Substitutes In the premium segment, there is almost no threat of substitution. Affluent customers are not really inclined to opt for camping facilities, recreational vehicles, apartment rentals or accommodation to friends and family. While it is true that they all offer a place to stay, they don’t offer complementary services like restaurants, SPAs, gyms, etc and also lack the outstanding customer service that characterizes luxury hotels (MarketLine, 2015b). In what regard the sharing economy, as it was discussed before, affluent travelers don’t go for it. But it could become a threat in the future if a peer-to-peer company would target the luxury segment only, thus reflecting certainty, reliability and reducing the initial research by the customer. The threat of substitutes ca be concluded to be low. General assessment All things considered, the luxury hotel industry is quite competitive and it is more comfortable for large established players that have a recognized brand. Pursuing a differentiation strategy alleviates the competitive pressure. However, it became quite hard to differentiate as it can’t be done anymore through basic aspects like décor or exquisite meals. Premium hoteliers started to offer their …show more content…
The endless list of awards that the hotel chain has earned confirms the fact. The most recent ones can be seen in APPENDIX 1. A point worth noting is that The Ritz-Carlton is the only company that was honored with the Malcom Baldrige National Quality Award twice, in 1992 and 1999. Then, it is always present at the top of the luxury industry rankings. According to a survey made by Luxury Branding, The Ritz-Carlton occupied the first position in the top 10 luxury hotel brands in 2015 (The Ritz-Carlton Tops Luxury List, 2015). And year by year, the brand continues to be found at the top of various other important
In 1919, Company founder, Conrad Hilton, purchased his first hotel in Cisco, Texas. Since that time, Hilton Worldwide has become a worldwide operator, franchisor, and licensor of hotels and timeshare properties in more than 91 countries. In nearly 100 years of existence, the Company now finds itself as one of the largest and fastest growing hospitality companies with over 4,115 properties and 678,630 rooms. With a commitment to high quality and customer satisfaction, the company has established a portfolio of 10 world-class brands including the most recognizable hotel brand in the world, the company’s flagship full-service Hilton Hotels & Resorts brand. Its premier brand portfolio includes the luxury hotel brands, Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts and Conrad Hotels & Resorts, full-service hotel brands, DoubleTree by Hilton and Embassy Suites Hotels, focus-based hotel brands, Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton Inn, Homewood Suites by Hilton and Home2 Suites by Hilton, and the company’s timeshare brand, Hilton Grand Vacations. Hilton operated properties are staffed with more the 314,000 team members focused on providing a complete experience at each location. The company’s award-wining customer program, Hilton Honors, defined rewards programs in the industry and now has over 40 million members (Hilton Worldwide).
47% of Marriott’s rooms are in North American Limited Service, 30% are classified as North American Full Service, and the remaining 23% of its rooms are in the international segment (Marriott, 2015). Recognizing that travelers have a range of budgetary and amenities needs, Marriott operates its properties under a variety of different brand names, 19 in total, each of which has its own “price and service points” (Marriott, 2015). Most of Marriott’s brands are at the high end of the market, which includes such widely recognized luxury brands as the Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott, Renaissance Hotels, Bulgari Hotels, Marriott Executive Apartments, Marriott Vacation Club, Edition Hotels, Autograph Collection Hotels, Gaylord Hotels, and Marriott Hotels (Marriott, 2015). These properties often command nightly rental rates that can run several hundred dollars a night and offer a wide range of amenities well suited for both business and pleasure travelers. These properties are classified as “Full-Service.” Marriott also offers a range of “Limited-Service” brands that do not contain as many amenities and tend to be much cheaper than the Full-Service line. Examples of these properties include Courtyard, Residence Inn, SpringHill Suites, and Fairfield Inn & Suites (Marriott, 2015). Even though these properties are considered Limited-Service, they do offer considerably nicer accommodations and more amenities than other types of budget motels and hotels. In contrast to many of the other hotel brands, Marriott International does not operate any midscale, economy, or budget
Strategic management is the set of managerial decision and action that determines the long-run performance of a corporation. It includes environmental scanning (both external and internal), strategy formulation (strategic or long range planning), strategy implementation, and evaluation and control (Hunger & Wheelen, 2011). In this report I will do research about the strategy of Marriott International, Inc. I will give advise on how Marriott can improve their strategy and I will come up with an advisory strategy.
