I.

UNDERSTANDING THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY

SECTORS OF THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY

1. ACCOMMODATION –the accommodation sector of the Hospitality Industry is concerned with

providing customers with place to stay, on a temporary basis.
2. FOOD & BEVERAGE- provides food and drink services
3. TRAVEL & TOURISM – linked to leisure, customer satisfaction,pleasure and experiences.
4. RECREATION – any activity that people do for rest, relaxation, and enjoyment.

TOURISM & HOSPITALITY MARKETING

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION is the center of Marketing. It is easy to persuade customer to make initial
purchase, but making the customer return for more depends on his satisfaction from his initial
experience. It is very important to ensure that the customers’ needs are met, they leave the
establishment happy, satisfied, and willing to comeback, better yet, they will be willing to tell others
how extremely satisfied he is with the quality of product and services the establishment provided.

Marketing is a continuous, sequential process through which management plans, researches,

implements, controls, and evaluates activities designed to satisfy the customers’ needs and wants, and
meet the organization’s objectives.

MARKETING SERVICES

UNIQUENESS OF THE TOURISM PRODUCT

1. INTANGIBLE- Intangible services, cannot be “touched” beforehand. An airplane flight is an

example of an intangible service because a customer purchases it in advance and doesn’t
“experience” or “consume” the product until he or she is on the plane.

2. HETEROGENEOUS- While most goods may be replicated identically, services are never exactly
the same; they are heterogeneous. Variability in experiences may be caused by location, time,
topography, season, the environment, amenities, events, and service providers.

3. INSEPARABLE- a service is produced and consumed at the same time. A service exists only at the
moment or during the period in which a person is engaged and immersed in the experience.
 4. PERISHABLE - Services and experiences cannot be stored; they are highly perishable. If a service
is not sold when available, it disappears forever. Using the airline example, once the airplane
takes off, the opportunity to sell tickets on that flight is lost forever, and any empty seats
represent revenue lost.

To ensure effective services marketing, tourism marketers need to be strategic in their planning process.
Using a tourism marketing system requires carefully evaluating multiple alternatives, choosing the right
activities for specific markets, anticipating challenges, adapting to these challenges, and measuring
success. Tourism marketers can choose to follow a strategic management process called the PRICE
concept, where they:

 P: plan (where are we now?)

 R: research (where would we like to be?)
 I: implement (how do we get there?)
 C: control (how do we make sure we get there?)
 E: evaluate (how do we know if we got there?)

The relationship between company, employees, and customers in the services marketing context can be
described as a services marketing triangle.

1. External marketing: promotional efforts aimed at potential customers and guests (creating a promise
between the organization and the guest)
2. Internal marketing: training, culture, and internal communications (enabling employees to deliver on the
promise)
3. Interactive marketing: direct exchanges between employees and guests (delivering the promise)

The Marketing Mix (8 P’s of Marketing)

 Product: the range of product and service mix offered to customers

 Place: how the product will be made available to consumers in the market, selection of distribution
channels, and partners
 Promotion: specific combination of marketing techniques (advertising, personal sales, public relations,
etc.) Pricing: part of a comprehensive revenue management and pricing plan

 People: developing human resources plans and strategies to support positive interactions between
hosts and guests
 Programming: customer-oriented activities (special events, festivals, or special activities) designed to
increase customer spending or length of stay, or to add to the appeal of packages
 Partnership: also known as cooperative marketing, increasing the reach and impact of marketing efforts
 Physical evidence: ways in which businesses can demonstrate their marketing claims and customers can
document their experience such as stories, reviews, blog posts, or in-location signage and components.
 Pricing: part of a comprehensive revenue management and pricing plan.

It’s important that these components all work together in a seamless set of messages and
activities known as integrated marketing communications, or IMC, to ensure the guests receive
a clear message and an experience that meets their expectations.
Integrated marketing communications (IMC) involves planning and coordinating all the promotional
mix elements (including online and social media components) to be as consistent and mutually
supportive as possible. This approach is much superior to using each element separately and
independently.

