Introduction

Hotel name- Rangoon by the bay

Hotel tier: 5 star luxury
Location: in the heart of the city, by the yangon river
Operates in service industry

Customers’ expectation and customers’ service

- Satisfying customers’ needs and wants is not one size fits all for hospitality businesses.
There are a lot more things to consider than just a product itself.
What customers expect?
Quality and exceptional service
- Personalized attention: providing service catered to each and every customer’s needs
and wants. For instance- special decoration requests for special days and nights like
anniversaries and birthdays.
- Well-trained and professional staff: staffs who have the ability to carry out all of their
respective task with minimal to no mistake. Those who are well-mannered and soft-
spoken (not giving attitude to the guests).
- 24/7 Availability: Cleaning and room-service present throughout day and night.
Luxurious Accommodations
- Spacious and well-furnished rooms
- Quality amenities: Android TVs, brand name hair dryers, availability of both shower and
bath tub (depends on the type of room opted), option to adjust the water temperature.
- Minimal yet premium looking decorations
Fine-dining options
- Availability of both western and Asian cuisine restaurants in the hotel.
Exclusive amenities
- Spa and Wellness: Spa, gyms and wellness programs
- Swimming pools: Rather spacious ones with the bar nearby
- Bars and Lounges
Appropriate locations
- Proximity to tourist attraction and trademark places
- Spectacular views
Safety and Security
- Advanced digital door locks to be opened with key cards.
- 24/7 strict and rigor securities around the hotel
Technology
- High speed internet throughout the whole hotel
- Ability to call the room service via the website and select the menu all through without
requiring any contact
Sustainability practices
- ISO certificates and other proof of sustainability practice acquired
Special offers towards loyal customers

Target market (customers)

 - Upper-middle to high income people who are taking a break from work and spending
quality time with their family.
- Wealthy and Affluent travelers and tourists
- High profilers like celebrities and elites
- Corporate clients: Those who are holding events or seminars and need to accommodate
the participants.

Forseeing the customers’ buying behavior

 Industry reports: Monitoring the trends in luxury hotel market
 Information obtained from other five-star hotels
 Government official reports: Might not be industry specific but can identify which
sector of economy is contributing the most to the country’s GDP. Can identify
general spending pattern of the consumers.
 Focus Groups
 Participate in industry-specific conferences to identify the trends and appending
patterns of the target market.
 Use of post surveys questionnaires and feedback forms.
 Creating the database to track customers’ spending patterns via direct booking
from official website of the hotel
 Analyze the data from booking platforms like Booking.com and Trip.com.

4Ps of Rangoon by the Bay

Product (Acceptability)
- Luxurious accommodations: high quality rooms with modern amenities yet Burmese
vintage décor.
- Spa and Wellness
- Fine dining food catered from hotel’s dining department
- Ballrooms for events and weddings
Price (Affordability)
- Price skimming
- High price; doesn’t consider how much competiitors are charging
Place (Accessibility)
- Central area near trademark places
Promotion (Awareness)
Above the line
- Celebrities endorsement
- Advertise through social media platforms. (Making use of algorithms to successfully
reach the target audience)
- Sponsoring the events and fairs to gain awareness from the general public.
- Seasonal offerings to customers (For instance- during Thingyan and thadingyut festival
periods)
- Special offers made to loyal customers, having contact with them
SWOT
 - Identity of the hotel: Vintage Burmese aesthetic throughout the whole hotel from décor
to architecture with a touch of modern look.
- Location: located in not only the heart of the economic hub of Myanmar but also by the
largest river in the city. Spectacular views.
Weakness
- Being a start-up business, still haven’t breakeven.
- The use of autocratic leadership has caused a high labor turnover rate. More
participative approach needed.
- High price point may not be ideal with the current economy. Deterring many customers
from coming to the hotel.
Opportunities
- Capitalize on the fact that the hotel implements sustainable approach to everthing from
getting sourced by local suppliers to environmentally friendly practices
Threats
- Current political situation deterring the tourists to visit the country which could cause
the hotel to lose the potential customers
- Inflation---------- increase in the price of raw materials used in hotel from food
ingredients to furniture---------------which would make the business even harder to break
even

PESTLE
Political and Economical
- Under dictatorship
- Has reached the highest inflation rate and currency depreciation within the country’s
70+++ years of independence.
- Decline in purchasing power of the potential customers leading to lower sales
- Many suppliers ran out of business over the past three years.
Socio-cultural

 Myanmar’s Tax Reform Agenda: In recent years, Myanmar has been trying to overhaul
its tax system to promote transparency, improve compliance, and create a more
business-friendly environment. The government has made strides toward simplifying the
tax code and enhancing enforcement mechanisms, but progress has been slow.
 Investment Incentives: Under the Myanmar Investment Law (MIL) and Myanmar
Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Law, certain foreign investments are offered tax
incentives, such as tax holidays for a limited period or reduced tax rates for
investments in prioritized sectors (e.g., manufacturing, infrastructure, agriculture).

