The Marketing Plan of LANDWAYS

Abstract

In this paper we will analyze step by step the strategic marketing plan implementation of LANDWAYS for its first hotel brand built in Tirana which will be launched soon in the market. Amongst the diverse activities of the services sector, tourism would be classified as a personalized industry. How can a leading company in the tourism sector succeed in new the hospitality industry? In first sight tourism and hospitality are very similar, but we will go through a deeper analysis to have a better understanding of this approach.

Key words: Tourism, Hospitality, Marketing plan

Introduction

Being the main tour operator to bring Asian visitors in Albania, LANDWAYS counted at the end of every year a significant increase of room nights number that were delivered to many different 4*or 5*hotels of the city. By observing the trend of the tourism global industry and by studding more closely the regional one, was evidentially expected a growing volume of tourists in the upcoming years. The figures represented an alert for the next step of the business, having an important physical asset ʺA hotelʺ which would host all the tourists coming in Albania and staying for overnights in Tirana and in the same time this hotel would become a competitive advantage for a major player in the Balkans company as LANDWAYS.

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By considering all the recordings (figures) of past years, the present situation and a more optimistic future seemingly (especially after an in-depth financial and managerial analysis) the equation was revealed: It was the right time for LANDWAYS to come to the market with an identifiable property ˗ their own hotel. One of the most important questions addressed before executing their idea into a business plan was the fact if it would be more advantageous to come to the market with a partnership of an international hotel brand or build from zero their authentic one? The future was forecasted so challenging and more favorable opportunities would be there for them, so for a dynamic and international company the vision was clear, at the end they decided to come to the market with their own authentic hotel brand named LANDWAYS.

The business plan came into life with a very original idea. Instead of what everyone could expect for, A spacious and a modern hotel to meet the standard required from the international and mostly Asian market, LANDWAYS came with 2 hotel buildings, both of them spacious but with different styles. One of the hotels named LANDWAYS would represent the modern hotel, meeting the international 5* standard. The other one would represent the Albanian traditional style, a 5* hotel for all of those tourists who would like to experience an authentic Albanian experience, obviously the second hotel will be named ALBANIA EXPERIENCE. Both of the hotels will be part of LANDWAYS hotel brand.

The hotels construction started approximately two years ago and will finish according to the plan in June of 2019. LANDWAYS hotels are located in one of the quietest and most panoramic spaces of the city: at Tirana Grand Park.

The next essential step of this big investment is the execution of the marketing plan which will be revealed in the upcoming chapters.

Aim of the study

The aim of the paper is to analyze and develop the optimal strategic marketing plan for LANDWAYS new hotel brand. While developing the strategic marketing plan for LANDWAYS we should consider the fact that this company operates both in B2B and B2C. The purpose of the strategic plan is to acquire bigger numbers of costumers and new business partners, not only to achieve full capacity utilization of the hotel but also to grow your businesses further.

Tourism Industry

Global Trends

If many times ago tourism could have been considered a lux, nowadays the concept has changed and tourism has become much more part of man’s lifestyle.

Living in the area of information technology is strongly influencing everyone’s of lives to the point that lifestyle has changed. Different social phenomena are being spread worldwide in a very short time and tourism is not an exception of that. People are sharing a lot of their traveling experiences in the internet. Travelers tend to be specific and detailed especially in the cases that their expectations are overpassed or (on the opposite) don’t meet with what they find in the places they visit. And we all would agree on the point that nothing is more reliable nowadays than stories told from real peoples’ experience.

These days we are much more exposed to a lot of information and testimonials of people from every corners of the world in every single moment. Thus, subconsciously our decision-making process get impacted that much that when we are faced to many options on how to spend your free time or rather in which entertaining activity would be more suitable to invest in, the choice will be absolutely traveling. Traveling because it is so mysterious and fun, it opens up many new windows to our own worlds and especially opens our minds.