II. MARKET SEGMENTATION

A market is comprised of varied profiles and characteristics that can be further
segregated. Each segment has different characteristics from the others. MARKET
SEGMENTATION is dividing the market into distinct groups who might require
separate products and/or marketing mixes. A MARKET SEGMENT is a subgroup of
the total consumer market who share similar characteristics and need relevant to
the purchase of a product, service or experience.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A MARKET SEGMENT

1. Identifiable. The people who comprise the segment can be located
and identified such that targeting them would be easy.
2. Cohesive. the consumers should be part of a whole whose specific
qualities are common to all.
3. Measurable. The marketer should be able to estimate the size and
potential spending of the members of the market segment.
4. Accessible. The members of the segment should be accessed by
marketing efforts and promotional activities to be conducted. If they
are difficult to reach, efforts to reach out to the specific segment
might be futile.
5. Substantial. Segments should be large in order to be substantial. If
the segment is small, it should have a high spending capability to
make a significant impact on the business’ bottom line.
6. Actionable. The company has enough resources and commitment to
enable effective penetration of the identified segment to ensure
effective positioning.

There is no one way of segmenting the market. Different variables for market
segmentation can be used.

GEOGRAPHIC DEMOGRAPHIC
Nations, states, Age, life cycle,
Regions, countries, Gender, income, occupation,
Cities, barangays, Education, religion, race
towns
 PSYCHOGRAPHIC BEHAVIORAL
Social class, lifestyle Special occasions, benefits
sought, usage rate, user status,
Personality
loyalty status

MARKET TARGETING
Market segmentation shows the various market segment opportunities available
for a company. A careful assessment of these specific market segments will help
the firm identify which ones it should target. MARKET TARGETING is evaluating
each segment’s attractiveness and selecting one or more of these market
segments in which to operate one’s business.

FACTORS TO CONSIDER IN EVALUATING WHICH SEGMENTS SHOULD BE TARGETED

 Segment size- refers to the current size volume, growth rate, and high profit margin.
 Attractiveness- refers to the potential impact of the segment to the company. One that
is not saturated and has few aggressive competitors would be structurally attractive.
 Company objectives and availability of resources- refer to the main reasons for its
decision making and the available resources the company will use to make its objectives
a reality.

TYPES OF MARKET

The Family Market

There are three types of vacation decision makers within the family market:
 Joint decision-making families plan trips with the longest period of time and
make use of the widest range of the information sources. This type of
families participate in a lot of leisure activities. Thus, promotional materials
should be made available early, dispersed in a variety of media sources,and
designed for spouses of the same age.
 Families where the husband makes the decision for the vacation
destination is characterized by the spouses with greater age differences.
 Promotional activities are directed to the male spouse, hence it should
emphasize outdoor recreation. Husband dominant families spend the
largest amount of money on their vacation.
 Wife-dominant families form the smallest segment of the family market. If
the wife makes the decision on vacations,it is characterized by short
planning duration and uses the fewest number of information sources for
planning. This type of families spends the least amount of money and
shortest duration compared to joint decision-making and husband
dominant families.
THE SENIOR MARKET
Also known as the silver market or third age tourism. There is clearly a high level
of demand for travel within the senior market. They have the time, money and
the desire to travel. They look at retirement as an opportunity for personal
development and improvement. However, the senior market also has limitaions
and constraints to engage in travel. These factors include safety and security,
health issues, availability, costs, family responsibilities, poor information about
suitable options and previous experience.
THE YOUTH MARKET
Research has shown that long distance youth travelers are primarily experience
seekers collecting unique experiences that will serve to build their self identity
narratives.
THE MICE MARKET AND BUSINESS TOURISM
This type of travel is connected but not limited to business travel. Conference
tourism refers to all activities associated with planning,travel to and participation
in conferences and meetings, both domestic and international. Additional benefit
is that more often thannot,delegates extend their stay fter the event for leisure
purposes, and are joined in by their spouses, children, and/or friends.