CHIẾN LƯỢC MARKETING: CUNG CẤP DỊCH VỤ KHÁCH SẠN HẠNG SANG CHO DOANH NHÂN TRUNG QUỐC Marketing Strategy Providing Chinese Entrepreneurs Services with Luxury Hotels Abstract This project focuses on the topic of building marketing strategies for Vietnamese hotel & luxurious resort services which are towards Chinese customers The purpose of this assignment is to attract wealthy Chinese customers by building a marketing strategy for a five-star hotel in Vietnam In this assignment, the writer would like to offer a look, both in detail and in general on the importance of cultural, multicultural issues, similarities and differences among cultures, and their influence on a hotel’s or a resort’s success or failure particularly, and on businesses operating in multi-cultural environments generally The project outline is structured based on a marketing strategy, stage by stage, from the general context of reality; the direction of building a new strategy to keep pace with environmental changes; to the step of analysing the environment and the market in hotel industry, building strategies for each divisions of a consolidated strategy and its implementation and management Marketing theories, cultural management, marketing management will be appropriately applied to the every stage of the project as the foundation for the analysis of factors affecting hotel & luxurious resort services throughout the project In addition, the project uses CAGE model to guide the analysises of differences of culture, administration, geography, and economy between Vietnam and China, through which the results obtained will allow an effective marketing strategy to be built, facilitating the company’s success in the future Keywords: Marketing, CAGE model, Hotel, Resort, China, Vietnam, Halong Bay, Strategy, Nha Trang, Hongkong, the Distance Model, Culture, Geography, Economy, Administration, ASEAN, Integrated marketing communication, Marketing mix, marketing, distribution, services, tourism, price I Introduction Hotel service in the market segments for upper customers is always implied great potential benefits in the world’s tourism industry Hotel and tourism services, especially luxurious hotels, are the product type which is elastic at the highest levels, to absolutely meet different needs and demands of its customers Currently, all of us are integrating with the world deeply and widely This process creates the constant stream of people moving from countries to countries, with different purposes A recent report by the World Tourism Organisation (in Jan 2011) revealed that as of 2010, the number of people visit other countries in the world reaches 935 million people, almost double the figure of 528 million people in 1995 These are impressive numbers for the hotel industry where the market grow fast and steadily in the past years However, the increase of customers from many countries requires hotels to have managers who can make changes in their strategic activities so as to satisfy the foreign guests Vietnam and China are known neighboring countries, sharing their borders both on the sea and sky The booming Chinese economy in recent decades has transformed this country the one with the second highest GDP in the world, only after the United States The rich and middle class in this country are also enlarged In addition, since Vietnam and China are close together, the total import and export amount between the two countries in the first six months in 2011 reached $15.699 million The economic, cultural, and social exchanges are very deep Therefore, the hotel sector should have appropriate strategies in using marketing tools to attract a large number of these customers Then to be most effective, there’s a need to know about these existing differences between the two countries, to have clear plans to make them faded Marketing strategies for the service of luxurious hotel, which are set in this context to be developed and adjusted so that they are suitable for different functions of a hotel business, is the main topic to be discussed in the next sections The building of a business strategy on the new market, in the new culture – China – needs to be based on the analysis of the differences between the two countries Therefore, the hotel senior management team has employed CAGE model as an analytical tool in steps of creating the marketing strategy, including analysis step, selection and plan construction step, plan implementation and management step, and the final step of evaluating the plan implementation and forecasting future opportunities and challenges for the hotel II Overview of Tourism and Hotel Services As an internationally traded service, inbound tourism has become one of the world’s major trade categories The overall export income generated by inbound tourism, including passenger transport, exceeded US$ trillion in 2010, or close to US$ billion a day Tourism exports account for as much as 30% of the world’s exports of commercial services and 6% of overall exports of goods and services Globally, as an export category, tourism ranks fourth after fuels, chemicals and automotive products For many developing countries it is one of the main sources of foreign exchange income and the number one export category, creating much needed employment and opportunities for development In 2010, world tourism recovered more strongly than expected from the shock it suffered in late 2008 and 2009 as a result of the global financial crisis and economic recession Worldwide, international tourist arrivals reached 940 million in 2010, up 6.6% over the previous year The vast majority of destinations reported positive and often double-digit increases, sufficient to offset losses or bring them close to this target Recovery came at different speeds – much faster in most