International marketing strategy

for QL Hotels 2015 – 2017

Project group 12

Diego Carrillo

Annika Hagman

Dannique Nijboer

Tim Visser

IBS2B

Teacher: Roel Geerts

International marketing strategy

Diego Carrillo S1072689

Annika Hagman S1075982

Dannique Nijboer S1063995

Tim Visser S1038442

Project group 12

IBS2B

The name of the project:An international marketing strategy for QL Hotels 2015 – 2017

Name of the field of study:Minor International Business Studies

Name of the School:Business School

Name of institute:Christelijke Hogeschool Windesheim

Teacher:Mr. Geerts

Date and place:16/05/2014, Zwolle

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PrefaceThis report is meant for QL Hotels. In this report you can read about the international marketing strategy for the years 2014-2017. It is made by four students of the Windesheim University of Applied Sciences, Zwolle. We are Diego Carillo, Annika Hagman, Dannique Nijboer and Tim Visser. Currently, we are students of a minor called ‘International Business Studies’. Our first report researched several aspects of the English market and this second report is based on our research.

We would like to thank Mr. Geerts for his assistance and support during the design of our research report.

Zwolle, 17-04-2014

Diego CarrilloAnnika HagmanDannique NijboerTim Visser

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Management summaryWithin this international marketing strategy plan the base for giving the answer to the general question is outlined. The research part had a range of different counterparts. Marketing and communication goals, communication mix and budged level there is found all important imput to give an answer in this matter. The general question for this plan is; How to (online) market the QL Hotel brand in order to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage for small scale luxury hotels in England within three years? A few key questions to give answer to the general question that is stated.

- What are the current corporate reputation and sustainable policies of the company- What is the external online communication of the company- What should the company do to maintain or improve its reputation in the future

These questions are the basis of the whole research and strategy plan. The key questions are all outline in sub questions that give answers from different angles.

QL hotel is a brand with a wide range of hotels all across the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg and parts of Germany. But if you would ask a group of people if they are known with this brand the biggest part wouldn’t be able to answer this question positively. QL hotels have all resources to reach potential customers and have a hand in every potential online tool. You would say that a luxury brand is well known if it’s active on a wide range of online marketing/communication tools. The surprising and intriguing part of this is that with deeper research and a look from outside the company there can be given an answer and recommendation about this case.

This research focuses on England and all the potential within the potential customers from this district. For knowing what the England customers like and how they approach hotels abroad this research stated a strategy for underlining the questions. During the research a couple of interesting findings came forward that are interesting for further research. One of the conclusions is that QL should target potential customers in sectors and mainly upper class families from England. Also is stated that QL Hotels is a strong brand with a lot of potential to reach more customers. The luxury and service that is offered is of a high standard and together with the Michelin kitchens the combination of kitchen, service and atmosphere the QL Hotel brand has a strong formula. The English customers mainly book their travels in packages this conclusion gives QL Hotel the opportunity to offer full packages with travel, hotel and activity arrangements. The content that QL Hotel offers is not unique in the eyes of potential customers. The name says it all QL means quality. But the competitors that also offer quality is very wide. The competitors who are well known have a certain theme ore are very well known for something special. And for QL Hotels it’s difficult to compete with brands that have hotels all over the world.

To complete the report, we developed a planning the communication mix activities that we give the company from 2015-2017 by making a short analysis of the corporate communication, describing the target audiences, developing the communication goals, as well as defining message/archetype for the company. Moreover, we have developed a communication mix, we have planned the communication mix activities and then we describe how the organization of the communication

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should be realized and finally we state the budget for the communication advice and we evaluate the entire communication campaign. The only problem is that it’s difficult to state a outstanding USP and the problem that QL Hotel is not well known amongst British people.

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Table of contents

MANAGEMENT SUMMARY............................................................................................................................ 4

1. INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................................... 7

2. SUMMARY OF CURRENT MARKET SITUATION............................................................................................8

3. SWOT -ANALYSIS....................................................................................................................................... 9

4. MARKETING / COMMUNICATION GOALS..................................................................................................10

§3.1 OBJECTIVES..................................................................................................................................................10§3.2 ESTIMATED TURNOVER...................................................................................................................................11

5. TARGET AUDIENCES................................................................................................................................. 12

§5.1 STP-MODEL.................................................................................................................................................12§5.2 PERSONA.....................................................................................................................................................15

6. INTENDED POSITIONING.......................................................................................................................... 16

§6.1 WHY...........................................................................................................................................................17§6.2 WHO FOR....................................................................................................................................................17§6.3 SUPPORT.....................................................................................................................................................17§6.4 COMPETITORS..............................................................................................................................................17

7. MESSAGE / VALUE PROPOSITION / ARCHETYPE........................................................................................19

§7.1 BRANDING WITH ARCHETYPES..........................................................................................................................19§7.2 THE PROMISE TO THE CUSTOMER.....................................................................................................................21§7.3 WHAT IS THE ADDED VALUE OF A STAY IN A QL HOTEL?.......................................................................................21

