based on the services that are being provided to the clients. Therefore, the company must choose the perfect person for the job in order to retain the quality of the services.

Recommendations

Conclusion

The service sector marketing report was developed to conduct a situational analysis considering the business organisation Travelodge in UK. The manager analysed the internal and external environment of the organisation and understand the core competencies, strengths, capabilities, customers and business environment within which the company operated. The Porter’s 5 forces, SWOT and PESTlE frameworks were used to identify the problems faced and then develop proper measures such as budgeting technique, breakeven analysis, etc, to overcome the issues properly.

References

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