Service product is very different from the tangible product, and its uniqueness might also make the marketing for this type of product totally different from that for the tangible product as well. However, similar to the 4P marketing mix of the tangible products, there were 7P marketing mix for the service product, which contains the product, price, promotion, place, people, processes, as well as physical evidences of the service. In this report, Handu Hotel, a famous local hotel in the city of Chengdu, China, was chosen to be analysed using the 7P marketing mix.
The selection of this hotel is because of three aspects of reasons, firstly, this hotel is a service provider that provides all types of services compromising accommodation and entertainments for the customers; secondly, as a large and famous local hotel, sufficient information could be acquired on the internet as well as from some of the local research papers about this service provider’s business operation and internal management; thirdly, two of the group members had the experiences of living in this hotel when they were in Chengdu, which might make the analysis for the hotel more easily and conveniently based on the personal experiences of the group members’.
With the consideration of the above information, this report would aim at using the 7P as a tool to analyse and offer possible recommendations for Handu Hotel, and therefore, this report would generally divided into three parts, first would be the brief background of this hotel and the group members’ personal experiences in living in this hotels; after which, the 7P analysis would be conducted to the hotel based on the personal experiences and the recent literatures about this hotel; finally, recommendations could be expected using the 7P marketing mix. 2. BACKGROUND OF HANDU HOTEL The background of this hotel would be discussed through the brief introduction of this hotel as well as the personal experiences of the group members in this hotel. 2. 1 Background of Handu Hotel Located in the Jinniu District of Chengdu where all the tourists to Chengdu would pay a visit to, Handu Hotel had earned its local fame with its four-star rank as well as its quality services offered to the customers.
This hotel had over 460 thousand square meters in its sizes and was offering the accommodation, shopping, and entertaining services for the customers as a whole. In terms of its accommodation capabilities, with more than 120 rooms in this hotel, there were over 5, 000 customers averagely in each month come and checked in, with the average occupancy rate for this hotel reaching over 80%. The following picture could show Handu Hotel with a closer look (Handu Hotel, 2011a). Graph 1 Outlook of Handu Hotel 2. 2 Personal Experiences Two of the group members had the similar experiences in living in the hotel when they were paying visit to Chengdu within the guide of travel agents. However, Miss.
Ji had lived in this hotel in the time of approximately 20th December last year, whilst Mr. Zhou had lived in this hotel in the time of approximately of the end of November in the year of 2009. Based on the personal experiences of the two group members in the Handu Hotel, the first image was that the hotel was comfortable to live in with the quality services of its staffs as well as convenient and quick room services. More than that, this hotel was offering diversified services not only including the recommendations but also the services of entertaining and shopping, as well as some of the simple consultation for the tourists towards this city.
Both of the group members were having a good time in this hotel, and their experiences and attitudes towards this hotel might give the report a basis for the following analysis. 3. 7P’S ANALYSIS FOR HANDU HOTEL The 7P’s analysis for this hotel would be including the analysis for the service product, price of service, promotional activities, place, people, processes, and physical evidences, which would be covered in the following contents: 3. 1 Service Product Analysis Based on the analysis of Jones (2008), the service product for the hospitality industry might be similar, which shall be the products and services that could offered to the customers to satisfy their needs in “ daily lives” such as dining, entertaining, accommodation, and other sorts of needs in their daily routines.
Thus the service product for hotels, one important part of the hospitality industry, as mentioned by Blankson and Stokes (2007) would contain the diversified service products for the customers so that the customers would not find the other service providers after they had found a quality hotel. This is also recognized as the trend for the hotel industry, as mentioned by Cizmar and Weber (2010), as there were increasing international standards for hotel industry willing to refer the diversification of services as an important item of criteria for assessing the overall quality of the hotels. Based on the consideration of above and linking to the service products of the hotels, the services offered by the hotels might be including the following three categories.