8. COMMUNICATIONS MIX.......................................................................................................................... 22

§8.1 TARGET GROUP (1).......................................................................................................................................22§8.2 TARGET GROUP (2).......................................................................................................................................24

9. COMMUNICATION MIX PLANNING........................................................................................................... 27

10. COMMUNICATION ORGANISATION........................................................................................................29

11. BUDGET................................................................................................................................................. 30

12. EVALUATION.......................................................................................................................................... 31

RECOMMENDATIONS.................................................................................................................................. 32

SOURCES..................................................................................................................................................... 33

APPENDICES................................................................................................................................................ 34

A: PROJECT PLAN & TASK DIVISION..........................................................................................................................34

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1. IntroductionIn this report you can find information about the international online marketing strategy of QL Hotels. The focus is on England. It is the second part of two documents. In the first document, the marketing research has been discussed. In this second document you can read about the international marketing strategy.

The central question: How to (online) market the QL Hotel brand in order to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage for small scale luxury hotels in England within three years?

The sub questions:

1. What is the current market situation of QL Hotels in England?2. What is the SWOT-analysis of QL Hotels?3. What are the marketing communication goals?4. Which target audiences will be reached?5. What is the intended positioning of QL Hotels in England?6. Which message will be send to the potential customers?7. What would be a realistic marketing communication mix for QL Hotels in England?8. What is the planning of the marketing activities?9. How will the planned activities be organised?10. What will be the costs for all the marketing activities?11. How to evaluate if the marketing activities worked out well?

The report includes four parts:

Summary of current market situation Marketing and communication goals Communication mix Budget

The goal of this report is to make an international online marketing strategyfor the Dutch company QL Hotels.

It is important to always keep in mind that the online world changes so rapidly, that it is a really hard job to create a sufficient online marketing strategy for more than one year. Because of the changing online environment.

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2. Summary of current market situationGoing through the first part of the project we can conclude that the UK market is attractive for QL Hotels. Not only for the similarity of the guests with the Dutch ones when it comes to analyse the main characteristics of the customers but also for the indexes shown in the individualism and power distance when dealing with the Hofstede analysis. This aspect would make easier the communication between QL and its special guests that are going to choose these ranges of luxury services.

However, there is a wide range of competition that could make QL lose market share and that has to be taken into account from the beginning.

Having chosen one market segment for the development of the second part of the project, we could advise QL to focus on fulfilling those characteristics presented all along the document (for further information check part C). In this case we have selected the upper class families in order to show what this kind of guests are looking for. However, it would be advisable for QL to consider the main perusing that concern the rest of segments once they can control the market properly in order to reach more customers and success in a better way.

USP’s :

1. Small distances from England to France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Netherlands. All the hotels are in a maximum of 3 hours’ drive from the Dutch-German border.

2. High quality and the unique atmosphere of the QL Hotels. 3. Every QL Hotel has an excellent restaurant or has an excellent restaurant nearby the hotel.

Often, a professional cook is working in the hotels.4. Extreme customer-orientation. Everything is about the hotel guests and everything will be

done to ensure that they have a pleasant stay in the QL hotel.

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3. SWOT -analysis

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Strengths

Michelin star chefs Located all over Holland Easy to be found online (references) Clear website QL applications for mobile and tablets

Weaknesses

Unknown lack of visit experiences online QL brand is not easily to be found in hotels Online bases in the Benelux and parts of

Germany. QL doesn’t has a certain theme on the website.

Opportunities

Getting recognized on sites of the hotels within the QL concern

Online tour for first time visitors, people attend to not believe pictures anymore

Get into a certain theme that is similar to the values of QL based on luxury and fine taste

Threats

Worldwide hotel concerns taking over the market because of further globalization

Holland (except Amsterdam) not being attractive anymore to foreign visitors

QL hotels are based at cities that aren’t attractive to foreigners do to further urbanization to mayor cities

SWOT

4. Marketing / communication goals§3.1 Objectives

In this paragraph a few objectives will be set for the marketing activities period. With the help of the ‘classic phase model communication’ the most important objectives will be shown. This model is a tool to formulate your objectives in a hierarchal way. In the image below the model will be shown, including the communication goals of QL Hotels.

Then, to make it more accessible you can find here a short table with the 3 most important goals:

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Category Goal

Awareness 10% of both target groups is aware of QL Hotels

Attitude 3% of both target groups have a positive feeling about QL Hotels

Behaviour 0.04% of both target groups to really purchase a stay by January 2018

§3.2 Estimated turnover

What will the turnover be if this behaviour goal will work out well? As to be discussed in §5.1, this will be the target group sizes:

English people from big noisy cities who sometimes want to relax44.8 million people

English people that have an above average income (>$30,000)5.77 million people

A total target group of 44.8 + 5.77 = 50.57 million people.

0.04% of 50.57 million = 0.04% x 50.570.000 = 20,228 visitors from England.

