Analysis of the marketing activities of the hotel 'Volgograd'. Organization of the marketing department Marketing and sales department in the hotel

Building a sales system in a hotel

Polina Berezhnaya

The success of any business lies not only in the quality of the product being sold, the amount of investment in its creation and development. Services or goods must be sellable, and this to a large extent depends on the correct construction of the sales department, its goals, objectives and structure, the professionalism of employees and the manager. What should be the optimal in terms of quality indicators a sales department in a hotel, let's try to figure it out together with specialists and market experts

The role of effective sales in any business can hardly be overestimated. In a highly competitive environment with a variety of offers, the number of customers directly depends on how well the sales department works, whether it is a manufacturing company or a company operating in the service sector.

Any company should have a guaranteed sale of goods or services that pays for its work and brings profit. The hotel business is no exception. Taking into account that competitors, as they say, do not sit still, without professional sales managers, the business will lose stability, and, turning a blind eye to the sales problem today, after a while it will become much more difficult to solve, therefore, mastering new products in the field of sales management necessary constantly.

Building a hotel sales service always starts with defining clear goals and a strategy for work. As explains director department sales, marketing and development Vertex Hotel Group Olesya ProtsenkoIn order to effectively build the work of the hotel sales service, first of all, it is necessary to find clear answers to several important questions: what the hotel is selling, what is the competitive range in the market, what are the advantages of the hotel and who is its client. “Having thoroughly studied your product and the capabilities of competitors, you will be able to highlight your own strengths that you will operate on the market. With clear answers to these questions, building a sales force and building a sales strategy becomes much easier. There are different schemes for building a sales department.

For example, if your hotel is a monopolist in the city by some criteria (either due to its location, or due to the level of service, infrastructure, etc.), it will be enough to build a sales department following the so-called lightweight model. We are talking about a structure where there is one service manager and a booking department who works with incoming orders and contracts. This model is used when there is no need to produce any new business, and the main task is only to maintain the hotel's operation, ”says the expert.

At the same time, if a hotel operates in an environment with a high level of competition, which in Ukraine is already present not only in the capital, but also in cities with a population of over one million, the Carpathian region, attractive for tourists, and on the South Coast of Crimea (SCC), then the formation of a sales strategy special attention must be paid. In this case, you will have to engage in active sales through your own forces and extensive incentives for partners to promote the hotel among their customers. Certain features in sales management are inherent in hotels in the southern region, which are characterized by "fluctuations" in the flow of guests: from the maximum occupancy of the room stock during vacations to the minimum occupancy in the cold season. This is why hoteliers have to come up with more sophisticated sales approaches to maintain the average annual occupancy rate of at least 60%. Loyalty programs and tough economic sanctions for partners are also being used.

Go through all channels
The creation of a sales system for any hotel first of all begins with segmenting potential customers and determining which of them are priority. This is the approach taken in his work general director hotel "Aivazovsky" Yulia Labunskaya... “In order for the sales channels of hotel services to work effectively, it is first of all necessary to correctly define the target audience of the hotel. In general, sales channels can be divided into internal and external.

Internal sales include direct sales of the hotel, in particular, through the booking department, the hotel website, interaction with corporate clients, regular and potential guests of the hotel. External channels are characterized by agency sales (travel operators and agencies) and global distribution systems (GDS), ”says the expert.

According to Head of Sales and Marketing Department of the Opera Hotel Elena Drozd, the main task of the sales department in the hotel is to make a profit from the sale of hotel rooms, conference rooms, banquets and conferences. “By and large, the sales department is responsible for the entire revenue side of the hotel's budget. In addition, this department is responsible for setting room prices and rates based on seasonality, supply and demand in the market, as well as networking and the conclusion of corporate and agency contracts. In addition, the direct responsibilities of the sales department include writing an annual business plan, which provides a detailed analysis of the market, competitors, strengths and weaknesses of the hotel itself, existing and potential customers, as well as developing a strategy and action plan for the next year, ”says expert.