emerging economies (+8%) and slower in most advanced ones (+5%) Asia and the Pacific (+13%) was the first region to recover and among the strongest growing regions in 2010 Africa maintained growth (+7%) and the Middle East returned to double digit growth (+14%) While the Americas rebounded (+6%) from the decline in 2009, Europe’s (+3%) recovery was slower than in other regions Most travel by air and for the purpose of leisure In 2010, travel for leisure, recreation and holidays accounted for just over half of all international tourist arrivals (51% or 480 million arrivals) Some 15% of international tourists reported travelling for business and professional purposes and another 27% travelled for other purposes, such as visiting friends and relatives (VFR), religious reasons and pilgrimages, health treatment, etc The purpose of visit for the remaining 7% of arrivals was not specified Slightly over half of travellers arrived at their destination by air transport (51%) in 2010, while the remainder travelled over the surface (49%) – whether by road (41%), rail (2%), or over water (6%) Over time, the trend has been for air transport to grow at a faster pace than surface transport, so the share of air transport is gradually increasing For hotel service industry, economic recession means serious problem Hotel services live on the people travelling Only people who are way from their homes for a certain time need a hotel Meanwhile, the economic recession tend to restrict movement of people Obviously, when their income decreases, the more they travel, the more quickly their money goes away in this hard time Hotel services can not be the exception for a sad ending However, the senior travelers market is not affected much by these factors Many reseach results have shown that the luxury travel market follows the trends of other luxury items Not only luxury travel is distinguished by the unique, brand reputation, along with unreasonably high prices, the basic characteristics of the luxury products, but all of them are affected by the same trends In summary, the economic downturn may cause a loss of billions of billionaires overnight, but it doesn’t mean that he will not buy luxury products Thus, luxury travel is expected to still develop, especifically, the number of wealthy customers in the newly emerging economies such as China or India will increase The Trends of International Tourism Market Key trends 2010: • Worldwide, international tourism rebounded strongly, with international tourist arrivals up 6.6% over 2009, to 940 million • The increase more than offset the decline caused by the economic downturn, with an additional 23 million arrivals over the former peak yearof 2008 • In 2010, international tourism receipts are estimated to have reached US$ 919 billion worldwide (693 billion euros), up from US$ 851 billion (610 billion euros) in 2009, corresponding to an increase in real terms of 4.7% • As a reflection of the economic conditions, recovery was particularly strong in emerging economies, where arrivals grew faster (+8%) than in advanced ones (+5%) Current developments and outlook: • According to the April 2011 Interim Update of the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, International tourist arrivals grew by close to 5% during the first two months of 2011, consolidating the rebound registered in 2010 • According to the forecast prepared by UNWTO at the beginning of the year, international tourist arrivals are projected to increase in 2011 by 4% to 5% The impact of developments in North Africa and the Middle East, as well as the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in March, are not expected to substantially affect this overall forecast Long-term trend: • Over the past six decades, tourism has experienced continued expansion and diversification becoming one of the largest and fastest growing economic sectors in the world Many new destinations have emerged alongside the traditional ones of Europe and North America • In spite of occasional shocks, international tourist arrivals have shown virtually uninterrupted growth: from 25 million in 1950, to 277 million in 1980, to 435 million in 1990, to 675 million in 2000, and the current 940 million • As growth has been particularly fast in the world’s emerging regions, the share in international tourist arrivals received by emerging and developing economies has steadily risen, from 31% in 1990 to 47% in 2010 III Analysis of Internal and External Hotel - Resort Environment The Internal Environment Analysing TRH internal environment is to help managers have a more complete perspective on its operation strengths and weaknesses, through which they are enable to take appropriate operation methods The strengths and weaknesses may be intangible or tangible elements that may affect TRH operation and be listed in the table below Tangible: - The strengths and weaknesses of TRH Strengths Weaknesses Tangible: Located on a prime location - an - Far away from the airport, the island in the middle of Halong Bay nearest international airport is Noi - Located in the area bordering China Bai, 150 kms - Provides 4-star hotel and villas - Spa services, Chinese restaurants, bars - Theme parks: beaches, aqua dance - the level of luxury stages, ghost house, animal circus club, golf courses, 18-hole golf course (on project) - Port of passenger ships, Tuan Chau Cat Ba ferries, cruises - Facilities (4 stars) has not reached Park with models of the world’s wonders Intangible: - Intangible: Good at foreign language, especially - Chinese - Human resources are at the level of intermediate Located at Ha Long Bay, one of the - world’s new wonders of natures There are no specific programs to develop existing human resources as well as the future supply External Environment 2.1 Political