The turnover of one visit will be estimated on €170,- per stay per visitor. This will result in an English visitors turnover of 20,228 x €170,- = €3,438,760,-

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5. Target audiences§5.1 STP-model

In the first report which contains the conducted research, the first step of the STP-model was made. If we want to conduct effective marketing, it involves three activities. STP: Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning.

The segmentation was done during the research. Segmentation is to identify and profile distinct groups of buyers who differ in their needs and preferences.1

These are the consumer market segments for quality hotels bookings:

Now it is time to choose the one or two market segments that are most attractive for QL Hotels. This process is called targeting, the second step of the STP-model. Actually, it is smart to first make a description of every market segment and their characteristics. This leads to a more exhaustive decision which segment to focus on. “A descriptive summary of the size, needs, behaviours and preferences of consumers within a particular market segment, with the goal of evaluating segment attractiveness and developing suitable marketing strategies.”2

1Book: Marketing Management, Kottler. 2009 2 http://www.segmentationstudyguide.com/segment-profiles/

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Demographic:English people that have an

above average income

(>$30,000)

Behavioral:English people that prefer QL Hotels as their quality hotel

Geographical:English people from big noisy

cities who sometimes want

to relax

Psychographic:English people that very often travel to quality

hotels

Step 1:

Step 2: Targeting

Unfortunately, there is a lack of time and resources to find this particular information for each market segment. That is why only segment size will be a criteria, because in that way you will reach the most potential customers.

These are the four main market segments:

1. English people that have an above average income (>$30,000)2. English people that prefer QL Hotels as their quality hotel3. English people from big noisy cities who sometimes want to relax4. English people that very often travel to quality hotels

The population of England is 56.11 million people (2014)3. The segment size of the four groups is researched and these are the findings:

Market segment Calculation Segment sizeEnglish people that have an above average income (>$30,000)

Source http://worldpopulationreview.com/

5.77 million people4

English people that prefer QL Hotels as their quality hotel

Can’t be measured Estimated <1 million people

English people from big noisy cities who sometimes want to relax

Urbanisation degree in England is 80%5

56.11 x 80% = 44.8 million

44.8 million people

English people that very often travel to quality hotels

24% of British adults prefer a small scale quality hotel6

49.1 million adults x 24% = 11.78 million peopleNot all of them travel very often, that is why the estimation is less than 4 million people.

Estimated <4 million people

As shown in the table above, the largest market segment is “English people from big noisy cities who sometimes want to relax”. This segment consists of all English people from big cities. The second largest market segment is “English people that have an above average income (>$30,000)”. This segment consists of people who can easily afford a stay in a QL Hotel. These two target groups are:

1. English people that have an above average income (>$30,000)2. English people from big noisy cities who sometimes want to relax

3 http://worldpopulationreview.com/4 http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/5 http://cia.gov/6 Research report for QL Hotels, period 3

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Step 3, the last part of the STP-model: Positioning. This step is about working out how to best compete in the selected two target markets. QL Hotels need to identify how to position their hotel in the chosen target market. There are already competitors in the market, so a plan is needed how they can win market share from established chains. You can read this in chapter 8 and 9.

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Step 3: Positioning

§5.2 Persona

The ideal representative person from the target group “English people that have an above average income (>$30,000)”.Is described in this paragraph. In marketing terms this is called a (buyer) persona. It describes a fictive person that could very well be a potential hotel guest. You can read about their education, family life, work situation and their age for example. It is a very useful tool, because the better you know your customers, the better and the more effective you can communicate with them.

This is Isabelle Sanders. She is 29 years old and lives in London. She is a successful business woman and earns approximately $38,000 per year. She attended pre-university education and after that, she went to the London School of Economics and got her certificate. Currently, her life consists of working days from 9 am till 6 pm. Always busy. She has a relationship with Brad, who she met during a business conference. They are now together for 6 years and experienced a lot together. From starting in the hard business world of till they were both successful entrepreneurs.

They do not have children yet, but are planning to be parents within 5 years. Currently they are living together in an apartment in London. Sometimes they both desire a weekend off, in a luxury hotel which they can easily afford and just enjoy each other’s company and be relaxed for a few days.

Her interests are tennis, cooking and fashion. On an average day she works from 7-18 o’clock. Then cooks dinner and enjoys it with her boyfriend. There are a few days per month where they can’t eat together. They sometimes go to the cinema after dinner. Sometimes there is time for relaxing on the couch, but most of the time she will go play tennis or will read fashion blogs. Those blogs influence her style of buying. She buys on an impulse.

What is important to her is her boyfriend, her work and the time they can spend together without thinking about work, which is too less. That is why a stay at a quality hotel would very much attract her.

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6. Intended positioningPositioning diamond is a model which answers these questions: what is the claimed brand promise consumer benefit? Who is target group? What are factual or subjective elements which support claim? Who are the main competitors?

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“Made by nature”

High quality luxury hotels in unique location.

