THE MANOR HOUSE
COUNTRY CLUB HOTEL
- (CASE STUDY) -
SWOT and PESTEL Analysis
NOTE: My marketing management assigment when i was at the university.
CASE STUDY OVERVIEW:
About Manor House
Country Club Hotel (MHCCH)
The MHCCH is a family owned
business which was started in 1992 by the Jenkins Family. The MHCCH has been
developing its properties by using knowledge management with innovation and
service quality by using its background in 18 years at hotel industry. However,
in recent years, many branches launched out to a hospitality market mainly in Singapore
and East-Asia.
The vision and objectives of the MHCCH
Bringing world-class standards of
comfort and convenience under the authentic service quality of Singapore
Hospitality is a vision of all hotels and resorts of the MHCCH. The objective
is to provide elegant Singapore style and modern style’s convenience
accommodation and service quality, various facilities and outlets under the
concept of Singapore service standard.
The MHCCH hotel Background
The MHCCH is located in three
acres of prestigious reclaimed landing Singapore and is currently operating as
one hotel. The hotel is just a mile away from some of the famous tourist
attractions. Providing comfortable accommodation divided in 2 areas: the
business area and the leisure areas. The MHCCH has its own brand and focuses on
Singapore service quality providing the traditional service standard, offering
guests more facilities which guests would feel free to use when they are under the
brand of the MHCCH.
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS:
Kotler (2003) noted that a good
competitor analysis must extend beyond inventory comparisons to true
competitive advantages of the companies within the competition. Generally in
this case, the competitive factors can compare by type of the hotel, location,
target groups, available of outlets and facilities, prices, brand and
technology focuses on the same target market. Thus, The MHCCH needs to figure
out how to upgrade its properties and what would be the unique advantage of the
MHCCH hotel.
SWOT ANALYSIS OF THE MHCCH:
In order for a business to
provide a service or expand, it needs to know what its consumers need and
want. A business that values its
consumers, and demonstrates this through making them feel special, over a
prolonged period of time, will become the best-performed company (Kotler 77).
Doing a self SWOT analysis would be wise for a business in our current situation.
The term SWOT analysis provides check-lists for auditing the organization’s
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and treats in the business environment
(Mercer, 1998). When a business knows these things about itself, it can improve
on its faults and emphasize its assets.
The SWOT analysis is probably the first step in putting together a
marketing plan or business plan for our business.
The strengths and weakness
concern the internal organization while the opportunities and the threats
concern external organization as shown in Figure.
STRENGTHS:
§
18 years experience in Hotel Business. It was
started in 1992 and since that time, The MHCCH has been developed and today, it
has a very important experience.
§
Establishing the authentic East- Asia
hospitality. Traditional Singapore style and friendly atmosphere.
§
Providing excellent service quality, various
entertainment outlets and facilities such as various restaurants, the spa.
§
Well educated staffs and good customer care. Having
efficient potential human resources by well educated and trained staffs. Staffs
are trained in customer care and communications skills.
§
Enough land to expand for other facilities. The
MHCCH is located in three acres. The purchase of an adjacent property offered
additional accommodation. We can purchase it whenever we need.
§
Popular tourist location. The MHCCH’s current
location is just a mile away from some of the famous tourist attractions ( e.g.
a theme park and museum) and also prestigious reclaimed land
§
Enough luxury bedrooms.
§
The bar licensed.
§
Bistro. The bar is renewed as an informal
European-style restaurant.
§
The new restaurant.
§
Visual aspects of the main hotel and new
spacious foyer.
§
Beauty salon. It has very latest beauty
treatments.
§
Well managed. Administrative staffs are capable.
§
The new function suite for business opportunities.
WEAKNESSES:
§
Limitation of its own brand. The MHCCH is not a
chain hotel like Hilton or others. Therefore, to do advertisement of our hotel
is a bit difficult than these kind of chain hotels.
§
Its hotel is not the most hi-technology if
compare with other elegant hotel chains.
§
The most modern style and Lack of specialty such
as high multi graphic to motivate visitors on the website, which is the best
distribution channel of the current age
§
Unfinished refurbishment.
§
Not enough advertising.
§
No special offers out of season.
§
Tunnel vision.
§
Not enough reputation.
§
Not to provide online reservation system.
§
Similarity with other hotels.
§
No providing convenience facilities including in
accommodations such as wireless internet.
§
Limited menu. Consumers want new styles of food
and drink from different parts of the world (e.g. French, Italian, Portuguese,
Indian, Japanese, Thai, Malaysian and Middle Eastern). Moreover, there is a
demand for healthier eating.