Technological
- Database system being implemented in the company’s official website to track the
cutomers’ booking and preferences.
- Modern technology for security
- Social media and marketing: Prescence of digital marketing via travel advisor platforms
and travel influencers.
Legal
- Environmental laws not as strict as other countries’ but should still implement
environmentally approach in throwing out wastage to maintain the hotel’s image
- The recent laws set by the dictators require the businesses to pay higher taxes.
Environmental
- Sustainability

COSMIC
Competitors: Novotel and Lotte
Very tough competition
Both countries have past through survival stage while Rangoon by the Bay is still in its survival
stage
Stronger customers’ loyalty from those hotels. Therefore, attracting the potential customers
might be harder
Organization itself: currently emphasizing on labor turnover-rate due to a sharp increase in
labor turnover in recent years.
Using Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to motivate them
Suppliers: Having a hard time dealing with an increase in price of raw materials from all aspect
from furnitures to food ingredients.
Market: Oligopoly; a market in which the industy is dominated by a few companies that are
each influential participants in the market.
Forseeing the growth potential in the market
Intermediaries: Marketing agencies promoting the hotel
Customers: Affluent customers who desire a luxury vacation or break from work

Detailed Market Research Process for Rangoon by the Bay

1. Figuring out the need to start up the hotel

 lack of such kind of five-star hotel in the hotel industry with vintage architecture
and influence of cultural heritage but solid implementation of modern
technologies.
2. Defining the research objectives
 Obtaining information about competitors
 Determining the competitiveness of the industry
 Determining the market nature; Monopoly or Oligopoly
 Customers’ expectations from five star hotels
3. Develop the research plan
 Taking into account of different research and analysis methods to use
 Delegating tasks to each employee who are responsible for carrying out relating
task. (R&D department)
4. Implement the research-plan (collecting and analyzing the data)
 Going through the yearly industry report and encapsulating relevant information.
  Going through competitors’ yearly financial reports to see if they can survive in
the future with the current financial state (Recognizing the competition and
avoinding it)
 Focus Groups: Invite the elites, celebrities and wealthy people who are most
likely to be the potential customers of the hotel and having a formal discussion
regarding to what they are expecting from a five-star hotel like Rangoon by the
Bay
5. Interpret and report the finidings
 Compile all the information gathered via research plan and analyze. Determining
the correlations between the data and drawing final conclusion.
 Write a final report.
6. Take action
 Development a product, fit for the target customers.

Competitor analysis
- Small number of competitors but tough competition due to strong brand loyalty and
reputation from competing hotels
- Lotte and Novotel being main competitors
- All three hotels have relatively high ratings across the trip agencies websites
- Central location from both hotels (Lotte being in front of Inya lake, putting those two
hotels at advantage for their spectacular views while Lotte is located near the city
centre)
- Lotte struggles with wait times at check-in/out sessions during peak seasonal hours
while Novotel can sometimes struggle with catering session during breakfast especially
when crowded. Both hotels can often times feel too corporate for the guests due to their
contemporary takes on architecture.

Making use of social media (digital marketing)

1. Celebrity and influencers’ endorsement is key; sponsoring them to promote the hotel in
their videos.
2. Boosting the website as an AD on search engines for more reach. (Especially great for
tourists)
3. Machine learning AI: Tracking the algorithm of the people searching for related contents
to the hotel (whether be it hotel rooms, facilities of other hotels or any other contents
related to the word “hotel”)
4. Making the official website of the hotel visually appealing.

Capturing CRM
Extremely important to take all stages of guests journey into consideration.
1. Valuing privacy: Asking permission to track customers’ booking during the process
before further using the data for company’s advantage.
2. Offering variety to everything to customers: offering rooms of different sizes and
different aesthetic which will provide customers with different options and they could
 opt for whatever they think best would suit for them (A lot closer to what they actually
are looking for)
3. Welcoming and hospitable staff who are professionally trained.
4. Attention to details: From towels to soaps and shower gels, ensuring that best quality
products are used.
5. Personalized experience: With the special request made in advance, the hotel will
prepare everything they think would fit for each customers. For instance- a bath tub
filled with roses for a couple so that they could have a fresh bath after checking into the
hotel
6. Post stay surveys
7. Offering the loyal customers to become VIPs after repetitively coming back.
8. Using Kaizen: A Japanese term suggesting continuous improvement

Competi