Despite the fact that each hotel, as a rule, has its own preferences in working with one or another sales channel, in general, almost all hoteliers believe that only an effective mix from different sales channels can ensure a constant high occupancy of the hotel. So, let's take a closer look at the specifics of the work of each sales channel.

The effectiveness of internal sales directly depends on the professionalism of the hotel's sales managers. The activities of the hotel's own sales department often extend mainly to corporate clients. Moreover, if small hotels have the opportunity to attract only business travelers, then larger hotels with a wide range of additional services for business are focused on finding clients who practice various events.

As explains Olesya ProtsenkoIf the hotel has conference rooms and can simultaneously receive a large number of guests, then the focus of sales will be directed to complex events, the profitability of which is higher than from the placement of single clients. “In order to attract“ corporates ”for holding conferences and seminars in a hotel, first of all it is necessary to find out who in the market lives with such events. That is why an important role for this sales channel is played by monitoring business activity in Ukraine and in the world as a whole, knowledge of the specifics of the work of various business segments. A sales manager must live in the segment he leads, constantly study his potential client in order to fully understand what product he is working with, ”says the hotelier.

Another important internal sales channel for any hotel is its Internet resource. The hotel business is one of the few where a website can be not only the main source of information, but also attract real customers. Unfortunately, many hoteliers do not think about this and do not pay due attention to their online presence. At the same time, for the hotel, the site continues to be the cheapest of the electronic distribution channels and can potentially provide up to 10% of sales.
“The hotel website should be as simple as possible and at the same time informative, correctly presenting the hotel's“ mood ”. An important role is played by an effective booking module, thanks to which the guest can quickly select the category of the room, book it and pay in a convenient way for him, ”believes Olesya Protsenko.

When filling the site, it is worth considering the needs for information about the hotel of all contractors who will use it, be it a travel company or a potential client. Information should be communicated in a simple, accessible and preferably official language. The visual component of the web page will also play an especially important role in the formation of sympathy (and later loyalty) for the hotel. The picture that a client or partner sees when visiting your web resource should make a pleasant impression on him. After all, creating a positive mood in the guest is an important mission of any hotel, which should be fulfilled already at the stage of the client's first acquaintance with the hotel's representative office on the Internet. The visitor should not experience difficulties in working with the site. Even a few heavy images can leave a dark stain on a hotel's image, which may take several minutes to load. The reservation section always leaves a special impression on the potential client. The irritation of the guest received from the long waiting for the procedure for booking a room will certainly affect his future attitude towards the hotel, of course, not for the better. Transparent pricing will be another important point. If, for example, some tax is not taken into account in the initial price indicated on the website, as a result of which the cost of accommodation in a hotel may increase significantly when booking, which, of course, is unpleasant to surprise a potential client, in this case, count on further customer loyalty is no longer worth it.

Travel companies are also one of the most important external sales channels for most hotels. The peculiarity of working with such partners is the complex sales of hotel services together with transfers, excursions, etc. “To effectively interact with travel companies, you need to study their customers and the segments in which they operate, - says Olesya Protsenko... - After all, there are many national characteristics of the client. For example, for guests from Japan, you must provide the maximum number of identical in size and interior double rooms with separate beds. Therefore, a sales manager, in addition to knowing his partner-tour operator, must also have a good understanding of the needs of the end client in order to competently form a product that will be in demand. "

Since, working with travel agents and tour operators, the hotel does not have the opportunity to directly influence the formation of end user loyalty, this category of counterparties should be viewed primarily as a way to attract new customers, and not as the main source of profitability. In addition, many travel agencies operate with a pronounced seasonality, therefore, focusing on this sales channel, there is always the risk of a significant drop in hotel revenues during the “stagnant” season.

However, this sales channel should not be underestimated. Travel companies, like no one else, participate in creating the image of the hotel among its potential customers, therefore the formation of their loyalty to the hotel should become the fundamental reference point of your relationship. Do not neglect the timely payment of commissions, since even the smallest financial debt to a partner can widely open the doors of a competing hotel to the clients of the travel company. Moreover, it is advisable not to forget about the promotion and additional reward of agents who regularly refer their clients to the hotel. Such bonus programs can be the possibility of free accommodation in a hotel for partners, free info tours, as well as additional discounts adjusted taking into account the volume of sales of one or another partner. An important aspect of communication with agents is the sales brochures, e-listings and the hotel's advertising guide. These materials will provide agents with detailed information on facilities and services in the offered hotels. In addition, supporting materials should provide details on how to book rooms and how to pay commissions. Educational seminars for travel companies will not be superfluous either.