§
Not enough opportunities for all kind of customers
(e.g. authentic experience for affluent consumers; exclusive, educational and
cultural experiences for high-end travelers; cater for the needs of different
age groups and family travelers).
OPPORTUNITIES:
·
The MHCCH has supported the tourism and hospitality
industry which its policy concentrates on national development and launch
marketing campaign will focus on the themes of quality, sustainability and
competitiveness, using a marketing image for the country of ‘Happiness on
Earth’.
·
The coming of low cost service airlines and
aggressive efforts by the National Tourist Board (e.g. the Uniquely Singapore
Campaign) will be instrumental in making Singapore a regional travel hub.
·
The government focuses on developing medical
services, health promotion services with an emphasis on spa and traditional
massage services, and health tourism. Our new beauty centre is one of the best
of own field.
·
The Singapore government intends to triple
spending on tourism to Singapore US$ 27,200,000 and triple the number of
tourists over the five years.
·
The number of trade conferences and exhibitions
held in the country has gone up by 30% during the last two years, indicating a
growth area for the hotel industry.
·
Become more family friendly.
THREATS:
·
Customer’s awareness of unsafe destinations
·
Other competitors. Singapore hotel industry has
a wide variety of accommodation types to suit all budgets and preferences,
ranging from backpacker, budget and youth hostels to boutique and five-star
hotels.
·
Lack of differentiation. Most hotels have
standard facilities.
·
New laws. Increased amount of bureaucracy, new
licensing laws and a ban on smoking in public areas.
·
Changing economy and trends. The persistent
price wars by the mass-market tour operators point to the need to focus on
niche sectors, including honeymoon packages, specialist holidays and activity
breaks.
·
The effect of America-Iraq conflict desists the
travel motivation of widespread tourists
·
The impact of bird flu continued attracting the
economic and social sectors
·
Suddenly occurred of a disaster of Tsunami and
its result effect a wide angle in Singapore.
PESTEL ANALYSIS of the
MHCCH
PESTEL or macro environment known
as ‘the external factor’; political, economic, social, technological,
environment and legal factors which the company cannot control them have a wide
framework-effect for a company (Knowles, 1998). Hence, this analysis identifies
the external impacts might give potential opportunities or threats that are a
concern to the company. To explain the MHCCH’s PESTEL analysis as follow as:
1) The
political factor:
The Singapore government had set
up the Tourism Ministry designed to create, develop and improve the quality and
standards of the country’s products and destinations. As a result, we can say
that nowadays, bureaucracy is a very important obstacle on the hotel industry
ways. Nevertheless, the government certainly supports the field of the tourism
and hospital industries.
2) The economical factor
In 2003-2004, the global tourism
was affected by 2 major situations: the American–Iraqi conflict and the Severe
Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic in Asia. SARS left behind the most
direct impact in Singapore tourism history. However, the domestic travel and
tourism market has experienced a steady growth during the last decade, with the
occupancy rate hitting as high as 90% in recent months. Moreover, the coming of
low cost service airlines and aggressive efforts by the National Tourist Board
has led to an increase in inbound tourism from abroad. Finally, the Tourism
Authority of Singapore expected the amount of visitors
from this field should be US$ 27,200,000 spending over the next five years.
3) The social and cultural
factors
The recent decade, Singapore has
had an image of the land of smile including the original and traditional Singapore
culture becoming the unique image and conducting to dramatically develop
Tourism and hospitality industry. However, as a result of SARS and the
America-Iraq conflict, in 2003, total trade with international tourists sharply
decreased. Because of these unsatisfactory factors, there was much confusion
among the tourist markets, especially the sensitive female market, which
preferred to travel safety and delay a trip. In addition, the effect of the economic
had changed Singapore’s strategies using Tourism to enhance the revenue and had
a direct impact to population issues such as occupation and social culture. In
particular 2007, the number of trade conferences and exhibitions held in the
country has gone up by 30% since the last two years. Equally important, local
people tend to travel inside the country more than outbound leaded the domestic
tourism showed an important role of the low-cost service occupation becoming a
significant part of society.