Envirornment From 1975 till now, except for the time of diplomatic isolation and economic embargo because of the issue with Cambodia, Vietnamese social generally quite stable and peaceful Difficult issues like religion, race, or sovereignty sometimes rose (The Thuong in Tay Nguyen, Catholism, territorial disputes with several countries in the region) are all small in size and have not yet affected Vietnamese society Today, Vietnam society is considered peaceful and stable, and in good relationships with many great nations in the region and globally In addition, political relations between Vietnam and China could also be considered stable when the two authorities share a common ideology However, there are now two main problems in the relationship between the two countries which can strongly affect its future Firstly, it is the South China Sea disputes between some countries in the area, in which Vietnam and China are the two main forces Secondly, the matter of the Tonkin Gulf demarcation, which is located just outside the Ha Long Bay, has not yet been resolved Both of the factors are very sensitive and complicated If not resolved, their consequences will not only affect the tourism industry but also the entire political economy of Vietnam 2.2 Economical Environment In the two recent decades, Vietnam and China are Asian countries with the fastest growth Income per capita of Vietnam is over $1000 in 2010, which makes the country become one of the countries with incomes at average international level (source: IMF website) Meanwhile, the year 2010 also marked China’s rapid development when it overtook Japan to become the world’s second largest economy with the total GDP of $5,878.207 billion ($4,382.136 per capital) counted by the current price (source: IMF website) The economic relation between the two countries develops rapidly but disproportionately and has bad effect on Vietnam As of the first half in 2011, Vietnam get a $6.25 billion trade deficit from China In the coming years, Vietnam economy will be restructured towards macroeconomic stability and sustainable development, its mechanisms will be transformed, trade commitments will also be implemented under the frame of the World Trade Organization which this country has been a member since 2007, and Vietnam to become an industrialized country in 2020 2.3 Cultural and Social Environment Vietnam culture in general is quite diverse with 54 ethnic groups living together peacefully, scattering across 64 provinces in the country The Kinh is the majority, accounting for more than 90% Vietnamese population In terms of administrative information, the majority of Vietnam does not follow any religion, is probably derived from the Communist Party’s policy of the atheism In fact, the main religion of the Vietnam majority as Tam Giao Dong Nguyen, which means a cultural religion is constituted by the harmonious blend over nearly two millennia of Buddhism (Indian origin), Confucianism and Taoism (Chinese origin) As a result, there are many similarities that shared between Vietnamese and Chinese cultures However, still remain major differences in customs, life style, stereotypes, values, etc 2.4 Technological Environment Currently, internet and communications systems are quickly developed in Vietnam, which creates favorable conditions for exchange of information and connections between people of different regions and countries Tourists can easily access the internet everywhere for contacting their family or for many other purposes 2.5 Natural Environment Vietnam is located in the heart of Southeast Asia, in the eastern of the Indochina, with a long coastline of 3.260 kms and land border of 4.510 km Vietnam climate is tropical climate and divided into four distinct seasons About three quarters of its territory is mountainous and tropical rainforest Due to these features, Vietnam is very favorable for the development of tourism 2.6 Legal Environment In term of legal, the status of insecurity and inorder at tourist destinations in Vietnam is very common as Vietnam has not had particular law to overcome this This make Vietnam tourism image to be no longer appreciated in the eyes of international tourists Given the analysis on the six factors, we can come to below conclusions about the opportunities and challenges for Vietnam’s tourism industry Opportunities Challenges - Located in the centre of the region with - Potential risk of territory China several important airlines and international - Current problems of eco-environmental shippinglines pollution in Ha Long Bay - Political stability and social peace - Vietnam is one of the countries which are - Building diplomatic relationhips with 178 most affected by climate change countries and territories in the world - The governmental stability policy and of (www.mofa.gov.vn) macroeconomic - Rapid economic growth control during the coming years may - The four season climate is favorable for restrain the TRH financial ability 10 inflation (Source: Vietnamese Tourism Organization Website http://www.vietnamtourism.gov.vn/) It is clear that the number of international tourists to Vietnam seems to reach yearly peak at the end of the year and the beginning of the next year, and then go down in the midyear The trends of Chinese tourists - Destinations: Depends on the factors like cultures, Chinese government’s economic policies, the destination chosen by Chinese visistors is often in the Asia Pacific region, especially North Asia and Southeast Asia About 70% of the tourists arrive at Hong Kong or Macau - Place of departure: Most of them are from big cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and some major economic zones 13 - Purposes: Touring and eye opening are their main purpuses as most of them are traveling abroad for the