Talking about the service marketing of tourist hotels

Abstract: This paper first introduces the connotation of service marketing of tourist hotels, then analyzes the characteristics of service marketing of tourist hotels, and finally analyzes the strategies of service marketing of tourist hotels. Finally, I attach my personal experience in hotel service.

Keywords: marketing strategy of tourist hotel service products

I. Introduction

With the development of China's tourism industry, the hotel industry has also developed rapidly. According to the statistics of the National Tourism Administration, by the end of 2111, there were nearly 8,181 hotels with star rating in China. Therefore, in order to develop better and faster in many hotels, quality service is essential.

second, the connotation of tourism hotel service marketing

1, service and service products. On the surface, service is a very common thing. In fact, service is a complicated process. Christy Grunos, an American expert in service marketing, believes that service is generally an invisible behavior or a series of behaviors that can solve customer problems between customers and service staff, tangible resources goods or service systems. General service has the following four main characteristics: intangible; Indispensability (production and consumption of services occur at the same time); Variability; Easily disappearing. These characteristics make service different from tangible products in marketing management theory and practice.

understanding service as a product is the basis of service management theory. In other words, the service management model regards service as an object that can be produced, marketed and consumed, although this model is not perfect. As a collection of tangible and intangible services, people call this product "service package". The basic service package consists of three contents: core services; Convenient services; Support services. Core service is the reason why enterprises exist in the market. As far as hotel services are concerned, providing accommodation is the core service. In order to allow customers to use core services, additional services are usually needed, and hotels need reception services. This kind of additional service is called convenience service because it has the function of facilitating the use of core services. Supporting services are not convenient for the consumption and use of core services, but are used to improve the value of services or to distinguish services from competitors. For example, the catering service in a hotel is a supportive service. The boundary between supportive service and convenient service is not so clear, but it can be understood that convenient service is essential, without which the core service will be paralyzed, while supportive service is only a means of competition. Even without them, core services can still play a role.

however, the basic service package is not the same as the service products perceived by customers, but at best it is only the technical output of customers' overall perceived quality. Due to the characteristics of service, customers participate in the production of service to a certain extent, and the process of service is the process of interaction between buyers and sellers, which includes three basic elements: accessibility of service, interaction between buyers and sellers and customer participation. These factors expand the concept of service package and form an expanded service supply. Of course, these three elements of service supply must obey the interests of customers and are pursued by target customers. For example, the guest's request is not responded by the waiter for a long time; Or guests think that the bathroom is too troublesome to use, then even the best service package will have poor perceived quality.

as the perceived quality model thinks, the image acts as a filter for the actually experienced service. A good image strengthens the feeling of actual experience, while a bad image will destroy it. At the same time, due to the invisibility of service, communication activities not only have an impact on customer expectations, but also have a direct impact on customer experiences. Therefore, image and communication management become an integral part of developing service products. In addition, word of mouth is also very important, which has a long-term impact on the image. When customers buy and consume service products, the role of word of mouth may be immediate. Therefore, some advertising, publicity and public relations activities carried out by the hotel are very necessary.

2. Service marketing. When it comes to marketing theory, people easily think of marketing mix 4P, namely Product, sales channel, Place and Promotion. The traditional marketing 4P theory research was developed from the packaged consumer goods in 1951s and 1961s. Although the traditional marketing mix contains many elements that are important, even the core of marketing, the later development has proved its great limitations. In the service industry, marketing is not only the business of the marketing department, but also involves the whole organization. The traditional marketing model, that is, 4P marketing combination, is not used in the service industry, but replaced by the relationship view of marketing. Relationship marketing is a long-term strategy to develop and strengthen continuous and lasting customer relations. In relationship marketing, interactive marketing is the key, and interaction is the characteristic of service, so it is not difficult to understand that service marketing is developed on the basis of relationship marketing. The author believes that service marketing can be said to be a comprehensive marketing function, which can be divided into two obvious parts, traditional marketing function and interactive marketing function, which is of course determined by the characteristics of service products.

