TRM 361

SERVICE MARKETING

INTERIM REPORT

W
Ezgi zgm Nee Roman Yasemin Aksoy

W Istanbul is a sub-brand of Starwood Management Company, which is among top 5 most prominent management companies of the world. Starwood has a total of 1000 hotels of 9 hotel chains, those are namely Westin, Le Meridien, Sheraton, Four Points by Sheraton, St. Regis, W Hotels, The Luxury Collection, The Element, and Aloft. W Istanbul is the first W Hotel founded on Europe continent. Previously there were Ws in America, W Hongkong or W Doha but it was the first time a W Hotel was established in Europe. In this sense W Istanbul is lucky and worthless. Furthermore, it is a very unique opportunity for Istanbul to prove itself since in the other metropoles in Europe W is still in construction but did not get opened. W Istanbul property has a total of 134 rooms of 10 different categories. It has 44 Wonderful rooms, 23 Spectacular rooms, 26 Fabulous rooms and 12 Mega rooms of Standard room category; in addition, 15 Studio Suites, 8 Fantastic Suites, 3 Marvelous Suites, 1 Cool Corner Suite, 1 WOW Suite and 1 EXTREME WOW Suite. As the names would imply, W has a lingo of its own. W does not have employees; it has talents. There is no housekeeping service offered, but instead Style will handle the cleaning. These names should give the guest a certain picture that he/she is supposed to meet. W Istanbul places itself as a concept city hotel. In the property there are no swimming pools nor tennis courts or large meeting spaces. That is why W Istanbul does not have 5 stars. However it has the special category according to Turizm Bakanl Turizm Tesisleri Nitelikler Ynetmelii. The hotel welcomes its first guests at April 1st, 2008. Thus it can be remarked that the property y is quite recently established. In spite of this his fact, W Istanbul is very well settled, thanks to Starwood. W has extremely detailed standards because Starwood regulates every

aspect of the service quality it provides. These standards are called HID How Its Done Operating Standards and every talent has to memorize most of it so that he/she can give the proper service the guest expects from every W hotel property worldwide. When making important decisions, even top managers first take a look at HIDs and then take the action. It is crucial to stick with these values to keep the brand in one piece. To speak the same language matters the most. W Istanbul is an establishment which cares for and focuses on senses. It has the aim to make the guest live in Wonderland and to create memories for every guest. In order to do so, the surroundings are set based on this feeling. In the rooms as well as public spaces (for example lobby or elevators) a special scent is sprayed that has the name W Perfume. In every W property it smells the same. Moreover, every corner in public spaces has lots of candles that are ignited each day at 8 oclock to give the same welcoming feeling. One of the most important aims of W Brand is to make the guest a part of Ws extended family. Every mailing to guest is concluded with from your W family. Talents learn these aims in training sessions. Each and every talent has to participate in these seminars in order to feel the W spirit. There are 2 important basic trainings, which are called WOO (Winning Others Over) and W-hoops! (How to make In WOO training; the it up to the guest when something is wrong).

basic concept to learn is the Secret Seven. Secret Seven comprises of; 1) Smile & Eye Contact 2) Warm Welcoming 3) Active Listening 4) Appropriate & Friendly (friendly, sincere but appropriate attitudes to be adopted)

5) Name Usage (W talents call the guest with their first names.) 6) Whatever / Whenever ( Whatever you want, Whenever you want it) 7) 10 to 5 rule (When the guest is 10 steps away, make eye contact and smile; when the guest is 5 steps away, present yourself and initiate conversation) These secret seven points summarizes the W attitude every talent has to adopt. Since the power behind the brand is the people working for it, it is extremely important for the talents the keep these seven points in mind. On the other hand in W-hoops training, talents learn how to apologize and make it up to the guest. In this sense, LEAST model is applied. Its the LEAST we can do! Listen Empathize Apologize Solve Thank

In W Hotels, talents do not carry name tags but they do carry W pins. The basic logic behind it is to give the talent a chance to present himself/herself. As long as you do not have your name on your chest, you have to talk to the guest and present yourself to prove that you work for W.

Strengths

Weaknesses

Strong Brand name: W hotels are new in Europe but prominent in America and Asia. So there are many guests coming to W Istanbul just as a loyalty to the brand. W Istanbul did not live through the hardships a young hotel chain may live since W is a known and strong brand and people all over the world already know and trust the brand. In this sense, employees also trust the brand equally. Thus, this element employees are

High Turnover Rate:

Tourism sector by its nature has a problem with turnover because of long working hours. Not every person can endure these conditions. Especially women quit often because of their will to rise up a family.