Small distances from England to France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Netherlands. All the hotels are in a maximum of 3 hours drive from the Dutch-German border.

High quality and the unique atmosphere of the QL Hotels.

Every QL Hotel has an excellent restaurant or has an excellent restaurant nearby the hotel.

Extreme customer-orientation. Everything is about the hotel guests and everything will be done to ensure that they have a pleasant stay in the QL hotel.

Other luxury hotels

Relais Chateau Small luxury hotels Design hotels Romantik hotels Relais de silence Britain’s finest

§6.1 Why

The English attitudes towards hotels are very high about the standard of quality. After Russia, England is the second country that consumes the most luxury hotels.

British tourists mostly enjoy smaller hotels compared the big chains and prefer more sophisticated hotels, small and independent hotels, according to a study recently presented by Mintel. The research that covered an interview about a thousand British consumers found that 39% of British adults prefer independent brands and individuality when it comes to accommodation for leisure and business. By contrast 24% said big chains prefer an established brand to consider "quality assurance and service without last minute surprises." This research concludes that the English customers are divided in different group but the similar needs are still luxury, comfort and excellent service.

The English customers that are mentioned before in this research plan are the upper class families. This target group is spread all over England and had the ability to spend a good amount of money for leisure activities the last couple of years.

§6.2 Who for

We choose two target groups: English people that have an above average income (>$30,000) and English people from big noisy cities who sometimes want to relax. These target groups are introduced in chapter 5.

§6.3 Support

QL Hotel has many advantages if we compare it their competitors. Firs benefit is small distances from England to France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Netherlands where QL Hotels situated. All the hotels are in a maximum of 3 hours’ drive from the Dutch-German border.

All hotels are high quality and there is a unique atmosphere.

Every QL Hotel has an excellent restaurant or has an excellent restaurant nearby the hotel. Customers can be sure that they can get excellent dining close by hotel.

QL Hotels extreme customer-orientation what comes to customer service. QL Hotels main idea is do everything what is possible to ensure that they have a pleasant stay in the QL hotel.

§6.4 Competitors

QL Hotel has a lot of competition in the region where it is placed. Mainly in Germany there are a lot of high valued chains who are commonly known in the surrounding European countries. The well-known chains are known for their luxury and service reputation. These qualities are very important for English customers.

QL hotel is a brand that is mainly based on experience and high standards. Including those high standards are comfort and convenience. The brand is not highly known yet amongst Europeans but has the spirit to possess a bigger fracture in today’s hotel market.

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The image of QL is well known and has a wide range of similar types of hotels such as:

Relais Chateau Small luxury hotels Design hotels Romantik hotels Relais de silence Britain’s finest

These brands are all similar to QL hotels and are also found in a wide range of European countries. They all have the same base of luxury and make the same promises as QL hotels. The structure of the sites and the way of marketing on the internet is also very similar. The types of brands do have their own USP what is outlined the most in the ways of communication towards the customers.

The 6 different types of brands all use the same sources online to get people known with their hotels. On each booking site all of the named brands can be found in a wide range of European selected countries. The price is also often very similar so by making a choice people are depending on experience and opinions. Besides structure and USP the different brands do have a range of differences amongst themselves. In some ways compared to QL they have a positive and negative side to it. In the SWOT analysis beneath of QL Hotels the differences towards QL is stated.

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7. Message / value proposition / archetypeA marketing statement summarizes why a consumer should buy a product or use a service. This statement should convince a potential consumer that one particular product or service will add more value or better solve a problem than other similar offerings.7 Next picture shows the steps of value proposition.

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§7.1 Branding with archetypes

Jung’s work is a system what Carol S. Pearson has created of 12 archetypes that put a human face on and the meaning structures that are correlated with success and fulfillment today. Studying Pearson's archetypes can help businesses and organizations: It can create a healthy and balanced organizational culture, create a "brand" identity aligned with the actual values and strengths of the organization and its products and inspire customer and employee loyalty.

QL Hotels archetype is The Explorer, which means the known to discover and explore the unknown. This inner is rugged individual braves’ loneliness and isolation to seek out new paths. Often oppositional, this iconoclastic archetype helps to discover uniqueness, perspectives, and callings.

7www.investopedia.com8www.venturemomentum.com

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The Explorer

Core desire Offer unforgettable stay for hotel guestsGoal To get QL Hotel better knowledge in United KingdomGreatest fear Too much similar competitorsStrategy Many-sided marketing communication planTrap “Charming with nature”Gift Unique concept: unique luxury hotels, excellent restaurants, not

traditional hotel chain

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Outlaw

jester

lover

caregiver

ev-ery-maninnocentruler

sage

ma-gi-

cian

herocreator

explorer

§7.2 The promise to the customer

QL Hotels & Restaurants encompasses a delightful selection of more than 110 independent, small quality hotels in The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany and The Dutch Antilles. The key joyable visit is a great food and warm hospitality.

