Promotion Campaign of Hilton Hotels and Resorts UK

Executive Summary

This report is based on the promotional campaign which has been taken by Hilton Hotels and Resorts in the UK. The main objectives of the reports are to increase sales and profit and increase the brand image. The duration of this report was six month with which all the activities are done.

Different promotional techniques have been taken for making this effort successful such as TV advertisement, newspaper advertisement, internet advertisement and also different billboard and transportation advertisement. Online and printed communication channels are used to make efforts for this effective and successful. It uses the different social media to connect the people around the world which may such as Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter and YouTube. There are different printed media which have been used by the hotel as its communication channels such as newspaper and magazines.

There are different key performance indicators which have been used to identify the success of the promotional campaign which will also be used by the hotel. The analysis shows that it can be expected that its general key performance indicator that is ROI is expected to be 20% during this campaign period. The profit and loss account has also been created for this period to judge the overall profit and its propensity which has shown that it is expected that the profit can be increased by more than 20%.

The budget total budget for this campaign is estimated to be £1,400,000 which will be distributed in different items. The planning cost is estimated to be £50, 00 and the total advertisement cost will be £1,025,000. The costs for the Taring of the employees will be £75,000 and the survey and other costs are £50,000.

Based on all the activities done by the within the period and their results, it can be said that the promotional campaign is successful and it is going to bring more profit and better brand image for Hilton Hotels and Resorts.

Contents

1. Introduction

2. Promotional Campaign Strategy

3. Target Markets

4. Communication Objectives

5. Main Competitors

6. Communication Channels

7. Campaign Evaluation

8. Promotional Budget

9. Conclusion

References

Appendices

1. Introduction

Hilton Hotels & Resorts is a global hospitality brand which is dominating the hospitality industry for a long time around the world. The hotel has started its journey from the United States of American one hundred years ago and bow it is working in more than 80 countries around the world with having more than 1 million bedrooms are sold each year. The hotel started its business activities in the UK in the 80s of the last century (Baker, 2014). Now, it the market leader of the UK hospitality market with having more than 30% of the total market share. The organisation has more than 2.35 billion which comes from its bedroom sales, food and beverage and different entertainment facilities. It has more than 10 thousand rooms in the UK to be sold which made the hotel to be preferable to its target customers. The annual number of bedrooms to be sold in the UK is more than one lac which brings a major share of its annual turnover globally. There are more than 170 thousand employees who are directly working with this organisation globally. However, it has more than 30 thousand employees who are working with it as the permanent employees in the UK properties and also more than 10 thousand employees who are working as part-timers and contractual employees in different time schedules for the organisation in different parts of the country (Fill and Turnbull, 2016).

The hotel providing different types of rooms for its target customers such as suits, single, double, king, queen, and also triple-sized rooms with all the luxurious facilities. It is mainly targeting the upper middle class and higher class people who can be either visitor or residents. However, it is focusing more on visitors who can come here for both business and entertainment purposes. It takes different promotional initiatives and activities for attracting customers and raising its profits. As a part of this, it takes a promotional campaign each year like what it is doing this year.

2. Promotional Campaign Strategy

The promotional campaign is considered as the most important factor to increase the sales and brand value of any organisation and it is more emphasised in the hospitality industry as creating a better brand image to the customer is more complex for a hospitality company than other business ventures (Christopher et al, 2013). That’s why most of the organisation related to the hostility and tourism industry focus more on this issue. However, setting the best promotional strategies is another complex task on which all the success of the effort to be taken to increase sales and brand image.

As Hilton is a well-established brand in al over the world, it needs more on sales and little on the brand image so that its brand value can be kept constantly higher. That’s why it always prefer to take advertisement as the main tool of promotional camping for the hotel which can directly increase the sales by letting the customers know about it more. There are different ways of advertisement which can be taken by the hotel such as TV advertisement, newspaper advertisement, internet advertisement and also different billboard and transportation advertisement. It is mainly focusing on internet advertisement for attracting the customer around the world who may visit the UK (Christopher et al, 2013). It also takes email advertisement and social media advertisement as a part of it. Different other advertisement modes such as billboard and transportation advertisement are also taken by the hotel so that foreigners can be attracted more. Apart from advertisement activities, it also tries to increase the public relation so that its brand value can be increased constantly. It sponsors on different occasions and events where a foreigner can come. It also invests different social wellbeing for a better response from domestic customers.