first time They, therefore, tend to visit different places in a trip - Types: Due to Chinese rules limiting them from going abroad, Chinese tourists are often difficult to travel individually They often have to take tours organized and managed by tour operators - As they have not much information of the destinations, the Chinese tend to visit a lot of famous places in the same trip VI Market Segmentation Market Segmenting Segmentation is a detailed process to define the overall market into smaller structures (so-called segment) where people have characteristic parameters and different buying behaviors However, people within the same segment have those that are similar Corporates can use marketing - mix effectively in each target market segment The purpose of segmentation is to help hotels to better define customer groups who have similar needs, then it can choose the groups which it can satisfy their needs at the highest level To meet all the above four requirements, the selection of criteria for segmentation is extremely important Market segmentation criteria are plentiful, among them are the following six criteria which are usually used by hospitality businesses: - Segmentation by geography Segmentation by socioeconomic and demographic Segment by psychological therapy Segment by behavior of customers groups Segmentation for the purpose of the trip Segmentation by products 14 In the case of TRH which aims to service wealthy Chinese customers, TRH need to segment Chinese customers into three groups: - Segmentation by geography: The wealthy Chinese consumers tend to live in big cities or exclusive economic zones such as Beijing, Shanghai, Hongkong, Guangzhou, etc - Segmentation by customers behavior: Customers behaviours depend on many - factors like their power, wealth level, social status, education, culture, etc Segmentation by purpose of the trip: Visitors coming for the purpose of leisure travel or doing business Market Targeting The segmentation show opportunities in each market segment before businesses After analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of each segment, the company must decide how many segments to target at, which segments, which one is the best, which one is the the most appropriate This is the matter of key markets selection TRH targets at the segments of the area, customer’s status, and their purpose of travel of the guests Therefore, it is necessary to have distinct and focused marketing methods on each group It can be illustrated as follows: Chiến lược marketing Khách hàng phân theo vị trí địa lý Chiến lược marketing Khách hàng phân theo địa vị xã hội Chiến lược marketing Khách hàng phân theo mục đích chuyến Market Positioning 15 Once decided which are in the market to enter, the enterprise must decide its position in the regional market The position of a service product is the level of service seen by customers in comparison with those of competitors Successfully locating will make customers easily recognize the differences and make them see what they’re looking for Moreover, it also allows businesses to identify opportunities in the market the most closely Marketing professionals can take some of the following positioning strategies: + Locate the product on its specific features + Identify the position based on customer needs and interests + Identify the position for the specific case of using + Identify the position for groups of customers + Locate the counterweight to other products + Determine the product position by differentiation VII Marketing Strategy A strategy can be understood as a set of interactive activities occurs orderly, aiming to achieve a target output Marketing strategy, according to this, can be defined as propaganda activities to communicate new message about the product to a group of potential customers in the most effective way To effectively implement a marketing strategy, firstly, we need to know that marketing is one among functions linking together to form the complete enterprise framework So, in order for business strategy to be effective, marketing strategy must be formulated and executed synchronously with the operation of other business functions such as finance, production, management, supply, etc Secondly, to build and implement a marketing strategy on a market of other cultures, we have to consider difference elements between the original market and the new markets the most important factors affecting the success of the two strategies Strategy of Services 16 Product, in marketing point of view, closely associated with the respose to customer needs So it should be considered both physically and non-physically The product of the hotel is basically services It is characterized as tangible (visible) and intangable (invisible) In other words, a hotel service product is created by combining a series of intangible and tangible factors in order to satisfy customers at the highest level For example, a perfect hotel product for wealthy visitors from China may include the hotel’s favorable position, surrrounding landscape, luxurious cars, many types of rooms for choosing, the unique cuisine, the friendly and courtesy hotel staff who can communicate in Chinese, a full set of services such as spa, swimming pools, bars, local tours, convenient traffic, near the airport, near commercial center, etc Therefore, there’s a need to build a chain of services that can meet different customers needs In fact, customers not buy goods or services, they are buying specific values and benefits from goods and services Service product of TRH can be divided into for levels as the following: - The first level is the core product or basic service: This is the most basic level - manifesting the fundamental benefits that customers are actually buying The second level is a