Creating an effectively working sales department in the hotel business is one of the central tasks, the successful solution of which will determine the profitability of the hotel. It is important to understand that the number of employees in the sales department should be directly proportional to the number of rooms in a particular hotel. A well-structured sales team is the key to business growth and increased profitability.

Formation of an effective sales team in a hotel

Undoubtedly, a team is not just a group of people who get together and carry out certain job descriptions. This is, first of all, a responsible leader who is able to ignite and form a loyal attitude of a group of employees towards the company, as well as properly build motivation so that each of them individually understands their responsibility and is also committed to working as a team.

The main feature of a managing leader should be proactivity, that is, an active, purposeful attitude to setting and solving any problems and the ability to take responsibility, as well as competently delegate powers to subordinates. In the case of the predominance of reactive behavior, lack of initiative and fear of responsibility, it is difficult to imagine effective team building in a team. The sales department creates a kind of vanguard, the very forefront in the competitive market struggle, in which the team leader must lead and charge with motivation. In this regard, it is not so much experience in the hotel business that is important, but rather sparkling eyes and a charge of energy at work, as well as experience in successful sales in any industry to select a candidate for the role of manager in the sales department.

Along with a proactive leader, ordinary employees should be combined from proactive and reactive managers, because along with initiative, diligence is also necessary without unnecessary creativity and an increased level of resistance to directives from above.

Motivation and customer focus of sales staff

The main quality of ordinary employees who find themselves in the service sector, which includes the hotel business, is customer focus. An approach in which communication between a manager from the sales department and a potential hotel client is built on the basis of a friendly and interested attitude is the basis for all communications. Only in this format can hotel service and successful sales develop. Any falsehood, pretense and lack of involvement of sales managers will be a negative factor for increasing the loyalty of future hotel guests and successful sales of hotel services.

Staff motivation should be not only monetary, but also non-monetary and directly related to the formation of corporate loyalty. It all depends on the level of emotional intelligence of the team leader in the sales department and his interest in forming an effectively working team.

Plan:
Introduction.

Features of marketing in the hotel industry.
Segmentation of the hotel services market. Hotel product positioning.
Marketing strategy.
Special marketing programs and service technologies.

Organization of the marketing and sales service in the hotel.
Organizational structure of the marketing and sales service in a hotel.
Tasks and functions of the marketing and sales service in a hotel.
Job descriptions for hotel marketing and sales employees.
Interaction of the marketing and sales service with other departments of the hotel.

Introduction.
Ensuring the effective development and functioning of both large enterprises and young firms in a market economic system is currently a complex, complex problem. First of all, this concerns such aspects as management and marketing.
As practice shows, in the context of the transformation of the domestic economy into a market economy, marketing is often the most “bottleneck”. With an ineffective marketing system, the flexibility and resource capabilities of the production, financial and other subsystems of enterprises remain unclaimed.
Marketing activities in an enterprise are a relevant topic today. The marketing approach is a generally recognized direction in the creation and sale by enterprises of products and services of various directions. In countries with developed market economies, much attention is paid to the marketing sphere, since an ineffective marketing system of an enterprise can lead not only to lost profits, but also to direct losses. The marketing system as a subsystem of organizational management exists in any enterprise, however, the degree of its development and effectiveness can vary significantly.
Today, the role of the sales and marketing department has increased significantly. Every year the scope of its functions increases: sales planning, market and competition analysis, assessment of sales process data, development of recommendations for market operation - and this is not a complete list of issues that arise in the process of work of this department.
The purpose of the work is to study the work of the marketing and sales department in a hotel, as well as to study and master the methodological foundations of managing marketing activities, identifying weaknesses, their analysis and development.

Marketing in the hospitality industry.

a more accurate understanding of the requirements, needs and motivations of consumers;
choosing the most promising target market to maximize sales and profits;
a better understanding of the nature of competition in specific markets and, as a result, a more successful endowment of hotel products with characteristics that ensure increased competitiveness of both the services offered by the hotel and the entire hotel enterprise as a whole;
concentration of limited hotel resources and efforts in the most profitable areas for their more efficient use;
increasing the efficiency of using management and marketing tools as a result of their high degree of orientation towards the requirements of specific market segments;
the ability to choose a hotel marketing strategy and optimize marketing costs.

quantitative parameters of the segment should be easily measurable - market capacity (for example, the maximum number of room nights that can be sold on the market), potential income, number of buyers, etc. Such information will help the hotel management understand what resources and in what volume they need to have to work in this market, what sales channels need to be used;
accessibility of the segment for the hotel - the presence in the market of distribution channels (companies, travel agencies, tour operators, etc.) of adequate capacity capable of ensuring the implementation of the planned volume of services, as well as the possibility of unhindered communication with consumers to inform them about the hotel services;
the ability to develop a segment - hotel management must decide whether it has sufficient resources to work in this segment, and also determine what additional resources and funds may be required;
high (sufficient) profitability and profitability of the hotel in the selected market segment;
compatibility of this segment with the market of competing hotels - it is necessary to understand to what extent the hotel’s entry into this segment will affect the interests of other players in the market, to predict their possible response, and also to correctly assess one’s own strengths. If such an analysis shows that the forces are not equal, perhaps the hotel should look for another segment where the competition will be weaker, at least initially;
prospects for working in the selected segment, possibilities for its further expansion.

identifying possible competitive advantages on which to base the product position of your hotel, ranking them in order to determine priority;
compiling a list of competing hotel products that have similar competitive advantages;
choosing the optimal set of competitive advantages, as well as effective tools for informing the market about them;
promotion of the selected product position (set of competitive advantages) to the target market.

by hotel location;
according to the historical value of the building;
according to the state of the hotel’s material and technical base;
by class of service and range of services;
on personnel;
on food quality;
under the program to reward regular guests;
by brand or image.

importance - the chosen competitive advantage brings highly valued benefits to hotel customers;
uniqueness - competitors do not offer this difference or your hotel offers it in the most striking way;
accessibility - the advertised advantage can be shown and demonstrated to the consumer;
inimitability - it is impossible or difficult for competing hotels to adopt or copy this competitive advantage;
affordability - consumers can afford to pay for this difference;
profitability - the hotel makes a profit using this difference.

underpositioning of a product - providing the market with insufficient information about the benefits of purchasing a given product or service;
repositioning - providing too extensive information about the product or the entire hotel;
ambiguous positioning - the formation of an ambiguous idea about the hotel product among potential consumers.

preparation and implementation of necessary changes within the enterprise;
informing staff about the most important competitive advantages of the hotel and how to implement them in service; promoting its position in the market;
timely and correct informing consumers of the target market about the competitive advantages of the hotel and its products, including using information technology.

