The Achievements Of Shangri La Hotel And Resorts Marketing Essay

Hotel is a typical service industry. In this report, Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts would be focused to investigate its marketing strategies on this specific area.

With numerous guests waken up in this heaven on earth full of peace and happiness, Shangri-La has been on everyone's 'top hotel of the world' list (Stern, 2008, 253). Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts is the leading luxury hotel in Asia Pacific area, which is also generally recognized as one of the famous hotel management companies in the world. Founded in 1971 in Singapore, nowadays, the group owns 65 branches, 28,000 rooms in Asia, North America and Middle East (Shangri-La Official Website, 2009).

Since its inception, Shangri-La has been bearing various pressures: the sharp pouring of rivals, the continuously ups and downs of economic, the rising expectations of consumer etc. (Baum, 2006, 131). However, Shangri-La always keeps a firm foothold in the hotel industry. Among those many factors contributing to its accomplishment, Shangri-La's sound marketing strategy played a fundamental role.

In accordance with its explicit customer segmentation, Shangri-La carried out focus strategy and global strategy simultaneously. Having seen the opportunity to drive forward, Shangri-La plans to double its portfolio, and expand its global market. By growing through management contracts, there is a clear change in direction and a perspective for Shangri-La (Hecker, http://blog.meadin.com/user1/schwanenritter/index.html, 2009). What should be pointed out is that the implementation of global strategy helps Shangri-La sustain competitive ability and harvest abundant resources. Meanwhile, Shangri-La's target development is to invest, penetrate then expand its brand throughout the regions with great potential and business vigor such as the mainland of China. With these two strategies, Shangri-La identify its target consumers and provide distinctive service, thus win the widest customers spreading Australia, India and South Asia, as well as Middle East and the gateways of Europe and North America(Shangri-La Official Website, 2009).

Besides, Shangri-La value customer loyalty. Customer loyalty is attributed to Shangri-La's renovation strategy to a large extent. Shangri-La performed an exceptional renovation strategy for its major guests to assure they are in excellent cordiality to this group. One is called Golden Circle, which supplies customers a series of rewards in three levels-Classic, Executive and Elite. In line with guests' total accumulating stay time, Shangri-La will offer corresponding discounts (such as the current which is up to 40% discounts) to them. It is obvious that this strategy attempt to place the key customers in centre of the company and to establish a long-time close relation with consumers, which is appreciated by the latter and promote their loyalty for Shangri-La considerately.

What is more, Shangri-La's 4Ps (product, price, place and promotion) strategies should not be neglected.

As stated earlier, although having distinctive features of inseparability and heterogeneity, service is the product of hotel. It has been noticed factors that the traditional factories do not have to care about, should be given full consideration, such as the environment of the place. In this respect, Shangri-La make sure that each of the guest rooms has been tastefully decorated and designed to give them maximum comfort, privacy and relaxation. Just as Angelini, the CEO of Shangri-La Group (2005) said, the success of Shangri-La is consternated on the quality of its service. High quality service is the most important asset of Shangri-La. What is of significance is that its service is not copied by competitors and Shangri-La is well known for providing cordial and considerate services--- Shangri-La has been raising the standard of guestroom amenities(e.g. wheelchair access to the venue and onto the stage and adjoining function rooms) and providing personalized service. Additionally, no matter whether customer requests, every day Shangri-La would send some ice-cubes to their rooms at about 5 p.m. Perhaps customers think this is a very small matter; but when melting, ice-cubes then will give out some slight crack, reminding the guest he can probably order one cup wonderful whisky. It is just these details that are the magic treasure of Shangri-La to attract customers.

It is acknowledged that service is intangible, yet price could be a tangible evaluation for service's level. As for it, Shangri-La specially put forward 'over-valued preference room rates' to guests who stay in a row two or more nights; many preferential services that is deeply welcomed by guests would be included; for example, free broadband Internet access(if related facilities contained) and everyday free breakfast. Guests do not need to pay supernumerary, but can enjoy these over-valued service and special discount all the same. Undoubtly, this improves Shangri-La's customer loyalty and help to maintain even enlarge its market share.