Once you go for the first time somewhere you have never been before and live pieces of another reality you haven’t imagined that would exist, you realize the little you know the world and your interest and desire to get to know more, more cultures, histories and people enhance a lot. In a world that is going people tend to live more than ever before new local experiences. This is how the global tourism trend has changed by people – to people. If we take into consideration Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the need to travel has moved down from the higher scales of mankind’s hierarchy of needs to the lower ones surely.

Considering all the above impacting factors now we are shifting our attention in another sphere, the economic impact.

The tourism industry has experienced continued growth in the past decades and depending diversification in the future is predicted to become one of the fastest growing economic sectors in the world according to Global tourism Organization.

A progressive growth of the number of new destinations in the market has been recently provided by the tour operators, travel consultants, travel dedicated magazines or even individuals which have discovered themselves new destinations. So, the factors entirety which have brought the growth of this sector are the ones that have direct impact to the global economy growth. The tourism industry is characterized by a high level of dynamism which explains its positioning in the global economy.

Tourism Trends in Albania

Before getting the decision to start an investment, it’s necessary to study the market quite well in order to have a greater in-depth understanding of the situation.

The tourism industry occupies a key place in the economy and is an important source for the development of Albania. Tourism can make an important contribution to three dimensions of sustainable development: to create jobs, to generate trade opportunities to recognize needs and to support tourism activities, to create important capacities that promote environmental conservation priorities and cultural diversity.

According to INSTAT, for the 2017 the directly related tourism activities generated about 39 billion in value added, thus contributing around 2.5% to GDP.

During the last 4 years (2013-2017), the entry of foreigners coming in Albania has been approximately 21 million people. At this arc of time, the entry of foreigners has had growth tendencies by an average of 12.0% per annum. Considering the recording Albania is a tourist attraction mainly for the age group 25-44 referring to the data of year 2017, for the inflows of foreign citizens. Visitors from Europe’s dominate the entries of foreign nationals by 92.4% and have increased on average by 12.3% over the period 2013-2017.

However, if we consider only the East Asian countries as Korea and China, as per the recordings the foreigners’ entry from these courtiers has increased more than double from the year 2013 to 2017 and this increase from 2016 to 2017 comes respectively: 69 % Chinese visitors and 57 % Korean visitors. These figures are very meaningful for the people which are involved in business tourism sector, and a lot more a company like LANDWAYS which is always awaiting new opportunities and ready to take over new initiatives.

Hospitality Industry in Europe

• Jobs, growth and taxes
• Wider economic contribution – multiplier effects
• Sensitivity to the cost/price ratio

The sector of hospitality in European countries plays an important overall economic role. This importance is translated in more working places, more tax contributions and a significantly economic growth. In this sector, most of the times, the client is the final consumer. This a quantity of the space in almost every big hotel which is reserved for business customers like institutions, organizations, companies which use hotels services for several reasons.

For those kind of businesses (B2C), there is a strong competition. Providers of the hospitality are particularly sensitive to the economic situation that influences directly the demand in the sector. It is all about the labor force and raw materials (agricultural products) costs. This means costs can significantly increase or decrease depending on external factors such as weather patterns and the impact on harvests, as well as changes relating to salaries of the employees, employment taxes and other economic factors. The providers are not in control of all the elements of their costs.

Around 16.6m work places have been created from this sector, which means 7.8% of the European workforce or one in every 13 jobs in Europe is ensured by the hospitality industry[footnoteRef:3]. But this is not the only way hospitality supports, indirectly the broad supply chain. The agricultural sector for example is notable as a significant contributor of raw materials for the hospitality sector, furthermore they are the main suppliers for restaurant food and beverages products ingredients (input). Additional sectors that are closely linked and have a big influence to the success of hospitality sector are: transportation, tourism, culture and construction.

Marketing Strategy

LANDWAYS Group Profile

LANDWAYS is a Travel Company which was born under the name “Albania Experience” on November 7th 2005 in Tirana, Albania by the founder and chairman of the company, Mr. Gazmend Haxhia. At its early stages, Landways was created to meet a demand in the market for arranging travel services such as hotel bookings, car rentals, and flight tickets with a handful of staff working out of a one room office suite. Fast forward to the modern day, Landways encompasses multiple companies under its scope, with a staff of 280 split into multiple departments in modern spacious offices. With branches in Seoul, Taipei and Beijing, Landways has become the main land operator in South-East Europe for key Asian markets such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, South Korea, China, Japan, Singapore and Indonesia with more than 900 handled groups as of October 2017.