To make money during a crisis, it is not enough to reduce expenses - you need to increase income. Hoteliers will benefit from dynamic pricing, smart marketing and increased customer loyalty

​Focus

In the hotel market, sales departments often work “with everyone” - the hotel does not have a clear positioning and its own established niche in the market. And in this case, it is extremely difficult to compete, bargain with clients, justify the price, and your competitive advantages. By highlighting its own market segment and, accordingly, the format of the target audience, the hotel will be able to offer the best price in its segment and win in the competition for groups and private requests. In our practice, there was an example when a mini-hotel in St. Petersburg, opened like many other objects of this kind, without a clear focus, becoming “family” (services were added to accommodate families with children), increased sales by 21% mainly through direct bookings.

Do clear online promotion

In difficult economic conditions, you cannot cut your marketing budget. Marketing is an investment that is sure to lead to increased sales and income. First of all, this is advertising on the Internet. Contextual advertising, indirect and direct requests, geotargeting management, reducing the number of synonyms and non-targeted requests, changing sites to customer requests, creating landing pages, communicating on the site with potential guests and much more. In our practice, there have been cases when clear online promotion led to an increase in direct bookings by 50%.

Connect new sales channels

Oddly enough, hotels often work the old fashioned way: two or three key travel agents, two or three key corporate partners, one or two online platforms and their own website - that’s all that generates sales consistently over a long period of time. However, there are many other partners and sales channels that can bring new customers. It is necessary to set the sales department the task of studying competitors' clients, studying your guest base in order to find those groups that were not previously paid attention to. And do this not just once, but every month, quarter, year. We had experience when a three-star hotel chose a new sales channel - wedding agencies and portals. Concluded relevant agency agreements, compiled a package of documents and promotional materials and placed them in the offices of new partners. This led to bookings of new banquets in the first three months after the launch amounting to more than 3 million rubles.

Increase guest loyalty

Everyone knows that attracting a new client is three to five times more expensive than retaining an existing one. Therefore, the most obvious way to reduce the cost of attracting customers is to actively work with old guests, turning them into loyal guests. Convert every visit and online booking into subsequent purchases directly. It is necessary that the guest is satisfied and remembers the hotel. A hotel loyalty program is, first of all, not discounts, but the opportunity to book a room when they are not available anywhere, choose the same room whose window you liked during your previous visit, get a robe and slippers in a category in which this is not standard, or get a room upgrade when you don't expect it. After all, the Pareto principle also works in the hotel business: 20% of guests bring 80% of the income, and the remaining 80% bring only 20%.

At the request of one of the hotels in Voronezh, we compiled a database of guests who were loyal five years ago, but do not visit the hotel now. A sales representative called each of the 62 clients included in the sample with congratulations (the promotion was timed to coincide with the holiday) and a mini-survey: why does the client no longer use the hotel, what is he dissatisfied with, what is he using now? Within two months of calling, 21 clients made reservations. In another case, a country hotel introduced the practice of surveying its guests on check-out, asking them to book their next visit. Conversion into bookings was 8% of the surveyed guests, and into arrivals - 5.5%.

Diversify prices and services

Dynamic pricing in the current conditions is becoming not just a nice marketing ploy, but a vital skill for the sales department of any hotel. It is necessary to adapt the specific price, and not the size of the discount, to the level of demand, competition, loading of the tariff that is declared in different sales channels. Flexible management of indicators: how many people are booking, for what period, are you ready to pay immediately, is food or transfer needed, what target audience does the client belong to - all this will allow you to present the best price to this particular segment and increase the total average cost of a room sold by 16- 18%.

Review hotel standards to ensure they best match guest needs, demand and rate. If your hotel sells a room for 5000+ rubles. per day and according to the standards offers all guests a robe and slippers upon arrival, then if the rate is reduced to 2000 rubles, for example in the low season, you can remove the robe and slippers from the rooms by placing a sign “If you need a robe and slippers, we will We’re happy to provide them for free.” Product consumption and washing will be reduced by at least 50%, but the service will remain. The same can be done with different cotton swabs, caps, combs, shaving accessories, etc.

Manage the price of an hour of employee work

Remove as many employees as possible. Outsourcing is not difficult. The main principle is that staff costs should not exceed 30% of the hotel’s turnover. Involve as many employees as needed at the moment. For example, if four people are needed to serve breakfast, then let these be employees who come to work only in the morning. All non-operational services need to be critically shaken up for the possibility of being outsourced and receiving their services upon request. Thus, a hotel located in the center of Novosibirsk, having introduced the principle of hourly work of employees in the food service in accordance with the workload of the restaurants, reached an indicator of 18% of personnel costs in the food and beverage department.

Conduct an audit of engineering systems

This can be done either by the supplier of equipment installed in the hotel (water consumption audit, for example, offers Grohe), or by an independent service. Within 200 thousand rubles. you will be offered solutions that will allow you to save on utilities. The result will most likely easily cover the cost of the audit. For example, to save water, you may need to replace just a few adapters, or to reduce electricity costs, you may need to change light bulbs and install motion sensors.

Building a sales system in a hotel

Polina Berezhnaya

The success of any business lies not only in the quality of the product sold, the amount of capital investment in its creation and development. Services or goods must be salable, and this to a large extent depends on the correct structure of the sales department, its goals, objectives and structure, the professionalism of employees and managers. What should be the optimal sales department in a hotel in terms of quality indicators? Let’s try to figure it out together with specialists and market experts.

The role of effective sales in any business cannot be overestimated. In a highly competitive environment and with a variety of offers, the number of customers directly depends on how well the sales department works, be it a manufacturing company or an enterprise operating in the service sector.

Any company must have guaranteed sales of goods or services that pay for its work and make a profit. The hotel business is no exception. Taking into account the fact that competitors, as they say, do not sit still, without professional sales managers the business will lose stability, and, turning a blind eye to the sales problem today, after a while it will become much more difficult to solve it, so master new products in the field of sales management necessary constantly.

Building a hotel sales service always begins with defining clear goals and work strategy. As explains director department sales, marketing And development Vertex Hotel Group Olesya Protsenko In order to effectively organize the work of a hotel sales service, first of all it is necessary to find clear answers to several important questions: what the hotel sells, what is the competitive range in the market, what are the advantages of the hotel and who its client is. “By qualitatively studying your product and the capabilities of your competitors, you will be able to identify your own strengths that you will use in the market. Having clear answers to the above questions makes setting up a sales department and building a sales strategy much easier. There are different schemes for building a sales department.

For example, if your hotel is a monopolist in the city according to some criteria (either due to its location, or due to the level of service, infrastructure, etc.), it will be enough to build a sales department following the so-called lightweight model. We are talking about a structure where there is one head of service and a reservation department that works with incoming orders and contracts. This model is used if there is no need to generate any new business, and the main task is only to maintain the operation of the hotel,” says the expert.

At the same time, if a hotel operates in an environment with a high level of competition, which in Ukraine is already present not only in the capital, but also in cities with a population of over a million, the Carpathian region, which is attractive for tourists, and on the Southern Coast of Crimea (SC), then the formation of a sales strategy special attention needs to be paid. In this case, you will have to engage in active sales through your own efforts and extensive incentives for partners to promote the hotel among their clients. Certain features in sales management are inherent in hotels in the southern region, which are characterized by “fluctuations” in the flow of guests: from maximum occupancy of rooms during the holiday period to minimum occupancy during the cold season. That is why hoteliers have to come up with more sophisticated sales approaches to maintain the average annual occupancy rate at least at 60%. Loyalty programs and tough economic sanctions for partners are also used.