category product: Give the customer the benefit of - categories, customers can find products and services best suited them The third level is the expected product: It is represented by the attributes and - conditions buyers expect, usually those accompanying the core product The fourth level is additional products: It is represented by the additional services and benefits This is the factor to differentiate services from competitors’ same type of products and services For instant, we can divide TRH products and services into four following levels: - The first group is its core products or basic services: A relaxing place for tourists - The second group is product and service category: There are three types, hotel rooms, villas, and yachts 17 - The third group is the expected product: TRH provide customer services such as Chinese restaurants, spa, animal circus entertainment area, parks, aqua - dance stage, sightseeing tours on the Bay, etc The fourth group is additional products: TRH provides its customers’ with free services such as airport shuttle, mean of transport (tandem bike), wifi, etc Based on the key segments, the hotel will connect each of its services to suit each interest of customer groups To achieve the above requirements and stablize and increase the sales of service products in order to gain maximum profits, businesses can choose or combine the three following strategies: Strategy of product improvement and development, strategy of category innovation, and strategy of game set (expand, restrict, or separate category) - The strategy of product improvement and development: In the case that the product has got the proper length, and then it is possible to adjust partially or change a full range of game, combined with customers’ feedback about this - innovation The strategy of category innovation: This is a very important direction to ensure the enterprise to have product strategy which is always adapt to the - market Strategy of establishing products and services game: A products and services game is understood as a combination of length with the harmonization of different services that form the system of services appropriate with the desire of target customers So this strategy has to decide whether to maintain, remove, or add a name or some new products and services in the existing products and services game Categories may either be limited (if too long) or expanded (if too short) in one or both directions, or fill into a new category in the existing service product group 18 Strategy of Pricing: Price is known as a tool of marketing - mix which companies use to achieve their marketing goals The decision on cost must be associated with the decisions on products and services, apportion of shareholders to form a consistent and effective marketing program Prices for the hospitality and tourism products are determined on different markets, depending on the quality, uniqueness, and the seasonality, and its space On the other hand, prices for tourism hotel products also need to have the distinction of two custeomer groups (origin, income level, and consuming time) Pricing strategies are tailored to the sales process and can be broken down as follows: + Low price strategy + Market valuation strategy + High price strategy Any strategy among the three strategies is aimed at selling the products and services However, the sales have specific different objectives Sepcific objectives for pricing strategy can be listed in two following main directions: - Firstly, in term of profits: To create maximum profit or to maintain the achieved profit Profit is an indicator influenced by three factors: cost, price, and consumed quantity Effective strategy of price, therefore, can increase sales - volume and may lead to a reduction in the cost price Secondly, in term of the hotel position in the market, a company set out the correct pricing strategy to be able to get a certain position in the competitive market Therefore, the assessment of business is a very complex work, it no longer requires a company to pay attention to their own interests, but to the consumers interests on the basis of the current rules When formulating strategy of price, following main terms should be counted: 19 - Firstly, the prices must be based on laws and governmental policies and management - Secondly, pricing strategy should be based on general costs and product unit costs - Thirdly, the pricing strategy must be formulated on the basis of estimated total demand for goods and services However, the price is also attractive because of the product itself and the level of acceptance by consumer for it - Fourthly, a product strategy should be focused to a provide a price frame to determine prices’ labor scope and to guide the development of specific prices in specific periods Based on the above points, TRH should develop pricing strategy to attract Chinese tourists in the following factors: - Customers’ affordability: the Chinese middle-class consumers, with their good economic capability, can respond to the price of luxury hotel services However, in many cases, especially in the economic downturn, they will be more price-conscious So TRH is required to have a lot of prices for its basic services to offer them more choices that best suits their capacity - The characteristics of services: TRH offers three basic services are hotel rooms, villas, and yachts Depending on the characteristics of them, TRH can arrange different prices for each type For example, Villa will be the highest price since it creates isolation space and more comfortable for a family or a small group of tourists Yacht price will be the second highest because of its distinction and luxury, and the lowest price will be set for individuals - The current season: As indicated above, tourists