In 2019 part of Landways group will become the new hotels under the LANDWAY brand.

Vision

We will continue to develop high quality tourism & hospitality products & services that widen our customer base and partnerships and allow profitable growth in both new and existing customer markets.

Mission Statement

LANDWAYS mission statement is to be leading the European market of touristic service providers by feeding our knowledge and passion for excellence & personalized services.

LANDWAYS 2019 Goals

• Implement a lot of advertisement to raise LANDWAYS hotels brand awareness in our country, in the whole region and worldwide.
• On the inauguration of Landways hotel brand will be used Celebrity branding. A famous international celebrity will be present during the inauguration of the hotel.
• Strengthen the cooperation with the strategical partners business – building relationships!
• Grow the presence of Landways among key Outbound Tour Operators aiming to start new partnerships (thus to extend our partners list).
• Increasing sales of the existing products by developing & innovating these products.
• Introducing new products, expanding our maps & promoting these products.
• Prioritize the consistence of the communication with clients and prompt follow-up of daily operations.
• Prioritizing the measure of customers’ satisfaction levels & keep clients historical data
• Monitoring quality issues.

Target Market

No company would exist if there weren’t any customer to buy its products, so the first and one of the most important question being raised before starting a business is: Which is our target market? Which is that homogeneous group of people the company wishes to appeal at?

LANDWAYS will define the market segmentation for the new hotels according to the below variables:

Demographics

This variable includes of individuals within a segment who have similar characteristics such as gender, age, educational background, marital status, occupation, race, religion and income.

LANDWAYS hotels potential customers won’t be targeted referring to the gender, educational background, marital status, occupation race, religion or income. However there as some criteria which will be considered like the age, and as regards age there exist one restriction at Laneways hotels for the customers under 18 years old. People under the age of 18 if not accompanied by at least one of their partners cannot have an overnight service at these hotels.

Psychographics

According to the psychographic segmentation target market is divided based on socio-economic class, personality, or lifestyle preferences[footnoteRef:5]. Considering this variable LANDWAYS will not make any differentiations regarding personality, or lifestyle preferences but as regards the social grade the company is targeting those customers that come from a social grade not lower than the lower middle class.

Behavioral

This segmentation refers to the grouping of total consumers in a market into homogeneous groups based on their mutual buying behavior patterns[footnoteRef:6]. Here would be included all customers that want to live an Albanian traditional and unique experience, ALBANIA EXPERIENCE Hotel is designed for this class of costumers.

Geographic

Regarding this variable LANDWAYS current focus is in the Asian Market since almost 95% of their business is related with this market, but despite Asian tourists the company targets costumers from all over the world as the same time.

The market segments for LANDWAYS hotels will be as below:

• Asian groups (all-inclusive group tours which services are provided by LANDWAYS Tour Operator)
• European groups (all-inclusive group tours which services are provided by LANDWAYS Tour Operator)
• Institutions, organizations, etc.
• VIP People.
• FIT

Marketing Mix

After identifying the customers to whom will direct their efforts, the next step for LANDWAYS is to create and apply the model of its own marketing activities in order to sell the product to its targeted customers.

The focus of LANDWAYS’ marketing strategy should be making sure that their products and services meet customer needs and developing long-term and profitable relationships with those customers.

In the below paragraphs will be revealed the marketing mix strategy LANDAWAYS has decided to apply:

Product

The Product which LANDWAYS will offer to the customers is a package of physical goods like ex: the hotel buildings, the beds, the furniture, many different accessories and the food.

LANDWAYS Hotel rooms capacity will be 120 Rooms, and the rooms division is as below:

70 Standard rooms (Single / Twins / Doubles), 30 Deluxe rooms (Single & Doubles), 15 Junior suites and 5 Executive suites.

