Marketing in tourism

Contents
 
Abstract
Introduction
Task 1 — Research Planningfor Decision Making
Task 2 – QuestionnaireDesign and Fieldforce Instructions
Task 3 — Information forMarketing Decisions
Conclusion
Bibliography
 

Abstract
Growth intourism globally has forced some standardization in the facilities madeavailable to guests at the establishments. This ensures that guests can have agood feel of what to expect. An increase in business travel too has come aboutas businesses have gone global. A substantial amount of traffic is generatedthrough these business travelers and the growth in this segment is directlylinked to the growth in international business at the hotel location.
Global hotelsand motels, not including casino hotels, generated a volume of business at thelevel of $ 488.6 billion in 2006. Revenue contribution of other accommodationproviders who provided accommodation and food services are included in theestimate. This was a rise of 6.4% over the revenue of the earlier year. By theyear 2011, the hotel and motel revenue is expected to rise by 31.2% to reach$640.9 billion. The biggest contributor is Europe, contributing 41.8 % byvalue. Hotels & motels industry generated revenues of $ 90 billion or 18.4%.
Marketingresearchers need a broad understanding of marketing in order to communicate andwork effectively with marketing professionals. The main research objectives inmarketing are to suggest that unstructured and informal research designs arelikely to be used when attempting to arrive at a more clear description of anapparent problem; to indicate that exploratory research designs are typicallyused when researchers are trying to identify a potential marketing opportunity.
 

Introduction
Thehospitality industry is about providing hospitality to travelers. Thehospitality typically includes accommodation, food, beverages and otherrecreational facilities.
The hotelshould concentrate and keep up the good work even if the business is alreadystrong. Each relevant factor needs to be rated according to its importance-high, medium, or low for the business as a whole. This Hotel Industry utilizesthe latest marketing principles and information technology updates to get arespectable position in the world market. In the face the worldwide economicrecession, the guests have become more sensitive to price which calls foreffective formulation of the pricing strategy.
Task 1 — Research Planning for Decision Making
A hotel is anestablishment which provides paid lodging usually for a short time. Theseestablishments often provide additional services such as a restaurant, swimmingpool, health club and even child care. Conference and meeting rooms are alsoprovided by some for conventions and meetings for groups.
TheGrande Bretagne Hotel is a 273-room hotel (Standard – 233, Executive – 30,Suites — 10). It is located on the corner of Marloes Road and Cromwell Road inWest London. The hotel opened in March 2007. It is of a four star standard withrooms of approximately 29 square meters.
Eachroom has minibar, remote control TV with choice of satellite channels, radio,in-house movies and extension speaker in bathroom, direct dial telephone withconnection points by both bed and writing desk. Individually controlled airconditioning and heating, well lit adequately sized desk area, hairdryer anddual voltage shaver outlet, toiletries in bathroom, trouser press, hospitalitytray.
Theexecutive rooms and suites additionally include a generally higher quality offurnishings and fittings selection of magazines bathrobes and a higher standardof toiletries, telephone in the bathroom.
Itis part of a French national hotel group that has 45 hotels in France and lastyear started expanding into Europe, four hotels have already been opened inParis, Berlin, Madrid and London and the company is actively seeking sites inother major European capitals.
TheGrande Bretagne Hotel’s mission is to provide quality hospitality services toits guests in a comprehensive and cost competitive manner.
«Thehotel should concentrate and keep up the good work even if the business isalready strong» (Hotel Front Office Management by James A. Bardi March 2006,Hardcover, 4th edition). Each relevant factor needs to be rated according toits importance- high, medium, or low for the business as a whole. The GrandeBretagne Hotel Industry utilizes the latest marketing principles andinformation technology updates to get a respectable position in the worldmarket.
Everybusiness with the global prospects in the multi dimensional, volatileatmosphere has to introspect its strategies taking into consideration thestrengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The hotel industry also tagsalong the line and has to undertake smart and innovative moves to woo itsclientele who expect best possible service at competitive rates.
Thoughthe sales and market conditions are changing rapidly, the marketing principlesare not changing. Hotel owners and managements tend to be more inclined towardsmarketing and sales rather than cost control, constantly seeking to maximizeroom sales — double- bed occupancies. All this may fail and such a scenario mayresult in profit problem on cyclic basis, which may sometimes lead the hotelinto liquidation or forced sale.