Hotels are easily to accessible. All the QL hotels are in a maximum of 3 hours’ drive from the Dutch-German border. It means that distances from England to France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Netherlands are small. Almost every QL Hotels located quite far from airports, so most of visitors from England come by using Eurotunnel.

The high quality and the unique atmosphere all QL Hotels. People from England are ready to use more money on their holiday and want more luxury their vacations. QL Hotel answers these demands to offer a fine dining and luxurious accommodation. Most of their luxury hotels have many extras, such as an interesting art collection, cookery school, tasting room, wellness facilities, tennis court, swimming pool, board room or even a golf course.

Many consumers prefer to fine dining restaurant and the fine dining food on their holiday. All QL Hotels has own fine dining restaurant or fine dining restaurant nearby. The chefs guarantee the highest quality of food and service every time. They use fresh, locally sourced produce, which changes with the seasons.

§7.3 What is the added value of a stay in a QL Hotel?

After realising a comparison between some similar hotels to QL Hotels about the preferences ofEnglish people we can see that the higher value is the staff, cleanliness and furniture.In the study realised we could see that the cleanliness is important for this people, if the hotel has aproblem, they always will tell the bad experiences. If the hotel solve the problem for example givingto them a free suite. For example this experience of Lydia from Nedwick (United Kingdom): “Wewere upgraded for free into a luxurious spa suite. It was fantastic. The bed was so comfy and thebathroom was awesome!””The bath was dirty when we got there- there was black hair all in it (me and my boyfriend both haveblonde hair). The tap was wobbly and the water splashed everywhere when the tap was turned on.”For them is also important the furniture, the design of the room and if is comfortable.They do not like mediocrity and bad service and of course the tardiness.The breakfast it is also important for United Kingdom people, being the bacon the productmore demanded. Predominantly they prefer English breakfast.

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8. Communications mixThe marketing communication mix can be divided in 4 P’s. Product, price, place and promotion. These 4 P’s stand for the different characteristics of marketing. During this plan the central subject is the promotion part.

§8.1 Target group (1)

QL hotel is a brand that communicates with a wide range of target groups. A communication mix is always targeting to influence attitude, knowledge and/or behaviour. There is a big difference between corporate communication and marketing communication. Corporate communication is trying to sell the organization as a whole. While marketing communication is pointed at brands, products and services of an organization. To reach the target group of “English people that have an above average income” these two ways of communication have to be properly merged. The corporate image is the overall view that outsiders have of the company. This needs to be the first part of sending out the first communication instruments. Depending on budget this can be done in a few ways for example:

Advertising (nationwide) Public relations Sponsorships Intern communication Exhibitions

An important instrument for the corporate communication is communicating the house style of QL Hotel. The brand has a strong house style that immediately stands out with his luxurious image. A good corporate image enlarges the confidence of a client or potential prospect. A high confidence is import for a certain kind of products and services like:

Complex products Products and services on demand Products with a high purchase price

All these factors are recognizable for QL Hotels so this concludes that the corporate communication will be very important for QL Hotels.

Besides corporate communication there is also marketing communication. Marketing communication instruments are ways to influence the choosing behaviour of potential clients. On big booking sites as Booking.com exc. the marketing communication instruments are very important to stand out amongst the big range of quality hotels all over Europe. There are two kinds of marketing communication: thematic marketing communication and action marketing communication. The first one is to influence knowledge and/or behaviour the second one is to influence purchase behaviour.

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The marketing communication instruments have to be integrated correctly. With the right synergy between all instruments. With strategic planning the right mix has to be found between all communication instruments. QL Hotels have to take into account a few important factors:

Available time Market size Buying behaviour Competition Budget

Trough out the project we found out that QL Hotel is a brand that needs to spread out their image more all over European countries. The base of QL Hotel has to be strong. The website has to be available in all sizes. The “One size fits all” is important because the target group is using multiple devices to look op travel ideas and information. At this moment the QL Hotel is not sufficient on mobile devices.

The change of online form

The UK target groups mainly look up information on tablets or mobile devices. For iPhone users it’s difficult to get a quick clear view on the site because it hasn’t been made compatible to use. And with a growing use of Android devices all over the UK the first step has to be to make the site mobile friendly on Android devices. With a astonishing percentage of 36,9% Android leaps over iPhone with his 28,5%. Web sites need to become Omni-sites. That can adapt and display the information in every form or shape. Be it on web browsers, televisions, holographic displays, mobile devices, tablets or even billboards.

Personalized packages

The English customers love personalized packages. If QL Hotel will separate their inventory like rooms, dining, sports spa and all other unique selling points of the recommended hotels you’ll give the consumer more choices. The creation of experience units will allow tourism to collaborate more effectively online.To make QL Hotels better known it’s important to enlarge the corporate image this can be realized with a corporate communication instrument. The best way to send out the right message QL Hotel should use online advertising on highly used UK traveling sites. There are a lot of ways of online advertising the best way to get noticed very quickly is well timed affiliate marketing on all devices. The affiliate marketing message should outline the certain elements that QL Hotel can provide. The target group that has a bigger budget to spend on holidays love the ability to choose and package certain elements. Expedia.com found out that mainly business travellers like these options. The business travellers belong to the target group.