Go through all channels
Creating a sales system for any hotel first begins with segmenting potential customers and determining which of them are a priority. This is exactly the approach he follows in his work. general director hotel "Aivazovsky" Julia Labunskaya. “In order for sales channels for hotel services to work effectively, it is first necessary to correctly determine the target audience of the hotel. In general, sales channels can be divided into internal and external.

Internal sales include direct sales of the hotel, in particular, through the reservation department, the hotel website, interaction with corporate clients, regular and potential hotel guests. External channels are characterized by agency sales (tour operators and agencies) and global distribution systems (GDS),” says the expert.

According to Head of Sales and Marketing Department of the Opera Hotel Elena Drozd, the main task of the hotel sales department is to make a profit from the sale of hotel rooms, meeting rooms, banquets and conferences. “By and large, the sales department is responsible for the entire revenue side of the hotel budget. In addition, this department is responsible for setting room prices and tariff schedules depending on seasonality, market supply and demand, as well as establishing relationships and concluding corporate and agency contracts. In addition, the direct responsibilities of the sales department include writing an annual business plan, which provides a detailed analysis of the market, competitors, the strengths and weaknesses of the hotel itself, existing and potential clients, as well as developing a strategy and action plan for the next year,” says expert.

Despite the fact that each hotel, as a rule, has its own preferences in working with certain sales channels, basically, almost all hoteliers believe that only an effective mix of different sales channels can ensure constant high hotel occupancy. So, let's take a closer look at the specifics of each sales channel.

The effectiveness of internal sales directly depends on the professionalism of hotel sales managers. The activities of a hotel's own sales department often extend primarily to corporate clients. Moreover, if small hotels have the opportunity to attract only business guests, then larger hotels with a wide range of additional services for business are focused on finding clients who organize various events.

As explains Olesya Protsenko, if the hotel has conference rooms and can simultaneously accommodate a large number of guests, then the focus of sales will be on complex events, the profitability of which is higher than from accommodating individual clients. “In order to attract corporate clients to hold conferences and seminars at the hotel, first of all it is necessary to find out who in the market lives for such events. That is why monitoring of business activity in Ukraine and in the world as a whole, knowledge of the specifics of the work of various business segments, plays an important role for this sales channel. A sales manager must live in the segment he is leading and constantly study his potential client in order to fully understand what product he is working with,” says the hotelier.

Another important internal sales channel for any hotel is its Internet resource. The hotel business is one of the few where a website can not only be the main source of information, but also attract real customers. Unfortunately, many hoteliers do not think about this and do not pay due attention to their online presence. At the same time, for a hotel, the website continues to be the cheapest electronic distribution channel and can potentially provide up to 10% of sales.
“The hotel website should be as simple as possible and at the same time informative, correctly presenting the “mood” of the hotel. An effective booking module plays an important role, thanks to which the guest can quickly select a room category, book it and pay in a way convenient for him,” believes Olesya Protsenko.

When filling out the site, it is worth taking into account the needs for information about the hotel of all contractors who will use it, be it a travel company or a potential client. Information should be conveyed in simple, accessible and preferably official language. The visual component of the web page will also play a particularly important role in the formation of sympathy (and subsequently loyalty) to the hotel. The picture that a client or partner sees when visiting your web resource should make a pleasant impression on him. After all, creating a positive mood in a guest is an important mission of any hotel, which should be fulfilled already at the stage of the client’s first acquaintance with the hotel’s representative office on the Internet. The visitor should not experience any difficulties in using the site. Even a few heavy images can leave a dark stain on the hotel’s image, which will take several minutes to load. The booking section always leaves a special impression on the potential client. The irritation of a guest resulting from a long wait for the room reservation procedure will certainly affect his future attitude towards the hotel, of course - not for the better. Another important point will be transparent pricing. If the initial price indicated on the website does not take into account, for example, any tax, as a result of which, when booking, the cost of hotel accommodation may increase significantly, which, of course, is unpleasant to surprise a potential client, in this case, count on further customer loyalty no longer worth it.

Among external sales channels, travel companies are also one of the most important for most hotels. The peculiarity of working with such partners is the complex sales of hotel services together with transfers, excursions, etc. “To effectively interact with travel companies, it is necessary to study their clients and the segments in which they operate,” says Olesya Protsenko. - After all, there are many national characteristics of the client. For example, for guests from Japan, it is necessary to provide the maximum number of double rooms with separate beds that are identical in size and interior. Therefore, the sales manager, in addition to knowing his tour operator partner, must also have a good understanding of the needs of the end client in order to competently formulate a product that will be in demand.”

Since, when working with travel agents and tour operators, the hotel does not have the opportunity to directly influence the formation of end-consumer loyalty, this category of counterparties should be considered primarily as a way to attract new customers, and not as the main source of profitability. In addition, many travel agencies work with a pronounced seasonality, therefore, focusing on this sales channel, there is always a risk of a significant drop in hotel income during the “stagnant” season.

However, this sales channel should not be underestimated. Travel companies, like no other, are involved in creating a hotel’s image among its potential clients, so building their loyalty to the hotel should be a fundamental guideline in your relationship. You should not neglect the timely payment of commissions, since even the most insignificant financial debt to a partner can open the doors of a competing hotel wide open to the clients of the travel company. Moreover, it is advisable not to forget about the encouragement and additional remuneration of agents who regularly refer their clients to the hotel. Such bonus programs may include the possibility of free hotel accommodation for partners, free information tours, as well as additional discounts adjusted taking into account the sales volumes of a particular partner. An important aspect of communication with agents is sales brochures, electronic listings and a hotel advertising directory. These materials will provide agents with detailed information about the facilities and services at the hotels offered. In addition, the supporting materials must contain detailed information about the room reservation procedure and the commission payment procedure. Educational seminars for travel companies will also be useful.

As for global distribution systems (GDS), although they are the most established channel for booking hotels around the world, for many Ukrainian small hotels this is a very expensive pleasure. Nevertheless, global distribution systems are quite developed sales channels in their structure, which provide a large number of ways to present information to a potential client and work with him. When forming its sales strategy, a hotel can consider each GDS as an independent full-fledged channel or as a component of the total number of sales.

However, all external sales channels have one important drawback. According to Julia Labunskaya, despite the fact that they are a very effective method of sales, in any case they remain only intermediaries between the guest and the hotel and in any case will not be able to present information about the hotel in the same way as a reservation manager or the hotel's own website.

Avoiding duplication
For small hotels, the problem of separating functions between marketing, sales and reservation services does not exist at all. Often they are concentrated in one structure. “In our hotel, the sales and marketing department (this is a single service) works closely with the reservation service. At the same time, employees of each department have their own clear responsibilities. “Bronists” maintain daily records, control and customer base with their clear segmentation. This information is processed by the sales and marketing service and is used for various marketing activities, notifying customers about additional hotel services, new promotions, etc.,” says managerhotel "Flowerbed"(Odessa) InnaSekuler.