Meanwhile Albania Experience Hotel capacity is 80 Rooms and the rooms division is as below:

50 Standard rooms (Single / Twins / Doubles), 15 Deluxe rooms (Single & Doubles), 10 Junior suites and 5 Executive suites.

In addition, part of the product package is the service as well, the waiters, guards, reception etc.

In order to provide real 5-star hotels the company has hired a highly professional staff with an international experience in the field of luxury hotels construction. For Albania Experience Hotel has been hired an Albanian architect since no one better than the locals can reproduce the authentic Albanian style. The internal design of the LANDWAYS hotel was inspired by the newest modern hotels style worldwide. Meanwhile the materials used, furniture and all accessories are first quality. Additional spaces and services like Jacuzzi, Wellness Spa and swimming pools, Conferences or events halls, tennis courts, etc. will not be missing to LANDWAYS hotels obviously.

The recruitment process of the staff which will be hired in these hotels has started. The selected ones with be only those who meet with the required criteria and especially those coming from a long experience in 5-star hotels industry.

Expect the physical evidences and the high-quality service expected, there is another key indicator which constitutes a big advance for the image of these new hotels. The brand name: LANDWAYS, is the name of the tour operator company which despite the long experience in the market has created a prestigious image in the region and broader. So, a high level of the brand awareness has already been attained, and the hotels will be recognized what they represent much easily form the wide audience.

Place

The place when the customer meets the products in this case is exactly the hotel building. It’s exactly there where the customers experience all the package offered from the supplier. As mentioned before in this paper, the place where the hotel buildings are located it’s a strategic place of the city, a pleasant space in the in the bay of nature and in a short distance from the city center.

Promotion

One of the most crucial moments when it comes to marketing strategies are the promotional decisions, because in this moment the producer exposes the product to the target audience and to the potential customers.

Before starting to analyses all the marketing communication changes for LANDAWYS I would emphasis that it has been decided strategically that during high season 70% of the hotels capacity will be booked in advance for LANDWAYS group tours. 10% of the hotels capacity will be available on booking.com, and the rest: 20% will be available for the wide audience in the hotels’ website.

During low season the formula will be: 50% of the hotels capacity will be booked in advance for LANDWAYS group tours. 10% of the hotels capacity will be available on booking.com, and the rest: 40% will be available for the wide audience in the hotels’ website.

The communication channels that LANDWAYS has chosen for the launching of the hotels market are as below:

• Web Plan and Social Medias

A new and modern website will be created for LANDWAYS Hotels and this website will have the option of redirecting from LANDWAYS hotel to LANDWAYS EU Group website. At the same time at the website of LANDWAYS will be added the section of LANDWAYS hotels website. The creation and development of the website will be provided by LANDWAYS EU group IT Department. A dedicated person will be hired to take care for the website of the hotels and the other social medias management like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter.

• Mass selling ˗ Advertising

Advertising strategy includes any paid for of non-personal presentation of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor.

The media scours through which the communication strategy will be implicated will be television, billboards, radio, direct mail, radio and online). Communication campaigns in the television would be a necessity for our business as well. Starting a new business in a market which is already consolidated is not easy. Thus, the marketing strategy used should be diversified and somehow aggressive in order to penetrate in the market.

Of course, if it wasn’t for the costs every single business in the would be using several kinds of marketing communication strategies, but we can allow ourselves to spend money for marketing activities as much as there will be ROMI not longer than once year from the investment.

The Social media advertisings campaigns in Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter will be one of the top focuses of the marketing strategy since it is the best strategy to be exposed to an unlimited number of potential customers all over the world, and to acquire some of them. Even if we consider the costs plan, this kind of strategy is cheaper compared to other kind of marketing campaigns, and it looks promising considering the evolution of technology and the reallocation of most of the activities from the offline world to the online one.

• Google AdWords (pay-per-click)

Facebook add strategies specific to highly targeted consumers based on factors like age, income, gender, and location.