Bad Management:

is the most important reason why W Istanbul established by Bilgili attracted Turizm Co. So Bilgili family is the main shareholder. They interrupt the management very often and most of the time they contradict the Association with Starwood: managers. However since they have the money, they are the ones in charge. Even the powerfully to the brand.

Since W is a chain created by decisions of General Manager are Starwood, Starwood supports the pointless and passive when it brand in a very obvious way. comes to Bilgili Family. The board Putting aside the monetary of managers are invisible. The main misfortune of W Istanbul is to be a part of Bilgili Co. support, Starwood knows how to play the game. That is why W Istanbul had not live through a hard time in the opening season. Marketing know-how came along as a part of Starwood support. Starwood also inspects the
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Opportunities

Threats

Uniqueness:

Too many alternatives:

W Hotels all over the world are There are many chain 5 star known by their young and hip hotels in high quality so W has to style. In W, there are no work hardest to be different than bureaucracies between the guest the others. Its competitors take and the talent. One of the main away its share day by day. service promises of W is to be friendly and flirty. free to W talents are in any Global Economic Recession interact

(appropriate) way. In this sense, W Istanbul is unique compared to its competitors. In hotels like Hilton, Economic recession caused many Ritz Carlton or Ciragan Kempinski, institutions to lose Money and W is there are many rules regulating one of them. Decreasing revenues the and relationships guests. of of employees and increasing costs do not help the heavy W to improve itself as much as it are need. Since the revenues go hotels Even other

uniforms

banned in W Istanbul. W talents down, W cannot pay its employees dress T-shirts and jeans instead of higher salaries and raises. Thus, suits. The W soul creates the main difference among its competitors and that is an opportunity .It is noticed by management. this results in high turnover.

Hotel Industry in Istanbul

The facilities that you offer are essential in hotel industry but the location of destination plays a significant role on this importance. Istanbul is the best well-known city in Turkey. For example, Taksim is the newer part of the city and the main business district. Sultanahmet Area is the historical old city part. ehzadeba Area is a subarea of Sultanahmet with Grand Bazaar. Airport Area is ideal for short term stays and business visits. Lastly, Beyazt Area includes Beyazt Tower and many historical attractions as well. So it can be said that in this industry each hotel has to choose the right place according to its target market. W is located around the Beikta. It is easy to get Taksim, Sultanahmet and Beyazt due to tramway service.

Why do tourists visit Istanbul? *Business Travel *Package Tours * Island Tours *Compact City Tours *Bosporus Tours *Meeting Congress Organization *Nights Show Tours

*Shopping Tours *Football Tours *Airport transfer and Private Tours *Culture Heritage Tour *Sport Center (Paint Ball, Fitness Center) Tours *Whirling Dervish Ceremony Tours (Sufism) *Horse Riding Tours *Tours with Health Purposes (dentists, transplantations, eye hospitals etc.) Istanbul hotels are addressed to foreign tourists in general. Most attractive feature of Istanbul is its deep history. Therefore, many tourists are coming to Turkey for wander-lust tourism. In recent years, Istanbul has become a significant meeting center. At this point, there have been a plenty of large congress and meeting spaces around Istanbul. W offers meeting rooms and offers everything you need to make your business beautiful, meeting memorable and special event spectacular. Creative in approach and innovative in design W Hotels knows how to energize and engage your attendees. Many types of hotel categorizations which can be counted as historical hotels, special class hotels, residence hotels, 5 star hotels, 4 star hotels, 3 star hotels, 2 star hotels and guest houses and boutique hotels are in Istanbul. Boutique Hotels Istanbul provides quality accommodation services in small, charming and luxury Istanbul hotels. They offer excellent service, highest standards, notable beauty and competitive fair prices. They are boutique because they are unique.

Staying a small specialist in our field is the only way we can achieve our aim to provide with as much time and advice you need and to provide you with excellent service and truly reliving and memorable holiday. W is a boutique hotel and in Istanbul it has not much more competitors from the point of categorization. When we consider W in terms of competition analysis, we see that Park Hyatt and Four Seasons Sultanahmet are the most challenging competitors in Istanbul because these hotels have similar type of customers (targets) and similar capacity and quality of product. They all offer exceptional small meeting rooms and weddings. The meeting rooms are well- equipped in order to reflect a sense of excellence and style and for the wedding is that you have always dreamed of. They respond to the needs of the most demanding leisure and business travelers.