However, not everything is so simple for hotels with a substantial number of rooms. Large hotels always try to separate the functions of marketing, sales and reservations. To prevent duplication of functions of employees of different departments, first of all, clear job descriptions should be in place. Here's what she said about it Marketing Manager hotel "Ukraine"(Lutsk) Liliya Ivashchuk: “The efficiency of our hotel is determined by the principle of team work. Despite the fact that there is a clear division of responsibilities according to job descriptions, each employee is familiar with the work of his colleagues to the level of interchangeability,” says the expert.

However, not everyone manages to achieve the result of coordinated team actions, when the functions of different departments are not duplicated and, at the same time, each of them can effectively complement the work of the other. To achieve such a result, it is worth clearly dividing the scope of activity and tasks that should be faced by each of the listed services. According to Olesya Protsenko, the main task of the hotel marketing department is to put together a product that sales managers can effectively sell. To do this, the marketing department needs to clearly understand what kind of client they are working with and what competitive range exists in the market. In turn, the sales department is people who, thanks to their sociability, psychotype and temperament, find a new client, and the reservation department is a team of employees who need to retain an already attracted client with the level of service. “Bronists” work with the finished product and with the already referred client (guest, corporate client, tour operator, etc.). Therefore, their task is to have information on the subject of current tariffs, the validity of the contract (from the French valide - legal, valid; in relation to the initial statistical information used in economic research: the reliability of the information, the absence of errors in it due to the inaccuracy of the chosen data collection methodology. - Editor's note). Also, one should not forget about the characteristics of the client that the sales managers told them (for example, a particular client should always have half board, or guests of a particular company should never be offered the 13th floor). The sales department is obliged to convey the most detailed information about the client to the “bookers”, and they, in turn, must follow all instructions and develop a new level of communication with the client, forming his loyalty to the hotel.

Extraordinary employees
The effectiveness of the sales department of any hotel first of all always depends on its manager. As explains Catherine Chernous, consultant By selection specialists higher link recruiting agencies Golden Staff, the head of the sales department is a person who himself works “for results” and knows how to stimulate others to do such work. Therefore, when hiring for the position of head of a given department, the candidate is asked to talk about how effective his activities were in previous places: what was the financial result, what was the increase in sales volumes, etc. Such a manager must also know the specifics of the business “from the inside” and be well versed in any situation that arises among his subordinates. In a word, the main task of the head of the hotel sales department is to competently maintain communications with subordinates, top management and, if necessary, clients.

Slightly different requirements apply to the rest of the sales department. “For effective work with clients, as a rule, communication skills are very important - the ability to communicate, to win people over, as well as the ability to be assertive, but not arrogant. In order to qualitatively argue his point of view and be convincing, the “sales person” must have a fairly high level of intelligence and be able to hide the weaknesses and highlight the strengths of the product. In general, the seller is always a good negotiator, a kind of politician. In my opinion, in sales, as in any other line of work, it is important that a person really likes what he does. Work should be fun,” explains Catherine Chernous.

Today, finding a specialist who would meet all the above requirements is not so easy. Both representatives of recruiting companies and hoteliers themselves speak about this. According to Catherine Chernous, this situation is connected, on the one hand, with the fact that a sales manager is one of the most sought-after professions on the Ukrainian labor market. On the other hand, a good seller is always a person who has such extraordinary skills as independence, the ability to take responsibility, communication skills, intelligence, energy, activity, etc. And to find a person who both likes to sell and knows how to do it is a challenge. the task is not easy.

Don't forget about employee development. Professional trainings, seminars, as well as long-term training programs for sales managers always have not only a positive effect on sales performance, but are also an additional motivational factor for employees.

It is generally accepted that the main indicator for assessing the effectiveness of a sales department is the level of income. It is not difficult to calculate the income generated by the sale of one or another employee. To do this, you just need to do a few mathematical calculations. However, as hoteliers explain, in the hotel business this approach is not entirely correct. A clear picture of the sales department's performance can only be obtained by taking a more in-depth look at key performance indicators. As a criterion for assessing the work of hotel sales managers, it is more justified to use a combination of indicators, and it can differ significantly in different hotels. For example, for many hotels, especially in the southern region, maintaining an adequate level of hotel occupancy during the so-called “low” season is of great importance.

For other hotels, the most important performance indicator may be the number of attracted customers of a certain category. All these indicators can be lost by following a primitive method of assessing performance based on annual income. In addition, changes in income may have nothing to do with the achievements of the sales department, but be only the result of a non-standard marketing campaign or downtime in the work of competitors due to some force majeure circumstances. Determining the parameters for assessing the effectiveness of the sales department is purely individual and should directly correlate with the main goals and objectives that a particular hotel sets for itself. “In my absolutely clear conviction, the sales department is the heart of the hotel, which generates energy for the entire business,” he shares his beliefs Olesya Protsenko. - If the hotel is filled with the correct ratio of profitability, average price and occupancy, and all services operate in a normal high-load mode without stalemate situations and failed dates - this is an indicator of the effective work of the sales department, when all segments are correctly defined and compiled together, which the hotel is oriented to. That is, the understanding that the guest is satisfied should be correlated with the high level of profitability and occupancy of the hotel and the normal operation of all services.”
The purpose of personal selling has traditionally been viewed as a special type of contract with the client.

However, ideally, which, by the way, was recommended by marketing gurus Philip Kotler and James Makens, the hotel should not be looking for a banal one-time sale. The main goal is a clientele that must be won once and services provided to them for a long time. To do this, the establishment must demonstrate to guests its ability to satisfy their needs in the best possible way today, tomorrow and in five years, constantly improving the quality of service. This type of selling, where the goal is a long-term collaborative relationship, is much more complex than a short-term, one-off approach to sales. Purchasing a long-term commitment involves more agreements than simply closing a sale.

Today, more and more companies are focusing their attention not on transaction marketing, but on relationship marketing. Yes, it is an order of magnitude more difficult, but the result is worth it.

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1. THEORETICAL BASIS FOR IMPLEMENTING THE MARKETING DEPARTMENT IN THE VOLGOGRAD HOTEL COMPLEX

1.1 Concept of hotel business and hotel services

1.2 Specifics and features of marketing in the hotel complex

CHAPTER 2. STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF THE VOLGOGRAD HOTEL COMPLEX

2.1 Characteristics of the hotel and analysis of its organizational structure

2.2 Possibility of introducing a marketing department into the organizational structure of the hotel

CHAPTER 3. DEVELOPMENT OF MEASURES FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF MARKETING SERVICE IN THE VOLGOGRAD GC

3.1 Organization of the hotel marketing department, marketing strategy

3.2 Assessing the effectiveness of the marketing service in the structure of the hotel complex

CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INTRODUCTION

Nowadays, constant progress in the field of new technologies, competition for consumer attention, quality of goods and services force enterprises to reconsider all issues related to marketing activities. The restructuring of internal management at enterprises in our time is the basis for the reorganization of the entire economic mechanism of enterprises. Consumer-oriented strategic plans, implementation of flexible scientific, technological, innovation and market policies, and the pursuit of innovation have become the main goals of hotel management enterprises.