• Sales promotions

Through this strategy it’s intended to simulate the interest, trial or purchase of the final costumer by offering them some special promotions like for example: The use of coupons for special days like a customer’s birthdays (this would be valid for the customers that has consumed once services from our business). Or another way of promotion would be a small discount to be applied to the service rate on special says of the year.

• Personal selling

We should not forget hat LANDWAYS Tour Operator is a company that operates business to business, so it is the intermediate in the distribution channel.

The top marketing strategy of LANDWAYS as tour operator has been the personal selling. Thus, our senior managers (well-trained people for negotiation processes as well) have been following year by year this strategy, going personally in Asia, assigning meeting with the local agencies over there, present to them the variety of product packages we do provide and the process followed in build partnerships with them in the best case.

This strategy has resulted successful for LANDWAYS business, and now that a new product will be added to the portfolio (the hotels) our expectations are quite optimistic to the success they will have is even high.

We talked about the personal selling towards the Asian partners, but since the hotels are placed in the capital of Albania, there is a potential which could be exploited from other tour operators as well. The capacity of both hotels is quite big and the Asian groups of LANDWAYS which come for overnights in Tirana are limited in number, most of the year they cannot fill the hotel. Thus, similar companies as ours can use LANDWAYS hotels for their groups, and this is the second actor towards whom are planed personal selling.

• Direct Marketing

This marketing strategy will be applied to the whole institutions, organizations, VIP persons in Tirana and Albania that will receive the hotels special rates and offers for this segment. The contacts of the above groups will be provided by Albania Experience Events Department which have long term operations with many of them and there will be no cost for us in the implication of this strategy.

Price

Bring a new competitor in the market, pricing strategy which we chose to implement once we enter in the market is very essential and it should be well analyzed before the launch of the prices because the first impression will stay long is customers mind.

The price strategy LANDWAYS has decide to follow for his business is Value-based pricing ˗ the price will be based on how much the customer believes what you’re selling is worth. It’s known already that LANDWAYS brand awareness constitutes a big advantage for this business and the price has been decided by calculating this fact as well.

As below we are providing the prices for the first season of operating.

Room rates quoted are net of tax and service, are per night, per room with continental breakfast included:

• Season: June ˗ August 2018
• Standard single – € 80.00;
• Standard double – €95.00;
• Double deluxe – €115.00;
• Junior suite – €130.00
• Executive suite €160.00

HB supplement: 20 Euro / Pax

Conference room rates are net of tax and service, quoted per day use with tea and coffee breaks (2) included:

• The Lakeview Boardroom – €250.00;
• The Lakeview Conference Hall – €300.00;
• The Lakeview Ballroom – €800.00.

Competitive Analysis

The competitive analysis is a critical part of the whole analysis while preparing the marketing plan. Without studding the competitors’ behavior the chances to resist in the external environment becomes very low.

The questions that needs to discovered before passing to the next step as below:

• Who is the competition right now?
• Who will be the competition in 5 years?
• What are the strategies, objectives, and goals of your competitors?
• How important is a specific market segment to each competitor?
• What are the strengths of your competition?
• What are the weaknesses of your competitors?
• What effects are your competitors’ strategies having on you?

LANDWAYS Hotels are not the only 5* Hotels in Tirana, there is another hotel with a very powerful image – The Plaza Tirana, the hotel that represents the notion of luxury. Located in the heart of Tirana it is the biggest one in capacity, an events and conferences center it’s one of the top 5* hotels of the region. Their strategy is to offer an ultimate luxury experience, and to attract all the biggest events happening in Tirana to their big halls with a unique view of the Skanderbeg Square. However their prices are very high and not affordable for all kind of groups.

LANDWAYS competes with PLAZA on pricing, this is our strongest point.

Furthermore the targeted markets PLAZA aims are different from LANDWAYS.

They target very rich people, mostly individuals, not groups and not exactly the Asian market but western countries.

LANDWAYS’ location, in bay of nature different from Plaza, offers another kind of experience, a quiet and relaxing place.

As conclusion of this analysis we understand that LANDWAYS does have a competitor offering the same star rating which is Hotel Plaza, but they differ in some aspects. In these circumstances the best strategy LANDWAYS hotels can follow is to put their best efforts in the points where they are differ from the others in order to develop competitive advantages.

