Task 1: Marketing Management Orientations
Travelodge had been providing services to the customers for over 30 years. Travelodge continues to provide the modern, comfortable and most importantly clean rooms to the travelers in the right place and at the affordable price. The purpose of this study is to analyze the areas in the marketing management of Travelodge. This study includes the marketing management orientation, the marketing environment, the marketing strategies and the marketing mix of the organization, Travelodge. This study also diagnoses the legal and technological factors affecting the company and the strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the company. The best positioning strategy for the company is also mentioned in this study.
Travelodge provides the best accommodations and the rooms services to the guest at the most affordable price. They lower the prices of the services by introducing special deals like the early booking deals at the lower price for the special occasions. This pricing strategy help to attract customers and they have their targeted audience of lower income which lowers the expectation facilities from the company. This company also comprised of the brand value by providing the best services at the lower price (Luck and Lancaster 2013). The Travelodge brand also famous for providing the standardized clean room in the affordable price and at the right location which is convenient for the customers.
There might be different reasons for the travelers for traveling but whatever may be the reason they will find the services provided by Travelodge both affordable and comfortable to stay. The staffs are always passionate for serving the travelers by properly understanding the requirements of the customers and making sure their rights to stay in details. The effective communication raises the value of the company in the business market.
The advantages that the customers gain by the use of Travelodge product are the staffs of Travelodge understands the requirements of the customers and they are provided with the clean and the comfortable rooms. This company has also a brand value, which helps the customers to build their trust with the company. The disadvantages of using the services Travelodge are the cost of the services are fixed and the too much investment on the promotion of products cheapen the image of the product and the services provided by them (Lim, 2016).
The companies with the marketing orientation only focus on the marketing strategy, the companies with the market orientation learn the demands of the target demographics and also looks after the satisfaction of those needs better than the competition. The business designs the product by keeping in mind about the customer’s demands rather than only pushing the product in the market as per their choice. The business promises the customer that they will provide the authenticated product than the other in the business market (Harman and Dilek 2017). This enables the business to compete in the business market. The marketing strategy that Travelodge use in their business is that they at first divide customers as per their income status. It has established itself as the low budget hotel by providing the reasonable goods at the affordable price. Therefore, the targeted audience for them is low-income customers. Travelodge is more comfortable and suitable for the mature groups of adults that are from the 20s to 50s, those who prefer the quiet and the traditional looking accommodation and it is also comfortable for the couples with children by providing the additional services for children like the baby stations, kid’s playground and other. The strategies Travelodge have used for entering the foreign market involves the exportation, technology transfer and the foreign direct investment (Coursaris, Van Osch and Albini 2017).
Task 2: Marketing Environment
There are many laws that affect the business of any organization. The new different laws related to time create an effect on the business. As technology is developing day by day, it is affecting the UK business e-commerce and the development of technology affected the business of Travelodge.
The laws related to the new time create an effect on the business of Travelodge and the operations of the industry get affected due to the introduction of the new different laws related to time. The development of technology created a great effect on the business of Travelodge that is its business depends upon the bookings of rooms and the quick advancement in the technology makes the market more competitive by providing new different ways of booking rooms by the advancement of technology (Tooke-Marchant 2015). Both the legal and the technical factor causes a threat to Travelodge as the legal factor to create an effect on the business operations and this creates an effect on the production of the company. The advancement of technology raises the competitions for the company as the customers have a variety of choices for bookings as per their choice and this raises the threat of competitions for the company.
The internal environmental factors are comprised of the factors within the company’s success and the approach of operations. The leadership factor and the management factor all are involved in the internal environmental structures. The internal factor also involves the value of the employees, the positive and negative nature of the employees and the effectiveness of the communication level in the organization (Huang and Sarigöllü 2014).
Strengths: Travelodge offers the products at affordable rates that include the rates of the family rooms, double rooms and provide facilities like the early booking deals on special occasions. The deals and the promotions of Travelodge are considered as the strengths of the company to attract the customers and boost revenues. The additional programs that Travelodge provides like the Business account card, attracts the premium customers. Apart from all these factors, Travelodge also has an exclusive presence in the UK market along with more than 500 facilities by making it more convenient for loyal customers to choose the right place to stay. All these factors are considered as the strength of the company, Travelodge (Johan, Baga and Asmara 2018).