3. Target Markets

The concept target markets come into the mind when a company is going to concentrating marketing rather than the broad market. It defines the specific group of customers on which the company is giving the most focus so that they can find this company as their best choice to buy something from there (Goodall and Ashworth, 2013). There are some criteria under which target markets can be divided and targeted such as geography, demography, social, psychological and purpose of travel.

Hilton is mainly targeting the customers based on geography and also according to the purposes of travel. There are different regions from which people come to the UK for different purposes as it is the fourth most visited country of the world after France, Spain and Italy. USA is on the top list among the countries from which visitors come to the UK. However, different other countries like Canada, Mexico, New Zealand and different Asian and South American tourist are also coming here for different purposes. Hilton provides the facilities for them according to their visiting purposes as it is targeting both business travellers and leisure travellers. It keeps different entertainment facilities apart from the accommodation for the leisure seeking people. It also keeps different facilities for business travellers so that they can also spend their quality time here and make a purchase from the hotel. It arranges different conferences according to the needs and demands of the business travellers along with all the facilities to be given to fulfil their needs and expectations.

4. Communication Objectives

The main objectives of the promotional campaign to be taken by Hilton Hotels and Resorts are increasing its sales and brand image in the UK. However, the responses from the market are also important to be considered to determine whether these objectives will be can achievable or not. The figure given below shows that the occupancy rate in the UK is slightly constant which is increasing and decreasing over time at a lower rate.

The occupancy rate of 2017 is better than what it was in 2013 but it is not the final indication that the occupancy for the year of 2019 will increase at the same rate as it was increasing at a constant rate up to 2015 and started decreasing at the same rate up to 2017 (Appendix 1). However, the surprising news is that the occupancy rate in the UK for the year 2018 is more than 80% which can bring more hope for increasing the sales (Rowley, 2018). So, the organisation needs to give more effort into sales. As increasing the brand image is another objective for this promotional campaign, it should also give more effort on public awareness and publicity which will also increase the sales for the hotel. So, it can be expected that the objectives of the promotional campaign to be taken by Hilton Hotels and Resorts can be met by its great efforts on them.

5. Main Competitors

The UK has become one of the most competitive markets in the UK for the hospitality industry for its nature of attraction and people’s preference for this country a suitable place to be visited. Hilton Hotels and Resorts has been working here since the 80s of the last century when it has to face less competition. However, it is now facing more competition as more famous hotels and international chains are working here with better brand value to compete in the market. The competitors of the hotel are following according to the list of Appendix 2.

Marriott International is the closest competitor of Hilton in the UK according to the market share it possesses in the UK hospitality market. This hotel is also from the USA and has been working there for more than three decades. It has 13% market share in response to the 14% market which is belonged by Hilton (Kornfield et al, 2015). It is also increasing its market share as the statistics show that its market share is increased by almost 2% in the last two years. It also bought the Starwood Hotels and Resorts which helped it to increase its market share.

Global Hyatt Corporation is providing more than ten world-class brands in the UK which are also competing in the market with a good brand value. The hotel has more than 10% market share in the UK hospitality market (Rowley, 2018). It is also giving more efforts in the last couple of years to increase its sales and market share although it started here from the 90s of the last century.

Peninsula is a Hong based hotel chain which is established in 1928 and has been working in the UK for a couple of years. This hotel has also a 9% market share in the UK hospitality market (Kornfield et al, 2015). It is markedly targeting the people who are coming to enjoy the summer in seaside areas of the country and that’s why its most of the hotels and resorts are located in the sea beach areas.

Mandarin Oriental is another luxurious brand in the UK hospitality industry which is proving more than 8 thousand rooms around the country in more than 50 places. This hotel has an attractive market share of 7% in the UK hospitality market which is also expected to be increased in future according to its previous data (Rowley, 2018).

The Intercontinental Hotels and Resorts has more than 6.5% market share in the UK market which is a subsidiary of Pan American World Airway working for more than two decades in the country. The hotel has more than 20 properties in the country which are also famous for luxurious services for the guests (Morrison, 2013).

The Ritz Carlton has more than 5% market share in the UK hospitality industry which is mainly famous for its luxury resorts (Rowley, 2018). Most of the resorts of this brand are belong to the sea beach area and is targeting the higher class guests with premium services.

6. Communication Channels

The promotional camping to be taken by Hiltons Hotels and Resorts in the UK will be last for six months. The communication channel is an important factor here to make the target people aware of the promotional campaign of the hotel. Different communication channels will be used for this promotional camping which is both online and printed media to connect its target market around the world.