PEST Analysis

Macro Environment

The external market environment includes 4 major areas:

1. Economic
2. Political
3. Social
4. Technological

Economic Analysis

The economic environment is almost the most sensitive one. The conditions change over time along with the economic and business cycles, and it happens that the economies go through expansion and contraction.

Actually, the Albanian economy represents a favorable environment for the businesses since the economy is stable and as per the forecasts the trend of the economy a continuous growth.

Another favorable condition regarding this analysis is the trend of tourism industry in our country. The tourism industry has been increasing progressively and it represents one of the main economic sectors of Albania. As result of this progress the government has planned to increase the investments in the tourism sector and to make almost a reformation of the system which would be helpful also for the business that operate in this industry.

Political Analysis

As regards the political environment of the tourism industry, I would claim that it goes in parallel with the advantages of economic enjoinment. The government has designed a law in 2016 which reduced to 6% VAT for tourism, in order to boost the development of this sector.

The Albanian government is also supporting financially projects in the field of tourism.

The Ministry of Tourism selects projects in the field of tourism, assessing their social, environmental and economic impact. According to the Government’s decision, for the realization of competitive tourism projects, the financing scheme covers up to 50% of the costs received and approved by the ministry of tourism. Government incentives,

Social Analysis

Another important analysis is the social one. So, to determine the market segmentation or visitor experience based on age groups, income levels, geographical locations, and time during the year they travel.

From the analysis so far, the groups that can be targeted by LANDWAYS Hotel Brand are:

Touristic Groups – this is the main target of LANDWAYS since the biggest segment are the groups which come in Albania /with an overnight to Tirana through LANDWAYS itself.

Despite of the company itself, other agencies will bring groups at our hotel the role of specialized intermediaries for the preparation of tourist trips.

The group travelers mainly in spring, first half of summer and autumn. These groups prefer to visit popular and attractive tourist destinations with a high quality of service.

New Ages, known as Millennials Generations – This is a group that spends on social and cultural activities, using different ways of traveling, including backpacking.

Couples without children and with double income – This group is characterized by good-earning visitors, but are interested in short breaks and travel packages. Mainly this group is well-informed on the Internet, various publications in the media and society. This group is not sensitive to prices.

Families – This group includes families with children up to 6 years of age and those with children aged 6 – 14 years. While the first’s group focus everything to the child, so the main focus is to meet every child’s request, the other group looks for the pleasure of all family members. The time when this group travels is the period of school breaks. Mostly, this group is informed by the recommendations and is quite sensitive to prices.

Couples aged 50-65 who live separately from their children – This group loves to travel throughout the year, often combining business purpose with satisfaction and is keen on a healthy lifestyle. This group is not sensitive to price is totally prepared to travel and likes to treat itself during the trip. Mainly this group is informed through recommendations, websites and various media publications.

Third age, pensioners without any major health problems, over 65 years old – This is a group that continues to travel actively and is interested in visiting major tourist destinations. One of the main requirements of this group is the quality of accommodation (comfortable accommodation) and the rapid provision of medical assistance. This group is price-sensitive, travels mostly in the spring and autumn and largely follows the recommendations as a source of information

Technological Factors

The impact of technology has transformed the way how hospitality industry operates by facilitating all the processes of transferring the information and easing the communication between the service provider and the costumers. Now the costumers are assessing information much more easily, and conduct researches in advance in order to find the best deals. The new and integrated software which are part of the hotels facilities are making the customers feel more happy by the package offered to them by the hotel, so the implementation of new technologies by the hotels accelerate the hotels package of products.

Coming back to our case, LANDWAYS hotels are built by following very high technical standard and there have been implemented the latest software available in the market in order to fulfil the package of a 5* product and services. New technological equipment will be available for the customers in every corner of the hotel.

SWOT Analysis

The Swot analysis helps us to integrate the data related the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats respectivery in the internal and extenal enviorment of the. It is very helpful to facilitate strategic thinking and planning proceess.