Weakness: Travelodge is not able to equip its customers with the entire range of the products and the services as it lacks providing the desirable room services, conceive services and other. The hotels lack attractive factors, as it always looks boring and the plain-looking structure. The customers mostly pay greater attention to the on the experiences at the hotel and the availability of the ample amount of choices can put Travelodge at a disadvantage and makes the customers feel dissatisfied (Panchal, 2016). To make the hotel run to its full capacity, Travelodge uses the policy of overbooking and the customers face the problem after arriving at the place, this caused frustrations, and discomfort among the customers.
Strengths and Weaknesses
This is essential for determining the position of Travelodge in the market, the 4Ps technique is used as the key element in determining the characteristics for finding the position in the international market. The various approaches to Travelodge’s positioning are the product refers to services provided to the customers, this involves the rooms and the additional services provided to the customers for meeting the requirements of the customers (Blakeman, 2018). Travelodge provides the budget hotel that comprises of the standard infrastructure and is best for short stay. It also provides services that provide facilities and services, which cater to the specific needs of the customers. Travelodge is committed to providing the best service to the customers at the cheapest rates and the special deals they provide lowers the price of the services and helps to compete in the business market. The promotions using digital technology helps to make the business more effective and reach to the user in the global field (Rushmore Jr and Bagley 2013). The locations of the budget hotel, Travelodge provides are located in the areas close to the entry of the city and this makes the stay more suitable for the company.
The positioning strategy that Travelodge can adopt for the better business operations and getting the desired outcome is:
Reverse positioning strategy indicates to find out the fundamentals of the industry and focuses on those. The positioning thinks that the customers want something more than the basic provided to them and they do not need everything. Implementing this strategy a new project can be launched by reinventing the category. The breakaway positioning indicates the choice of positioning the hotel by providing something that is not in the product category. It is associated with a various category if the business is able to redefine the category then they will be able to redefine the competition also (Banerjee, 2017). This positioning strategy is used to enhance the position of the company in the international business market and this can be possible by the implementation of both the reverse and the breakaway positioning strategy. This will raise the position of the business in both the market also among the customers (Tuèšä And MICU 2014).
The marketing mix is considered as the set of actions or the tactics that every company uses in order to promote its brand and product in the market. The 4Ps makes up the specific marketing mix like the product, promotion, price, and place. Nowadays it has been found out that the marketing mix increases depending upon the several factors like the packaging, positioning, politics, and people and these are considered as the important mix elements (Fan, Lau and Zhao 2015).
Product price: Travelodge is using to provide the services at the cheapest price rate. It also provides a competitive promotional program including special offers like early bookings and other special deals. This deal lowers the price and it gives an advantage in competing with other organizations by providing the best services at the cheapest price (Lovelock and Patterson 2015).
Task 3: Marketing Strategies
Product promotion: the advertising medium for competing in the market need to be high for attracting new customers in the market. The discount and the special offers help to lower the price than the other organizations in the market. Digital marketing makes the promotion process more effective for reaching the users globally.
Place: the luxury hotels are placed at the expensive and the more suitable locations and the budget hotels have limited options in the case of location. The areas for the hotels of Travelodge are close to the entrance of the city and are suitable also for the customers (Baker, 2014).
Product: Travelodge’s product involving the room provide the accommodation for the guests and other services and the accessories involved in the room. There are various facilities like the Wifi, room service, reception attract the customers and the infrastructure they provide are suitable for the short stay (Lusch and Vargo, 2014).
Conclusion
Therefore, from the above discussion, it can be concluded that the Travelodge is the best affordable organization for every people in the society. Their brand is especially known to society for providing the best services at a very affordable price. The targeted customers for this company are those who have average income status, the services they provide depends upon the requirements of the targeted customers. The pricing strategy they follow is to offer special deals like early bookings on a special occasion, which causes a decrease in the pricing strategy and the lacking of several facilities saves the expenditure. The discounts they provide and the promotions they include with the help of the digital technologies are mainly for attracting the new customers. There is a need for increasing the technical factors that could help the business by allowing the fast operations in the industry. The advancement of technology creates an effect on the business as it provides an ample amount of choices to the customers, this makes the competitions more tough for the organizations. The legal factors also create an effect on the operations of the business in the industry. There is also the need of making the appearance of the hotel more attractive for the customers as the appearance of the hotel is boring and gives standardized appearance which does not attract the customers at all. This need to be modernized for gaining the attention of the customers and the managers and other staffs of the company need to be motivated more for serving the guests by understanding their requirements and the problems they will be facing in the hotel and the better services are the core area of attracting the customers.
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