Evaluation Essay on Intercontinental Hotel

Introduction

The Intercontinental hotel in Ljubljana was officially opened on 27th September 2017 by Marija Desivojevic Cvetkovic. The founder and chief executive officers are Angela Brav and Europe Intercontinental hotels group. Also, the hotel is the investment of Serbian Company Delta Holding that worth fifty million euros. Intercontinental Ljubljana has a hundred and sixty-five rooms, a spa centre on the 18th floor and a restaurant on the 20th floor overlooking the entire city. Additionally, it is the tallest building in the city and the only five-star hotel in Ljubljana. The hotel is located at the centre of Slovenia city, the main train and bus station are a three-minute walk away, and it is set to become an architectural and urban landmark of Ljubljana (Universities, 2014). Moreover, the Preseren Square, Triple Bridge and the picturesque old town quarter are a walking distance to the hotel as they are near the Ljubljana riverbanks and are the main and densely populated areas. Intercontinental Ljubljana is styled and characterized such that is a modern and sophisticated hotel with lots of Mediterranean stone, marble and dark wood. The palate is full of dusky purples, greys and pinks with subtle nods to the city in the rugs, carpets and artwork. The 18th-floor Saruna spa in the hotel is a real highlight, having a bathtub, an indoor pool, two saunas and a steam room (Universities, 2014).

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Figure 1: An example of an indoor pool

Also, daybeds, a fitness centre and yoga space are on the same floor to make the most of the panoramic views. The hotel staffs are courteous, polite and a concierge team often assists one during the planning and stay in the hotel.

The Official Marketing Campaign for the Hotel Brand

The hotel markets itself through great brand families like Accor, Hilton, IHG to name but a few as the global chains offer the reflected glory of brand reputations to vast destinations. These brand families also have a rich reputation stretching back scores of years. Additionally, Intercontinental Ljubljana has a flagship which means that its city sits within the constellation of other cities where it shines brightly. The flagship makes the hotel to select areas of the urban location where its brand can flourish and grow within a short period. The massive vote of confidence from the hotel also enhances its reputation, having dignified staffs (Bowie et al. 2015).

Nonetheless, the great global brands bring incremental business sales to destinations through their loyalty programs, GDS systems and key account management structures which helps intercontinental Ljubljana grow financially (Assaf et al. 2015). Worldwide chains are also renowned for recruitment, on-going and on-boarding training programs that were developed over decades and refined in response to the changing customer behaviours and preferences. The chains bring best-in-class programs to varying destinations and infuse the pool of talent instantly with new service and standard levels that benefit the local hospitality industry. Nonetheless, the global hospitality brands often work hard at tuning in to the local and easily acceptable colour and culture and channelling them to be the key elements in the entire service offering. Therefore, the advent of the hotel brings global know-how to Slovenia's capital not only in the area but also in other myriad ways like engineering, financing, architecture, design, technology, construction to name but a few (Bowie et al. 2015).

Competitor Analysis

However, Intercontinental Ljubljana has great competitors more so since it is still a new hotel brand. Therefore, catching up with various hotels and hotel prices is difficult such that little or no clients might be attracted to their hotel if they hike their prices. The main international competitors are Accor, Scandic, Hilton, Marriot, Hyatt, Starwood, four seasons hotels to name but a few (Wang and Chung, 2015). Nevertheless, Hyatt is not only Intercontinental Ljubljana's competitor but also the whole intercontinental hotel groups number one competitor. Hyatt is a public company in Chicago that was founded in 1957 and has been in the hotel's industry for a long period. When compared to overall intercontinental hotel groups, Hyatt has approximately 36,821 more employees making the hotel the best worldwide. It is also the best as it always offers high-quality services over the past years, has many international links and branches that favours frequent customers (Cross, 2016). Moreover, Hilton also generates over five hundred and four percent the revenue that the intercontinental hotel groups incur making it among IHGs biggest rivals. Starwood hotels, founded in Stamford in 1930 is in the travel agency field, and it generates four billion dollars more revenue than the intercontinental hotels.

Figure 2: quarterly and annual revenues for intercontinental Ljubljana

Figure 3: Some of the greatest competitors, employees, total funding and revenues that are above the Intercontinental Ljubljana hotel.

Target Markets

Intercontinental Ljubljana was created for a purpose and with the specific target market. The Target market is business guests as the secret of the campaign in the city revolves around the insider experiences ideas. The ideas are across food, fashion, art, culture et cetera that have curated by individual hotel managers. Also, the insider experiences are based on partnerships that are cultivated by local businesses. Both local and International tourists are also targeted as a form of quality treat offered. Tourists love fancy and classy hotels, focusing on their prices too. Intercontinental Ljubljana often has no option but to offer low hotel prices to attract more people and become more famous and with time, it will surpass its competitors (Salvioni, D., 2016). Additionally, the type of hotel a tourist spends his or her holiday in makes them conclude the country.