As below is revealed the swot analysis of LANDWAYS Hotels:

Strength

• Landways Group positioning in the tour operators market.

Landways groups is one of the leading companies in the sector they operate in Albania, Balkans and wider.

• The Long Experience in the tourism sector

The long experience of Landways in this sector is an evidnece that the new products they will launch in the market will succedd due to the knowlegde, the experise and international experience they have in the torusim industry.

• Product diversification

Despite thet fact that these 2 hotels will be of a 5 star range, what satisfies the divesrsification theory in their case is that these hotels complete e the whole frame of the picture by being so diffrent in the style and each customer can chose whatwever he wants to experience

• Service & Product quality

Conisdering the huge investments conducted in these hotel buid and the hi

• Contributor to the local /country economy

Due to the size of this business, the big number of staff planned to be hired and the number of tourists expected to come (which despite the hotels services will eventually consume other products or services by local bossiness around) all of this results in a positive impact in the local economy and of country in a wider prospective.

Weakness

• First experience for LANDAWYS in hospitality management,

Furthermore in the upper services standard, despite the excellence you might have in a very similar industry, there are differences and tricks that can be learnt only with experience, and trying at first time to offer a 5 service range it’s a bit risky due to the intolerance that characterizes the upper class clients.

• The new staff

Despite the fact that the selection criteria of the staff will be very high, you don’t know the people and the whole team will interact, you never know if there will be good willing of cooperation and synergy within them.

• Inflexible prices

In the first steps of a new business you need to cover as much as possible the costs of your investment and you aren’t in the position to be flexible with prices and support certain clients when they ask you for that (and when you know that this client could be be a strategical partner in the future).

• Company culture

It’s one of those very crucial elements which needs a long time to be established, but in the position of a new business when everything should run fast there this might be deflected unwittingly and the consequences can be harmful for the internal environment of the company.

Opportunities

• Strengthen the partnership with Asian Partners and grow the business with them.

This big investment and properties will empower the brand reputation of LANDWAYS to the Asian big companies we work with, and it will result in the increase of the business volume with them.

• Creating new partnership with Asian global key players

The world of mouth will spread through the Asian touristic business network e and the chance to have new partners that might contact us and start a cooperating will be raise.

• New target markets acquisition

The possibility to absorb new markets segments form the clients that will come at our hotel for overnights stay.

• Potential to increase market size

The name and the story of LANDWAYS will be more exposed towards all the clients that will come to LANDWAYS hotels, thus the possibility to build more long-term partnerships will come.

Threats

• ROI of the investments in these hotels needs a long time to come back.

During this time the economic fluctuations might come against the forecast of the bossiness, we never know the future.

• Brand awareness in the hospitality industry

Despite the fact that LANDWAYS group is highly positioned for the experience in the tourism industry and all the advantages mentioned through this paper, some customer may perceive that being successful and specialized as a ground operator doesn’t mean that can offer an excellent service in providing luxury services.

• Existent (experienced) competitors in the market

In the moment when we try to consolidate our position in the market and create our customer base the existent competitors in the market might come to the market with an aggressive marketing strategy and harm the business in the very first steps.

• New competitors

New competitors might rise in the market, copy our strategies and take part of our market share of customers.

Conclusion

Each business or organization, despite the lifecycle stage it might be, needs to make periodical analysis in order to understand if the strategies are being implemented effectively. The best formula to examine and prevent any possible problem that might rise in the future is to follow a marketing plan, it helps you to focus your resources and plan for your business growth.

The marketing plan facilitates a common understanding between all stakeholders in a company and on the other hand opens up the company’s eyes towards the external environment dynamics, which if sometimes are overpassed without paying the proper attention can turn against us.

Another crucial moment of the marketing plan is the budgeting process for the investments on marketing activities; do not invest on something you don’t know about, but be careful and use efficiently the financial resources in activities that promise an optimal ROI (even though in long term)

A marketing plan enables clear decision making by integrating long term planning and short term implementation. The plan is also subjected to changes over a period to meet changing demands.

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