As for the global distribution systems (GDS), although they are the most established channel for booking hotels around the world, for many Ukrainian small hotels this is a very expensive pleasure. Nevertheless, global distribution systems are quite developed in their structure, sales channels, which provide a large number of ways to present information to a potential client and work with him. Forming its sales strategy, the hotel can consider each GDS as an independent full-fledged channel or as a component of the total number of sales.

However, all external sales channels have one major drawback. According to Julia LabunskayaDespite the fact that they are a very effective way of selling, in any case, they remain only intermediaries between the guest and the hotel and in any case will not be able to submit information about the hotel in the way that the booking manager or the hotel's own website will do.

Avoiding duplication
For small hotels, the problem of separating functions between marketing, sales and booking services does not exist at all. They are often concentrated in one structure. “In our hotel, the sales and marketing department (this is a single service) works closely with the reservation service. At the same time, the employees of each department have their own clear responsibilities. Bronists maintain daily accounting, control and customer base with clear segmentation. This information is processed by the sales and marketing service and is used for various marketing activities, notifying customers about additional hotel services, new promotions, etc. ", - says managing directorhotel "Flower bed" (Odessa) Inna Seculer.

However, not everything is so simple for hotels with a solid number of rooms. Large hotels always try to separate the functions of marketing, sales and booking. To prevent duplication of functions of employees of different departments, first of all, clear job descriptions should be. Here's what she said about this marketing Manager hotel "Ukraine"(Lutsk) Lilia Ivashchuk: “The efficiency of our hotel is determined by the principle of team work. Despite the fact that there is a clear division of responsibilities in accordance with job descriptions, each employee is familiar with the work of colleagues at the level of interchangeability, ”says the expert.

However, not everyone succeeds in achieving the result of coordinated team actions, when the functions of different departments are not duplicated and at the same time each of them can effectively complement the work of the other. To achieve such a result, it is worthwhile to clearly separate the scope of activities and tasks that should be faced by each of the listed services. According to Olesya Protsenko, the main task of the hotel marketing department is to put together a product that sales managers can effectively sell. To do this, the marketing department needs to clearly understand which client they are working with, what the competitive range exists in the market. In turn, the sales department is people who, thanks to their sociability, psychotype and temperament, find a new client, and the booking department is a team of employees who need to keep the already attracted client with the level of service. “Bronists” work with the finished product and with the already brought client (guest, “corporation,” tour operator, etc.). Therefore, their task is to have information on the subject of the current tariffs, the validity of the contract (from the French valide - legal, valid; in relation to the initial statistical information used in economic research: the reliability of information, the absence of errors in it due to the inaccuracy of the chosen method of data collection. - Approx.ed.). Also, one should not forget about the characteristics of the client, which were told to them by the sales managers (for example, this or that client should always have half board, or the guests of a particular company should never be offered the 13th floor). The sales department is obliged to convey the most detailed information about the client to the "bronists", and they, in turn, must follow all instructions and develop a new level of communication with the client, forming his loyalty to the hotel.

Outstanding employees
The efficiency of the sales department of any hotel in the first place always depends on its head. As explains Catherine Chernous, consultant by selection specialists higher link recruiting agency Golden Staff, the head of the sales department is a person who himself works "for the result" and knows how to stimulate others to such work. Therefore, when hiring for the position of the head of this unit, the candidate is asked to talk about how effective his activities were in previous places: what was the financial result, what was the growth in sales, etc. Such a leader must also know the specifics of the business "from the inside" and be well-versed in any situation that arises for his subordinates. In short, the main task of the head of the hotel sales department is to competently maintain communications with subordinates, top management and, if necessary, customers.

