Example of marketing strategy

1. MARKETING STRATEGY
CAPSTONE
Leonardo Sala

2. MARKET ANALYSIS
1) wealthier upper and middle class has seen s rise in demand for high-end tourism among natives in Colombia
2) over the past 10 years foreign tourism growth has been 12.7%, over 3 times the world average
3) Rich oil company executives are among many to make the short journey and set up shop in a more stable
environment
4) increasing number of 5 stars hotel
5) decreasing poverty and instability
1) Monday-Friday 75% occupancy, drops
to 20% in the WE
2) average staying is 2.2nights/visitor2)
number of stars
3) distance
4) rating
5) functionality
Trends:
1) Monday-Friday 75% occupancy, drops to 20% in the WE
2) average staying is 2.2nights/visitor
Leisure: 10%
Business:90%fr
Demographyd:
Local: 39%
International:61%

3. MARKETING STRATEGY
The 6% ROI target of the owners corresponds to an annual EBITDA of 864.000. Achieving this goal would require at
once:
1) increasing the occupancy rate
2) increasing the daily rate
3) improving operation excellence and spending management
1) achieving higher visibility of the hotel, increase the occupancy rates and reduce the
impact of the fixed costs
2) strengthening the brand, to possibly command higher prices and increased
profitability
3) positioning the hotel as "the" choice for premium services and design excellence in
Bogota'
1) retaining corporate travelers: the sort of very personal experience that the hotel can offer (food quality, boutique, ..)
should further be leveraged to keep the existing customers come
2) retaining individual business traveler: this can powered by offering for instance discounted nights over the WE for a
minimum biz staying. The occupancy rate on both working days and WEs would benefit from this.
3) attracting new business travelers: strong initiatives in Marketing/Communications should be undertaken to increase
the visibility of the hotel and the reputation of the brand
4) attracting leisure travelers: a goal of increasing from 25% to 50%

4. MARKETING MIX 1/2
• Providing ts customers with a luxurious, relaxed environment
• Where they could recharge their batteries after along business
• Where they could recharge their batteries after along tourism stay
• At the same time, it was located at walking distance from some of the best restaurants, bars and nightlife in the
city.
• A boutique hotel environment, difficult to find at other larger, more impersonal competitors.
• Hotel Ipsum offered its guests up-to-date technical business facilities, high speed Wi-Fi Internet connection and
conference facilities to hold business meetings.
• Location, high-level gastronomy offer, minimalist decor concept, simplicity, comfort
• Low number of rooms and overall personalized customer service.
. Hotel Ipsum’s price policy was flexible and adaptive to demand, with special focus on attracting existing
corporate customers.
* To this end, special promotions and corporate agreements werecreated targeting the corporate traveler.
* The average room rate in 2012 was 303.000 COP (US$168) which was affected by an adverse currency rate
conversion with the US$r
* Based on the services/amenities offered, the hotel might offer an average rate closer to Rafael's goal for 2012,
which is 340COP (188$). The demand creation following the advertising campaign should generate enough
requests to increase the occupancy rate eben at higher prices, by the way in line with the direct competitors. Plus,
the strong corporate customers basis is less sesnsitive to prices than the tourists.

5. MARKETING MIX 2/2
The increasingly high tourism from abroad would fully justify making agreements with international Tourism Agencies,
tryin to smooth the adversal effects of the seasonality and of the occupancy rate drops over the WE.
* As the hotel Ipsum has an already strong traction with the business customers, this should be further reinforced by
hiring a direct salesforce, that with an investment of $11k /year may increase the occupancy from 75% to 85%
(corresponding to 5 days * 8 rooms * 168 * 52 = $350k)
Based on the strong business customers basis, Rafal should target on Linkedin professionals having businesses in
Bogota or frequently communiting to Colombia. This sort of Social Marketing is in general extremely effective at
targeting the right audience, depending on the selected AD filters.
The negligible investment on the WEB site ($7k + $5k) is definitely worth being undertaken, as both the sophisticated
professionals and educated tourists would judge the expected quality of the service also on the quality of the web site.
That would simultaneously allow increasing (by a proper site redesign) the Hotel Ipsum SEO.

6. EXPECTED RESULTS