Marketing Plan of a Restaurant and Hotel Industry - Case Study Example

Marketing Plan of a Restaurant The hotel industry is highly competitive and therefore there is need for investors engaged in the industry to come up with brilliant marketing techniques to gain a competitive advantage. The hotel industry involves significantly many interactions between customers and the personnel and it is important to ensure maximum satisfaction of customers. Since the hotel industry is heavily dependent on repeat business, customer satisfaction resulting to loyalty is key. However, the hotel industry is relatively large and full of variations. For example, there can be business hotels, conference centers, and extended stay hotels among others. Therefore it is important for investors to have knowledge of the target group in regard to the hotel type. For example Urspace Café located in Temple City can arguably be considered a business hotel since it mainly deals with customers seeking day food and breakfast. However, despite the hotel type it important to ensure that the marketing strategies employed are excellent. Excellent hospitality operation is one of the basic marketing strategies applied by in the hotel industry. Hospitality operations go beyond the normal daily greetings as customers enter the premise. Successful hospitality operations involve increased knowledge about the customer base in order to offer the best services without necessarily being prompted to. For starters, waiters and waitresses should have good knowledge of all available foods and beverages to avoid uncertainty when an order is placed. Additionally, they should be aware of the frequently requested food types especially by frequent customers to give room for suggestions. This is also important to ensure that frequently foods and beverages are always present hence eliminating customer disappointments. This improves interactions between the personnel and the customers thereby creating a sense of satisfaction. Additionally, building strong relationships with the customers makes it easy to identify arising problems. This is because loyal customers accustomed to the hotel feel welcomed to give suggestions on improving levels of service. Therefore, in case of a complaint a customer will not opt for another hotel but rather will consider communicating with the personnel so that the problem can be addressed. Additionally, in as much as caution is taken, there is bound to be errors though few thereby prompting a customer’s complaint. Part of excellent hospitality is ensuring complaints and suggestions raised are addressed fast enough and accurately. Furthermore the personnel should ensure professionalism and politeness at all times even when addressing sensitive matters raised by customers. Moreover, the atmosphere and environment in the premise should be welcoming and in line with the nature of customers. For example, since the largest clientele of Urspace Cafe are business people, there should be reliable internet Wi-Fi, newspapers and maybe an excellent audio system to create a cool atmosphere. However, hospitality operations are not applicable only within the premise, but can rather be applied outside. For instance there should be an Urspace Café website that is fully functional and interactive at all times. Online services are on the rise and in order to remain relevant in the industry there should be online services that can address customer issues adequately. Additionally, there should be a direct telephone link to Urspace Café to encourage customer participation and to address various issues raised. In Temple City most of the restaurants have specialized in the Asian cuisine. This implies that there is high competition in delivering the bets Asian cousins in a bid to attract more customers and gaining loyalty. Due this increased concentration on Asian cuisine, other dish types have seemingly been neglected. This can be attributed to the fact that most of the people in the region arguably prefer Asian cuisine to other cuisines. However, the venture of Urspace into the market yet offering relatively different cuisine has proven successful and may be considered its strongest competitive advantage. Urspace has come up with a seemingly new integration combining original Western dishes with the Asian dishes thereby creating a different, unique yet excellent dish (Li 2014, para. 3). For example, Urspace offers Japanese styled hamburger patty which is a good combination of the Western and Asian cuisines. This has given Urspace a unique look giving it a platform of differentiation from the other restaurants in the area and consequently gaining a competitive advantage. In addition, Urspace has incorporated a modern look to give it a unique look in comparison to the other restaurants within its proximity. This can be considered utilization of an unvented market space hence creating a higher likelihood of better performance. Although other restaurants in the area are still a threat, it is arguably in order to say that Urspace has an upper hand in thriving. Restaurants in the proximity have already perfected the art of making brilliant Asian cuisines and this may serve as their main strength. This implies that venturing in Asian cuisines for new joints such as Urspace would probably not thrive well given the strong customer ties in the already existing cafes. However, integration of Western culture and modernity may arguably be viewed as a weakness for older restaurants thus taking this direction implies higher chances of