In recent years, the structure of society has seen a growing number of people united in groups who work in enterprises in various fields of activity: factories, factories, government agencies, hospitals, universities and schools, hotels, the armed forces, and banks. If businesses and organizations do well, it means that the people who make up our society will do well. Conversely, if these organizations and those who work in them are poorly led, all people will suffer. The task of a leader (manager) is to be able to think, analyze information, organize, plan, and make strategically correct decisions.

The continuous development of the hotel business in world practice offers consumers of hotel services a comprehensive hotel service, which depends on the prices on the market for these services. Every year, the media talk about emerging new forms of activity in this type of service.

The strategic focus and systematicity of marketing is the integration into one flow of all components of marketing activities to ensure sustainable profitability within a given time frame, usually for 5-7 years, and sometimes more.

Turning to the practice of using marketing, you can notice that the separate use of its components, for example, such as studying goods or services or forecasting the market, will not give the desired effect. Only a comprehensive approach to marketing will allow you to effectively enter the hotel services market. Based on the above, we can come to the conclusion that this topic “Implementation of a marketing service in the organizational structure of a hotel” is relevant today.

The subject of the course work is the process of introducing marketing and sales services into the organizational structure of a hotel.

The object of the work is the organizational structure of the Volgograd Hotel Complex.

The purpose of the work is to study the organizational structure of the Volgograd Hotel and determine opportunities for introducing a marketing service.

The following tasks follow from the given goal:

Define the concepts of hotel service and hotel services

Study the specifics and features of marketing in a hotel complex

Describe the Volgograd Hotel and its organizational structure

Analyze the possibility of introducing a marketing department into the organizational structure of the Volgograd Hotel

Consider the organization of the hotel marketing department and marketing strategy

Assess the effectiveness of the marketing service in the structure of the hotel complex

The theoretical and methodological basis of this work was the work of domestic and foreign economists such as: F. Kotler, M. Kh. Mekson, H. Roglev and others.

The course work consists of an introduction, three chapters, each of which is divided into 2 subsections, reflecting the essence of each chapter, conclusion and bibliography.

CHAPTER 1. THEORETICAL BASIS FOR IMPLEMENTING THE MARKETING DEPARTMENT IN THE VOLGOGRAD HOTEL COMPLEX

1 The concept of hotel business and hotel services

A hotel is an organization or enterprise whose goal is to make a profit by selling its “product” in the form of a set of services (accommodation services and food services).

There are many concepts and definitions of the word “service”. In a narrow sense, a service is an action that benefits another.

A service in a broad sense is a result that is achieved by the interaction between the service provider and its consumer.

According to the definition of the famous American marketing specialist F. Kotler, a service is any activity or benefit that one party can offer to another, and which is mainly intangible. The production of a service may or may not be related to the product in its material form.

A service is a purposeful work activity, the result of which is the satisfaction of some human needs. The peculiarity of the service is that it can be presented in material form or in the process of functioning of living labor.

The hotel service consists of:

· service of providing a special location to meet the needs of the client;

· services provided by hotel staff for their guests (cleaning, laundry, ironing, meals).

The main component of the service of providing a special place of accommodation is a hotel room. A hotel room is a special room that is equipped for rest, sleep and work of the guest.

Regardless of the hotel class or room category, each room must have a bed, a table, a cabinet for each bed, a chair or armchairs. There must also be sufficient lighting and a waste basket.

To keep guests well-fed, you need a kitchen or a place where hot lunches, food, and drinks are sold. It is desirable to have a restaurant or coffee shop at the hotel with a service for delivering food to the room.

Some hotels have additional services, such as: provision of a swimming pool, sports equipment, conference rooms, beauty salons, dry cleaning or laundry services, massage rooms.

The basic accommodation service is mandatory and taken for granted, however, in order to attract guests, the hotel needs to develop a range of additional services provided, with the help of which its competitiveness in the hotel services market can increase significantly.

Let's consider the features of hotel services.

Production and consumption of services always occur simultaneously. To receive a hotel service in full, it is necessary to be involved in the process of both the service consumer and the performer. To provide a service, hotel staff need to establish contact with the consumer (guest). For the consumer, this contact will be part of the service itself.

Hotel services are intangible. They cannot be seen or touched as they are intangible. To appreciate them, you must first consume them. A service is a promise to perform certain actions to satisfy the customer's needs.

Hotel services are not expressed in material form, therefore, they cannot be prepared in advance. Hotel services are provided in order to satisfy the needs of guests within a certain time frame.

Inconsistency of quality. The quality of the services provided, the mood of the guest and other factors have a great influence on the quality of the service. The same performer can serve a client in different ways (for example, at the beginning of a work shift, when the performer has more strength, the quality of the services he provides will be higher than at the end of the work shift, when his strength is almost gone). Inconsistency in the quality of service very often causes dissatisfaction on the part of consumers.

Seasonality of demand for hotel services. Depending on the situation, the demand for a hotel product can change almost every day. Seasonality is very pronounced in countries with a changing climate (most tourists prefer to relax in the summer months).

There are certain factors that influence sales volumes. These factors include:

)location of the hotel. This factor undoubtedly plays a very important role, since the price of travel to the hotel, the attractiveness of the environment, and the development of the infrastructure of the country or city depend on it;

)service level. This factor depends on the quality and completeness of the services provided, the availability of various types of amenities, their style and quality;

)price. This factor can sometimes be decisive when choosing a hotel;

) ease of maintenance;

) range of services. Today, hotels offer a wide range of services that can satisfy almost all the whims of their guests. The most common are accommodation services and catering services. In a good hotel, without leaving the hotel, you can get a quality haircut, take a steam bath in the sauna or play billiards. The main income of the hotel comes from accommodation fees, but with well-developed additional services you can also make a good profit;

) image of the hotel. Every hotel values ​​this factor very much, as it helps it remain competitive and receive additional profit (in the case of a positive image). Image is a complex consisting of all the above factors.

Thus, the main subject of the hotel industry as a business is, of course, the hotel room. Hotel services are a special product that can be purchased through exchange transactions. The guest pays not for the right to dispose of the room, but for the right to have access to it at the agreed time. Modern business conditions require hotels to resolve all production and other issues as quickly as possible. No one likes to wait, so to improve the quality of service it is necessary to provide services in a timely, fast and high-quality manner.

1.2 Specifics and features of marketing in the hotel complex

Hospitality in marketing and tourism is a major requirement for all employees; it should not be the responsibility of the marketing and sales departments alone. Marketing should be an integral part of the philosophy of the entire organization, and the marketing function should be performed by all employees. In manufacturing firms, the marketing function is often performed by the marketing department since many employees do not interact with the customer. In the service sector, ordinary employees perform most of the marketing functions (Fig. 1).

