Analysis of the Four Season's Hotel and its business strategy in the luxury hotel Industry

Europe is different from North America, and Paris is very different. I did not say difficult. I said different. — A senior Four Seasons manager In 2002, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts was arguably the world’s leading operator of luxury hotels, managing 53 properties in 24 countries and delivering what observers called “consistently exceptional service.” For Four Seasons, that meant providing high-quality, truly personalized service to enable guests to maximize the value of their time, however the guest defined doing so. In 1999, Four Seasons opened the Four Seasons Hotel George V

Tourism is one of the most international industries. Globalisation is the gradual forging of links between groups and societies until they finally reach around the globe in several directions (Smith, D,2006). Globalization is one of the serious challenges facing managers today. It is critical to develop services that are able to satisfy a highly diverse customer base (Ueltschy et al., 2007) Now to keep up with the rising levels of globalization in the hotel industry, there’s a need to understand not only the positive, but also the negative impacts of globalisation. I’ll also talk about the growth and rise of one of the most respected brands in the hospitality industry - the Hilton Hotels. Throughout the evolution of this famous organization, the Hilton has

Marriott is renowned for its elegant and comfortable hotels and resorts. The company caters to a targeted customer base, ranging from the frequent corporate business traveler to the family enjoying their occasional weekend get-away. Marriott has continued its rise in the lodging, contract services, and restaurant industries. The company continuously strives to meet the needs and wants of its customers while strategically maneuvering the rigors of today’s competitive and ever-evolving market of glamorous destinations and convenient services. In order to remain relevant in a highly-competitive environment, Marriott must strike that successful balance of minimizing costs, and gaining and effectively

Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts have all opportunity to occupy this niche. If couples are looking place for a beachside ceremony, a big city reception for wedding, the organization helps to arrange everything.
-Another sub-group target market is the multi-generational high net worth families.  No longer is the luxury hotel business all about the adults.  Kid and teen programs are intricately planned by luxury hotel brands to better facilitate to traveling families.   According to Janaki Padmanabhan of Euromonitor, ‘the trend of multi-generation travel indicates that families need a place to go which will cater to all members of the family, including, grandparents, parents and kids’, where the typical paying customer is the

As we discussed in class, every business is faced with these issues and they are important to managers making strategic decisions. One of the first things learned about business is that if there is no demand for a good or service, the firm that provides it will not continue to exist. Over time the hotel industry has continued to change with market conditions and make itself attractive to business

For my luxury brand marketing analysis I choosed the Four Season Hotels chain, as on my mind it is one of the most successful and well-known hotel chain, providing 5 star service all around the world.

The hotel industry is a very hard industry to enter into, due to one of the biggest obstacles, which is brand recognition. Right now there are a few large hotel chains that make a large footprint in the market. It is hard for a new entrant to come into the industry and compete with these large hotel chains without bringing something new to the table. Many large chains in the industry dominate the industry due to economies of scale due to franchising.

Hilton Hotels is one of the biggest players in the US lodging industry. It contributes to about 9% of the total rooms in US lodging market. It has presence in over 78 countries with more than 2500 hotels. Lodging industry is highly capital intensive industry, so to reduce capital expenditure Hilton Hotels opted for self-owned Hotels as well as franchising model with the real estate owners. One of the key features of lodging industry is low switching costs for customers. There is very little margin to differentiate from the major competitors in the industry which include Marriott international, IHG, Accor etc.

1. Think about size, growth, locational aspects and segmentation 2. Market Structure 3. Performance metrics used 4. Trends

This will lead the hotel succeeding in filling up all available capacity, which is impossible for single segment. Moreover, serving several segments also bring profits to the hotel.

The main objective of the company is not only to attract but also to retain staff who are interested to work in the hotel business for the five-star level of high service, taking into account the wishes of clients, and which offers an innovative, dynamic environment and reflects the culture of the local country. To achieve this, Hyatt strives to be a company listening to well-informed and concerned people. Hyatt provides plenty of opportunities at all levels for their employees, which are accompanied by numerous development

A lot of business travellers want to stay in well known hotels like Mariott or Hilton. Only 16% want to stay in individual hotels. So for the industry it is important to have a very good reputation. Of course the people try to get the best price for a room and most hotels have company rates which are below the normal rack rate. Also important for a booking is the location of the hotel and the bonus programs. For 26% of the guests Airline milage is important. So the hotels have to work with airline companies and they want special conditons as well.

Garden Inn and Hampton Inn which focus on mid-priced services. For extended stays the company's

Another reason of guests prefer to select a credible brand and it can help them save shopping time rather then choose a brand and they do not know before. This kind of phenomenon can be found in the luxury hotels, and some of the customers prefer to pay more money for room and services to decrease their risks on their expectation, the service from the hotel, and the high quality requirement on the hotel rooms (Abdelbamied, 2011).

Hotels too need to differentiate their services from their competitors in order to attain greater share in the market. Marriot chain of hotels differentiates itself from its competitors by focussing on standardization of the services. International customers often need more consistency in the hotel services when they travel across the world. Standardization has its own benefits, not only does it simplify work but also help attain economies of scale, ultimately cutting costs(Singh et al. 2012). Le Meridian chain of hotels offers exactly the opposite of that, it customizes services for its customer to a very large extent(Kielnhofers 2012).It provides services as per the specification of each customer. This might result in adding operating cost but creates additional satisfaction among its