4) The technological factor:
Technology widely influences the
business environment of tourism, leisure and hospitality. The development of
computer reservation systems introduced on a worldwide scale has also changed
the marketplace for booking holiday. The worldwide electronic room nights in
2004 increased 7.5 percent for the Global Distribution System
(hotel-online.com). In addition, the internet has increasing its role in
distribute various information through the website. Importantly, nowadays most
people in modern lifestyle spend their time on searching the internet. Hence,
the most effect is the online life has influenced new generations and has
occurred new activities via the website. Thus, this factor seems slightly
impact in a short term but large value in long term with many businesses can
earn more benefits from high technology including the leisure filed industry.
5) The
environmental factor
The result of SARS and the
America-Iraq conflict had enormous impacts to Singapore in 2004. The movement
of global tourists dramatically decreased lead many businesses in tourism and
hospitality steadily declined in that year. In 2004-2005, the influence of the
bird flu and Tsunami had occurred and effected to wide angle in Singapore
continuing to 2006. Other event, the bird flu has effected in the domestic
economic area but importantly, the damage from the Tsunami on December, 26 2004
pushed the Singapore National Tourist Board to launch a new strategic
management to renovate and support suffered areas so as to console domestic
tourists and return international tourists to Singapore.
6) The legal factor
In recent years, there are some
new licensing laws which are increased by government. Importantly, there is a
ban on smoking in public areas. Hence, the hotel industry sector has some
problems because of new rules.
PORTER’S GRID
(GENERIC) STRATEGY
According to Porter in 1986,
strategy is a pursuit of competitive advantage; his typology of strategy
includes three generic types: overall cost leadership, differentiation, and
focus but we can explain focus by separating two parts that cost focus and
differentiation focus. Therefore, we will explain it in 4 titles. Companies can
choose from “generic” strategies: Cost leadership; cost focus; differentiation
and differentiation focus.
Competitive
advantage:
|
Competitive
scope:
|
Strategy
description:
|
Lower
cost
|
Broad
target
|
Cost
leadership
|
Lower
cost
|
Narrow
target
|
Cost
focus
|
Differentiation
|
Broad
target
|
Differentiation
|
Differentiation
|
Narrow
target
|
Differentiation
focus
|
Figure: Four
Generic Strategies
In this case, if we analyze the
MHCCH, we will focus to customers and we will use different strategies for
different customers. We have few types of customers that:
ü Non-business
guests
ü Family
non-business guests
ü Corporate
guests
Type of Consumers
|
Strategy
|
Non-business guests
|
High-end travelers
|
Differentiation focus
|
Affluent consumers
|
Differentiation focus
|
Family non-business guests
|
Differentiation
|
Corporate guests
|
Cost focus
|
Differentiation Focus
(Non-Business Guests):
Current market research and
benchmarking in Singapore show that luxury is becoming a personal state of mind
for an increasing number of affluent consumers who wish to have an authentic
experience. On the other side, high-end travelers increasingly demand
exclusive, educational and cultural experiences which reflect their specific
tastes and values. For this reason, we give answer for different consumers’
expectations.
1st of all, we need
some special place for luxury guests. We have to decorate this place a kind of
authentic place where our consumers feel their self like in the real Singapore
and East-Asia life. We don’t need a new building. Just separate small parts of
existing building and decorate for luxury class. Following the vision of the
MHCCH emphasizing on the authentic Singapore hospitality’s service, the MHCCH’s
atmosphere is based on Singapore traditional concept. The hotel decoration is
combined between original Thai and modern style which make guests feel more
welcome. These make the MHCCH hotel more unique in its image and brand name. The
MHCCH and its resorts and its brand has contributed and conducted it to gain a
stronger, more famous image, intended hold the customer loyalty. Therefore, the
MHCCH has enormous products, services, facilities which it provides more
choices as ‘all things are in the MHCCH to meet the guest’s expectation.
2nd, for high-end
travelers, we organize some trips to museums, villages, natural life…etc where
are exclusive, educational and cultural experiences. Most of high-end travelers
are educated people and the communication tools are more important for them
than other guests. Therefore, we will give lots of choice to them to use. In
addition, in current age, the internet distribution channel obviously will give
the MHCCH more benefits. Online distribution channel is the easy way to contact
and the most convenient way for customers in the modern lifestyle-society. In
order to fulfill the demands of business and leisure travelers, the MHCCH forms
general hotel profiles via the mhcch.com website such as the hotel location,
room types, restaurants, and other facilities. It also offers the price of
connecting internet in rooms, room rates, the details of meeting and convention
center, and facilities in the hotel such as the spa center, the fitness center,
the golf club all including the location, opening hours. Especially, in the
restaurant section, it provides chef’s profile, capacity, and type of each
restaurant. It illustrates the restaurant to visitors and helps them make a
decision to choose and book a table on the internet. In addition to assessing
this web, it allows visitors to organize a smart travel plan. Travelers can
check the suitable time for their trip according to seasons and an event
calendar. Moreover, our website provides few languages. The call center will
serve better for customer happiness.