Third, the characteristics of tourism hotel service marketing

According to philip kotler, an American marketing expert, every industry is permeated with services, and the only difference lies in the number of service components. In his product classification mode of transition from "pure tangible products" to "pure services", hotel products belong to the category of "mixed tangible products and services", that is, products with higher service components. Therefore, the marketing of hotel service products is different from pure tangible products in the following characteristics:

1. Extended service product extension. Hotel service is a comprehensive product. From the guest's point of view, the guest's spending in the hotel is not like buying specific material products like color TV and refrigerator, but a group of comprehensive products obtained during his stay in the hotel. Such as material products (material products actually consumed by guests, such as food and drinks); The part enjoyed by the guests' senses (the experience of equipment and furniture, environmental atmosphere, service technology and service quality through sight, hearing, touch and smell); Part of the guest's psychological feeling (the guest's psychological feeling of the product, resulting in comfort and satisfaction). The guest's evaluation of hotel product quality is essentially a comprehensive evaluation of the above three parts.

2. Interaction between guests and servers. One of the unique features of service is that guests actively participate in the service production process. Every critical moment involves the interaction between guests and service providers. Guests' participation in the service process makes the service effect not only depend on the quality, professional knowledge and whether the service provider is given enough autonomy, but also closely related to the personal behavior characteristics of the guests. Therefore, servers and guests have become the two main goals of hotel marketing management.

3. Overall control of service quality. Service quality is a complex topic, which is difficult to be measured by unified objective standards because of the individual subjectivity of service. Therefore, hotel service quality needs to be described from two aspects: technical quality is controlled by service operation rules; The quality of functions is described by the feelings and satisfaction of guests. Guests' satisfaction with service is the result of comparing their perception of accepted service with their expectation of service. When the perception exceeds expectations, the service is considered to be of special quality, and the guests express joy and surprise. When expectations are not met, the service is doomed to be unacceptable. When expectations are consistent with perception, the quality is satisfactory. The expectation of service is influenced by word of mouth, personal needs and past experience. Therefore, service quality control is a comprehensive process. To improve the service quality, hotels should not only train and motivate service personnel, but also pay attention to improving service facilities and equipment, and pay attention to the manners of service personnel, because the service environment will have a great impact on the overall service quality in customers' perception.

4. Time value of service products. For the manufacturing industry, if there is less demand, products can be stored but services can't. Service is a perishable product, which will be lost forever if it is not used. The existence of service equipment, labor and other physical forms can only represent the service supply capacity rather than the service itself. Guests' demand for services is cyclical, and there is a great difference between peak and low periods. Therefore, making full use of service capacity has become a major management challenge, and matching the fluctuating market demand with supply in time has become an important topic of hotel management. From this, we can imagine that in face-to-face service, time factor plays an important role in improving guests' evaluation of service.

Fourth, the strategy of tourism hotel service marketing

1. Determine a theme for the service. This is the first step of hotel service under the experience economy. When you see the names Hard Rock Restaurant and Tropical Rainforest Cafe, you will immediately think of the feeling of entering the restaurant, because they all have distinct themes. Themization is to create an environment, create an atmosphere and focus customers' attention. It is an effective means for customers to get a deep feeling in a certain aspect. It is a positioning under the accurate grasp of the psychological needs and desires of consumers. On the one hand, the comprehensive psychological feelings of customers can be brought closer to the established service theme through two emotional experience stages: physical environment and situation. The first is the physical environment. Strengthen the perception of service by stimulating guests' senses. The more emotional an experience is, the more memorable it is. The second is the situation. The theme of the environment and atmosphere makes the guests feel warm or elegant, so as to touch the inner feelings of the customers and make the tourists' experience and feelings resonate with the theme of the hotel. On the other hand, a tourist hotel always has its attached tourist market or destination, so when determining the theme, it can be close to its attached tourist market and destination. If the theme is determined according to the tourism market, it is necessary to analyze the market characteristics of hotel tourists. If the theme is determined according to the tourist destination, it is necessary to accurately grasp the tourist theme of the tourist destination.

