ASSESEMENT OF MARKETING STRATEGY PRACTICE IN FOUR STAR HOTELS IN ADDIS ABABA

Abstract

One of the core activities in Business Company to stay in a business is having a well-developed marketing strategy. The crucial success or failure of a company depends on its marketing strategy. Accordingly, this study has been conducted to assess the marketing strategy practices of four star hotels in Addis Ababa. It assessed how the marketing strategies were practiced in the hotels to achieve their goals associated with segmentation, target market, positioning and the marketing mix elements to satisfy customer requirements. The study is a descriptive type of research employed by using both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Both primary and secondary data collection instruments were used to collect data. The primary data was collected through open and closed ended questionnaire. Considering the size of the population is small the selections of the respondents was carried out by using census. The finding show that most of four star hotels used a mix of the 7P’marketing mix element in their marketing strategies. The research finds that most of the hotels used pricing and promotion as a means of marketing strategy. Furthermore, four star hotels have identified their major target customers which are NGO’s and Tour and Travels. Moreover, four star hotel’s market segmentation practice is mainly based on geographical and behavioral segmentation. Even though the marketing strategies of the hotels are most effectively practiced, there are some difficulties that the marketing department faced while implementing it. These are; limited budget, increment of promotional expense and production costs, seasonality of the sector, high turnover rate of marketers and lack of skilled man power specialized in hotel management.