Situation Analysis: A.) Current Users Hyatt Place primarily caters to individual guests, frequent business travelers, and small corporate and executive groups. Our guests are mid- to upper-income Gen X travelers who expect modern conveniences and product design to accommodate their multi-tasking, 24/7 lifestyle. We call this the Multiblender, a person who lives life with little distinction or separation between work, play, family, and personal. The Hyatt guest lives in a global culture that is “always on” that requires constantly switching gears between different parts of their life. Over half of all business travelers occupations are self-described professional, managerial, or technical; those in traveling occupations carry higher salaries than the general public—while 12% of households had an annual income greater than $100,000 in 2001, they account for over a quarter (27%) of all business trips. The annual income bracket of $75,000-$99,999 accounts for an additional 18%, thus 45% of business travel was conducted by those making ≥$75,000, and over 77% of business travelers are male.1 This figure is up 2% in 2012.2 Of Hyatt Place users 30-65, 66% are married and 47% have children, compared to 53% and 40% of US Business travelers, respectively.3 The business traveler is increasingly dissatisfied with hotel experiences. According to J.D. Power and Associates, overall guest satisfaction with hotels has reached the lowest rates it has been at since 2006. This survey has Hyatt Place tied with Aloft at third place in the select service category, behind Hilton Garden Inn and Spring Hill Suites by Marriott (tied, first). JD Power and Associates’ travel and hospitality practice vice president and general manager Stuart Greif calls this a sign for hotels to “get back to the fundamentals and improve the overall guest experience.4” Hyatt Place has a very low frequency of unaided awareness. With 167 locations in North America and a hotel in 38 states, Hyatt Place is not always an option for business travelers. Many locations are close to airports, e.g. Atlanta, Chicago (O’Hare, not Midway), Denver, Indianapolis, Charlotte, Nashville, and Miami. One stay at a Hyatt Place hotel will bring in a disproportionately high number of repeat customers once they experience what Hyatt has to offer.

                                                                                                               1 2001 National Household Travel Survey 2 Courtyard by Marriott, Proto-Model Design 3 Hyatt Place, Brand Overview, 2012 4 Business Travel News, J.D. Power: Hotel Guest Satisfaction Drops In North America, July 25, 2012

 A stunning 88% of business travelers extend their trips for leisure; furthermore, travelers often use a hotel lobby for building or strengthening business relationships.5 The single most important feature to a business travel guest is free WiFi access (38% of business travelers surveyed), followed by free breakfast (25%), parking (18%), a luxury mattress (9%), shuttle service (4%), fitness center (3%), room service (2%) and finally, an on-site spa (1%). The same survey also indicated that 45% of business travelers report their favorite new amenities to be happy hours, wine tastings, and any free food or drink activity that the hotel offers.6 These are only features, but the one benefit a business traveler wants most from a select service hotel is competence. That means the room is ready when the traveler checks in; it is cleaned properly, the Wi-Fi is easy to connect with minimal security checkpoints that complicate set-up, friendly staff is there to immediately solve any issues that may arise with the stay without creating unnecessary stress in the traveler’s already hectic schedule. They have enough to worry about without their hotel adding to the friction. The hotel needs to be a silent player to their success and takes a backup role to their blended lifestyles. The traveler needs to have appropriate venues to unwind from stress, be it in their room, or in the lounge, fitness room or pool area.

                                                                                                               5 User tjcnewyork on the Marriott Rewards Insiders forum, reply to user Nuhusker in 2009 on discussion thread “Concierge Lounge Etiquette” at http://www.rewards-insiders.marriott.com/thread/3899. 6 Nancy Trejos, USA Today. Survey reveals hotel guests want Wi-Fi over everything else. April 10, 2012

 B. Geographical Emphasis As of 2009, Travel Spending in the state of Illinois is a $27.1 Billion industry.7 Furthermore, the majority of business trips are under 250 miles in length, and 84% or 341 million do not cross census regional boundaries.8 Most users originate in New York, followed by Washington, DC, Dallas, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, Atlanta, and San Francisco metropolitan areas that make up over 100,000 customers and account for about 130,000 stays booked at Hyatt Place.9 From these top 10 geographic areas, about 30% of guests are repeat customers to the Hyatt place.

                                                                                                               7 U.S. Travel Association, Travel Economic Impact Model 8 2001 National Household Travel Survey 9 February 2001 Axciom Segmentation Study

 C. Seasonality Because business occurs year-round, seasonal fluctuations (i.e. summer break means more families will travel) that lead to increased leisure travel tend not to influence business travel patterns. The seasonal fluctuations of pleasure-based travel will affect the availability and pricing as well as the guest experience of select service guests, however. As hotels may serve an increase in families that travel, business travelers will find it necessary to continue their work lives without interruption by families.