Differentiation
(Family non-business guests):
Family travel is another growth
area, making it necessary for service providers to cater for the needs of
different age groups. For this reason, we will offer convenient facilities such
as a cable/ satellite television, a direct telephone line with fax/ modem, a
voicemail,
and a wireless internet access
available also providing 8 different national cuisines for example Spanish,
Chinese, English, French, Italian, and Japanese styles.
Many hotels have never stopped
developing their properties conducting to competitive advantages. Then,
mhcch.com needs to become alert and seek the way to maintain its resources and
gain its advantages. They can be established by technology, organization or
structure, and people. But, the essential and main sources are people and
people-driven process to sustain advantages (Thompson, 2003). The MHCCH
managers must discuss and let employees know that they are important and make
them more valued by giving rewards, promotion, and perks. Making them feel they
are a part of the organization and satisfy them in their jobs in order to use
company knowledge assets to increase its productivity. To improve or generate
knowledge, leaders or manager ought to discuss with employees because they are
the people who directly communicate with customers. The knowledge transfers
from staff and inputs from top managers through organizational levels.
Employees receive new challenges and ways to generate knowledge. They are able
to adapt or put new knowledge into the knowledge management information systems
and this leads the hotel to analyze the marketing plan more efficiently under
the quality resources.
Cost Focus (Corporate
Guests):
The Singapore hotel industry is
highly competitive and provides a wide variety of accommodation types to suit
all budgets. In addition, the number of trade conferences and exhibitions held
in the country has gone up by 30% during the last two years. This shows that
corporate guests are a big market and we have to focus them. These kinds of
consumers find all choices in the market but we will gain from off take. The
accommodation prices of the MHCCH are divided by the size, type, and other
facilities in the room following the seasons, peak or low seasons similar to
other competitor’s prices. However, it offers discount and various activities
for the member who handles the MHCCH Gold card and MHCCH association. Moreover,
it offers a special price for the travel agency and the business’s customers.
We will have some promotion
activities which concerned advertising, personal selling, direct marketing,
internet and online marketing, sale promotion, publicity are used as a
strategic marketing. Likewise, The MHCCH will provide various activities of the
promotion marketing. For example, the marketers or sale contact to customers
via the travel agencies or the customer’s company giving them special prices,
collecting night program or complimentary who use directly or indirectly the
products or services of the hotel such as giving the secretary special
collecting night programs. Thus they are motivated to due with the MHCCH. On
the other side, the mhcch.com website provides much more benefits to do
promotion activities. The hotel can do the advertising, giving the special
promotion, or do the public relations via the website which the MHCCH has
provided an electric customer relationship management (CRM) program for
visitors. In addition, there provide the loyalty program, the affiliate
program, to motivate customers to join and become a part of the hotel.
CONCULUSION:
To offer a successful hospitality
product, hotels and resorts should recognize the importance of using marketing
and how to manage their knowledge in organizations. The organization needs to
seek what customers want. Also, there are many approaches to meet a customer
prospective. The marketing plan is an appropriate tool in order to analyze both
sides of own hotel and customers and overview situation and macro,
microenvironments of the destination. However, the marketing strategy of the
MHCCH emphasizes the Singapore service quality’s standards and using company
resources increase business performance and its brand in order to catch
customer relationships in long term activities. This relies on CRM to meet
customer satisfaction making the organization more powerful allowing them to
reinforce the marketing process more efficiently and be able to sustain its
competitive advantage.
As a result, we see in the
analysis of PESTEL, SWOT, PORTER’S GRID ‘Generic’ that we don’t need to sell
the hotel or to invest in an external property. May be, we can invest some
minor areas but we don’t need to do large investments. We need just to be our
self and to do the best of ours.
REFERENCES:
Kotler, P .et al.,(2003) Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism, 3rd,
Prentice Hall, USA
Jobber, D.
(2004) Principles and Practice of Marketing. 4th ed.
McGraw-Hill. London.
Mercer, D.
(1998). Marketing strategy: the challenge of the external environment.
SAGE, London
Knowles, T. (1998) Hospitality
Management: an Introduction, (2nd Edition) Essex: Pearson
Education Ltd.
Thompson,
J. L. (2003) Strategic Management: Awareness and change. Thomson
Learning, London.
