Marketing Final Exam

1)

Dear Owner of Hotel XYZ,

After some serious consideration I think it is time for our hotel to join a loyalty program. As an independent boutique hotel we have many more amenities than the Hilton that is just down the street, we offer more personalized service, unique rooms and are in a more comfortable setting. However we still fail to achieve their higher mid week ADR’s which are driven by a solid corporate base.

The reason for launching this loyalty program is two fold, one reason is to give us a hand at competing with the big hotel brands which attract the most repeat guests. The second reason is offering a product that will have the chance to compete and effectively promote our selves to the market rather than relying on third parties sites such as Expedia that cost a lot of money in commissions. This means that the hotel will focus on the corporate traveler who spends a lot more on the hotel and we will receive a much higher ADR than we currently receive from tour operators or third party bookings.

However, the main reason we fail to capitalize on the corporate business travelers that are visiting our area over and over again is that we have nothing attracting them to us. These corporate travelers visit one city to another and stay at big corporate branded hotels all because they can earn points with their favorite properties loyalty program. Hilton for example, has a world famous loyalty program HHONORS that has four levels, which you move up to depending on the amount you stay in a year. These levels are Blue, Silver, Gold and Diamond and each level progressively has more benefits such as complimentary WIFI, upgrades, breakfast, and complimentary late checkout. From a profitability standpoint the top 2% of Starwoo...

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...ck on “Choose and Continue” for the various selections and scroll down to “About the Ship.”

Next, you can go to www.travelocity.com and click on “Cruises.” Put in the same criteria (except it is 3–6 nights) and choose the same month. Then, click on “More Info” for each of the selections, followed by “Reviews.”

Case Study Questions and Issues

1. What cruise lines are available, and how are they positioned in the market? Explain your answer based on actual evidence and construct a simple perceptual map based on price and quality.

2. What are the primary market segments for cruise lines based on your

review of the Web sites? What ships are available within the Carnival

Cruise Line, and how are they targeted to each of these segments?

3. What other websites are available for obtaining useful information for

how the cruise lines, and their ships, are segmented?