Managers must understand that bad service elicits a greater response than good service. When guests are treated poorly, they talk more about the incident. A study conducted under the Technical Assistance Program found that if a person received good service, he would tell five people about it. If a person has a negative experience, he will tell ten people about it. Spreading positive experiences is more difficult. A few negative points can ruin a lot of positive ones. The company's goal is to provide service that exceeds customer expectations.

Figure 1 - Relationship between the marketing function and the marketing department

All hotel staff - the check-in clerk, the waiter serving the dining room, the attendant at the front entrance, and the concierge - must make an effort to ensure that the guest leaves satisfied. Their attitude, appearance and willingness to fulfill any guest's request form the overall impression of the hotel. Employees of hospitality companies provide services that, through their agency, become part of the product. It is often quite difficult to differentiate the material part of the product of competing companies. Steak dinners and hotel rooms in the same price range differ very little in cost. Differences in products are often due to the fact that company employees serve their customers differently. In the hotel industry, most marketing activities are performed by employees outside the marketing department rather than by marketing specialists. Marketing program attracts customers to the hotel. The hotel staff must serve the first-time guest so that he turns into a regular customer. The hotel's income directly depends on this - the more regular customers, the higher the hotel's profit. Research has shown that a 5% increase in repeat customers can lead to a 25% and even a 125% increase in profits.

Richard Norman of the Services Management Group says that a key component of the strong competitiveness of almost all service companies is measures to mobilize the creativity of the team. Norman coined the term "moment of truth", which was later popularized by Jan Carlson (SAS).

The hospitality and travel services industry is unique in that employees are part of the product. The hotel must have staff that are able to perform the task well during the “moments of truth.” When people think of marketing, they usually think of efforts directed outward, to the market, but the main marketing efforts of a hotel or restaurant should be directed inward, to its employees. Managers must make sure that employees know their services (products) and believe that they have high customer value. Employees must be enthusiastic about their company and the services they sell.

Otherwise, it is impossible to interest customers. External marketing brings customers to the hotel, but it is of little use if the employees do not meet their expectations.

Marketing professionals must develop methods and procedures to ensure that employees are able and willing to provide quality service. The concept of internal marketing, developed by marketing specialists, formalizes marketing procedures specifically for employees. The work of internal marketing is structured so that employees at all levels of the organization carry out the business in practice and are aware that their various activities and the state of the environment shape the consciousness of the customer. The purpose of internal marketing is to help employees provide customer satisfaction. Christian Grönroos emphasizes: “The internal marketing concept states that a company's employees should be best motivated to provide meaningful service and perform customer-oriented work. The internal marketing concept presupposes an active marketing approach and appropriate coordination of personnel activities.” Internal marketing uses marketing capabilities to better manage a firm's employees. Internal marketing is marketing aimed inside the company, at its employees.

Marketing research in hotels is a complex system of studying the market, the position of a hotel enterprise in the market, generating demand, identifying ways to meet customer needs. The introduction of an industry standard ensures control of the quality system, the constant nature of the services offered, a unified approach in the system for assessing the quality of services by hotel enterprises and consumers, and a continuous process of professional training of personnel. An internal standard in a hotel company identifies its brand and strengthens the company's position in the relevant market segment. Corporate standards reflect previous experience in enterprise quality management, identify the hotel's specialization, the development of consumer demand for hotel services, their specific properties and competition.

CHAPTER 2. STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF THE VOLGOGRAD HOTEL COMPLEX

Hotel "Volgograd" is one of the first hotels in Russia. Its history is directly related to the history of the city of Volgograd, the history of urban planning, and the history of the development of the hotel business.

Today the Volgograd Hotel is a comfortable three-star hotel that is committed to meeting international standards.

The hotel is a member of the Russian Hotel Association and has a certificate of participation in the BEST EASTERN HOTELS marketing chain. This brand unites the best hotels in Moscow, Russia and the CIS countries. Volgograd is a collective member of the International Academy of Hospitality Industry. Today, the hotel has all the necessary certificates of conformity and licenses and even has its own trademark, flag and anthem - not every establishment can boast of this.

The general method of representing the structure of a hotel is an organizational chart, there is a diagram of the relationships of departments. It shows the location of each service and position in the overall hotel organization and illustrates the distribution of powers and responsibilities. The audit of the organizational structure was carried out on the basis of the approved structural diagram of LLC "GK Volgograd" as of 01/10/2012 and the Draft structural diagram of LLC "GC "Volgograd" as of 01/01/2013.

An audit of the structural diagram of Volgograd Group of Companies LLC showed that the organizational structure of the hotel is linear. Such a linear structure, as a rule, is typical for hotels belonging to the category of no higher than middle class. The linear management structure is the most logical, harmonious and formally defined, but at the same time the least flexible. Each of the leaders has full power, but relatively few opportunities for solving problems require narrow, specialized knowledge.

The organizational chart of the enterprise may change, so it must be reviewed periodically, especially if there are significant changes in the hotel management structure. The job responsibilities of various hotel workers depend on their qualifications and staffing levels.

The organizational structure of the hotel is mainly built as follows. The management level includes managers, their deputies who manage several structural divisions, the structural divisions themselves and leading specialists who perform individual functions or part of the functions. The direct performers (service personnel) report to them.

The highest level of the Volgograd Group of Companies is represented by the director, who makes strategic management decisions and sets the goals and objectives of the organization. Middle-level managers oversee the implementation of hotel policies developed by senior management and are responsible for communicating assignments and instructions to departments, as well as for their timely implementation. The lowest level of management is represented by technical personnel who are directly involved in the provision of services.

The distribution of tasks, the definition of powers and responsibilities, as well as relationships between hotel employees can be built on a personal and informal basis. Most hotels require some structure through which interpersonal relationships are distributed and coordinated. In large hotels, there is a need for a flawlessly designed and purposeful organizational structure.

An organizational structure is necessary to effectively perform the basic functions of employees, determine their accountability, and ensure the necessary efforts on the part of personnel. Based on the nature of their work functions, hotel staff are divided into workers and employees. Workers directly provide hotel services. The workers also include junior hotel staff - janitors, cleaners and others. Employees organize the activities of people, manage hotel departments, financial and accounting operations, procurement, legal and other functions. They refer to persons engaged mainly in mental, intellectual work, and are combined into several subgroups.

The Volgograd Hotel offers 4 assortment groups of services:

· hotel rooms;

· places and services for providing food, providing food in rooms;

· halls and rooms for business events;

· services for recreation and recreation.

Let's consider the organizational structure of the Volgograd Hotel. (Annex 1)

As can be seen from the presented diagram, the hotel has a number of services, namely:

reception service

security Service

Engineering service

service dealing with general hotel issues

capital construction service

The management structure of the Volgograd Hotel includes the positions of 6 department directors who report to the General Director. Among them: security director, hospitality director, technical director, financial director, commercial director and capital construction director. All of them represent the middle level of management and ensure the implementation of the hotel policy developed by senior management; they are also responsible for bringing the most important tasks and instructions to their departments, as well as for their implementation.