success. This arguably explains the increased attention and likability that Urspace is gaining. Moreover, the prices at Urspace are relatively low in relation to the services offered and the experience of an integrated culture. Therefore, the levels of competition for Urspace are relatively minimal. The strategy applied by Urspace is seemingly in correspondence to its location in Temple City. Temple City has a population of approximately 36,133 which can arguably be considered a good number in terms of potential demand. The population is a mixture of several racial groups but the highest percentage comprises whites and Asians. According to the United States Census Bureau, 55.7% percent of the population comprised Asians while 33.6% were white as of 2010 (United States Census Bureau). This implies that Urspace’s strategy of combining the Western cuisine and Asian cuisine is likely to be successful. From the statistics it is clear that the number of whites is relatively large and therefore introduction of Western dishes is likely to gain a huge customer base. With the combined Western and Asian cuisines, Urspace has relatively a large variety of dishes to choose from hence making it a suitable choice of Temple City people. With only about 9.1% of the population living below the poverty line it is arguably in order to say that chances of getting customers are relatively high. This shows that employment levels in Temple city must be relatively high hence reduced dependency and increased customer potential. Additionally, the greatest percentage of Temple City population has attained education levels higher than high school. This implies that it is highly likely that quite a large percentage of the population is working and self-dependent. Therefore, the most successful of the businesses in Temple City ought to target the business class. In reference to the nature of operations, Urspace can be considered a business hotel. This implies that Urspace’s strategy to target the business class is well calculated. Moreover, in areas where there is a high percentage of working and or studying people, it is expected that levels of dependency on hotels, especially during the day, is high. This is further cemented by the fact that only 4.5% of the population is aged below five years (United States Census Bureau). This implies that the greater percentage of the population is engaged in outdoor activities either work or school hence increased dependence on dining out habits. Urspace is strategically located hence it is accessible by majority of the residents of Temple City. Accessibility is highly important since the distance and time of travel play a crucial part in decision making (Karakas 2012, p.10). Furthermore, food sales are relatively high hence the customer base of Urspace is seemingly rich. Marketing objectives in relation to product mainly seek to produce differentiated products that are not being offered by the competitors. In the case of Urspace this has arguably already been achieved through differentiation and offering dishes from assorted cultures. However, this does not mean that enough has been done in relation to products. In the hotel industry, there is much emphasis on the taste of foods and beverages offered. Additionally, there is need to set favorable prices and making sure that the prices are maintained. This involves setting prices that are seemingly equal with the prices of competitors. This is because setting high prices discourages customers regardless of product differentiation. Furthermore, it is important to occasionally, give promotions in relation to prices. Promotions should not only be limited to the opening days of the café. It is important to frequently give promotions since this invites new customers. With great products and services, once new customers try the joint they are likely to consider frequenting the joint and in the process some become loyal customers. There should also be increased advertisements such as online advertising. In the modern day, many people rely on the internet to get information on the best joints hence advertising online increases chances of boosting customer base. Conclusively, it is evident that the hotel industry is highly competitive hence requiring excellent marketing strategies. Some of the best marketing skills include product differentiation, excellent hospitality operation, offering good prices, and advertising among others. However, it is also important to consider the nature of the people in the place of operation. For example, there can be considerations on culture and economic standards in order to give the best products at the right prices. Additionally, it is important to keep up with the emerging issues such as online advertising and owning a website in order to remain relevant even with the changing technological advancements. Moreover, advertising is important for the success of any business since it creates awareness of existence. With such practices, success of in the hotel industry is guaranteed and the levels of competition will be relatively low. Works Cited Karakas, Burcu. “Marketing Business Tourism in Suburban Areas”. International Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, 1(2), 2012: 6-18. Li, Promise. “Local business spotlight: URSpace Café”. The Temple City Voice. 20 Jan. 2014. Web. 28 Nov. 2014. . United States Census Bureau. State & County Quick Facts: Temple City (city), California. (n.d). Web. 28 Nov. 2014. < http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06/0678148.html>. Read More