Marketing Proposal: Ritz Carlton, Almaty - Case Study Example

Ritz Carlton, Almaty. Marketing proposal Executive summary Kazakhstan is a country located in the heart of Middle East and with of much of tourist attraction sites. The country is known world wide to its richness in natural and cultural resources which offers people with diverse opportunity to further explore and promote tourism sector in the country (Baldrige 4). The government through the ministry of tourism has done so much to promote tourism despite the low level of tourism exhibited in the country. Ritz Carlton Hotel in Almaty is one of the greatest focal tourist attraction centers in the larger Kazakhstan country. The hotel is located in Almaty city is known for its unique developed features where most tourist visiting the country make as their first stop over (Baldrige 4). It should be noted that Ritz Carlton Hotel is the first hope for tourism services in Almaty. Almaty is well known since it is the former capital city of Kazakhstan. The city is well developed and one of the largest in the country. The entire population of people within the city is approximately 1.5 million (Baldrige 4). Up to date, Almaty is still the leading scientific, cultural, financial and historical center in Kazakhstan (Baldrige 4). In addition to this, it is important to note that the economy of Almaty city is diversified among different financial services. These include diversification in terms of food industry, light industry, transport industry and many others (Baldrige 4). Table of contents 1. List of figures 2. Introduction 3. Overview of tourism in Almaty 4. Body i. PEST analysis ii. SWOT analysis iii. Competition analysis iv. Recommended changes 5. Conclusion 6. Bibliography 7. Appendix List of tables/figures 1. Photo of Ritz Carlton in Kazakhstan Introduction (Ritzcarlton 1) Ritz Carlton Hotel is one of the largest hotels and tourist attraction stop over that is located in the city of Almaty. It should be noted that this hotel is the mother hotel owned by Ritz Carlton Hotel Company, a company with other 84 hotel outlets in Kazakhstan (Ritzcarlton 1). Many who have ever been to the palace have a lot to say about the hotel. The experience people can get after visiting Ritz Carlton hotel in Kazakhstan is unimaginable. It should be noted that the hotel is the first luxurious stop over that offers unparalleled high quality services to tourists and other guests (Ritzcarlton 2). The location of this luxurious hotel is at the doorsteps of the famous Ala-Tau Mountains (Ritzcarlton 2). Notable to mention is that the hotel is well positioned just next to a luxury shopping mall with installed LV Dior (Ritzcarlton 2). This is not all, just next to the hotel is also a ski slopes where many tourists visit during winter for skiing competitions and fun (Ritzcarlton 2). The hotel has got well decorated and elegant venue for single couple or jubilee weddings celebration. This hotel is also recognized for its spacious rooms and suits, restaurants and bar which are located on the upper floor (Ritzcarlton 2). The reason as to why this relaxation section was designed on the upper side is to enable guests to enjoy while viewing the beauty of the mountains (Ritzcarlton 2). Moreover, guests will have an opportunity to access unique culinary experience and spa services which are offered by the hotel (Ritzcarlton 2). What need to be noted down the books is that Ritz Carlton of Almaty is the best option since it is the place where all people who appreciate culture and design normally meet (Ritzcarlton 3). This means that the hotel is the best choice for meetings of world designers and anesthetic groups. People do meet here from different cultural backgrounds, fashion, design, media and art work (Ritzcarlton 3). This is another reason as to why the reputation of Almaty is globally respected. The hotel is an attractive destination both for tourists and business travellers (Ritzcarlton 3). Overview of tourism in Almaty Tourism in Almaty and the larger Kazakhstan is growing so much by the virtue that the city of Almaty is the largest city which started advancement process earlier. It is clear that when in Almaty, one can view beautiful rugged snow capped mountains. The country is blessed with these snow capped mountains which offers a tourist attraction center. Tourism in many countries basically develops with a collective mind of ensuring that many people visit the sites. In addition to this, the city of Almaty slopes from north to south (Baldrige 6). The city is also among the top 50 and most expensive world wide. There are many other beautiful sceneries and historical museums where people visit for fun. Body PESTLE analysis What need to be noted is that as far as PESTLE analysis is concerned, there is conflicting business strategy between Ritz Carlton and its millennium partners (Medina, Cammanaro, Angelos, Smith and Coons 3). Analysts have depicted that the issue has to be solved quickly in order to prevent premature end of the two great business partnership (Medina et al 3). When looking at Political, economical, social and technological analysis of Ritz Carlton in Almaty, there are various areas to focus on each analysis. When we talk about the political situation of Ritz Carlton, the issue of stable political status is the first question to ask. The region of Middle East and gulf territories are known to be very unstable due to the ongoing Islamic revolution and Jihad fighting (Medina et al 3). This is a question many guests and tourists may ask before thinking of flying to Ritz Carlton. In addition to this, election issue is another factor to consider which contributes towards political