Therequired first step in SWOT analysis is the definition of the desired end stateor objective. The definition of objective must be explicit and approved by allparticipants in the process. This first step must be performed carefullybecause failure to identify correctly the end state aimed for leads to wastedresources and possibly failure of the enterprise.
Strengths are attributes of theorganization that are helpful to the achievement of the objective. Weaknessesare attributes of the organization that are harmful to the achievement of theobjective. Opportunities are external conditions that are helpful to theachievement of the objective. Threats are external conditions that are harmfulto the achievement of the objective.
Theaim of any SWOT analysis should be to isolate the key «issues» that will beimportant to the future of the hotel; and that subsequent marketing planningwill address.
Followingdiagram indicates the Strengths and Weakness Analysis of the Grande BretagneHotel.
Strengths
–  England’s rich cultural heritage
–  International hotel chain
–  All rooms have suite facilities
–  Demand far exceeds Supply
–  Global economical turn-up
–  New business opportunities
Weaknesses
–  Capital intensive
–  Lack of adequate Man power
–  Regional imbalance of hotels
–  Long gestation period
–  Poor infrastructure and cleanliness
–  Huge labor turnover
–  Less corporate ownership
Opportunities
–  Boom in tourism
–  Privatization of airlines
–  Increase in disposable incomes
–  Boost in tax concessions
Threats
–  Sensitive to disturbances in the country
–  Competition from other European countries
–  High service and luxury taxes may render England as an unviable destination.
–  Lack of trained entrepreneurs
SWOTanalysis allows author to formulate the main objectives of the Grande BretagneHotel:
— Increasesales volume.
— Increaserevenue.
— Achieve orincrease profits.
— Increase ormaintain market share.
— Eliminatecompetition.
Factorsinfluencing price-determination:
— Productionand distribution costs.
— Substitutegoods available.
— Reaction ofdistributors.
— Reaction ofconsumers.
Profitabilityis driven by efficient operations mainly, as many costs are fixed in nature.Several recent changes in the industry causing profitability pressures. Growthin internet reservation channels has helped improve the industry occupancy rateof hotels. However, it has caused a cost pressure too. Increased sales throughthese intermediaries has allowed them to charge higher amounts of commissionsand degraded the ability of the players to control pricing or the presentationof their products. Indirect competition through alternative forms of holidayaccommodation, are increasing. Holiday homes, timeshare accommodation and suchother shared accommodation schemes are biting into the shares of the mainstreamhotel and motel industry.
Theoutlook for the hospitality market in England is optimistic and will continueto remain so, in my opinion. The economy’s buoyancy, initiatives to improveinfrastructure, growth in the aviation and real estate sectors and easing ofrestrictions on foreign direct investment will fuel demand for hotels acrossstar categories in the majority of markets. Several international chains havebeen established or enhanced their presence here. England is one of the world’sfastest growing tourism markets.
ExternalenvironmentEconomic Environment
Positive forces include the generally prosperous economy that iscurrently in place, full employment, rising wages, and low inflation, leadingmore people to be able and willing to spend money and to get away for sometime. The Grande Bretagne Hotel offers an affordable alternative to a flyawaydestination. There are conference, banqueting and leisure facilities.Geographical/Competitive Environment
The Grande Bretagne Hotel has:
— The brasserie/coffee shop seating 120 people and open for all daydining and an a la carte restaurant seating 70 people opens every day for lunchand dinner only; a 50 seat bar adjoining the a la carte restaurant open in theevenings and providing light entertainment (piano music).
— A lobby/lounge bar seating 120 people open from 1.00 a.m. until midnight, seven days a week, suitable for informal business meetings and rendezvous.
— A ballroom — 400 square metres allowing for 260 people classroom style.Eight syndicate rooms between 30 and 50 square metres.
-A small swimming pool, sauna and steam rooms.
-A gym with a selection of exercise equipment and a small room foraerobics, yoga lessons.
— A business centre.
Thesesurroundings will attract and retain guests who appreciate such refinedenvironments.Legal/Political Environment
Asfaced by all businesses, the proper insurance needs shall be met and alloperations and policy manuals shall be reviewed by appropriate legal experts.The facility will obtain all the necessary building permits prior toconstruction. Present facility zoning allows for this proposed use, includingbars, restaurant, and business centre.Technology Environment
TheGrande Bretagne Hotel utilizes the existing software packages available in thehotel industry, including: room and facility management database, controlledbar and inventory measuring systems, and room key cards that allow patrons tocharge directly to their room account, this technology shall assist managementin controlling costs, reducing cash management, and maximizing revenue.