There are different online media which can be used as the communication channel. Social media has become the biggest online channel to connect the people around the world which may include Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter and YouTube. The main advantages of this communication channel are that they can connect more people at the same time than other media and the cost of using these channels are lower than in other ways (Kotler et al, 2017). On the other hand, people have options to recommend and review the quality and services. Advertising different travel blogs and websites is another better communication channel which can also reach the travel-loving people only. However, this option is more expensive than social media.

There are different printed media which can also be used by the hotel as its communication channels such as newspaper and magazines. Newspapers advertisement can also an important communication channel as they can also reach more people around the world. Travel magazines here is more effective printed media for a promotional campaign. It can directly approach the travel-loving people of the world. Hilton prefers it more to other media as the printed media for this reason. It also uses different billboards in different important points of the city to attract the people but in few numbers as they are more expensive than other channels.

7. Campaign Evaluation

Evaluation of the promotional campaign is necessary for letting the company about how good the campaign is going through (Morrison, 2013). There are different key performance indicators which can be used to identify the success of the promotional campaign which will also be used by Hilton Hotels and Resorts in the UK.

The general Key Performance Indicator (KPI) that will be used for evaluating the campaign activities is the return on investment (ROI) to measure the profitability after the campaign activities. It will also help the company to know how good its investment is going. The analysis shows that it can be expected that its general key performance indicator that is ROI is expected to be 20% during this campaign period.

The sales will also be analysed as a part of the evaluation of the campaign. The profit and loss account will be created for this period to judge the overall profit and its propensity. However, the analysis of the profit and loss account for this campaign has shown that it is expected that the profit can be increased by more than 20%.

There are also different ways which will be sued as the key performance indicators measurement for evaluating the campaign activities taken by Hilton. It will take a survey to the current customers and potential customers based on social media by which can know about how the target customers are responding to its efforts of sales increase and brand value increase.

8. Promotional Budget

Budget is the numeric presentation of future activities or the expenses of future planned activities for any organisation (Morrison, 2013). The success of any effort depends on the budget and its effective usage. It is more important for that promotional campaign as its major objective is to increase the sales.

According to Appendix 3,the budget total budget for this campaign is estimated to be £1,400,000 which will be distributed in different items. The planning cost is estimated to be £50, 00. The total advertisement cost will be £1,025,000 which will be divided into the online advertisement, printed advertisement and billboards amounts 525,000, £300,000 and £200,000 respectively. The costs for the Taring of the employees will be £75,000 and the survey and other costs are £50,000. All the cost will be used properly with proper monitoring so that any wastage of money cannot happen during the campaign period and they can bring effective results.

9. Conclusion

The promotional campaign is always a crucial part of any organisation to increase its sales as well as market brand value. Any failure of the promotional activities may bring the reverse results which may also affect the market share and survival of the organisation. That’s why most of the organisations especially the hospitality organisations try more so that their promotional campaign can be more effective and successful. However, the ventures should be more careful in different aspect it increases the efficiency of their efforts based on promotional campaigns. They should recruit more efficient people so that they can work with better accuracy. Different pieces of training and seminars can also be arranged to improve the skills and expertise of the employees who will participate there. Finally, teamwork effectiveness should be developed for better outputs from the employees.

References

• Baker, M.J. (2014). Marketing strategy and management. Macmillan International Higher Education.
• Christopher, M., Payne, A. and Ballantyne, D. (2013). Relationship marketing. Routledge.
• Fill, C. and Turnbull, S.L. (2016). Marketing communications: brands, experiences and participation. Pearson.
• Goodall, B. and Ashworth, G. (2013). Marketing in the Tourism Industry (RLE Tourism): The promotion of destination regions. Routledge.
• Hanafizadeh, P. ed. (2012). Online Advertising and Promotion: Modern Technologies for Marketing: Modern Technologies for Marketing. IGI Global.
• Horner, S. and Swarbrooke, J. (2012). Leisure marketing. Routledge.
• Kornfield, R., Huang, J., Vera, L. and Emery, S.L. (2015). Rapidly increasing promotional expenditures for e-cigarettes. Tobacco control, 24(2), pp.110-111.
• Kotler, P., Bowen, J.T., Makens, J. and Baloglu, S. (2017). Marketing for hospitality and tourism.
• Morrison, A.M. (2013). Marketing and managing tourism destinations. Routledge.
• Rowley, J. (2018). Information marketing. Routledge.

Appendices

Appendix 1: Figure: Occupancy rate of hotels in the UK    

Source: (Rowley, 2018)

Appendix 2: Market share of UK hostility industry

Source: (Kornfield et al, 2015)

Appendix 3: Promotional Budget of Hilton