Guest social networks

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The wide range between suppliers and users are quickly fainting by the minute. Consumers get more power by each day and even help suppliers in making decisions in how to connect with them. The growth of social networks provides whole new news feeds that are considered important for online users. People no longer only rely on recommendation sites but also look op meaningful experiences of their expanding social networks. The dialogue between hotels and their guests online will be more crucial in the coming years. This is a great opportunity for hotels to have a saying in online feedback of former guests. With a target group that has a income of +€30000 euro you can expect that a big amount of them is active on the social network LinkedIn. At this moment the founder of QL Hotels posted a lot of messages online. At the topic discussions you mainly see achievements there isn’t a option to really discuss anything about QL Hotels for foreign guests because the messages are all in Dutch. QL Hotel should make a special LinkedIn page where guests and potential guests can exchange ideas on a business level. QL Hotel can interact with their guests by joining discussions and let them know that the channel to interact with QL Hotel is really small. This can create a bigger confidence and loyalty to QL Hotel and get guests who will keep coming back to hotels that belong to the QL Hotel brand.

Making QL Hotel virtual

Most hotel chains use the same way of showing content on their websites. With outdated scenery shots from a far distance what only give a fade impression of the surroundings. With the ever growing technology and quicker internet hotels can use new technology to give a impression of the hotel. People love to get a clear impression of what the hotel looks like. Some hotel chains took the extra mile to implement a 3 dimensional view in photos and videos of what the hotel and its surrounding looks like. The few videos that QL Hotels offer on YouTube give an impression of a couple of hotels but this way of impressionism is outdated. With new technologies potential customers should have the ability to use Google earth to zoom in on the environment and the hotel to give a clear 3 dimensional impression.

§8.2 Target group (2)

A communication mix is defined as the process that the company transmit determined information about itself and/or offer to their target group, through different channels, to obtain the desired target. QL hotels is not in England yet so they will be in the introduction phase, for the objectives that are going to pursue with the next communication plan will be:

- Be known and stimulate the sale- Position the brand in the consumer´s mind and support the brand value- Generate desire towards QL hotels products and build customers loyalty - Build a good brand image

The acts to English target:

- Advertising campaign

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- Promotional campaign- Direct marketing- Social network

Advertising

The advertising is a communication method that controls the entire message and it reaches in an impersonal way and simultaneously by different s ways to potential customers to get notoriety, accept and consume of the people those receptors of the message.

QL hotels, due to is in a new market, it´s lacks notoriety so the advertising campaign have to be as objective principal that the clients knows it and they perceive the quality, satisfaction and profit that gives them the use of QL hotels.

The advertising campaign could make by an external agency. The objectives that QL Hotels want to express in that campaign is that the customers will have a unique experience of relax and culinary.

The advertising campaign will be held in different communication media:

Specialized magazines: With these advertisements we focus on customers with high purchasing power. Ex. Dentist specialize magazines.

Internet: Banners will be inserted into the digital English versions of specialized magazines and newspapers, advertising and also contract in search engines like “Google” or “Yahoo”, which the calls through our company key words will appear on the first search results related to the words “quality Hotel”, “restaurant hotel quality” and “culinary hotel relax”, making the client go directly to our website.

Promotional activities

The objective in the promotional campaign is that the customers try the product or services of QL Hotels. For example, after open a new hotel in England, the customers will have discount in rooms and in the restaurant for incentive to new potential client to try the hotel. The discount could be 10% per night.

With these tools the results can be immediately.

Direct marketing

Direct marketing is a form of communication with the customer based on the use of direct, personal and interactive media, causing a reaction in the receiver or the beginning of a direct and personal communication. It is used both for communication or relationship with client as an individual, as for distance selling through direct or interactive channels. This technique relates the product directly to consumers, achieving acceptance and positioning.

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The actions for monitoring and customer loyalty will be:

CRM system (Customer Relationship Management) that will be integrated all information about our customers (personal data, likes, hobbies,etc.)

E-mailing campaigns customized to the clients to congratulate their birthdays and Christmas, including a gift of a specific discount to use in our company subject to conditions of supply.

Post-sale service, QL Hotels will contact with the customers after 2 or 3 weeks to check their impressions and suggestions for possible changes.

Social network

To reach a wider audience QL will have to change and create accounts on different social networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest, Instagram with all the information about QL Hotels. Very important to also make text available in English.

But creating this account and upload sometimes pictures is not enough nowadays, as we could see in the report English people are the second group in Europe that spend more time looking for and booking hotels, so is important that QL Hotels have one person or a group of person doing this kind of work due to is very important for some reasons:

- Social networks give visibility to our hotel and are a perfect platform to share content and information with our customers. In addition, through them, we can get more traffic to QL Hotels website.