«Networkingwithin business and civic groups is important; even if the business results arenot immediately felt, it is an excellent public relations opportunity» (www.hotelinteractive.com).Live piano, or jazz style trio, on the weekends will add excitement to thehotel and draw community residents and guests from other properties.Social Environment
SmokingBan may have an affect on businesses in the future. The implications of anoverall ban would have on the industry would be more so in the pub sector,hotels having a more family orientated and diverse market segment could relishthe smoke free environments.
Consumer’sbehavior
Buyer behavioris focused upon the needs of individuals, groups and organizations. Tounderstand consumer buyer behavior is to understand how the person interactswith the marketing mix. As described by Cohen (1991), the marketing mix inputs(or the four P’s of price, place, promotion, and product) are adapted andfocused upon the consumer.
The psychologyof each individual considers the product or service on offer in relation totheir own culture, attitude, previous learning, and personal perception. Theconsumer then decides whether or not to purchase, where to purchase, the brandthat he or she prefers, and other choices.
People todayare looking for prevention rather than just cure. In 1994, 32% of NewZealanders took some form of supplement and in the latest study in 1997 thisfigure has increased to 74%. Each different product market consists of buyers,and buyers are all different in one way or another. They may differ in theirwants, resources, locations, buying attitudes and buying practices. Becausebuyers have unique needs and wants, each buyer is potentially a separatemarket.
Consumerinvolvement is the perceived personal importance and interest consumers attachto the acquisition, consumption, and disposition of a good, service, or anidea. As their involvement increases, consumers have a greater motivation toattend to, comprehend, and elaborate on information pertaining to the purchase.(Mowen & Minor, 1998, p.64). In the case of low involvement, consumer viewsa purchase as unimportant and regards the outcome of his or her decision asinconsequential. Because the purchase carries a minimal degree of personal relevanceor identification, the individual feels there is little or nothing to be gainedfrom attending to the details of a purchase. (Hanna & Wozniak, 2001,p.290). High involvement purchases are those that are important to the consumereither from a financial, social, or psychological point of views. The purchaseis characterized by personal relevance and identification with the outcome.(Hanna & Wozniak, 2001, p.291). An individual anticipates a potentiallysignificant gain from expending time and effort in comparison-shopping beforebuying. For example, a girl purchasing an expensive ball dress has a highdegree of personal identification. Therefore, a high level of felt involvementcan increase an individual’s willingness to search for, process, and transmitinformation about a purchase.
The mostimportant factors influencing a consumer’s involvement level are theirperceived risks. The purchase of any product involves a certain amount of risk,which may include:
— ProductFailure – risk that the product will not perform as expected.
— Financial –risk that the outcome will harm the consumer financially.
— Operational– risk that consists of alternative means of performing the operation ormeeting the need.
— Social –risk friends or acquaintances will deride the purchase.
— Psychological – risk that the product will lower the consumer’s self-image.
— Personal –risk that the product will physically harm the buyer.
In a highdegree of perceived risk, decisions in this case may require significantfinancial commitments, involve social or psychological implications. In thecase of low degree of perceived risk, decisions in this case may require smallor no financial commitments that involve social or psychological implications.Consumers may already established criteria for evaluating products, services,or brands within the choice category.
In highinvolvement situations consumers are usually more aroused and more attentive,which expands their short-term memory capacity to its maximal extent. In lowinvolvement conditions, the arousal level is apt to be low, so consumers focusrelatively little memory capacity on the stimulus. (Mowen & Minor, 1998,p.101). As involvement levels increases, consumers may allocate more capacityto a stimulus.
Evaluativecriteria are the various features a consumer looks for in response to aparticular problem. The number of evaluative criteria used by consumers dependson the product, the consumer and the situation. ((Neal, Quester & Hawkins,2000, p.5.3-5.4 & p.5.22) Formal Clothing In the process of evaluation, astudent will evaluate the characteristics of various formal clothing and choosethe one that is most likely to fulfil her or her needs. The evaluative criteriaof the students include tangible cost, social and psychological measures. Theimportance of particular evaluative criteria differs from consumer to consumer.The decision to purchase formal clothing is base on the following evaluativecriteria:
— Price.
— Quality.
— Brand.