Owing to the perishability of service, above-mentioned waiting time is viewed as an element to measure the quality of service. As a foreuser of high technology, Shangri-La initiated an upgrade of its hotel central reservation and information system to a state of art (Clarke and Wei, 2007, 137). Not only does it offer customers multichannels of reservation via Internet, telephone, fax and post, but also apply these consumer-friendly technology flexibly to reduce consumers' booking time or procedure time. Communication channels between Shangri-La and its guests could be a significant subcomponent underlying its Place strategy.

Now let us take a look at Shangri-La's eye-catching promotions. Aiming at different seasons and different customers, Shangri-La released varied promotional activities all over the world. Thanks to its effective devotion, high specification and fresh feature, and adopting the trend of international service market, Shangri-La's personalized promotional activities have been popular among guests in all countries and obtained satisfying effects. Furthermore, Shangri-La spared no express to corporate with famous airlines such as AirChina to launch sales promotions. Except for above, Shangri-La developed other appropriate promotions to achieve right product (Smith, 1988, 17). All these bring Shangri-La a well-known fame.

In fine, taking the characteristics of service and their impact on marketing strategy into account, Shangri-La displayed the function of marketing strategy perfectly---to 'deliver its products(services) which offer better value over others in hotel market'(Kotler and Armstrong, 2005, 302 ).

Recommendations for Hotel Industry

On the foundation of charecteristics of service itself, the service a hotel offered need to be reflected in the approach to marketing. In addition, it is also necessary to comprehend customer needs. (Lockyer, 2007, 49). Here are some practical recommendations for hotel industry as follows:

Product Differentiation

Products are able to be differentiated solely by a single characteristic (Tisdell and Hartley, 2008, 237). As far as a hotel is concerned, it could be referred to as service differentiation. A hotel can differentiae its service by expanding, deepen or consolidate service range it offered (Majaro, 1997, 202). Like Shangri-La setting up road business district and Shangri-La Food Festival, maybe the hotel could build e.g. shopping or entertainment zone, which allows itself to convert into a tourist attractions gathering sightseeing, recreation, amusement etc. together on the basis of just furnishing guests accommodation. The hotel's service differentiation can make it distinguished from others.

Providing Truly High-quality Service

Human beings are the core of services. Whichever hotel that provide the most high-quality service with guests all regard customer as the starting point of everything. So firstly, it is a right way to build business for a hotel to put its guests first.

Secondly, respect detail. Detail is to target at a consumer, not an enterprise oneself. To a hotel, in its process of operating, profits and reputation maybe most important; whilst to a customer, what influence his choice maybe whether the cupboard bedside bed is clean or not. Now the competition is usually the competition of detail marketing, which is too true for a service. Only through every day and every moment's strictly institutionalized control can one make details marketing possible (Pakroo et al, 2008, 62). So a hotel should systemize its detail marketing. Equally important, all the staff of hotel industry should treat each guest with sincerity---the soul of detail marketing. In a word, the hotel should learning to be sincere and standardized to pay great attention to detail, then gradually form a kind of habit and a kind of thinking, thus gradually build up excellent detail marketing.

Acting with integrity

As an organization whose success was built upon its core products (services), Shangri-La has become much more than just a hotel. It is a whole hoteling experience which encompasses everything from the decorations and dinner within, to the gardens and flagship and even to its desire. Shangri-La use the unified "s" mark as its symbol¼Œ

which throw a light to the hotels: a hotel may integrate all objects or components that respectively represent it to be a close organic whole, to imply the guests more than its existing entity as hotel such as its culture, its content etc..

6.0 Conclusions

To conclude, service economy has become the focus of the world. At the same time, the methods of how to market service and enhance service quality have been the hot issues. After anglicizing the unique features e.g. intangible, perishable, and heterogeneous of service, this report take Shangri-La who pursue superior service, coupled with wise marketing strategies as a living model and set out to discover the appropriate approaches of service marketing management.

Moreover, a good service company should also consider differentiating service, providing the most suitable and material services to customers and acting with integrity when launching marketing. Only by connecting the characteristics of service with principles of marketing strategy and absorb invaluable experiences from successful counterparts, can a service organization achieve its goal and dream.