Main Focus of the Marketing Communication Strategy

The main focus of the marketing communication strategy is to increase bookings during the difficult economic environment so that social marketing can help achieve its goal. Intercontinental Ljubljana in line with other hotel groups currently has three communities that are operating online. (Priority Club Rewards Elite Community in America and UK and Priority Club Rewards Partner Visa Credit Card). The selected communities are housed at secure sites that enable members of IHG club to connect with select users directly. Also, there is the member-generated content program that helps build revenue for the hotel such that loyal holiday inn customers are asked to send IHG photos of their travels when staying in the hotel. The goal of the company in doing this is to use the photos in marketing collateral through brochures or emails to make marketing more authentic (Deraman et al. 2017). However, intercontinental Ljubljana effectively drove incremental revenue and increased brand advocacy with a minimal budget by targeting some loyal customer (Guttentag, 2015).

Figure 4: Marketing communication strategies

Problem Areas of the Current Communication Strategy

However, with the stated communication strategies, some problem areas are drawn such that; In using customer photos to print brochures, the right target at times are not addressed. Advertising about the hotel in brochures only makes sense with relevant and real pictures that can be commented upon. Most businessmen and tourists often have various and specific pictures to look on apart from "having fun" pictures. Also, the advertisements that have to be portrayed have to draw right attractions to the customers as people get attracted by different things, areas and prices. With these, Intercontinental Ljubljana is always competitive enough as it captures all the relevant areas from rooms, spas, pools, prices to the overall view of the hotel (Guttentag, 2015). The hotel is also the tallest building in the city and therefore, can attract many people or make people opt for it than other hotels.

Comments About the Official Website

With the current digital world generation, every company, hotel or institution has a marketing and advertising strategy posted on some official website. The website helps researchers or tourists to know more about a hotel, the services it offers and at what price. Therefore, the intercontinental Ljubljana hotel website focuses on making the best from both the hotel and the customers by offering various services to name but a few. It allows rooms to be booked from their site and credible payments made in the process of booking (Zhechev, 2016). The booking allows potential guests who are looking for quick access to everything they are looking for and without the hassle of an email or phone. Also, its official website assists in showing the hotel what sets it apart from others. People explore and like new and creative ideas, but they can get these by showing off from a website or else they might not realize some things exist. Additionally, social proof has to be exposed for satisfaction for both attendings, yet to attend and attended customers. This ascertains that the hotel either offers high-quality services or low-quality services depending on the response given by people but so far, intercontinental Ljubljana has not received negative comments or feedback from its clients, probably because it is still new or offers good services (Wang and Chung, 2015).

Recommendations Based on the Success of Other Hotels

Intercontinental Ljubljana hotel is considered as the best in Slovenia city and its neighbours, but it has other hotels surpassing it. Therefore, the recommendations that I would approve based on the success of other hotels are that: The hotel should have no recognition for ambassador as everyone is entitled to certain things even if it is not indicated in the rule book. If mistakes in bookings are made online, and one reports at the official desk for change, they should be treated with respect regarding their statuses (Zhechev, 2016). Also, other hotels like Hilton are better because their promotions are never-ending due to the high costs that they offer at times. People love promotions and free things and therefore, can prefer other hotels than Intercontinental Ljubljana. It should also offer breakfast to its clients. Many people after spending nights in hotels often look forward to having breakfast having the thoughts that it had already been catered for in the booking receipts (Richard, 2017). However, many international hotels do offer, but the intercontinental Ljubljana does not, and so are all intercontinental hotel groups.

Figure 5: A residential receipt of no breakfast in the hotel

Future Recommendations

Nonetheless, further recommendations for the future are that: The hotel should have an Award availability to both the staff and clients to attract and retain its customers and employees. Awards often motivate people to work harder and even wish for promotions in their places of work. It should also offer worldwide coverage and have its branches from other countries to maximize its profits. Additionally, the hotel should offer elite benefits on Award stays internationally to enhance its brand (Richard, 2017).

References

Assaf, A.G., Josiassen, A., Mattila, A.S. and Cvelbar, L.K., 2015. Does advertising spending improve sales performance?. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 48, pp.161-166.

Bowie, D., Buttle, F., Brookes, M. and Mariussen, A., 2016. Hospitality marketing. Routledge.

Cross, D., 2016. A history of revenue management and the advent of next-generation RM. Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, 15(3-4), pp.293-298.

Deraman, F., Ismail, N., Arifin, M., Izzat, A. and Mostafa, M.I.A., 2017. Green practices in hotel industry: Factors infl...