tend to rise in the last months of the year, so this will be the time for seting the highest prices TRH should set right price to attract new customers in the rest months 20 - Production costs: Shopping needs often increase at the end of the year, which lead to an increase in prices at this time This also proves that TRH should offer the right price to balance costs and benefits Integrated Marketing Communication Strategy In the today market mechanism, in addition to the three strategies mentioned above, the promotional strategy plays an important role It works during the history of the company to inculcate the company image in customers mind, building customers a habit of remembering the company’s product and service The objective of a promotional strategy is to promote sales, and to make current consumers use the products more often Stimulate and attract new customers to pay attention to the company’s products and services, from which serve and satisfy unsatisfied needs and creating new demand There are a lot of marketing methods, but to use them effectively, we should analysed the market’s socio-cultural, political law characteristics For the Chinese market, following points should be noted: Firstly, in term of culture, we agree with the view of Charlene M Solomon and Michael S Schell that in order to approach for marketing your hotel, we should have a reference from a faithful friend or a partner who can warrant the hotel In the book Managing Across Cultures, the authors have given specific examples on a special kind of relationship called Guanxi (relationship), one of the strongest power in the Chinese culture Those who have Guanxi often act quickly to help their partners, grant each others, and consider how deep the relationships are to support the partners’ family if necessary The mutual benefits of Guanxi and its following obligations are the reason why the Chinese not like going into a relationship with those who not know Starting a new relationship with whom they don’t know may take them into a disadvantageous position which is difficult to pull out Moreover, they worry that those who they have established a guanxi will not prove to be deserved and may make their 21 reputation overshadowed Besides, like in Vietnam, word of mouth is often a dramatically effective marketing method On hearing about a certain product or service from reliable people/organizations, people seem to be opener to the information, and less skeptical about the products and services Therefore, we need to define through the people/organizations familiar to the Chinese to promote our hotel’s image Firstly, we will attend trade fairs between the two countries China and Vietnam, with regard to economic exchange, tourism The trade fairs are held annually in large cities where there are a lot of potential customers for the hotel In addition, it is also necessary for us to participate in Vietnam – China International Travel Trade Fairs, an international trade fair held annually, alternating between Mong Cai (Vietnam) and Dong Xing (China) With the aim to create conditions for enterprises in the both countries to promote branded products, exchange goods, boost export and import activities The fair will be organized periodically for years/period, by the Mong Cai, Quang Ninh This is considered one of the events promoting trade – tourism – major investment and prestige of Quang Ninh (According to www.baoquangninh.com.vn) We also promote the participation of China-Asean trade fair Particularly, in the 8th trade fair in Nanning, China, held by the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency – Ministry of Industry and Trade Vietnam have an delegation to participate in the 8th China – ASEAN (CAEXPO 2011) in Nanning City, China (Source: www.quangninhtrade.gov.vn) In addition to attending trade fairs and exhibitions, we also work closely with the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), Young Business Association, Entrepreneur Associations in the two countries Take the VCCI as an example, one of its main objectives is to promote economic cooperation, trade and science – technology between Vietnam and other countries on the basis of equality and mutual benefits Therefore, the VCCI has been organizing a lot of economic activities with other countries, including the neighbor China We, besides, think the organization of seminars will also bring more results in marketing for the hotel Like the Vietnamese businessmen, Chinese entrepreneurs believe in official 22 information sources, from government departments, the international events which are held solemnly and prestigiously Therefore, the conferences, professionally held at the hotel, with the combination of the prestigious institutions of economic and trade mentioned above and the presence of charismatic Chinese epresentatives will be one of the effective ways of marketing the hotel The hotel’s desired guest is Li Ka-shing – the richest man in the Asia His assets are centralized on the Cheung Kong Group and Hutchison Whampoa Through them, Li is the world’s largest container port operator, a major power supply of Hong Kong, a provider of mobile services, a retailer and a property developer Another good choice is Mr Wong Kwong-yu - the founder of Gome Appliances, known for activities of home shopping aiming at the prosperous new middle class in China; Stanley Ho, often called the king who developed the corporation Macau Sociedade de Jogos; or Zhang Yin, who has built the paper recycling company Nine Dragons Paper Co., the China’s largest cardboard producer for packaging purpose Before, during, and after each event is taken place, a series of hotel information will be cleverly incorporated in all PR articles published widely via Chinese media In addition, inviting leading Chinese