instability within the area (Medina et al 5). Politically, citizens of United States of America and Non-European Union do have difficulties to get admission and Visas to Kazakhstan due to high terrorism target for Americans (Medina et al 5). Moreover, on political factors, elections processes are some of the key influence that could destabilize the business (Medina et al 5). This is because new leadership is normally accompanied with new policies that might alter the business operation. When it comes to economical issue, both the hotel stay and spa treatments are very expensive for most people to afford. These prices vary significantly depending on whether it is peak or off peak tourist’s season of the year to (Medina et al 5). The tourism seasons also affect revenue collection of the hotel management. This is because when it is peak time and there are more tourists visiting the country and the facility, it means that more financial income shall be received by the management. Economically, the trend of international market is also vital toward the hotel business. This is precisely affecting the value of foreign exchange by the visiting internationals. If the economy of Kazakhstan is good, that means that the business will benefit more on foreign exchange but if the vise versa that means the business will lose (Medina et al 5). When it comes to employment of workers from the society, employees at operational level are paid poorly forcing the management to offer them food and accommodation (Medina et al 5). This explains why there are very few people who show interest for such positions. The rate of unemployment and the economy of the country are key issue that affects the economic development. Socially, changes of lifestyle as a measure of maintaining international standards were observed by introduction of patronizing spas (Medina et al 6). This saw the changes percolate down from top class to middle and class people. Socially, the impact Ritz hotel has on the people is assimilation of foreign culture. It is pretty clear that Ritz hotel is based in gulf region where Islam is the core religion. The hotel being an international five star hotel will attract tourists and visitors from the rest of the world. Notable to mention is that these visitors move there with their cultural, religious and traditional behaviors (Medina et al 5). Most of the character for example men walking with women holding hand, women walking with shorts or smoking is prohibited in Islam. When visitors move there and they do what is against the religion of the people it poses negativity as far as the society is concerned (Medina et al 5). Local people may start imitating thus compromise the society. Negatively, pollution was a concern by social environmentalists since large consumption of soap and detergent contributed toward green pollution within the society (Medina et al 6). Under this section, analysis revealed that travelling for a holiday was perceived as a non-essential travelling by most people. Contrary, there are those who cannot travel if air planes means is unavailable. Technologically, Ritz Carlton hotel is by far much advanced by introduction of customer information management system (CIM) (Medina et al 7). This allowed the use of online application in rating all services offered, booking and selection of choices desired. (Medina et al 7). Customers can also review every bit of activity involved. This makes work easy for the hotel management in incorporating customer’s centered operation. In addition, technology has made it east in management of resources and facilities like water and electricity to avoid wastage by the customer (Medina et al 7). This helps in controlling overconsumption of these resources to a level that is wasteful thus regulate monthly bill payments by the hotel management (Medina et al 7). Furthermore, Ritz Carlton Company has also established technological system of money payment through PayPal or Moneybookers money transfer (Medina et al 5). This is a secure system where customers from any point of the world can transfer money when booking the facility or when buying the hotel products. SWOT analysis When it comes to strength and weaknesses of Ritz Carlton hotel in Kazakhstan, it should be noted as part of the strength that it is one of the most luxurious hotel in the entire country of Kazakhstan and the world (Kasi 2). The business company has got more than 71 other similar hotels outlets in other 21 countries; thus pose for their quality of service and reliability (Kasi 2). Most amazingly is the fact that this company has got their own training and learning institution and leadership center which has achieve the training of over 50000 international executives (Kasi 2). To pose for quality standard service, Ritz Carlton hotel has 32000 well trained employees base to ensure efficiency in customer services (Kasi 2). Furthermore, the hotel management has got an in-depth sharing database for keeping customers records. This also involve other important touch points and this technologies saw the hotel company win Malcolm Baldrige national quality awards twice in 1992 and 1999 (Kasi 4). Additionally, Ritz hotel has also been able to remain the dominating high selling hotel in Kazakhstan despite all the challenges and competition faced. Ritz is the only hotel company that has management system that carries out employees work output appraisal not less than twice a year. This has seen all employees be determined to impress customers for rating (Kasi 2). Customer rating is a key influencing factor for the success of the business. It helps the management realize real perception of the customer and improve on negativity