Claridges Hotel Essay Example

Claridges Hotel

Introduction
Located in Mayfair, London, Claridge’s Hotel has among the best locations for a hotel establishment. Within the hospitality and tourism world, Claridge’s hotel is a 5-star establishment with long standing relationships with royalty. It sits between Bond Street, South Molton and Oxford Streets. The hotel is spacious enough with 203 guest rooms that include 67 suites (www.claridges.co.uk). The establishment is a high end establishment that attracts the fairly rich and wealthy clientele who flock to enjoy the prestigious presentation and elegance that comes with the establishment. The hotel has made an iconic image that attracts celebrities from all over the world and the rich. In an attempt to be the best in the industry, the hotel has carried out measures that will see it increase its competitive capabilities in comparison to other great brands like the Hilton hotel. Some of these measures include a new move to automate processes using the latest information and technology techniques and marketing strategies that will allow the establishment to follow an international marketing plan to increase its presence and customers from all over the world. In light of the above, this paper will conduct a SWOT and PEST analysis on Claridges Hotel in order to establish the company strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and strengths as well as identify the political, economic, social and technological environment it operates in.

SWOT

Internally, Claridges Hotel faces a number of issues that affect its performance outwardly. These issues are the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that are mainly due to the internal conducts of the company.

Strengths

A modern character with a unique identity that has well-defined concepts.
Diversity seen in customer experience
Excellent location allowing easy access
A rich cultural history
A strong brand image
Weaknesses
A requirement to constantly re-adapt to the ever changing demands of the market.
Larger groups of hotels like the Hilton lead to lifestyle fatigue due to over-branding
Reduced profits in comparison to box hotels
High cost of production and maintenance
High staffing leading to hire staffing costs.
Opportunities
A shift in tourism where old establishments have become popular
Efficient use of the customer relations management system and customer choice modeling to allow Claridges Hotel to offer tailor made products as well as services to increase retention, loyalty and satisfaction.
Use of co-branding synergies to allow transfer of content and vale to the customer like the use of Gordon Ramsay restaurant at Claridges.

Improvements in the ICT sector to allow improved marketing through new platforms like social media and mainstream media.

Development of correspondence facilities like websites and social media accounts to allow quick and modern customer feedback.
Threats
Bigger global chains that dominate the supply by development and acquisition.
High competition from rival brands and internationally recognized brands like the Hilton Hotels
The emergence of low serviced imitators and stylized concepts.
Rapid down pricing by other competitors like box hotels to try and retain a larger market share.
Critical consumers that are well informed of market trends.
Increased awareness for the customer base that expects more value for money spent causes an increase in cost.
Unpredictable buying behavior from the consumers making brand loyalty hard to attain.
High costs of ICT investments
PEST
There are a number of external environmental concerns that impact the performance of Claridges Hotel.
Political
Politically, a stable government and environment where the hotel’s ability to make profits is least affected is achievable in the UK. The recent political environment has been tensed causing a stir up on the political tensions in the country. This affects the number of tourists visiting the country and the hotel in general. The probability of the UK to fully exit the European Union is also another matter of concern. this will affect the business tremendously.

Economic

The UK has faced a number of economic crises ranging from the Euro Zone debt crises to the just concluded global financial recession (Mandina, 2014). The financial atmosphere has led to liquidation of smaller enterprises due to lack of proper infrastructure to reinforce properties that are weak as Claridges does. Despite a slow recovery, it will require some time before restrictions on corporate travel policies are lifted and business resumes.

Social

The increasing role of modern communication through social media is a factor that will affect the running of hotel businesses. Additionally, the shifting cosietal values will be a factor to consider as family patterns change and the demographics within the UK change.

Technological

Technological breakthrough within the hospitality and hotel industries will require heavy investments. The use of ICT in different functionalities will require more manpower and investments.

Customer Loyalty Attainment

Customer loyalty is increasingly difficult to attain in this day and age where the consumer is well informed and has the knowledge of the right value for his/her money (Caillaud & De Nijs, 2014). However, through maintenance of culture and a mixture of modernity and ICT innovations, Claridges Hotel has managed to retain the high end clientele it boasts of. The company attains customer loyalty through personalized services and product delivery in an atmosphere that is prestigious and serene. It also maintains a royalty culture ensuring that it becomes a cultural attraction and a tourist destination.

Conclusion

In order to compete at a national as well as an international level, the businesses in the tourism and hospitality industry must ensure that they remain competitive and are able to retain their customers. Some of the main strengths of Caridges Hotel is the brand name and rih culture that it explores in maintaining customers.

References

Caillaud, B., & De Nijs, R. (2014). Strategic Loyalty Reward in Dynamic Price
Discrimination. Marketing Science, 33(5), 725-742. doi:10.1287/mksc.2013.0840
Mandina, S. P. (2014). Contribution of CRM Strategies in Enhancing Customer
Loyalty. Journal Of Marketing Development & Competitiveness, 8(2), 69-87.
www.claridges.co.uk