Case 3: RAM CONSULTANTS

Ram consultants have been appointed by a leading group in hotel industry to prepare a feasibility report for opening a 5- star hotel in Poona. The group had been the most successful one in the industry and had always kept its eyes open for new opportunities. In view of the very fast industrial growth in the city of Poona, the city had for the first time attracted the attention of the group. Poona, apart from being a modern city, has the added advantage of pleasant weather and several places of tourist attraction in the neighborhood. Moreover, the closeness to Bombay, city of international stature made it very easily accessible to international tourist. Corridors of Pune were getting extended on all sides. New type of industry/sector likes IT, BPO, education, Engineering, design and other were in the growth stage redefining the hotelling needs in the city. For Ram consultants this was the first time that an assignment concerning hotel industry had been received. They, however, soon realized that the assignment was not as simple as it appeared to be in the first place. The feasibility of such hotel would depend essentially on two factors. Businessmen visiting the city for work would constitute one segment of the market, while tourist would constitute the other. Further the tourist could be Indians or foreigners. A small but definite niche was getting established with women executives travelling alone and looking for reliable place to stay. The success of such a hotel would also depend upon the relative attraction of other tourist centers in the vicinity. Further it was necessary to estimate seasonal fluctuation in demand for hotel accommodation so that attractive discounts could be offered during the off-season for business conferences, executive development programmes etc. The consultants realized that they would have to undertake a market research on a national scale to assess the tourist potential in the city. They would also have to survey the foreign tourists to estimate one of the most important segments of the market. The consultants wondered whether such a survey will have to extend over a period of one full year to completely take into account the seasonal variations in tourist traffic. They were also undecided about the manner in which the survey should be conducted. The company also feared that in absence of an accurate definition of the problem they may land up surveying the complete tourist market in India rather than studying feasibility of a hotel in Poona. They had heard that ITDC had appointed lady interviewers at several majors airports for conducting such surveys and wondered if such a methodology could be of use to them.

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The problem appeared much undefined and they were concerned as the preliminary report explaining methodology of the research and the questionnaire to be used had to be submitted to the client along with the estimate of expenses within one month.

Discussion Questions:
1. How would you define the problem of assessing the feasibility of a hotel so as to help design the survey? 2. How would you plan a survey for actually collecting information on expected demand for hotel space? Prepare a research proposal for the survey. 3. Develop a note on researchers orientation about the project.

(Adopted and modified - source: Indian cases in Marketing Management by Dilip Sarwate)

Karwak Case Studies- Marketing Research

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