Marketing case on: Five star resort named Voyager

What is this case about?

Introduction

The present case is about a five star resort named Voyager which is situated about 80 kilometres from a major national city. It is located in a far isolated area which is out from the bustling city life.  It is an independent hotel and does not belong to any premier large hotel groups. Presently the hotel and resort is owned by a family and is a part of an independent hotel cooperative. The Cooperative functions through the CRS (Central Reservation System) which is powered by a web based reservation system for their hotels and resorts across 26 countries.

The Cost/Benefit Analysis

The case further moves on with the cost benefit analysis conducted by the management personnel which has revealed some results about the way the company has been progressing year on year. These revealed some drastic shift in the occupancy for the hotel in both the summer as well as the winter seasons. There are other concerns as well which have been highlighted that has made the management staff as well as the other employees to come up with several suggestions to improve the present scenario for the resort.

The Facilities

Reading further in the case one would come to know about the number of rooms along with the facilities the resort has on offer. Some water sports activities and the reach to the water body makes this place a great family retreat especially during the summer holidays. Although far from the city the resort has almost every facility which any resort as big as them would have got. Some of the things highlighted in the case which makes people awestruck are its location which is about 100 metres from the ocean. Guests usually take a walk by the beach and indulge in some water sport activities. The water based activities include scuba diving, surfing, snorkelling, fishing, swimming, kite sailing, and much more.

The Plans for expansion

Further it has been stated that the management was planning to build a marina which would have cost them around 2.85 million dollars. However there were several concerns over the plan as there was every possibility that environmentalists would have problems. While the resort was initially being built the environmentalists had their concerns and had restricted the resort to reduce the scale of facilities and activities it wished to provide.

The concerns for future prospects and missed opportunities

Studying further the case suggests that although during the summer holidays the resort is booked to 100% capacity, the winter months was witnessing a slowdown in terms of people coming to the resort. Also with lessor number of people coming during the winter months was coming in between the company to provide all its services as it promised to do so throughout the year. The major issue for this was the cost of operation where it would have made loss if they provided certain services with a few takers. The situation on some days was such that the place had one or two visitors in the entire estate. Voyager and its management also seem to have neglected the issues of environmental scanning and other issues which were developing in similar places around the world. This indeed was important for the company but due to its remote locations usually the management dint pay heeds to the other developments happening in the industry. One example which can be seen to have impacted the prospects of the resort was missing out on the information about a road which was coming nearby. If the management was aware about the news they could have approached the local governing bodies to plan the road much closer to the resort which would have made it much more accessible. But missing out on the news seemed to be a lost opportunity for the resort and its future possibilities.

The Possible steps and suggestions

At the end of the case one would come across the possible suggestions which the management could take in order to improve the scenario and attract more visitors. One such suggestion was made by Angie Tao who had been taking care of the marketing division. She suggested that including more activities on land besides the water sport activities could be one of the possible solutions to attract new visitors while reducing the costs of providing water sport services throughout. However to many it seemed to be one of those ideas which could come in between to the reputation of the resort to provide only water sport activities. Also the resort had been quite popular among families where they had been known to take proper care of the kids for their parents.

Overall the case suggests that the company had done very well to start off its operations and attract customers but there were a few issues which had to be addressed in order to increase the business possibilities. Moreover its tends to suggest that there are possible flaws which needs to be rectified such as providing food besides just fishes in their menu as it had been a concern for many visitors who came along. Therefore based on the cost benefit analysis the resort needs to move forward, adhere to demands, bring variety to the facilities, promote the resort better, etc.

Comprehensive analysis of the competitive methods (CMs) and core competencies (CCs) of Voyager

As per the strategic management literature it is assumed that the portfolios of the products as well as the services are the key drivers that provide a firm a competitive advantage. The Voyager belongs to the hospitality industry where the concept of competitive methods refers to the investment choice which the resort would make for matching the opportunities within their environment. These methods usually generate value and bring a constant change in the business prospects and revenue (Scholar.lib.vt 2002).

The firm has no competitors around which means it is away from any competition from any other hotel or resort in the area. However this could very well be a disadvantage for the company. Seeking no competition the management would not bring about any changes to the regular activities which have been undertaken. This could lead to decreased number of visitors as people would not like to visit the same place over and over again if they are not provided something different to try. As mentioned in the case Voyager being located in a remote corner which is 80 kilometres from the main city was witnessing a fall in its visitors during the winter months  (Scholar.lib.vt 2002).

Some of the competitive methods could be categorized as below:

• Customer Oriented Technology: Voyager offers the latest in terms of customer oriented technology by providing online reservations, working rooms, Teleconference, videoconference, Latest equipment for providing water sports activities, etc. All these services facilitate in providing customer oriented technology.
• Management-oriented technology: Being a member of a big cooperative Voyager has a well-connected computer network which has helped the resort in terms of managing its bookings. Moreover the resort seems to have a well-equipped property management system in place as it successfully caters to every need irrespective of the people present within the resort.
• Customer Relationship Management: CRS (Central Reservation System) which is the system utilized by the cooperative as well as Voyager has helped in maintaining very well-organized customer relations with its visitors. It is a web based system which helps in making reservations. The system also takes care of responding to the emails, queries, and fax enquires. Also the resort has a special feedback process which they take from every customer that leaves the resort after the stay. The entire structure to stay connected and be reachable by the customers seems to be one of the other competitive advantages. (wittenborg 2012)
• Employee Relationship Management: This structure also seems to be pretty well managed, although during the lean period it gets a bit difficult to get adequate staff. During the peak period it provides accommodation to its employees which comprises of a large number of student workers who come for summer jobs. The fact that it’s located in the remote area there are no local employees within the company. However one fact which the company has to address is providing financial as well as
• Marketing Initiatives and campaigns: Among the major promotional messages by the Hotel has been the pristine condition of the area where the property was located at. The primary means of promotions seems to be word of mouth promotions and the testimonials provided by the visitors to the place. Recently the company had received appreciations from families with kids as they had managed the kids for them while they were on vacations. The management was looking forward to promote through this message by updating it on their website. (Euro Journals 2009)
• Quality and consistency: Voyager has been consistently been offering quality services to its clients which is why people are so pleased when they visit. However although this is the competitive advantage they have Voyager during the winter months face a few issues with providing the same level and variety of services to its visitors.