- The immediacy of communication in social networks is a value. The information can be published at the time, which favors publishing promotions and last minute offer. This instant feedback channel allows fluid communication between customers and the hotel and fosters a closer relationship.

- Humanize the hotel and help the client to know the team establishing a more personal way.

- The establishment can know the opinions of customers first hand and respond in real time complaints or suggestions.

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9. Communication mix planningIn this chapter the planning of the recommended marketing activities will be described. The period of activities is from 2015-2017. First, a short overview of the activities:

Personalized packages The change of online form (iPhone, Android) Social network LinkedIn Making QL Hotel virtual tour Advertising: Specialized magazines Advertising: Internet banners Promotional activities (10 % discount) Customer Relationship Management E-mailing campaigns (birthdays) Post-sale service Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest, Instagram Youtube video

There are 3 different colours which stand for how intensive the marketing activities have to be worked out. High, medium and low locus. You can find the marketing planning on the next page.

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Q. = Quarter

high focusmedium focuslow focus

Q. 1 2015

Q. 2 2015

Q. 3 2015

Q. 4 2015

Q. 1 2016

Q. 2 2016

Q. 3 2016

Q. 4 2016

Q. 1 2017

Q. 22017

Q. 32017

Q. 42017

Online

Personalized packages

The change of online form

Social network LinkedIn

Making QL Hotel virtual tour

Advertising: Internet banners

Promotional activities

CRM

E-mailing campaigns

Post-sale service

Social media

Youtube video

Offline

Advertising: Specialized magazines

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10. Communication organisationThe suggestions outlined in the communication mix ask for lot of time during the preparation time. To set up a new website platform on all possible platforms (mobile, computer, tablet etc.) QL has could consider to get help from outside the organisation to maximize the potential opportunity.

To set up new personal packages QL has to capacity to arrange this from out the organization. The marketing department of QL should invest time in arranging new packages that focus on the USP’s of the hotels who belong to the QL family. These new personalized packages could be used in online advertising. When people mainly search for hotels with good food QL could advertise the Michelin start restaurant of the Librije in Zwolle for example. These personalized advertisements are attractive for potential customers. This will take a lot of time and creativity for the marketing department of QL Hotels, also a online expert has to be advised to suggest to potential advertising possibilities online.

Besides upgrading the websites for all devices QL has a possibility to enlarge the comfort of visiting the website. For now the website is outdated and similar to other websites from competitors with pictures of the scenery and outdated newsfeeds. To make the site more attractive the site first has to be comfortable on all devices and to have something unique on the site a 360 tour of the hotels could be a real eye openers for visitors. To get a free look from abroad locations such as England the potential customers get’s a unique look inside the hotel and won’t be afraid anymore to book a hotel abroad.

Everybody had that one experience that they booked a hotel based on a travellers agency’s promise and outdate fake pictures that gave a beautiful impression of the hotel. After travelling for hours and being pushed in a small van to travel to the hotel somewhere in the middle of nowhere some people got the surprise of their live. They look up and see a outdated hotel with a small pool instead of a grand new hotel with a Olympic pool. The 360 tour will have to be designed by a expert but the 360 photo’s can be made by a marketing employee that will press costs.

All of these recommendations have to be done at the start of the campaign. Only one recommendation have to be controlled daily and that are the social platforms. For creating new interaction with customers a new Linkedin page should be created for former visitors to exchange experience. In discussion forms QL has to ability to mingle in discussions and make the space between customer and hotel even smaller.

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11. Budget

Calculation Budget

Online

Personalized packages Invest in an online tool: €2000 Based on time and online advertising

€2,000.00

The change of online form Costs of an expert: about €400 €400.00

Social network LinkedIn - Premium LinkedIn account: €50 per month x 36 = €1800- Participating in discussions costs time. Personnel costs. 20 hours x €20 = €400

€2,200.00

Making QL Hotel virtual tour €75 (costs for making a virtual tour per hotel) x 70

€5,250.00

Advertising: Internet banners - Design: hire expert €200- Placement: €3000

€3,200.00

Promotional activities €800.00

CRM €1,000.00

E-mailing campaigns €2,500.00

Post-sale service €2,000.00

Social media - Translation to English: €500- Personnel costs: €900

€1,400.00

Youtube video Free. Made by students €0.00

Offline

Advertising: Specialized magazines - Design: hire expert €200- Placement: €3500

€3,700.00

Total €24,250.00

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12. EvaluationHaving set up all these different marketing actions and defining their costs, it is also very important to check whether or not these actions will have a positive effect. That is why there has to be a evaluation of the marketing activities.

The intensive marketing period is 2015 – 2017, that is why the evaluation will take place in January 2018.

In January 2018 we will conduct an online survey among our target group. The survey will be uploaded on our Facebook and to activate our members to fill in the survey, there will be a possibility to win something. By introducing a giveaway, you will activate the members sooner than by just uploading the survey on Facebook. People from the target group that will fill in the survey can win 3 x 1 overnight stay in a QL Hotel at choice.