Somewhat different requirements apply to the rest of the sales team. “For effective work with clients, as a rule, communication skills are very important - the ability to communicate, to have people to yourself, as well as the ability to be assertive, but not arrogant. In order to qualitatively argue his point of view and be convincing, the "salesperson" must have a fairly high level of intelligence and be able to hide the weaknesses and highlight the strengths of the product. In general, a salesperson is always a good negotiator, a kind of politician. In my opinion, in sales, as in any other area of \u200b\u200bactivity, it is important that a person really likes what he does. Work should be fun, ”explains Catherine Chernous.

Today it is not so easy to find a specialist who would meet all the above requirements. Both representatives of recruiting companies and hoteliers themselves speak about this. According to Catherine Chernous, such a situation is connected, on the one hand, with the fact that a sales manager is one of the most demanded professions on the Ukrainian labor market. On the other hand, a good seller is always a person who possesses such outstanding skills as independence, the ability to take responsibility, communication skills, intelligence, energy, activity, etc. And to find a person who likes to sell at the same time and knows how to do it - no easy task.

Don't forget about employee development. Professional trainings, seminars, as well as lengthy training programs for sales managers always have not only a positive effect on sales figures, but also serve as an additional motivating factor for employees.

It is generally accepted that the main indicator for assessing the effectiveness of the sales department is the level of income. It is not difficult to calculate the income generated by the sale of this or that employee. This requires only a few mathematical calculations. However, as hoteliers explain, this approach is not entirely correct in the hotel business. A clear picture of the sales force's activities can only be obtained by taking a deeper look at KPIs. It is more justified to use a combination of indicators as a criterion for evaluating the work of hotel sales managers, and it can differ significantly in different hotels. For example, for many hotels, especially in the southern region, it is of great importance to maintain the proper level of hotel occupancy during the so-called “low” season.

For other hotels, the most important performance indicator may be the number of attracted customers of a certain category. All of these metrics can be lost by following a primitive way of assessing performance based on annual income. In addition, changes in income may have nothing to do with the achievements of the sales department at all, but be only the result of a non-standard marketing campaign or downtime in the work of competitors due to some force majeure. Determination of the parameters of evaluation, the effectiveness of the sales department is of a purely individual nature and should be directly correlated with the main goals and objectives of a particular hotel. “It is my absolutely clear conviction that the sales department is the heart of the hotel, which generates energy for the entire business,” shares his convictions Olesya Protsenko... - If the hotel is filled with the correct ratio of profitability, average price and occupancy, and all services operate in a normal high-load mode without stalemate and failure dates, this is an indicator of the effective work of the sales department, when all segments are correctly defined and compiled with each other. which is oriented hotel. That is, the understanding that the guest is satisfied should be correlated with the high level of profitability and occupancy of the hotel and the normal operation of all services. "
The goal of personal selling has traditionally been seen as a special kind of contract with a customer.

However, ideally, which, incidentally, was recommended by marketing guru Philip Kotler, James Makenz, the hotel should not be looking for a banal one-time sale. The main goal is a clientele, which must be won once and provide services to it for a long time. To do this, the institution must demonstrate to its guests its ability to meet their needs in the best possible way today, tomorrow and in five years, constantly improving the quality of service. This type of sales, the goal of which is a long-term cooperative relationship, is much more difficult than a short-term, one-off approach to sales. The acquisition of a long-term commitment involves a large number of agreements compared to simply closing sales.

More and more companies today are focusing on relationship marketing rather than deal marketing. Yes, it is much more difficult, but the result is worth it.

The success of any business lies not only in the quality of the product sold and the amount of capital investment in its creation and development. Services or goods must be sold, and this to a large extent depends on the correct construction of the sales department, its goals, objectives and structure, the professionalism of employees and the manager. Let's try to figure out what should be the optimal in terms of quality indicators a sales department in a hotel.