pointed by the customer. This is an important successful customer retention strategy Ritz management came up with in order to survive the stiff competition in the region (Kasi 2). When it comes to weaknesses of the company, security is the leading issue of concern precisely being located in unstable Middle East region. The best example is the case of suicide bombing back in the year 2009 (Kasi 4). This was a bigger challenge that resulted in reduction of numbers of international visitors booking the facility. In addition, the company has got a higher number of employee’s turnover rates. This is another challenge that can compromise the quality services of the hotel company. The higher rate of hotel prices is another open threat that can pose negative perception to customers who may consider somewhere else (Kasi 6). Many people also consider prices of services before booking. Emerging competitors who are also advanced in terms of services and technology is the other threat facing Ritz hotel (Kasi 6). These threatening competitors include the Four Season Hotels Inc, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels Limited and also Starwood Hotel and Resort are some of the biggest competitors to Ritz Carlton (Kasi 6). Competition that is tight could result in reduction or sharing or visiting customer’s thus low profits generation. Most of these new emerging businesses are employing advanced technologies in their services thus attracting more customers (Kasi 6). They also have high potential and are using advanced strategies to survive. Terrorism is another security threats that bar people from opting to visit Middle East due to fear of attacks (Kasi 7). Opportunities available within Ritz Carlton include possibilities of opening new hotels in untapped countries thus expand their profit collection. The other opportunity is the location within the Asian markets which has great potential of high returns generation (Kasi 7). In fact, Ritz Carlton is know for sponsoring events and thus gains more positive reputation for the social responsibility (Kasi 7). They also have the opportunity of working on improving and promoting the security situation within and around the hotel to ensure that their visitors are safe (Kasi 7). Competitor analysis The main top competitors for Ritz Carlton hotel include; Starwood hotel and Resort, Four Seasons Holdings Inc and also the Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels Limited. These are the main companies that pose a threat to Ritz Carlton more precisely in hotel, lodging services and spar operations business (Abahe 5). All these companies are international well known hotels in the industry. Stiff competition exists since Ritz competitors are all using similar strategies and technological advancement. For this scenario, creativity would be the only weapon to emerge out and establish stronghold domination. Recommended changes Based on the magnitude of competition available, Ritz Carton management has to be more creative in terms of marketing to survive. There is need to treat marketing as an investment and develop elaborate effective marketing plan (Abahe 8). First thing on the marketing mix is to carryout market segmentation analysis. This involves taking a look at the overall market for the services and classifying it as a smaller manageable piece (Abahe 8). This allows proper budgeting and more efficient management of overall marketing strategy (Abahe 8). It is also important to also carry out marketing research and have intelligence concerning the competitor’s strategies and strength (Abahe 8). This will aid in developing appropriate marketing structure that will out do the competitors. As part of the marketing plan, pricing is another very important piece that must be reviewed. The value of products and services must always satisfy the customer’s needs high prices with perfect satisfactory contribute to bonding and acceptance since most customers look for service satisfaction rather than prices (Abahe 8). Value chain management is another key input that the management has to execute. This contributes to proper placement and all marketing plan cannot be attained when the hotel sectors are not effectively coordinating together (Abahe 8). There should be proper inbound and outbound logistics operation, firm infrastructure and effective services that align customer’s expectation (Abahe 8). Conclusion In summary, Ritz Carlton hotel is far much advanced and has to put more efforts primarily on marketing strategies in order to survive the stiff competition available. The hotel being located in Almaty city of Kazakhstan, there is need to establish proper security system that convince customers from all over the world to visit the place. Security is a sensitive issue that can result to collapse of the business if ignore. Many people visit hotels internationally as tourists for peaceful leisure and enjoyment. Therefore, the hotel has to keep up international standards and beef up tight security. There is also need to set up a firm strategic goal which focuses mainly on internal and external knowledge and in depth analysis of how to run the business (Ritzcarlton 8). Bibliography Abahe. Marketing strategy and competitive analysis. 2010. Web. 8 May, 2014. Baldrige. The Ritz-Carlton hotel company, LLC. 2000. Web. 8 May, 2014. Kasi, Adam. Ritz Carlton SWOT analysis. 2010. Web. 8 May, 2014. Medina, Zuleta., Cammanaro, Alexandre., Angelos, Chris., Smith, David and Coons, Scott. The Ritz-Carlton hotel company: PESTLE analysis. 2012. Web. 8 May, 2014. Ritzcarlton. The Ritz-Carlton, Almaty: Hotel information. 2014. Web. 8 May, 2014. Appendix: Ritz Carlton hotel in Kazakhstan. Read More