Division directors, as a rule, have a wide range of responsibilities and freedom in making decisions. In addition to performing the functions of translating general goals into specific management decisions, they also solve a number of tasks aimed at meeting the needs of guests.

Directly subordinate to the Director of Reception and Accommodation are managers of basic hotel services: reservations, distribution, receipt of payment for hotel services.

The Security Director is subordinate to the security service and doormen who carry out access control to the territory of the hotel complex.

The technical director leads the engineering department. Subordinate to him are system administrators, heads of workshops for the repair of furniture, equipment, heating systems, air conditioning, refrigeration units, etc.

Subordinate to the financial director are the chief accountant, material accountant, accountants and cashiers.

For a commercial director, it is typical to supervise a specialist who carries out material and technical control, a supply agent, a personnel manager, a designer and other employees in this area.

Capital construction at the Volgograd Hotel is managed by a director, to whom the leading economist, legal adviser and office manager report.

Also an integral part of the hotel is the room service service, which is currently not part of the organizational structure of the hotel, but continuously cooperates with it. The UYUT LLC company provides personnel involved in cleaning, washing, ironing and arranging rooms at the Volgograd Group of Companies.

The functional diagram of the Volgograd Group of Companies shows that there is no marketing department in the organizational structure of the Volgograd Hotel. This fact is a problem, since the Group of Companies cannot fully implement all the methods of promoting a hotel in the hotel services market of the city of Volgograd without implementing marketing programs with the help of the marketing and sales department. In the next chapter, we will try to consider the possibility of introducing a marketing department into the functional diagram of the hotel organizational structure.

2.2 Possibility of introducing a marketing department into the organizational structure of the hotel

Since in a linear management structure decisions are passed down the chain “from top to bottom”, and the head of the lower level of management is subordinate to a manager of a higher level, a kind of hierarchy of managers is formed. In this case, the principle of unity of command applies, the essence of which is that subordinates carry out the will only of their immediate leader. The highest governing body does not have the right to give orders to any executors, bypassing their immediate superior.

In order for the economic and financial position of the Volgograd Hotel in the hotel services market of the city of Volgograd to improve, it is necessary to implement the development of a marketing policy aimed at studying the market conditions of services, reduce costs per unit of hotel product sold, and increase the size and share of more profitable services. Since the absence of a marketing and sales department affects the change in the financial result of the hotel, more attention should be paid to the creation of this department, which in turn will have a beneficial effect on the financial position of the hotel.

The main task of the hotel marketing department is to increase the occupancy of hotel rooms.

The tasks of the marketing service include:

· determination of the market segment in which the hotel can have the greatest success;

· drawing up a profile of a regular client (a list of characteristics that characterize the “average” typical client);

· identifying methods for attracting clients;

· analysis of customer satisfaction with hotel services;

· determination of the hotel's pricing policy;

· analyzing the market and identifying the causes of problematic aspects that have arisen and proposing measures to improve the situation of the hotel;

· analysis of the hotel's situation, identifying unrealized opportunities in order to increase occupancy and increase income from all sources.

The marketing department should receive all statistical and accounting information from all relevant services.

Currently, the Volgograd Group of Companies does not have a separate group for conducting marketing research and creating an individual image of the hotel. This work is being carried out, but is not of an orderly nature, since there are no employees who would be responsible specifically for this area of ​​​​work. With the creation of such a service, the process of conducting marketing research can noticeably intensify, acquiring the character of systematics and planning. Based on the results of marketing research, this group should draw up marketing programs for individual hotel products and the problems of their implementation, which in general will be positively perceived by departments, since they can provide the necessary information material for making appropriate decisions on hotel products: studying the demand for hotel services , advertising; development of marketing strategies taking into account the needs in a given product category, market capacity, changing consumer demand, penetration into new markets, competition; development of an advertising strategy for each product and a plan for conducting promotional activities; organization of advertising using the media (newspapers, television, radio, etc.); provision of outdoor, light, electronic advertising; organizing the participation of a trading enterprise in central and regional industry exhibitions, fairs, exhibitions and sales.

By promoting services and creating a favorable image of the hotel, it can develop new ideas for creating a corporate identity, advertising, provide employee representatives of the enterprise with advertising booklets and other promotional materials, analyze the effectiveness of advertising and its impact on the marketing and sale of hotel products and services, inform potential consumers of services about the creation of new offers from the enterprise, identify an insufficiently demanded type of services provided and influence it in favor of the enterprise.

In order to create and improve marketing activities, a new organizational structure of the Volgograd Group of Companies was proposed for consideration, in which the “Marketing Specialist” functions. (Appendix 2). Only by changing the structure and effectively distributing the responsibilities of departments can the organization achieve effective operation, since the main aspect of management in any production is the reasonable management of human (labor) resources.

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Each chapter should end with small conclusions (3-4 sentences), a summary of all the information. These conclusions can then be transferred to the conclusion.

CHAPTER 3. DEVELOPMENT OF MEASURES FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF MARKETING SERVICE IN THE VOLGOGRAD GC

1 Organization of the hotel marketing department, marketing strategy

Marketing activities in modern hotels are organized in different ways. The most common form is a functional organization, when various areas of marketing are headed by specialists in specific types of activities - sales managers, advertising managers, marketing research experts, quality and new types of services managers. Hotel chains that sell their services nationally and internationally often use a geographic organization, with sales and marketing employees assigned to specific countries, regions, and areas. Organizing by geography allows sales professionals to work directly in their assigned territory, get to know their customers better, and reduce travel costs.

Marketing opportunities determine the most attractive areas of a hotel’s efforts in the service market to generate profit and/or social effect. They represent the established relationship between a certain area of ​​consumer needs and the real resources (potential) of the hotel to satisfy them and make a profit.

Analysis of marketing opportunities is a necessary prerequisite for making marketing decisions and planning actions for their implementation in practice. The most well-known methods for analyzing the marketing capabilities of a hotel: situational analysis, STEP analysis, SWOT analysis, GAP analysis.

The essence of situational analysis is a consistent consideration of the elements of the external and internal marketing environment and assessment of their impact on the marketing capabilities of the hotel industry organization. The purpose of the analysis is to identify the position of the hotel on the market and determine its capabilities, taking into account the influence of the external environment and the state of its technical and economic level.

External situational analysis - consideration of information about the state of the economy as a whole (macroenvironment factors) and the economic situation of this particular hotel, competition, markets for hotel services, the availability of necessary transport routes, the political and environmental situation in the country, legislative and visa space, etc. .

Internal situational analysis is an assessment of the resources of a hotel organization in relation to the environment and the resources of its main competitors (microenvironmental factors). The essence of this analysis is to assess the situation that has developed in the tourism market at a specifically selected point in time. The main attention here is paid to the analysis of the position of the hotel in its microenvironment (accounting and analysis of the behavior of consumers and competitors, knowledge and reaction to the state of the hotel services market, etc.) and those factors that are associated with the sales and profitability of the range of hotel services, their advantages and disadvantages , opportunities to promote their services, etc. analysis is a method of sequential analysis of the main elements of the hotel’s macroenvironment, it covers:

· Economic factors (price level for hotel services, taxes);

· Political factors (visa support for foreign citizens);

· Socio-demographic factors (age, education of the population);

· Environmental factors (responsibility towards the environment);

· Ethical factors (norms, values ​​established in society);

· Legal factors (legislation, consumer protection);

· Information and technological factors (the emergence of new means of communication and technologies for booking hotel and tourism services).