Taking into account the fact that competitors, as they say, do not sit still, without professional sales managers the business will lose stability, and, turning a blind eye to the problem of sales today, after a while it will become much more difficult to solve. It is necessary to master the novelties in the field of sales management constantly, and all efforts must necessarily have a return. If not, then the issue of organizing the sales system should be revised. Building a hotel sales service always starts with defining goals and working strategies. In order to effectively build its activities, first of all, it is necessary to find answers to several important questions: what does the hotel sell, what is the competitive range in the market, what are the advantages of the hotel and who is its client? Having thoroughly studied your product and the capabilities of your competitors, you can highlight your own strengths that you will operate on the market. With clear answers to these questions, it becomes much easier to put together a sales department and build a strategy.

There are different schemes for building a sales department. For example, if a hotel is a monopolist in a city according to some criteria (either due to its location, or due to the level of service, infrastructure, etc.), it will be enough to build a sales department following the so-called lightweight model. We are talking about a structure where there is one service manager and a reservation department who works with incoming orders and contracts. This model is used if there is no need to produce any new business, and the main task is only to keep the hotel running. At the same time, if a hotel operates in an environment with a high level of competition, then the formation of a sales strategy should be given special attention. In this case, you will have to engage in active sales through your own efforts and extensive incentives for partners to promote the hotel among customers. Loyalty programs and tough economic sanctions for non-paying partners are also being used.

The creation of a sales system for any hotel first of all begins with segmenting potential customers and determining which ones are priority. In order for the sales channels of hotel services to work effectively, it is necessary to correctly determine the target audience of the hotel.

In general, sales channels can be divided into internal and external. Internal sales include direct sales of the hotel, in particular, through the reservation department, hotel website, interaction with corporate clients, regular and potential guests of the hotel. External channels are characterized by agent sales (travel operators and agencies) and global distribution systems (GDS).

The main task of the sales department in the hotel is to make a profit from the sale of hotel rooms, conference rooms and banquets. By and large, the sales department is responsible for the entire revenue side of the budget. In addition, this department is responsible for setting room prices and rates based on seasonality, supply and demand in the market, as well as networking and the conclusion of corporate and agency contracts. The direct responsibilities of the sales department include writing an annual business plan, which provides a detailed analysis of the market, competitors, strengths and weaknesses of the hotel itself, existing and potential customers, and, of course, developing a strategy and action plan for the next year.

Despite the fact that each hotel, as a rule, has its own preferences in working with one or another sales channel, hoteliers generally believe that only their effective mix can ensure a constant high occupancy of the hotel.

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To make money in a crisis, it is not enough to cut expenses - you need to increase income. Hoteliers will benefit from dynamic pricing, smart marketing and increased customer loyalty

Focus

In the hotel market, sales departments often work “with everyone” - the hotel does not have a clear positioning and its established niche in the market. And in this case it is extremely difficult to compete, to bargain with customers, to justify the price and your competitive advantages. By highlighting its own market segment and, accordingly, the target audience format, the hotel will be able to offer the best price in its segment, win in the competition for groups and private requests. In our practice, there was an example when a mini-hotel in St. Petersburg, open, like many other objects of this kind, without a clear focus, becoming a "family" (services were added to accommodate families with children), increased sales by 21% mainly through direct bookings.

Make clear online promotion

In difficult economic conditions, you cannot reduce the marketing budget. Marketing is an investment that should definitely lead to increased sales and income. First of all, this is advertising on the Internet. Contextual advertising, indirect and direct requests, geotargeting management, reducing the number of synonyms and inappropriate visits, changing sites for customer requests, creating landing pages, communicating with potential guests on the site, and much more. In our practice, there have been cases when a clear online promotion led to a 50% increase in direct bookings.

Connect new sales channels

Oddly enough, hotels often operate in the old-fashioned way: two or three key travel agents, two or three key corporate partners, one or two online sites and their own website are all that give stable sales over a long period of time. However, there are still many other partners and sales channels that can bring new customers. You need to give the sales department the task of studying competitors' customers, studying your guest base in order to find those groups that have not been paid attention to before. And do this more than once, but every month, quarter, year. We had experience when a three-star hotel chose a new sales channel - wedding agencies and portals. I entered into appropriate agency agreements, compiled a package of documents and promotional materials and placed them in the offices of new partners. This led to the booking of new banquets in the first three months after the start for more than 3 million rubles.