— Style.
— Store.
The evaluativecriteria regarding the purchase of formal clothing are complex due to the levelof perceived risk involved with such a high involvement purchase. Typically,high involvement planned purchases (such as formal clothing) follow the morecomplex compensatory decision rules. A compensatory model involves studentsevaluating each formal wear they view across all need criteria. In thisinstance, one formal wear may compensate for weaknesses in one criterion.
However, oftenconsumers will go through different stages of rules, that is, they will utilizea range of rules when evaluating alternatives with different attributes beingevaluated by different rules at each stage. There are certain criteriaregarding the purchase of formal clothing that the students is not willing toaccept at a minimum level. Style and price are two attributes that was foundfrom the interviews. Students are not prepared to lower their expectations;therefore the compensatory model does not always apply in this situation. Thesetwo criteria are more non-compensatory rules. Initially a disjunctive approachwas adopted by respondents, where they would evaluate all formal clothing thatmeet their requirements concerning style. Then they would move onto an elimination-by-aspectsapproach. This involved them choosing formal clothing that rated highest ontheir next most important criteria (price), and then continuing through theother attributes (brand, quality) until only one formal wear remained. Insummary, the formal clothing purchase decision involves both compensatory andnon-compensatory models depending on the stages of the evaluation.
Thereare any numbers of factors that affect a consumer’s decision making. Travel professionalsnot only have to appeal to the ego of the consumer with a Hotel’s service that makesthem feel important, they must also deal with outside influencers – likefriends, family, colleagues, and others. Understanding consumer behavior is oneof the top jobs for all marketers. To sell a service, one must understand theirconsumer and what motivates them.
Thereare a number of strategies that can be employed to obtain loyalty fromconsumers. As all business people know, it is cheaper to keep a customer thanto get a new one. However, loyalty in today’s competitive environment is hardto come by. By studying psychological factors that play into a consumer’sloyalty and commitment to a hotel and its service, programs to garner thatloyalty have a better chance of succeeding. A traveler will earn points orrewards by staying at the Grande Bretagne Hotel. Rewarding repeat travelerswith discounts or a points system whereby the traveler can earn points towardextra amenities or prizes like travel books, digital cameras, etc. can be aseffective as expensive mailings or other marketing campaigns designed to retainHotel’s customers.
Advertisersoften show how the benefits of their products aid consumers as they performcertain roles. Typically the underlying message of this promotional approach isto suggest that using the advertiser’s product will help raise one’s status inthe eyes of others while using a competitor’s product may have a negativeeffect on status.
Motivationrelates to human’s desire to achieve a certain outcome. Many internal factors wehave already discussed can affect a customer’s desire to achieve a certainoutcome but there are others. For instance, when it comes to making purchasedecisions customers’ motivation could be affected by such issues as financialposition, time constraints, overall value, and perceived risk.
Motivation isalso closely tied to the concept of Involvement, which relates to how mucheffort the consumer will exert in making a decision. Highly motivated consumerswill want to get mentally and physically involved in the purchase process. Notall services have a high percentage of highly involved customers but marketerswho market services that may lead to high level of consumer involvement shouldprepare options that will be attractive to this group. For instance, marketersshould make it easy for consumers to learn about hotel’s services (e.g.,information on website, free video preview).
Marketingplan
The marketingplan accurately describes the market, customers, service and the competition.Marketing plan plays an important role in the hospitality industry. It isessential for the development, growth and sustenance of a business.
Forthe first few years the Grande Bretagne Hotel will need to be aggressive inattracting new guests. The marketing strategy is subject to change upon guestfeedback and surveys.
The hotel currently has the following business mix.Market Segment Percentage Rack Walk-in 6 Conferences/meetings 11 Corporate 36 Leisure 28 Airline Crew 8 Events 11 Target Markets — Consumer:
— New visitorstraveling to the area;
— Middle- andupper-income bracket;
— Returningvisitors to the area;
— Businessesneeding to hold small overnight planning and strategy sessions;
— Area weddingparties.
TheGrande Bretagne Hotel will aim to attract business guests and their partnersneeding to hold planning or strategy sessions away from the office in order toeven out revenues throughout the week.
TheGrande Bretagne Hotel will maintain a front office staff member throughout thenight so guests are able to get answers to any question or service when theyneed it. This flexibility is especially attractive to the business traveler.Clients will be able to contact the Grande Bretagne Hotel by telephone, fax,and e-mail.
