Businesses need to have a good marketing strategy for brand building, attract new customers and maintain loyal ones. For the hospitality and Hotel Industry In India, customer loyalty is everything and marketers devote lots of resources to keep it that way using connected campaigns that merge digital and print ads.
These campaigns have to reach new and old customers and are designed to address them in that way. But, marketing and promotions undertaken have to pull through certain challenges. India is now seen as a prime tourist destination and has, as an industry, contributed to a CAGR of 13% to the hotel industry. This sector is growing tremendously and will reach a value of INR 1210.87 Bn by 2023.
Today hotels are no longer just about booking a room but involve the creation and sale of experience, and will highlight clubs, catering, cuisine, and special foods, and even collaborate with cruises, resorts, airlines just to make that happen.
It would have been impossible to get this kind of advertising mix right a few years back. But today uses social media and is more aware of what to look for or what’s trending. And as such, has set the standard for pretty much every industry, including this one. For example, it is easy to rate and review hotels online as easily as one sends out a comment. On the other side, hotels even use these channels to differentiate and sell themselves.
Hospitals and hotels in India are one of the primary sectors in the economy and hotel offerings are classified according to service level, locations, and themes that include heritage hotels, boutique hotels, and others. Where level of services are concerned, there are things like economy, upscale and mid-market. And finally, locations include resorts, airport motels, and city hotels.
Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Maharashtra are the top five states for hospitality, with Kerala having 440 approved hotels. The sources of revenue for these hotels are the rooms and this has formed the largest share, where in 2017 this has totaled up to 53.6%, and then came food and beverages and then banquet services.
Most of the consumer demand comes from travel – both business and leisure related. Never the less, this demand is so vast and diverse that hotel owners are now turning over to the digital and social media marketing practices that give them better exposure, more bookings. One easier way to do that is to use an app to book hotels, as consumers find this medium to be the simplest and most accessible, and it gives them highly customizable options.
It is the tourists, coming from all corners of the country and globe, that make up the growth that this market is enjoying. During the 2017 CY, over 10.04 million foreign tourists visited India and this went to 6.75 million accounting for an annual increase of about 7.5%.
Things are going to continue looking up this way – and these foreign leisure and corporate travelers are expected to add momentum to this industry in the future. Also, 100% FDI has been permitted by the government into hotel developments construction projects, recreational facilities, and resorts.
The Indian Hotel market does have a bright future to look forward to, and these factors are definitely going to help it along.
It will have to deal with some deterrents too, the last biggest hurdle was the introduction of the Goods And Services Tax. This has reduced the expenditure incurred by users, by streamlining the business transaction costs and taxes system prevalent here – and overall, the prices being paid for hotel services have decreased. So while this is good for the consumer, it isn’t good for the hotel industry as the profit margins earned through their pricing has decreased. So, growth will be there but it is going to be slow and till then, hoteliers have to rely on good advertising, smart campaigns, unique USPs.
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