While listing down the core competencies of Voyager it would include the following:

• Physical Property: The entire area where Voyager was located was small and offered a close access to the beaches. It had connection to a 100 metre long beach side where people usually cherished their moments while walking around. The entire property consisted of 28 suites and 22 standard rooms with every possible facility such as air-conditioning, water treatment, etc.
• Customer Service: The resort was popular for the services it had on offer. Be it in terms of infrastructural services or activities. The menu had a vast range of fishes available from the local area (cms.schwarzpharma n.d.).
• Employee Satisfaction: Voyager being located at a remote area had employees coming mainly from the city area. They were well taken care of as the resort provided them with every facility from the place to stay to the food to eat (wittenborg 2012).
• No Competitors: One of the most important elements that falls a part of the core competency of the resort was that it had no other competitor in the area. All the visitors coming to the resort were coming exclusively for the resort only and the fact that it was always booked during the summer months speaks of its popularity.

Reviewing the points raised by the consultants

In order to get a brief review about what could be the possible avenues that could affect the operations of the resorts Voyager had appointed professional consultants. The consultants came out with a few major issues which could be well affecting the business in the coming years. Some of the issues raised were:

• ‘’A combination of global warming and a prolonged drought is expected to have anegative impact on agricultural output for at least 2 more years’’:  Major food supplies for the resort were coming from the city, that too once every week. However at times of increased demands Voyager required to stock food from before. This meant that when there is a possibility of a draught in the near future the resort would require to stock in more food supplies and take adequate measures to preserve them. This would in turn increase the storage costs besides the increased prices in procurement of agricultural products as a result of the draught.
• ‘’Average wages are tipped to increase 5% a year over the next 3 years’’: It has been already observed that the company has been finding it high to find the right employees during the times of lean season an increase in the wages would mean increased costs and hence affect the profitability. Moreover to top it all the company would still require providing the residential facilities to the staff besides other basic amenities which it had been providing.
• ‘’Average room rates in 4-5 star hotels have gone up by 3% in the past year’’: Seeking a change in the rates structure across the industry it surely would require the management to review its prices. Not only due to the increased industry rates but a possible increase in its expenditures in the coming years would require them to increase their room rates as well. This may affect the number of bookings as increased prices surely hurt customers.
• ‘’Satellite broadband internet access costs have plummeted and are now on par with wire or fibre optic connections.  There are some issues surrounding security ofsatellite connections but it is thought these issues will be resolved very shortly’’: Another major concern would be this as it would mean increased prices to the Internet services and the costs they had been paying for maintaining a web based system to manage their bookings and stay connected to their visitors. The security issues could also impact the bookings made as people might be reluctant to make bookings online.
• ‘’Domestic inter and intra-state tourist travel to regional centre city has stabilised butinternational visitation is expected to expand by 58,000 next year due to anextensive promotional campaign by the State Tourism Authority and lower air faresdue to increased competition in the industry’’: This would be a plus for the company as with increased visitors the possibility of people visiting the place would be much higher. Moreover the new road which is on the verge of completion would allow more accessibility to the place which would be an added advantage for the increased number of travellers in the coming year.
• Inflation is running at 4.2% per annum: Inflation is not much of a concern as it is well within the acceptable range. It would not largely impact the resort and the people coming to the place.

What would you advice the property to do to sustain a competitive advantage?

With all the competitive methods and core competencies in mind the management seems to have done a pretty good job. However the key to success would be its sustainability. In order to move ahead and use the competitive advantage to its merits the management needs to leverage on the positive aspects and build upon the other possibilities for a better future. Implementing a better promotional method along with increase in the number of facilities can help it sustain the competitive advantage it has got. For example: including more ground activities such as volleyball or other activities for both the children and adults could be major attraction.

Suggest strategies the property can implement to overcome the challenges they face.

For the challenges that are a concern for the company there are a few strategies that need to be implemented so that they could counter and work towards a profitable future. Some of the steps could be as follows:

• Pay more concern towards Environmental scanning and stay updated with the recent changes in the norms. Keeping the locality clean and abiding by the laid norms would always make the environmentalists have a friendly attitude towards the resort. This way they could implement more plans that they have in an acceptable manner without any objections from anybody.
• Develop a better storage facility which has better technology and capacity. As the availability of food is concern which is delivered to the place only once a week the need to stock food is much higher. In order to do so the company needs to make adequate arrangements to store the food and reduce any wastage whatsoever. Moreover with a possibility of increased tourists in the coming months it would be wise to set up a large unit which has a capacity for storing food for meeting the requirement of people even if its full to its capacity for a week or more.
• Another aspect is the strategy that needs to be looked into is promotion. Although it has been popular with word of mouth advertising and its online promotions it would be recommended for the management to promote the resort within the state as well as outside to attract to a larger audience.
• In order to counter the drift in the visitors during the winter one of the best suggestions could be offering of discounts and making cost effective group packages so that people are attracted to come in groups even in the winter seasons.

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