Bygiving careful consideration to customer responsiveness, The Grande BretagneHotel’s goal will be to meet and exceed every service expectation of its hoteland lounge services. Its guests can expect quality service and a total qualitymanagement (TQM) philosophy throughout all levels of the staff.
Task2 – Questionnaire Design and Fieldforce Instructions
A validquestionnaire measures what it claims to measure. In reality, many fail to dothis. For example, a self completion questionnaire that seeks to measurepeople’s food intake may be invalid because it measures what they say they haveeaten, not what they have actually eaten. Similarly, responses onquestionnaires that ask general practitioners how they manage particularclinical conditions differ significantly from actual clinical practice. Aninstrument developed in a different time, country, or cultural context may notbe a valid measure in the group you are studying.
Reliable questionnairesyield consistent results from repeated samples and different researchers overtime. Differences in results come from differences between participants, notfrom inconsistencies in how the items are understood or how different observersinterpret the responses. A standardized questionnaire is one that is writtenand administered so all participants are asked the precisely the same questionsin an identical format and responses recorded in a uniform manner.Standardizing a measure increases its reliability.
Just because aquestionnaire has been piloted on a few of your colleagues, used in previousstudies, or published in a peer reviewed journal does not mean it is eithervalid or reliable. The detailed techniques for achieving validity, reliability,and standardization are beyond the scope of this series. If you plan to developor modify a questionnaire yourself, you must consult a specialist text on theseissues.
There are twomain objectives in designing a questionnaire:
To maximizethe proportion of subjects answering our questionnaire — that is, the responserate.
To obtainaccurate relevant information for our survey.
To maximizeour response rate, we have to consider carefully how we administer thequestionnaire, establish rapport, explain the purpose of the survey, and remindthose who have not responded. The length of the questionnaire should beappropriate. In order to obtain accurate relevant information, we have to givesome thought to what questions we ask, how we ask them, the order we ask themin, and the general layout of the questionnaire.
As discussedin last month’s issue, there are three potential types of information:
Information weare primarily interested in-that is, dependent variables.
Informationwhich might explain the dependent variables-that is, independent variables.
Other factorsrelated to both dependent and independent factors which may distort the resultsand have to be adjusted for — that is, confounding variables.
Let us take asan example a national survey to find out students’ factors predicting the levelof certain knowledge, skills, and attitudes at the end of their undergraduatemedical course. The dependent factors include the students’ level of relevantknowledge, skills, and attitudes. The independent factors might includestudents’ learning styles, GCSE and A level grades, socioeconomic status,ethnicity, etc. Confounding variables might include the types and quality ofteaching in each medical school.
Sometimes,additional questions are used to detect the consistency of the subject’sresponses. For example, there may be a tendency for some to tick either«agree» or «disagree» to all the questions. Additionalcontradictory statements may be used to detect such tendencies.
There areseveral ways of administering questionnaires. They may be self administered orread out by interviewers. Self administered questionnaires may be sent by post,email, or electronically online. Interview administered questionnaires may beby telephone or face to face.
Advantages ofself administered questionnaires include:
— Cheap andeasy to administer.
— Preserveconfidentiality.
— Can becompleted at respondent’s convenience.
— Can beadministered in a standard manner.
Advantages ofinterview administered questionnaires include:
— Allow participationby illiterate people.
— Allowclarification of ambiguity.
The exactmethod of administration also depends on who the respondents are. For example,university lecturers may be more appropriately surveyed by email; older peopleby telephone interviews; train passengers by face to face interviews.
Piloting andevaluation of questionnaires. Given the complexity of designing aquestionnaire, it is impossible even for the experts to get it right the firsttime round. Questionnaires must be pretested — that is, piloted — on a smallsample of people characteristic of those in the survey. In a small survey,there might be only pretesting of the drafted questionnaire. In a large survey,there may be three phases of piloting. In the first phase we might ask eachrespondent in great detail about a limited number of questions: effects ofdifferent wordings, what they have in mind when they give a particular answer,how they understand a particular word, etc. In the second phase the wholequestionnaire is administered by interviewers. Analysis of the responses andthe interviewers’ comments are used to improve the questionnaire. Ideally,there should be sufficient variations in responses among respondents; eachquestion should measure different qualities — that is, the responses betweenany two items should not be very strongly correlated — and the non-responserate should be low. In the third phase the pilot test is polished to improvethe question order, filter questions, and layout.