leisure and entertainment stars to visit Quang Ninh, Vietnam is also a selected marketing plan Some celebrities like Jackie Chan, who is the most famous celebrities in China thanking to the international position of the star and his popularity on media recently; and the famous Hong Kong amateur, the current husband of Miss Malaysia Chu Thien Le; etc At the same time, we are considering whether the hotel joins the World Hotels system, which has a sales network (Sales Office), the experiences of nearly 500 hotels around the world with reservation systems, global distribution, specialized human resource Although these people proved to be effective in numbers, they must report their specific work to prove their effect A specialist will become “a pioneer leader” if he/she came from the industry to develop his/her local market Given these activity channels, we expect the number of the hotel’s guests will sharply increase 23 So in an era of digital, is online marketing an effective solution to promote a hotel to its potential customers? In terms of demographic, nearly three quarters the number of Internet users in China (71.7%) are living in cities (impact on accessing speed?) However, there is up to 72.4% of them (in both cities and rural areas) having an income of below ¥2,000/month (equivalent to $290) while the income per capita of China is $1,740/year The number includes 31.7% students, 7.4% unemployed people, and only 12.4% are college graduates or higher This reveals that, in terms of culture, people with high incomes and education will not use the internet much, so we will not focus on the development of online marketing Newspapers are used more for our communication campaigns instead PR articles, advertisements on major economic, social and travel newspaper in China will be considered We are thinking of advertising the hotel image on magazines and newspapers such as China International Business which has firmly sold 60,181 copies with over 264,796 readers in major cities and regions including Beijing , Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong In addition, the newspaper also has some distribution in second-tier cities like Tianjin, Dalian, Qingdao, Harbin, Hangzhou, Xiamen, Chengdu, Chongqing, Xian and Sanya Journal Global Entrepreneur Press is also an alternative choice This is the leading business magazine in China with 150,000 copies, etc Strategy of Product Distribution Strategy for products and services distribution is the way a company delivers products and services to its customers in the target market This includes a combination of networks, the distribution channels This is the consumers’ consolidated process or a direct implementation or through a chain of stores Sales are often done by companies, while travel agents create the relationship between customers and servicepersons through contract Along with the development and diversification of products due to the increasingly intensive social labor division, distribution channels of tourism products are now widen and have many chains 24 With the conditions and characteristics of TRH services, there are following appropriate distribution channels: - Tour operators; - Transportation: airlines - Relationships with partners, customers inside China - Internet – Building and completing the online booking system - Phone - Recruiting communication consultants good at Chinese to receive any phone calls from China The distribution channels can be illustrated as below Tuần Châu Resort Hạ Long Website Đối tác Cty Lữ hành Điện thoại Hãng hàng không Khách hàng VIII Conclusion Through the analysis in the previous sections, it can be concluded that an effective marketing strategy should be based on the understanding of the differences between cultures as well as factors such as economic, political and geographical conditions These factors have significant impact on the market and those who are involved in They also affect the definition of individual needs and how they perceive and evaluate the products and services Therefore, understanding the gap between markets and customer groups is 25 the key to build and implement successful marketing campaigns in particular and business strategies in general References Barsky., J (2010) Luxury Hotels and Recession: A View From Around the World Market Metrix Conrandy., R & Buck., M (2011) Trend and Issue in Global Toursim 2011 Springer Ghemawhat., P (2007) Redefining Global Strategy: Crossing Borders in a World Where Differences Still Matter Harvard Business Press Books Guangrui., Z (2006) CHINA’S OUTBOUND TOURISM: AN OVERVIEW WTM – Chinacontact Conference 2006 Kotler., P (2002) Marketing Management Prentice Hall: New Jersey Millenium ed Reid., R & Bojanic., D (2006) Hospitality Marketing Management John Wiley & Sons Inc: New Jersey Solomon., C.M & Schell., M.S (2009) Managing Across Cultures: The Seven Keys To Doing Business With A Global Mindset The McGraw-Hill UNWTO Annual Report: A year of recovery 2010 UNWTO Tourism Highlights - 2011 Edition UNWTO World Tourism Barometer - Advance Released on Jan 2011 26 UNWTO World Tourism Barometer - Interim Update on April 2011 www.vietnamtourism.gov.vn www.quangninhtrade.gov.vn www.mofa.gov.vn www.imf.org 27 ... focused marketing methods on each group It can be illustrated as follows: Chiến lược marketing Khách hàng phân theo vị trí địa lý Chiến lược marketing Khách hàng phân theo địa vị xã hội Chiến lược marketing. ..Administration, ASEAN, Integrated marketing communication, Marketing mix, marketing, distribution, services, tourism, price I Introduction Hotel service... Corporates can use marketing - mix effectively in each target market segment The purpose of segmentation is to help hotels to better define customer groups who have similar needs, then it can choose the