Hospitality Marketing

Description

Marketing is about attracting and holding the attention of potential customers. This requires a series of sustained and coordinated efforts, and most certainly requires a formal plan. Any successful marketing plan is built around the answers to these three key questions:

Who are our ideal customers?

How do we attract and hold their attention?

Is our value proposition appealing enough for them to become paying customers?

With those questions in mind, build a strategic marketing plan that best reflects your company’s goals and objectives. First, gather and analyze data to identify opportunities and potential customers. Then design and create a series of campaigns that will create brand recognition and appeal to your target market, ultimately motivating them to become paying customers.

The Certificate in Hospitality Marketing from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration is designed to develop the background and skills necessary for you to conceive and create a successful marketing plan, from initial concept to final execution.

The courses in this certificate series focus on data-driven methodologies for gathering and analyzing marketing data; using that data to make decisions; using marketing analysis to identify strategic opportunities; creating a marketing position; and a plan to guide execution.

The courses encourage the practical application of these concepts, strategies and tactics so they can be used in the workplace.

Who Should Enroll in This Certificate?

Hospitality marketing professionals responsible for market research and/or the creation of strategic marketing plans. Professionals who want to learn data-driven methodologies for gathering and analyzing marketing data.

Enrollment

To register, contact an Enrollment Counselor at info@ecornell.com or 1-866-326-7635 (+1-607-330-3200 from outside the United States).

Certificate programs are eligible for eCornell Payment Plans. Discounts are available for military personnel, veterans, and Cornell University Alumni. eCornell programs are not eligible for financial aid or federal Pell Grants. Contact an enrollment counselor for more information.

Courses in this Certificate

• Data Gathering and Analysis in the Hospitality Industry

  • Good decision-making starts with the gathering of information and thorough data analysis. In the hospitality industry there is a significant amount of information available about customers, their buying patterns, desired pricing, occupancy rates, and much more. With a basic understanding of statistical analysis, a hospitality manager can extract meaningful information from data and better position the business for success in the marketplace.

    A critical first step in many analyses is surveying to gather data, and this course provides a step-by-step approach to creating and using surveys effectively in your organization. This course also explores hospitality scenarios and hands-on exercises to further sharpen your analytical skills.
    Course Format

    eCornell takes a problem-based approach to learning, building its courses around realistic case studies and scenarios. All courses are self-paced and are facilitated by an eCornell instructor who leads the online discussions and is available to answer any questions about the course content. This course includes the following modules:

    Describing and Analyzing Data

    • Hospitable Statistics.
    • Graphing.
    • Mean, Median, and Other Measures.
    • The Normal Distribution.

    Gathering Data.

    • Sourcing Data.
    • Designing Surveys.
    
    
    Benefits to the Learner

    After completing this course, participants will be able to:

    • Discuss applications of statistics in the hospitality industry.
    • List common ways in which statistics can be misused to distort or misrepresent data.
    • Apply the appropriate graph for a given data set.
    • Calculate, define, and apply descriptive statistics including median, mean, and standard deviation.
    • Use Excel's display and analysis tools for graphs, PivotTables, descriptive statistics, and optimal problem solutions.
    • Describe the normal distribution.
    • Describe and select appropriate methods of gathering data.
    • Choose appropriate survey methods.

    
    
• Statistical Decision Making for Hospitality Managers

  • Do your company’s sales correlate with the age or income level of the buyer? How might the answer affect your marketing and promotion plan and budget? In this course you’ll explore several hospitality scenarios that will help you answer these questions and prepare you to make informed decisions based on statistical analysis.

    Being able to observe and define meaningful and statistically significant trends in your organization’s data will help you to make more effective decisions. Being able to distinguish significant from insignificant data is especially important.

    You will learn about correlation, regression, and probability—concepts that help you anticipate future behavior based on existing data. Hands-on activities and labs go further to reinforce key concepts and put theory into practice, ultimately preparing you to make smart, statistics-based decisions at your workplace.

    Course Format

    eCornell takes a problem-based approach to learning, and our courses are built around realistic case studies and scenarios. All courses are self-paced and are facilitated by an eCornell instructor who leads the online discussions and is available to answer any questions about the course content. This course includes the following modules:

    Relating Data - Correlation and Regression

    • Correlation.
    • Regression.

    Using Data - Probability and Significance

    • Calculating Probability.
    • Determining Significance.