The following goals will be evaluated:

The awareness of QL should be 10% in both target groups 3% of both target groups should have a positive feeling about QL Hotels 0.04% of both target groups had really purchased a stay

o This last goal can be internal evaluated

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Recommendations1- QL Hotels has to make modifications to alter their website for all possible devices like

mobiles, pc´s, television, tablets, etc. by altering the website for all devices could be more accessible for online users.

2- QL Hotels has to point out one person who will update and monitor all social platforms 24-7. If QL Hotels has someone to respond quickly the line between customers and the Hotel´s will be smaller.

3- To give the QL Hotels website a more futuristic look QL Hotel should implement a 360 degree tour on the website. By giving the users a full look of the hotels they get a realistic look of the hotels.

4- QL Hotels should create personalized packages for online users. By outlining specific details of the hotel by the user’s needs the hotel will look more attractive.

5- To attract more British customers QL Hotel has to make all information available in English so the British customers can read all information and review.

6- To introduce in the British market QL Hotel should advertise in magazines that people read within the target group. Suggestions are golf magazines, cricket magazines, high fashion magazines, etc.

7- To make the brand of QL Hotels more recognizable trough out Holland and other countries QL Hotels should stand out in hotels across Europe. If you visit sites from hotels within the chain you can´t see the QL brand. If you visit the hotels the brand QL is also not recognizable.

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SourcesThe Diamond model (February 24th 2012). Read 11.5.2014. Address: http://www.vectorstudy.com/management-theories/diamond-model.

Value proposition (2014).Read 11.5.2014. Address: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/v/valueproposition.asp

Value proposition picture (2014).Read 11.5.2014. Address: http://www.venturemomentum.com/images/ezine/valuegraphicr.GIF

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Appendices

A: Project plan & Task division-

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- Project Planning and Organization

Team members

Tim VisserE-mail: timvisser1990@gmail.comTel: +31610638168

Dannique NijboerE-mail: dannique_nijboer@hotmail.comTel: +31611848188

Diego CarrilloE-mail: diegodcc@hotmail.comTel: +34620300353

Annika HagmanE-mail: annika.hagman@windesheim.nlTel: +358407542976

- Project Cost

Task Time allocation/team member/week (hr)

Project kickoff 3

Project Plan 3

Starting up 4

Part A 5

Part B 15

Part C 10

Finishing 3

Final report 2

Group meeting 10

Lectures/ Feedback 10

Total 65

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- Quality and Risk analysis

Quality

The project quality standards are based on team members’ feedback. We agree that every document is read by everyone in the team. The feedback is given immediately so we can avoid grammar mistakes or to improve the content of the document.

Risk analysis

Communication problems: We exchange contact numbers, email and Facebook account to keep in touch with all members in the team.

Running out of time: Every team member will follow the project plan and project contract strictly to make sure that we will finish the project on time.

Loss of information due to computer crashes: All the documents are saved into group’s Dropbox and Facebook group to prevent loss of information.

- Code of conduct

• The essence of the meeting is to complete the project in the scheduled time.

• The meetings are informal and structured.

• Everyone is allowed to talk.

• Everyone takes the decisions.

• The decisions are made by consensus.

• The teacher role in the project is to provide help when needed.

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- Task division

Part What? Who?

Part A Summary of current market situationBased on your research findings from period 3

Tim & Diego

SWOT Annika & Dannique

Part B Marketing / communication goals Dannique

Target Audiences Use a persona to describe the ideal representative person from the chosen target group. Market segments, target groups = Choose one or more target groups which you expect to be interested in visiting one of the QL Hotels.

Dannique

Intended positioningIndicate how to position the QL Hotel brand against the competition. Annika

Message / value proposition / archetypeMessage / value proposition. State a clear promise to the consumer, in line with the intended positioning.

Annika

Communications mix Choose the appropriate communication media (trade, business press, internet, website linkages etc) to reach the potential readers/buyers. Communication mix. Set up an integrated communication mix.

How will you reach your target audience, e.g., news media, newsletters, email, advertising, website linkages, you tube movie, news media, blogs ,

Indicate if and how the QL Hotels philosophy can be used as marketing tools.

Specific: How should the online possibilities social media as twitter, facebook and blogs etcbe implemented in the marketing strategy of QL Hotels.

Could you set up an international QL Hotels community on linkedin or facebook

Tim & Diego

Planning the communication mix activities 2015 – 2017 Plan your campaign, include time planning of all communication activities (of line and on line) and a global budget estimate.

Annika & Dannique

Communication organisationCommunication organisation. Howshould QL Hotels organize the communication?

Who will do the work , is responsible for which communication actions. What communications capacity is required – staff and time?

Tim & Diego

Budget Estimate costs of your campaign. Including suggestion for financing.

Annika

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What budget do you have to do this work?

EvaluationHow will you evaluate your efforts?

Dannique

Part C YOUTUBE MOVIEYoutube movie to produce and to present

Together

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