Unit 4 MARKETING

Unit 4.5: Extended marketing mix

People, Processes, Physical Evidence

People

Pacific Horizons Hotel is a large, beachfront resort attracting international tourists for luxury vacations. However, recent reviews indicate growing dissatisfaction among guests. The hotel staff, many of whom are young and in their first job, lack formal training and display low motivation. Their inexperience leads to inefficiency in daily operations, with guests facing long wait times at reception and in the restaurant. Additionally, many staff members appear poorly presented, contributing to a sense of unprofessionalism. Management sets low expectations for staff performance, resulting in inconsistent service and poor communication with guests. These issues are visibly damaging the hotel’s reputation, with complaints about the overall atmosphere and the failure to meet guests’ expectations of a high-end resort. As a result, customer satisfaction and repeat bookings have steadily declined.

QUESTION

With reference to 1) appearance 2) body language 3) aptitude and attitude 4) feedback and efficiency

You are asked to come up with a short training plan to address the isues of ‘people’ 

  1. The training plan should make specific reference to the case study and seek to solve the problems addressed

Processes

The hotel often receives coachloads of guests arriving simultaneously, which overwhelms the staff and creates long queues in the dimly lit foyer. This congestion not only frustrates guests waiting to check in but also impedes the movement of other visitors trying to access the hotel’s facilities. The untrained staff struggle to manage the influx, and with senior management rarely visible, there’s no clear leadership to handle the pressure. Many guests become visibly bored and agitated while waiting, particularly when staff struggle to answer simple queries such as “Can I have a late checkout?”

Further compounding the issue, the hotel still relies heavily on manual paperwork and outdated record-keeping systems, leading to errors such as overbookings, which add to the guest frustration. Room service is also slow, and to make matters worse, guests are required to pay for their food at the door once it has been prepared, instead of the payment being processed earlier. These operational inefficiencies and lack of digital support are damaging the hotel’s reputation, driving a decline in customer satisfaction and repeat bookings.

QUESTION

With reference to the same hotel, you are tasked with identifying the obvious problems and work out a solution or solutions! 

1.) You are required to use your experience of Business management and hotels in general to propose some affordable solutions that should be directly linked to the case study of the ‘Pacific Hotel’. Consider that these problems may exist because of long-term falling revenues, which may make some solutions unworkable on a cost basis.

Physical evidence

Greenwood Academy, a long-established school located in London, has a history of serving the local community as a general-entry institution. Despite strong leadership and well-managed internal operations, the school’s physical campus is outdated. The aging buildings, worn-out facilities, and lack of modern amenities have created a perception that Greenwood is an underperforming school, even though its educational management and teaching quality remain extremely high. Parents and potential students are often deterred by the appearance of the school rather than its academic offerings.

In response to this, Greenwood Academy’s leadership team has decided to reposition the school as a top-achieving, results-focused institution. Their goal is to become more selective and to attract high-performing students from a broader area, moving away from being perceived as simply the neighborhood school. To achieve this, the school management team understands that communicating this new vision to stakeholders—parents, students, and staff—is critical. They aim to balance the school’s long history of community service with the new direction of academic excellence and exclusivity.

QUESTION

With reference to the case study, you are tasked with the following: 

You are required to use your experience of Business management and schools in general to

  1. Propose a marketing solution to communicate the new message or direction to stakeholders 
  2. Make decisions about how you would change the ‘physical evidence’ of the school given significant budget constraints!