    This course is the second in the two-course "Statistical Decision Making" program. eCornell strongly suggests that students complete the first course in this program, "Data Gathering and Analysis in the Hospitality Industry," prior to enrolling in this course.

    
    
    Benefits to the Learner

    After completing this course, participants will be able to:

    • Calculate and define correlation and regression.
    • Calculate the probability of a given event occurring.
    • Determine if the results of a data analysis are statistically significant.

    
    
• Marketing Fundamentals for the Hospitality Industry

  • The primary function of marketing in business is to identify customers and hold their attention in order to deliver a valuable product or service. Marketing departments help differentiate a company from competitors by building brand recognition and creating sales collateral such as websites, sell sheets, presentations and print ads, which in turn support sales departments and position the company to meet revenue goals. Marketing is also typically responsible for gauging customer satisfaction and managing client relationships, in addition to compiling testimonials, soliciting referrals and developing case studies.

    Learn fundamental marketing concepts and principles as they relate to hospitality, observe marketing in action through case studies and understand how to put that knowledge into practice. This course prepares you for leadership and success in hospitality marketing.

    Benefits to the Learner
    After completing this course you will be able to:

    • Make clear and effective marketing choices
    • Apply the fundamental concepts of marketing to the development of a marketing plan
    
    
• Conducting Effective Hospitality Marketing Research

  • Market research is the cornerstone of the marketing process. It helps companies identify customers and marketplace demand and reveals how a company’s products or services are received by customers. Anticipating and tracking customer behavior is vital to the success of any marketing initiative.

    This course introduces the reasoning and methodology behind effective market research. Learn best practices in data collection and market segmentation, and gain a thorough understanding of market analysis and strategic positioning. Explore the stages of the buying process and examine factors that influence consumer buying patterns. You’ll also identify potential conflicts between a consumer’s perception of a product or service and the way a marketer may position it.

    Learn what to sell, to whom and how to promote those products and services with market research. For many in the hospitality profession, business begins and ends with thorough, effective market research.

    Benefits to the Learner
    After completing this course you will be able to:

    • Conduct an environmental analysis
    • Develop an effective marketing strategy
    • Use a SWOT analysis to guide strategic planning
    • Identify a target market for a product or service
    • Use a positioning map to determine a strategic position
    
    
• The Hospitality Marketing Mix: Product and Price

  • Marketing success requires both careful analysis and smart planning. You must identify target markets, strategically promote to customers, and ensure that the product design, price and presentation line up with client needs and perception of value.

    Because these issues are so critical—product design, pricing, promotion, and place/distribution—they are constantly evaluated and reevaluated by marketers as the set of factors and decisions known as the “marketing mix”.

    In this course, you focus on a key market segment for one product (or service) and attempt to increase its probability of purchase by focusing on product, price, place, and promotion. Explore product life cycles, new product development, product innovation and adoption, and how service quality is measured. You learn about tailoring the product, the price, the place, and the promotion to arrive at an optimal “marketing mix” for your business.

    Benefits to the Learner
    After completing this course you will be able to:

    • Achieve the desired balance between the service concept and the market segment
    • Implement processes for new product development
    • Choose a branding strategy for a particular product or service
    • Design and execute a pricing strategy for a particular product or service
    • Design and implement discounting tactics and strategies
    
    
• The Hospitality Marketing Mix: Place and Promotion

  • In marketing, the concept of "place" refers not only to the physical location of your business, but also to distribution channels through which target markets are reached.

    The old business adage "location, location, location" still rings true as a reliable determinant of success, especially in hospitality. But with the emergence of online travel agencies, package travel, and intensified, highly targeted tourism marketing attracting customers has become far more complicated than just a few years ago. By developing a more modern concept of “place”, you gain new advantages in reaching target markets.

    Technology and the “information overload” environment present difficult challenges and new opportunities to promote to potential customers. This course covers advertising, professional selling, sales promotion, direct marketing, and public relations. As you discover through coursework, the process of defining your target market is inextricably linked to your decisions about promotional methods and channels.

    Benefits to the Learner
    After completing this course you will be able to:

    • Choose an appropriate location for a hospitality organization
    • Choose a distribution channel appropriate to a specific property or product
    • Create a promotional plan for a hospitality product or service
    • Design an effective, product-specific advertising campaign
    • Execute and evaluate a public-relations campaign
    
    

Accreditation

Participants who successfully complete the six required courses in the series receive a Certificate in Hospitality Marketing from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration.