TRM 361

SERVICE MARKETING

INTERIM REPORT

W

Ezgi Özgümüş

Neşe 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 Bakanlığı Turizm Tesisleri

Nitelikler Yönetmeliği.

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 It’s 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

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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 o’clock to give the same

welcoming feeling.

One of the most important aims of W Brand is to make the guest a part of W’s

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 it up to the

guest when something is wrong). In WOO training; the 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.

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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.

It’s 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

Strong Brand name:

Weaknesses

High Turnover Rate:

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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 is the

most important reason why employees

are attracted powerfully to the brand.

Association with Starwood:

Since W is a chain created by Starwood,

Starwood supports the brand in a very

obvious way. Putting aside the monetary

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 properties

regularly to help the brand grow and

nourish, just like a father helping his

children. As a consequence, it is a big

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:

W Istanbul established by Bilgili Turizm

Co. So Bilgili family is the main

shareholder. They interrupt the

management very often and most of the

time they contradict the managers.

However since they have the money, they

are the ones in charge. Even the decisions

of General Manager are pointless and

passive when it comes to Bilgili Family.

The board of managers are invisible.

The main misfortune of W Istanbul is to be

a part of Bilgili Co.

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chance that W Istanbul is a part of

Starwood.

Opportunities

Uniqueness:

W Hotels all over the world are known by

their young and hip style. In W, there are

no bureaucracies between the guest and

the talent. One of the main service

promises of W is to be friendly and flirty.

W talents are free to interact in any

(appropriate) way. In this sense, W

Istanbul is unique compared to its

competitors. In hotels like Hilton, Ritz

Carlton or Ciragan Kempinski, there are

many rules regulating the relationships of

employees and guests. Even the heavy

uniforms of other hotels are banned in W

Istanbul. W talents dress T-shirts and jeans

instead of suits.

The W soul creates the main difference

Threats

Too many alternatives:

There are many chain 5 star hotels in high

quality so W has to work hardest to be

different than the others. Its competitors

take away its share day by day.

Global Economic Recession

Economic recession caused many

institutions to lose Money and W is one of

them. Decreasing revenues and increasing

costs do not help W to improve itself as

much as it need. Since the revenues go

down, W cannot pay its employees higher

salaries and raises. Thus, this results in

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among its competitors and that is an

opportunity .It is noticed by management.

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. Şehzadebaşı Area is a subarea of

Sultanahmet with Grand Bazaar. Airport Area is ideal for short term stays and business

visits. Lastly, Beyazıt Area includes Beyazıt 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 Beşiktaş. It is easy to get Taksim,

Sultanahmet and Beyazıt due to tramway service.

Why do tourists visit Istanbul?

*Business Travel

*Package Tours

* Island Tours

*Compact City Tours

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*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.

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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 business world hotel chains are constantly striving to

improve the possibilities that potential customers will choose their business over their

competitors. Successful 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.

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

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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 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 Nişantaşı 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

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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 hotel‘s 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 İstanbul, W Hotel has 2 competitors

which are Park Hyatt Hotel and Four Seasons Sultan Ahmet Hotel.

Competitor

Hotel

Strengths Weaknesses Tactics used:

Park Hyatt Out door swimming pool

Emporio Armani, Gucci and

In-Formal stores within the

hotel building

Exclusive bathroom amenities

by the French Parfumeur

Blaise Mautin

90 rooms

Combination of the historic

architecture of an Art Deco

building with innovative

interior design

Walking distance to Istanbul

No indoor pool

Traffic congestion

around area

Limited number of

employees

It emphasizes the

location of hotel

which is in in the

fashionable Nisantasi

residential and

shopping district

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Convention and Exhibition

Centre.

Four Seasons

Sultan Ahmet

Location

Historical Building

Services and amenities for

younger guests

Umbrellas

24-hour business services

65 rooms

Complimentary newspaper

with breakfast

Off Site Recreation activities

(tennis and golf)

Gift Certificate

No pool

Room size

Old decoration

It emphasizes

historical view of

rooms, historical

location of hotel and

off site recreation.

Industry-related trends

The world and people’s 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.

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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.

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 hotel chains results in standardization and

commoditization. There is no differentiation between hospitality products and services.

This systematic standardization of the hospitality product provoked a counter-

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

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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 events and cultural diversity, besides relying on the city’s 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

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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 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 customer’s 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 brand’s sensibility to a holistic

1

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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

signature W bed and a whimsical harem of stylish luxuries. And yes, ottomans too.”

They try to create an image in people‘s mind which brings history, modernization and

luxury together. Another statement is“Whether 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

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http://www.istanbul2010.org/index.htm

http://www.istanbul.park.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp

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

Heinemann.

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