2. service differentiation strategy. The essence of differentiation strategy is to create a unique service that can be felt. There are many forms to realize differentiation, including brand image, technology, characteristics, customer service, dealer network and others. The hotel regards service as a product based on the concept of customers. However, because different guests have different needs at the same time and place, and the needs of the same guest are different at different times and places, the relationship between service products and guest needs is not static. Therefore, the hotel service can't get the general satisfaction of the guests only by strict management and standardized operation, and only targeted personalized service can impress the guests' hearts. Of course, personalized service means an increase in costs. Therefore, it is necessary to seek an optimal service model between guest satisfaction and benefit: the standard service that meets the same needs of most guests, supplemented by the non-standard service that meets the individual needs of guests, thus showing the service characteristics of the hotel. For example, the meticulous "personal service" provided by some hotels embodies the artistic creativity of serving different objects flexibly from the heart.

3. Service materialization strategy. Hotel service is intangible, and only through the perception of tangible things in the service environment can guests establish their understanding of hotel corporate image and service quality. In service marketing management, it is called "service materialization strategy" to use tangible display means that can convey service characteristics and connotation to assist the promotion of service products. Hotels usually make guests feel special excitement and surprise by creating a good service environment and atmosphere on the basis of ensuring to meet the basic needs of guests, thus improving their satisfaction with services; Usually, by improving service packaging, such as designing the unique appearance of hotel buildings, enterprises unify service image identification and increase the added value of services; Improve the social elements of service, improve the social skills of employees, and make guests feel that the hotel is trustworthy.

4. service extension strategy. The interaction between guests and service providers is one of the essential characteristics of service marketing, and this interaction is not temporary, but should be long-term. Research reports show that old guests can bring 21 ~ 81% more profits to enterprises than first-time guests, and for every 5% increase of old guests, the profits of enterprises will increase by about 25% to 85%. For the hotel industry, which strongly depends on guest consumption, stable and loyal guests are tolerant of service price changes and service failures, and they are undoubtedly valuable assets for enterprises. Therefore, in order to cultivate the fixed consumer groups of enterprises and build a good social environment, many hotels extend the traditional service connotation, provide thoughtful after-sales service and follow-up contact for guests, and strengthen good customer relations. For example, the establishment of hotel guest files to carry out targeted personalized services. Establish guest contact and tracking system; Establish guest organizations, such as VIP cards and clubs; These measures enable scattered guests to keep close contact with hotels all the time, form a wide social network, and constantly strengthen their brand loyalty.

5. Internal and external marketing integration strategy. The traditional marketing theory is mainly external marketing, which promises external guests through various promotional means to stimulate their consumption desire. This is more suitable for tangible products produced by manufacturing industry. The production and sales processes of such products are separated, and consumers generally can't see the production process. Sales and service personnel have little influence on the quality of such products, which are mainly determined by the production process. Therefore, such companies have traditionally neglected the influence of sales and service personnel on product quality and only paid attention to external marketing. In the service industry, because the production and sales of service products are carried out at the same time, the interaction between sales staff and service staff of such products and consumers directly affects the quality of products. According to the customer perceived service quality model, the final evaluation of the service is not determined by the quality of the service actually provided, but depends on the gap between the promised service and the actual service. Only when the two are consistent or the latter exceeds the former level, the guests will be satisfied. In order to improve personal sales performance in the short term, some hotel waiters cater to the guests with promises that exceed the actual service capacity of the hotel, which makes the guests expect too much from the service and will only lead to the dissatisfaction of the guests. Therefore, the external marketing of service products must be carried out among employees before they are put into the market, which is called internal marketing. The internal market composed of all employees should be paid attention to first, otherwise the external operation of the hotel will be frustrated. The successful experience of marriott Company, one of the most successful hotel companies in the world, is the successful application of internal marketing. Managers in marriott believe that if employees love their jobs and are proud of working in marriott hotels, they will serve customers well, and satisfied customers will often visit marriott hotels. Moreover, receiving pleasant customers will also satisfy employees, resulting in better service and more repeat customers. "Effective service needs people who can understand the service intention", and internal marketing is a prerequisite for the success of external marketing. Only through the integration of internal and external marketing strategies can hotel services be coordinated.