Usuallyrespondents spent an average of 33 minutes answering a variety of questionsabout their «backgrounds, tastes, and their shopping and media consumptionhabits».
The GrandeBretagne Hotel most (8,852) came from Britain, followed by the U.S. (3,747),and Norway (3,244). The fewest responses were from Venezuela (197), Portugal(175), and Austria (90). And responses was split pretty equally betweengenders: 51 % of survey takers were female, 49 % male. Most respondents were inthe 13- to 15-year-old age group (60 %), followed by 16- to 18-year-olds (19%). Only 12 % were 12 and under (which is odd since players are supposed to beat least 13 to play), and 10 % were 19 and older.
Task3 — Information for Marketing Decisions
Marketresearch consists of two primary categories: primary data and secondary data.
Primary datais made of information obtained through focus groups, surveys, and observation.
Secondary datais provided by another group, such as the Census Bureau, a professionalassociation, or think tank. A problem with using secondary data sources istheir information may not relate to your target market or geographic area.
Obtainingprimary data yourself is time consuming and can be expensive; but how muchmoney have you or your company wasted on advertising or activities that endedup not generating the business you thought they would?
There is needto have some primary data in customers’ buying patterns. If there is no asystem that provides you with mechanisms to breakdown data into various groups,then there is need to begin investigating how to acquire one.
As the hotelbegan to study expenses, it discovered that managers were over-schedulingemployees on the weekends and even paying overtime to deal with the expectedincrease in customers that marketing was driving in. Naturally most businesswould come in on the weekend and the facility would staff up on Fridayafternoons and evenings. When check-in data was examined, management discoveredthat most visitors were checking in on Saturday morning. By making schedulingadjustments and cross-training employees, the hotel was able to use feweremployees to handle the influx of customers. More employees were given time offon Friday nights, raising employee morale which resulted in improved customerservice. Soon, expenses were down, revenue was up, and most importantly,profits were up.
None of thatwould have happened if management didn’t take the time to look at thestatistics, analyze the data, and make adjustments.
Surveys canalso provide important information a business can use to improve the customerexperience, the employee experience, or extend the brand through additionalproduct offerings.
Surveys arelabor intensive since they take a bit of time to create, administer, thencompile and analyze the data. If spending a couple of thousand dollars can leadto tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands or more in revenue, it’s moneywell spent. The same can be said if that investment saves you from spendingeven more money to invest in something that your customers don’t want (andremember: Customers don’t buy what they need. They buy what they want.).
There are lotsof ways to conduct a survey. The method used depends on what data you’re tryingto obtain and what customer segment or segment of potential customers (orformer customers) you’re trying to reach.
For example,if you own a bricks-and-mortar store, you can ask your customers to complete aquick comment or survey card while you package their purchases. Of course, theymay not be as entirely honest as they could be since you’re standing in frontof them and, assuming you read the card right after they walk away it’s notanonymous (you could have them drop it in a box for an extra level ofanonymity).
You could alsomail surveys to customers (with a self-addressed, stamped envelope or SASE),try phone surveys (you can just imagine how hard they are to conduct), or emailsurveys. All of these techniques have pros and cons and we can’t stress enoughthat the method you pick should be the best method to be used with thepopulation you’re targeting. If your customers are in a certain age group whoare not heavy internet users, an internet-based survey administered throughemail would be a mistake.
Focus groupscan be a great source of information but you’ll need to consider how yourecruit the participants, what characteristics (demographic and psychographic)should your participants possess or not possess, and what will you give them asan incentive to attend.
Only therarest of the rare will participate in a focus group just because it soundslike a fun thing to do. Even surveys need some level of incentive to increaseparticipation. Including a SASE is a bare minimum. No one is going to providethe envelope and postage to complete a survey for your business.
Conclusions
The peculiarnature of the hotel business may compel the management to think short termabout day-to-day problems or the next-meal periods, as the room day is aperishable item. The room occupancy perishes on the expiry of the day.
Overall, theenvironment appears very positive for the Grande Bretagne Hotel. The forcesdriving market demand, mainly economic and geographical, are strong, with morepeople staying closer to home for shorter getaway trips and their comfort levelof visiting London. On the negative side, there is competition, and it willtake a while for the Grande Bretagne Hotel to get “established” in its marketniche.

Bibliography
 
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