Customer Trends In today's highly competitive will choose their business business world their hotel chains are Successful

constantly striving to improve the possibilities that potential customers over competitors. entrepreneurs have strived to outpass others in their field by finding ways to make their business stand out from the competitors. In terms of customer trends, what guests count mainly the high level of service is. Less than perfect service is the real ingredient necessary to ensure a brand's success. Perfecting customer service basics, such as gratitude and guest recognition is necessary. This is possible and realistic since regardless of the amenities and most advanced technology offered to guests, it ultimately comes down to how you make your guest feel throughout their stay. By taking actions and using words of gratitude and recognition the guest feels like a valued individual.
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More and more customers value high technology devices as another trend. W Istanbul differentiates itself by having even iPod docking systems in the room, which the competitors like Four Seasons of Park Hyatt definitely have not. In addition to technological aspects, spacious rooms are also appreciated by guests. An high-paying guest would not like to confine himself/herself into a tiny room. Customers divide in themselves in terms of their purposes of travel. Leisure guests mostly focus on luxury aspects the room whereas business travelers cannot stand a room without wireless connection. Luxury aspects of W Istanbul are quite satisfactory. Especially the modern, sexy and cool design attracts young people. As an unwritten principle, W Istanbul generally strives to attract young customers under the age of 50, because some aspects of the design might annoy senior citizens. Guest Satisfaction Indexes (GSI) by Starwood Corp. shows that elderly people most of the time complain how dark the rooms are, whereas young people adore it for they find it romantic. (That is one of the reasons why more and more honeymoon couples choose W Istanbul to spend their honeymoons.) On the other hand, business customers value accessibility as a must factor. Unfortunately W Istanbul does not have a business center; therefore, most business customers find it very ironic and this fact plays a negative role among the reasons to be chosen. Furthermore, internet connection is told to be very pricy and unproffesional because it gets disconnected very often while business customers try and try to send an email in vain. Another customer trend is the pet policy. Since people appreciate flexibility in a hotel, they would like to go anywhere with their pets, as long as they do not harm anyone. Among the competitive set (Four Seasons or Park Hyatt) none of the hotels accept pets in the hotel since

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having a pet inside increases the costs. However customers demand that they are allowed to travel with their pet companions. Thus, W Istanbul stands out as the only hotel which welcomes cats, dogs or other domesticated pets. A further trend is the location. Customers prefer hotels to be near to downtown, although in Istanbul downtown concept is very vague. If downtown means being near to luxurious shopping district like Nianta or Akaretler, or if it means to be near to hip night clubs such as Vogue or Joke Perestroyka , then W Istanbul definetely outpass its competitors. However, once again it should be noted that downtown does not mean the same thing for everyone is Istanbul. Competitive Trends Generally boutique hotels are individual hotels, they do not depend on management companies. However, boutique hotels success prompted management companies to create their own boutique brands to get a market share. Global giants from InterContinental to Marriott and Starwood launched boutique brands in Europe. Boutique hotels focus on business and leisure tourism. Location, capacity and quality of product is very important for boutique hotels. In stanbul, W Hotel has 2 competitors which are Park Hyatt Hotel and Four Seasons Sultan Ahmet Hotel. Competitor Hotel Park Hyatt Out pool door swimming No indoor pool Traffic congestion In-Formal stores It emphasizes the location of hotel which is in in the fashionable Nisantasi
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Strengths

Weaknesses

Tactics used:

Emporio Armani, Gucci around area and

within the hotel building Limited number of residential Exclusive Parfumeur Mautin 90 rooms Combination of the bathroom Blaise employees

and

shopping district

amenities by the French

historic architecture of an Art Deco building with innovative interior design Walking distance to Istanbul Convention and Four Seasons Sultan Ahmet Exhibition Centre. Location Historical Building No pool Room size It emphasizes historical off site

historical view of rooms, and location of hotel recreation.

Services and amenities Old decoration for younger guests Umbrellas 24-hour services 65 rooms Complimentary newspaper breakfast Off Site Recreation with business

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activities golf)

(tennis

and

Gift Certificate

Industry-related trends The world and peoples minds are changing. You should follow the global world in order to survive. In decades, there are more destinations and so higher competition occurs in the industry. You should differentiate your product, your price in order to cover your competitors. There are not only more destinations, but also the product variety in the destinations is increasing year by year. Worldwide, the hotel sector is the backbone of the accommodation industry. The amount of accommodation is still growing and the number of rooms in hotels, as well. The hotel sector is characterized by increasing chain penetration and a growing number of franchisees. Technological evolution affects the industry, as well. Transportation and information technologies are the two different aspects of technology. Transport technology will lead either to further decreases in transport costs or the shorter travel times. Larger and faster aircrafts and newer and faster high-speed trains are being developed. IT has an essential role on supporting the business development. IT is significant for the efficient and timely processing and the distribution of all necessary information. The largest and most important IT system is the computer reservation system (CRS) as the dominant technology. Global Distribution System (GDS) takes the inventory from a CRS and distribute it via travel agents.