The most prestigious name in the industry, Hilton Hotels & Resorts stands as the stylish, enthusiastic and global leader of hospitality. With over 92 years of experience, Hilton continues to be synonymous with hotel because of innovative approach to products, facilities and service. They help make traveling easier with smart design, innovative restaurant concepts, authentic hospitality and assurance to the global community.
Kapferer, J., & Bastien, V 2009, The luxury strategy: break the rules of marketing to build luxury brands. London: Kogan Page.
The high pressure luxury brand industry has evolved over the last few decades from a small and selective to a multibillion dollar arena offering significant potential and growth opportunity for the luxury brands that compete within its realm. With many luxury brands competing for over $225 billion (The Economist, 2009) in revenue each year it is easy to see how strategy plays an important role.
The Mandarin Oriental Hotel has, since its creation, received a rating of. recognition for providing a level of products and services of the highest quality of the product. With traditions of consistent quality service. delivery are practiced at each of the hotels, the challenge to the Group is to develop an ongoing corporate culture of quality service. drawing upon the strengths of each individual hotel.
Brand equity is crucial as it implies that the brand itself is an important (financial) asset and can be calculated in financial terms (Barwise, 1993). This is particularly important in the luxury sector as from a behavioural viewpoint, brand equity can differentiate a company or product from other competitors, adding to their competitive advantages based on non-profit competition (Aaker, 2004). The model created by Aaker (1992) states that there are four categories of brand equity; Loyalty, Awareness, Perceived Quality and Associations. Luxury branding relies on a high level of perceived quality, loyalty and associations, although potentially less so for awareness, as it is thought that consumers choose luxury brands based on their exclusivity and as such the more the awareness that surrounds the brand, there is potential for it to become less valuable (Phau and Prendergast,
The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company has achieved so much fame in their marketplace that they have attained what is referred to as “The Ritz Mystique.” Among the grand hotels of the world, The Ritz-Carlton hotels and resorts are famous for luxury, spectacular surroundings and legendary service. They have gained this title with dedication and award-winning hotels that reflect the 100 years of tradition that stand behind them. Discovering the fascinating history of Ritz-Carlton hotels, illustrates their commitment on relentless training to improve their quality in service and their strategy. Ritz-Carlton has achieved a Gold Standard of value and philosophy by which they operate.
Thanks to these factors, pricing becomes one of the primary uses with which hotels attract customers. However, due to customers’ independent nature, there influence over industry players is limited. In the high-end segment of hotels, price influence becomes even less as hotels find it easier to differentiate themselves from the competition and customers become less price sensitive coming to expect higher prices as a symbolism of superior quality and services. Lastly, corporate business and tour operators can exert more influence due to their large purchases but this affect is of a limited nature and does not extend across the whole
Dubois and Czellar (2002) refer to luxury brands as those goods that can offer comfort, beauty and refinement. On the other hand, a prestige brand is referred to as a brand that has achieved a definitive level of accomplishment, either in the quality or performance. O’Cass a...
History of Hilton hotel has been very interesting as it started as Mobley Hotel in year 1919 a small building. Because, when the company started it had no plans or ideas of expanding, the sole purpose was to serve as a place for the travelers to stay where they can comfortably enjoy a night or few and carry on towards their journey. After twenty-seven years of business and hard work, this small hotel went nationally in eleven states within United States, known as Hilton. Currently they have four thousand worldwide properties, either directly owned or franchised (including third party), in seventy-eight countries. Hilton even though allows franchises but there policies remain the same and direct Hilton officials do all the upper level management. The company name Hilton understands for Hosp...
-the company became known for its ability to enhance a property’s value by creating unique, one of a kind properties with a small ultra-luxury residential style that differentiated it from other chain-like luxury competitors. Competitors include 2 groups of luxury hotels: corporate branded (Ritz-Carlton and Four Season) and “collections” of individually branded unique hotels (Orient-Express).
Problem situation: Rosewood brand was muted, not very well known but it was not clear what is the best corporate branding strategy without destroying the value of each individually branded hotel and loosing a customer. A new branding strategy proposing an increased customer profitability and lifetime value is needed.
Whitla, P., Walters, P., Davies, H. 2007, Global strategies in the international hotel industry, Hospitality Management, vol. 26, pp. 777–792.