Increase guest loyalty

Everyone knows that attracting a new client is three to five times more expensive than retaining an existing one. Therefore, the most obvious way to reduce customer acquisition costs is to actively work with old guests, turning them into loyal guests. Convert every visit and reservations made through online resellers into subsequent purchases directly. It is necessary for the guest to be satisfied and remember the hotel. The hotel loyalty program is, first of all, not discounts, but the opportunity to book a room when they are nowhere to be found, to choose the same room, the view from the window of which you liked during the previous visit, to get a bathrobe and slippers in a category in which this is not in the standards, or get a room upgrade when you don't expect it. After all, the Pareto principle also works in the hotel business: 20% of guests bring 80% of the income, and the remaining 80% - only 20%.

By order of one of the Voronezh hotels, we compiled a database of guests who were loyal five years ago, but do not visit the hotel now. A sales employee called each of the 62 clients in the sample with congratulations (the promotion was timed to coincide with the holiday) and a mini-survey: why does the client no longer use the hotel, what is he unhappy with, what he is using now? Within two months after calling 21 customers made a reservation. In another case, a country hotel has introduced the practice of polling its guests on the road, offering to book the next visit. Conversion into bookings was 8% of the surveyed guests, and into arrivals - 5.5%.

Diversify prices and services

Dynamic pricing in the current environment is becoming not just a beautiful marketing ploy, but a vital skill for the sales department of any hotel. It is necessary to adapt to the level of demand, competition, loading of the tariff that is declared in different sales channels, namely the specific price, and not the size of the discount. Flexible management of indicators: for how many people are booking, for what period, are they ready to pay right away, is it necessary to have food or a transfer, to which target audience the client belongs - all this will allow presenting the best price for this particular segment and increase the total average cost of the room sold by 16 eighteen%.

Check hotel standards to ensure they are best suited to guest needs, demand and rate. If your hotel sells a room for 5000+ rubles. per day and according to standards, offers all guests a bathrobe and slippers upon arrival, then in case of a tariff reduction to 2000 rubles, for example, in low season, you can remove the bathrobe and slippers from the rooms by placing a sign “If you need a bathrobe and slippers, we will happy to provide them for free. " Product consumption and washing will be reduced by 50% minimum, and the service will remain. The same can be done with different cotton swabs, hats, combs, shaving accessories, etc.

Manage the price of employee hours

Take out as many employees as possible. Outsourcing is not difficult. The main principle is that personnel costs should not exceed 30% of the hotel's turnover. Engage as many employees as necessary at the moment. For example, if four people are needed to serve breakfast, then let them be employees who come to work only in the morning. All non-operational services need to be critically “shaken” for the possibility of out-of-staffing and receive their services upon request. Thus, the hotel located in the center of Novosibirsk, having introduced the principle of hourly work of employees in the catering service in accordance with the restaurant load, reached an indicator of 18% of personnel costs for the food and beverage department.

Conduct an audit of engineering systems

This can be done both by the supplier of equipment that is in the hotel (water consumption audit, for example, offered by Grohe), or by an independent service. Within 200 thousand rubles. you will be offered solutions that will save you on utility bills. The result is likely to easily pay for the audit costs. For example, to save water, it may be necessary to replace only a few adapters, and to reduce electricity costs, change bulbs and install motion sensors.

Elena Lysenkova, cEO of Hospitality Income Consulting

The hotel company needs to have people who are able to conduct market analysis, planning marketing activities, their implementation and control. When the hotel is small, one person can do all the marketing work. In large hotels, many specialists work in the marketing departments, including specialists in sales of services, market research, advertising, public relations and others.

Marketing activities in modern hotels are organized in different ways. The most common form is a functional organization, when various marketing activities are headed by specialists in specific types of activities - sales managers, advertising managers, marketing research experts, quality and new service managers. Hotel chains selling their services across the country and abroad often use a geographic organization, with sales and marketing personnel assigned to specific countries, regions and areas. A geographic organization enables salespeople to work directly in their assigned territory, better recognize their customers and reduce travel costs.

Depending on the size of the hotel business and the challenges it faces, the marketing department can be organized as follows:

• Simple sales department. Smaller hotels typically create a Deputy Sales Manager with the task of increasing hotel occupancy. The deputy manager is directly involved in the sale of rooms. For marketing research or advertising campaigns, contracts are concluded with consulting firms and advertising agencies.
• The sales department, which carries out marketing functions, is typical for medium-sized hotels. As it expands its activities, the hotel has to deal with other segments of the tourism market or enter new geographic markets. To study the needs of local buyers and the potential of the market, she needs to conduct market research and carry out an advertising campaign in the selected area - to present herself and her products. To accomplish these tasks, the hotel is hiring marketing research and advertising specialists, perhaps a new position of marketing manager will appear on the staffing table, who will oversee the implementation of marketing functions.
• An independent marketing department is created when the hotel management comes to the understanding that, in terms of increasing profits, it is advisable to concentrate the coordination of marketing functions in an independent unit. A large hotel enterprise can afford additional investments in marketing research, development of new services, advertising and sales promotion, and improvement of service. Sales personnel are involved in the sales work in these hotels. The marketing manager is usually allocated the necessary budget. At this stage, sales and marketing are two different functions that must be closely related.

This alignment of forces allows management to take a more balanced approach to assessing the opportunities and challenges of their hotel.

Suppose that hotel room sales are declining and management is looking for a solution to the problem. The room sales executive is proposing more staff, higher wages, a “who sells more” competition, sending sales reps to refresher courses, or lowering room prices to boost sales. The deputy hotel manager for marketing should analyze the situation in the market. Are those segments served by the hotel? Has the target consumers' assessment of the services provided by the hotel and its competitors changed? Are the changes in service standards, style, related services, distribution and promotion justified?

Modern marketing department. Sales and marketing managers need to work together, but too often strained relationships, mistrust among them The sales manager is unhappy with the place given to his department in the marketing mix, and the marketing manager requires more and more funds for events, not directly related to the sale of rooms.

The marketing manager's job is to identify target growth opportunities, develop marketing strategies and programs that salespeople are responsible for. Marketers, based on the data obtained in the course of research, try to identify and understand market segments, are engaged in planning, always keep a long-term perspective in mind. Their goal is to increase the hotel's profits and expand its market share. Salespeople, on the other hand, rely on their experience, trying to reach each specific buyer. The bulk of the sales staff's working time is spent on personal communication with clients and customers. They live for today and try to fulfill their sales plan.

If friction arises between sales and marketing, the hotel management needs to sort out the conflict and either return marketing under the direction of the sales manager, or combine services under the head of the marketing department, making him responsible for the sales staff. The latter decision lies at the heart of the modern marketing department - a department headed by the director of marketing and sales, subordinate to whom are all who perform any marketing functions, including sales.

However, even an actively working marketing department cannot always save a hotel from market failures. It all depends on how other divisions of the company relate to the needs and requirements of customers, how they perceive their marketing responsibility.

If, in a hotel discussion, function leaders simply point fingers at the marketing department and say, “This is their business,” marketing efforts are not effective. Only when all employees understand that they owe their jobs, first of all, to hotel customers who prefer to use its services, can we talk about an effective marketing policy at the enterprise.

The paradox is that when a hospitality business embarks on cost-cutting and organizational restructuring, marketing and sales are the brunt. At the same time, no one removes the task before them - to ensure the maximum possible income.

Nowadays, more and more hotels are changing their organizational structure, fixing it on key processes, not on departments. Organization by department in many ways slows down the implementation of basic tasks, such as providing additional services, attracting and retaining customers, processing requests for room reservations, organizing services for a mass arrival, and holding conferences. For these purposes, more and more often mixed teams or rapid response teams are created from among the employees permanently working in other divisions of the hotel. The marketing department trains these employees, assigns them to teams and evaluates their performance.

Issues for discussion

• 1. What is the purpose of a marketing plan?
• 2. What is the place of the marketing plan in the planning of the hotel business?
• 3. What are the main stages of marketing planning in the enterprise?
• 4. What are the main marketing plans?
• 5. How to organize control over the execution of the marketing plan?