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Branding is becoming significant trend for the large tourism groups and for destinations in order to separate themselves from competitors and completing products. Information Related To the Demand for This Product The expansion of the international and hotel services. chains This results in

standardization and commoditization. There is no differentiation between hospitality products systematic a counterstandardization of the hospitality product provoked

movement inspired by consumers searching for hotels with unique or sophisticated and innovative characteristics, called boutique, design or lifestyle hotels. Sophistication and innovation explain the growth of the design and lifestyle hotel niches. Turkey in 2009 Turkey had high revenue due to international meetings. 5th World Water Forum continues during 7 days and also some of the attendees make early or late departure for going around in the city. Hence, they can accommodate in the hotel more than 7 days. The revenue, which connected with the occupancy rate, will be high in 2009. The other important event is that World Bank IMF Annual Meetings was organized in Istanbul. These meetings provide the hotels more occupancy and more revenue. In 2010 2010 is a very important year for Turkey. Firstly, Istanbul will be

culture capital in 2010. 2010 European Capital of Culture project is very significant for Istanbul and Turkey. With a view to promoting Istanbul as a destination for culture tourism through culture and arts

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events and cultural diversity, besides relying on the citys existing wealth of history, a concept of promoting Istanbul through culture and art is being developed and events to this end are being organized. The aim is to reinforce and enhance the existing perception through this direction both within Turkey and abroad; increasing the number of visitors to Istanbul and enabling the city to gain further economic benefits from this process. With these events, Turkey will be more popular country all over the world in 2010. In this way, the demand of the tourists will be higher and W will also expect higher occupancy rate and revenue in 2010. On the other hand, everything changes because of a terrorist attack or economic crisis. Tourism is a very sensitive sector and these affect tourism all around the world negatively.

In 2011 In 2011, Turkey has an advantage of Winter Universiade in Erzurum. Universiade is a cultural and sport festival that brings variety of sport activities together. Due to this fact, it is the one of the most important sport activities in the world. This festival will be in Turkey and we can expect high revenue, high number of room night, and occupancy rate during in 2011. Segmentation and Targeting

Three main methods of segmentation used in tourism which can be listed as; segmentation by purpose, psychographic and interactional segmentation. Psychographic segmentation is categorizing tourist

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types by psychological variables of tourists. Interactional segmentation is segmenting tourists by the effects of their behavior in terms of local people and environment. According to Gray1, we can categorize tourist typologies within two main parts: sun-lust and wander-lust. Sun lust tourist travel for rest and relaxation whereas the wanderlust tourists travel for to learn something new and experience a different culture. W hotel segments it market according to purpose of travel and origin of the traveler. They provide corporate rates for business tourism and average rates for leisure tourism. However they use geographical segmentation. The distance travelled is important concept; because they create weekend packages for European Tourist not for American ones. W Hotel has different rates for different nationalities. W Hotel is a luxury boutique hotel. . Their target is not the leisure or business market. Their target is people who have high discretionary income and high discretionary time

Positioning After segmentation and targeting, positioning will create a distinctive place in guests mind. When customers hear or see anything about W Hotel, they should remind that understandable statement which is positioning statement. W Hotels are unique and individual expressions of modern living, reflected in the brands sensibility to a holistic lifestyle experience with cutting-edge design, contemporary restaurant concepts, glamorous nightlife experiences, and signature spas. W Hotel achieves it positioning by stating Live like a king in the W rendition of opulent seraglios for modern explorers - rooms and suites with garden, terrace or cabana adorned with Wi-Fi, flat screen TVs, the
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signature W bed and a whimsical harem of stylish luxuries. And yes, ottomans too. They try to create an image in peoples mind which brings history, modernization and luxury together. Another statement isWhether you're here for business or pleasure, we'll help you enjoy the best of both worlds. W hotel welcomes leisure and business tourism. Tourist (business or leisure), product (high quality, modern, different) , process (efficient). Future Positioning And Targeting W Hotel tries to change its customer profile. They plan to construct a pool, which will bring customers with children. Also they have opened new business meeting rooms, that means W Hotel wants to increase their share in business tourism. As a a result, in the future their targeting segment will be more in business. According to their business target, they should create a different positioning statement which must emphasis more on business concept.

REFERANCES

http://www.esade.edu/cedit2004/pdfs/23_Freund.pdf http://www.istanbul2010.org/index.htm http://www.istanbul.park.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp

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Vanhove, N. 2005. The Economics of Tourism Destinations. Elsevier Butterworth- Heinemann.

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