STEP analysis is inherently aimed at assessing significant changes in the organization and new trends in the macro environment, as well as determining their significance.

The use of SWOT analysis is of greatest interest for analyzing marketing opportunities. The name of this analysis is an abbreviation of the initial letters of the English terms S (Strengths) - strength, W (Weaknesses) - weakness, O (Opportunities) - opportunities, T (Threats) - dangers (threats).

The essence of this analysis is to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the hotel and compare them to the internal characteristics of the organization, and opportunities and threats to external factors that the hotel organization cannot control.

When analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of a hotel, they directly evaluate its internal condition, as well as its capabilities in relation to the hotel services market. Also, at the same time, factors requiring improvements and changes are determined, that is, the weaknesses of the activity and the strengths that represent winning positions.

By analyzing opportunities and threats, the management of an organization can assess favorable and unfavorable environmental conditions in order to subsequently adapt to them to meet the needs of consumers and make a profit. Conclusions are drawn by examining likely changes in future trends as compared to past and present market conditions.

Table 1 SWOT analysis matrix of the Volgograd Hotel

When conducting a SWOT analysis, various techniques are used, including:

· situational analysis using desk and field research;

· development of analytical maps based on expert assessments (“brainstorming”);

· assessment of strengths and weaknesses in comparison with main competitors;

· positioning through focus groups, surveys, etc. analysis - a method of strategic analysis, with the help of which steps are searched to achieve the goal.

Using this methodology, management assesses the desired state for the Volgograd Group of Companies, the level of its strategic priorities, and the real

Using this methodology, the desired state of the organization of the Volgograd Group of Companies is assessed (the level of its strategic claims), as well as the real one (what the hotel can actually achieve without changing its current policy). At the same time, an organization development strategy is being developed aimed at closing this gap.

Let's consider an algorithm for determining the strategic planning of a hotel and forming its strategy.

If we conduct an approximate GAP analysis of the marketing capabilities of the Volgograd Hotel, taking into account development goals, we can identify the hotel’s development strategy, which will subsequently be consistent with the hotel’s marketing communications strategy.

When building the marketing structure of a hotel, it is necessary to follow some rules and basic principles of its construction, such as:

1. Simplicity. That is, if, other things being equal, the structure is simple, then its management will be more mobile. And the chances of success will also increase.

2. An effective system of communications between hotel departments. This principle ensures clear and precise transmission of information, as well as feedback.

Low level of system. With fewer links, the transfer of information will be more efficient.

Flexibility and adaptability. A hotel can be subject to various kinds of changes, from an increase in the pace of scientific and technological progress to changes in consumer demand, so it needs to have a flexible marketing structure in order to withstand various types of changes. To do this, the hotel must constantly have current information about the internal state of affairs and the external environment.

The correct choice of marketing structure is only a prerequisite for its correct and effective operation. For the proper functioning of the marketing service, it is necessary to staff this service with highly qualified specialists, as well as correctly distribute their responsibilities and create favorable conditions for their work.

Chiefs and leading specialists of marketing services must meet the general requirements for management employees (competence, ability to control oneself, ability to resolve problems and conflict situations, ability to train subordinates, form and develop a workforce, etc.). in addition, they must satisfy a number of specific requirements determined by the characteristics of work in the field of hotel marketing. These requirements include:

Knowledge system, erudition and outlook;

High analytical skills;

Ability to predict situations and make effective decisions;

Communication skills;

Diplomacy, ability to resolve conflicts.

3.2 Assessing the effectiveness of the marketing service in the structure of the hotel complex

Marketing is a system for organizing business activities based on the study of market demand, opportunities for selling products, and selling services.

Marketing policy helps organize business activities in an organization, as well as direct it in the right direction. It also helps to increase the purchasing power of the population and helps to convey the final product or service to potential consumers.

Marketing in a hotel has its own characteristics.

Hotel services are used by a diverse group of people who have their own individual qualities, preferences and wishes, as well as with different income levels. This does not mean that guests of the same hotel have the same preferences. You can notice that completely different types of people stay in the same hotel, among whom you can meet both businessmen and traveling tourists who pursue completely different goals. For tourists, the price of rooms plays an important role when choosing a hotel, if the prices are too high, but they can, to please themselves, choose a hotel with the most flexible pricing policy that matches their capabilities. Businessmen do not have the opportunity, since business trips are designed to stay in specific hotels, and they cannot change it due to the discrepancy with their preferences. Guests whose stay is paid for by the organization that sent them try to stay in a more comfortable and expensive place that has additional services such as telephone and Internet connections in the room, business center services, and meeting rooms.

To conduct the hotel business most effectively in a market economy, it is necessary to obtain reliable, effective, reliable, and timely information about changes in the market and the dynamics of the internal and external environment. Based on this, the activity of collecting such information occupies a central place in the work of large hotels. Active information and research activities are a necessary condition for the effective implementation of marketing plans. That is why hotel marketing research should be considered as part of an ongoing comprehensive information process. Hotels need to develop and operate systems to continuously monitor their external environment, and process and store data for future use.

To determine the effectiveness of the marketing department in a hotel, it is necessary to determine the tasks that this department will have to solve. Such tasks include such areas of activity as:

1. Identifying customer needs;

2. Analysis of innovations that may affect the flow of consumers;

Concluding contracts with partner companies for long and short periods;

Monitoring the dynamics of prices for services in the hotel market segment in the city of Volgograd;

Conduct effective sales;

Attracting partners and intermediary firms.

Additional services that should be provided by the hotel marketing department:

Providing translators.

Providing guides.

Organization of passenger transport.

Organization and support of conferences.

Providing targeted restaurant services.

Organization of a comprehensive leisure program for hotel clients.

If we predict the activities of the marketing department in a hotel in its qualitative and quantitative indicators, then we can highlight its strengths, such as:

Availability of necessary financial resources.

Ability to compete professionally.

The status of one of the necessary departments of the hotel.

Fully exploit technological and marketing economies of scale.

Having our own quality standards for the services provided.

Relatively low costs.

Reliable and professional management.

Effective marketing technologies in target consumer markets.

There is a need for hotel services in the consumer market.

Wide range of marketing research.

Wide range of services developed by the department.

Distribution of financial and material resources of the hotel according to the principle of “department needs”.

14. The presence of effective labor motivation in the department, aimed at increasing sales of hotel services.

After creating a marketing service at the enterprise, this will help the hotel achieve the following positive results:

Selection of more liquid and profitable goods and services, rejection of less liquid and profitable ones.

1. Increase customer satisfaction by improving customer service.

2. Entering new markets before competitors.

Improving the quality of existing products.

Selecting the optimal price for goods and services.