What Is Hospitality and Tourism Marketing?

In the hotel industry, marketing and sales are often thought to be the same, and no wonder: The sales department is one of the
most visible in the hotel. Sales managers provide prospective clients with tours and entertain them in the hotels food
and beverage outlets. Thus the sales function is highly visible, whereas most of the nonpromotional areas of the marketing
function take place behind closed doors. In the restaurant industry, many people confuse marketing with advertising and
sales promotion. It is not uncommon to hear restaurant managers say that they do not believe in marketing when they actually
mean that they are disappointed with the impact of their advertising. In reality, selling and advertising are only two marketing
functions and often not the most important. Advertising and sales are components of the promotional element of the marketing
mix. Other marketing mix elements include product, price, and distribution. Marketing also includes research, information
systems, and planning.

The four-P framework calls on marketing professionals to decide on the product and its characteristics, set the price, decide how
to distribute their product, and choose methods for promoting their product. For example, McDonalds has a fast-food product. It
uses quality ingredients and developed products that it can sell at prices people expect to pay for fast food. Most people
will not spend more than 15 minutes to travel to a McDonalds restaurant. As part of its distribution plan, McDonalds must have
restaurants that are conveniently located to its target market. Finally, McDonalds appeals to different market segments and has
many units throughout a city. This allows McDonalds to make effective use of mass media, such as television. The marketing
mix must be just thata mix of ingredients to create an effective product/service package for the target market. Some critics feel
the four Ps omit or underemphasize certain important activities.

If marketers do a good job of identifying consumer needs, developing a good product, and pricing, distributing, and promoting it
effectively, the result will be attractive products and satisfied customers. Marriott developed its Courtyard concept; Darden
designed the Olive Garden Italian Restaurant. They designed differentiated products, offering new consumer benefits. Marketing
means hitting the mark. Peter Drucker, a leading management thinker, put it this way: The aim of marketing is to make selling
superfluous. The aim is to know and understand customers so well that the product or service fits them and sells itself. 20

This does not mean that selling and promotion are unimportant, but rather that they are part of a larger marketing mix, a set of
marketing tools that work together to produce satisfied customers. The only way selling and promoting will be effective
is if we first define customer targets and needs and then prepare an easily accessible and available value package.

Tourism Marketing
The two main industries that comprise the activities we call tourism are the hospitality and travel industries. Successful
hospitality marketing is highly dependent on the entire travel industry. Meeting planners choose destinations based on the
cost of getting to the destination, the value of the hotels, the quality of restaurants, and evening activities for their attendees.

The success of cruise lines is really the result of coordinated marketing by many travel industry members. For example, the Port
of Boston wanted to attract more cruise line business. Massport (the port authority) aggressively marketed Boston to cruise lines.
Having convinced them to come, they then promoted Boston to key travel agents. This was critical because travel agents account
for 95 percent of all cruise line business. The result was that Boston doubled the number of port calls by cruise lines and added
$17.3 million to the local economy through this combined marketing effort.

Thats only the beginning of travel industry marketing cooperation to promote cruise lines. Airlines, auto rental firms, and
passenger railways cooperatively develop packages with cruise lines. This requires coordination in pricing, promotion, and
delivery of those packages. Like Massport, government or quasigovernment agencies play an important role through legislation
aimed at enhancing the industry and through promotion of regions, states, and nations. 21

Definition of Marketing
Marketing must be understood in the sense of satisfying customer needs. If the marketer understands customer needs; develops
products that provide superior customer value; and prices, distributes, and promotes them effectively, these products
will sell easily. Here is our definition of marketing: Marketing is the process by which companies create value for customers and
society, resulting in strong customer relationships that capture value from the customers in return
Image Differentiation

Even when competing offers look the same, buyers may perceive a difference based on company or brand image. Thus,
hospitality companies need to work to establish images that differentiate them from competitors. A company or visitor
destination image should convey a singular or distinctive message that communicates the products major benefits and
positioning. In the case of visitor destinations such as tropical locations, it is often impossible to distinguish the advertising of one
from another. Most seem to employ beaches, clear water, and other environmental factors that do not differentiate any.
Developing a strong and distinctive image calls for creativity and hard work. A positive image must be earned. Chilis developed
an image as a casual and fun neighborhood restaurant. This image must be supported by everything that the company says and
does

A common mistake made by new owners/operators of a property is to implement a new image/positioning strategy before fully
understanding the property, the community, and the market. In 2004 the new owners of the Telluride Ski and Golf Resort
announced they would not make this mistake. Instead of announcing grand changes, the new owners said, Our intentions are to
honor unique characteristics that define Telluride. We want to preserve Tellurides authenticity, charm, and casual atmosphere.
They further said that they would seek input from the community to develop a shared vision of what the resort should look like.38

One of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, has 850 properties in more
than 95 countries and 145,000 employees at its owned and managed properties. Starwood has differentiated its hotels, creating an
image along emotional, experiential lines. Its hotel and call center operators convey different experiences for the firms different
chains, as does the firms advertising. This strategy emerged from a major 18-month positioning project, started in 2006, to find
positions for the portfolio of brands that would establish an emotional connection with consumers. Consumer research suggested
these positions for some of the brands:

Competition for Visitors Involves Image Making

Destination images are heavily influenced by pictorial creations used in movies or television, by music, and, in some cases, by
popular entertainers and celebrities. State media investment to attract tourists has grown rapidly. States such as Texas and Alaska
have more than quadrupled their tourism media budgets. Nations and states invade and advertise in each others markets. For
instance, Illinois targets New York, California, Texas, and Japan. It produces multilingual travel guides, DVDs, and radio
segments. Destinations have formed partnerships with travel, recreational, and communication businesses on joint marketing
efforts. They advertise in national magazines and travel publications and work with business-travel promotions to link the
growing business-leisure segment of the traveling public, and they target travel agencies. Many states have located welcome
centers along major interstate highways that include unstaffed two-way video systems to answer questions from a central location
or otherwise assist travelers. States also target their own residents with brochures, maps, and a calendar of events.
Finally, effective destination imaging requires congruence between advertising and the destination. Glossy photographs of
sunsets, beaches, buildings, and events need to have some relationship to what tourists actually experience; otherwise,
destinations run the risk of losing tourist goodwill and generating bad word of mouth. Many tourist destinations have discovered
that it is important to show residents interacting with tourists in their advertisements. Thousands of mountain slopes and beaches
exist in the world and most look alike in photos. Very few tourists seek a completely secluded vacation site. People are social
creatures by nature and consciously or unconsciously seek the company of fellow humans. Curiosity is another common human
trait. We wish to see how others live and to intermingle with them if for only brief periods before retreating to a five-star
hotel. A classic success story of reversing a serious decline in tourism occurred in Jamaica. The decline had occurred under a
government that seemingly expressed antiNorth American viewpoints. Unfortunately, crime increased, visitors were
abused, and tourism fell. A new government was installed with different attitudes, and the Jamaica Tourist Board was determined
to rebuild its tourism base. A U.S. advertising agency was hired to develop an advertising campaign