  D. Purchase Cycle The average length of stay at a Hyatt Place hotel is 1.7 days, booked on average 12 days in advance; compare this to a national average for business travelers of 2.61 and 15, respectively; on weekdays, length of stay is slightly longer on average, at 1.8 and booked 11 days in advance.10 Over 50% of bookings are made within 7 days of the stay.

                                                                                                               10 Hyatt Place, Brand Overview, 2012

  E. Creative Requirements Need to keep the Hyatt Place Never Settle message and present this with the playful tone and personality of the brand. Creative must also be distinguishable when tested against the competition and other Hyatt brand creative and include “Welcome to a different place” tagline, Hyatt Place logo, a call to action, Hyattplace.com and use the Gotham font or Arial (if unavailable) and the benefits bar:

• Free Wi-Fi • Modern Comfort • Grand Hyatt Bed

 F. Competitive Sales The core competitors to Hyatt Place are the Courtyard by Marriott (900+ locations) and Hilton Garden Inn (540+ locations). Secondary competition comes from Hampton Inn (1,800+) and Aloft (87 locations). Lastly, Embassy Suites Hotels borders between Select and Full Service hotels and has 213 locations. As mentioned, Hyatt Place is tied with Aloft hotels for guest satisfaction in the JD Power and Associates hotel survey; competitor Hilton Garden Inn outscored the Hyatt Place, but Hyatt Place outperformed Courtyard by Marriott. The Hyatt Place is on average $40 (around 30%) cheaper per night than the Courtyard if booked that day in comparable locations, but the Courtyard nearest O’Hare airport is closer than all three northwest suburb locations in the Chicago metropolitan area. Free Shuttle within 3 miles is offered by the Midway location, an amenity that is not offered by many competitors or at Hyatt Place. Furthermore, Courtyard is aware that they have a disadvantage in age and quality of their properties, as they were founded in 1983 and have hundreds of locations to maintain. Courtyard by Marriott has a small kitchen called The Bistro that serves cocktails, light breakfast, appetizers, and light meals along with a craft beer selection and Starbucks coffee. The Hilton Garden Inn is costlier than the Hyatt Place in comparable locations by about $60 (approximately 50%). Like Hyatt Place, they have a 24-hour branded kitchen program called the Pavilion Pantry that includes the Pavilion Lounge bar area that serves beer and wine. They also have a restaurant offering, The Great American Grill that has a more complete menu offering than either the Courtyard’s Bistro and Hyatt Place. A room at the Hampton Inn costs between $30 and $90 (25-80%) more than a Hyatt Place booking at similar locations, depending on booking pace. Locations further than Hyatt Place from O’Hare have slightly lower rates (between $10-20). They also have plans to open about 20 more hotels in the near future and are similarly situated close to airports. Aloft hotels, opened in 2008, have a price point that is comparable to and above that of the Hyatt Place. They target the trendy, tech savvy business traveler that is slightly younger in age. They offer a free daily newspaper in addition to 42” LCD flat-panel, media plugs and the w xyz bar serving “the best beer, wine and cocktails in the Chicago O’Hare area” geared towards providing an area for socializing. The price point on Aloft hotels is much higher than Hyatt Place, at around $90 higher, which drops $30 if booked a month in advance. From Embassy Suites Hotels, comparable locations garner a premium of well over $100 than what a room costs at Hyatt Place. This $120 premium for a Rosemont room drops to $40 when booked a month in advance. Embassy emphasizes their nightly Manager’s Reception with free drinks and snacks, cooked-to-order breakfast, and two-room suites.

 The competition tends to penalize guests with increased room pricing for booking a stay with shorter notice at a much higher rate than Hyatt Place. The players in our competition set all offer complimentary Wi-Fi.

 G. Competitive Media Courtyard is undergoing a brand facelift. They recently updated their logo, ditching their traditional forest green and ruby red with gold accent schema and symmetrical logo for an asymmetric two-color shape with orange and tri-shade green schema. They have retained the Courtyard insignia and tree line silhouette that has been the logo for the brand for the duration of its nearly 30-year history. The Bistro carries the subhead tagline “Eat. Drink. Connect.” They are advertising a 20% weekend stay discount and are also running the “Greatness on the Road Sweepstakes” campaign with the National Football League. Their website also carries the copy: “More Choices. More Options. This is Courtyard.” Thus a recurring usage of fragments in their copy signifies a modern, sophisticated voice. Their brand benefit is “Designed for business travel, driven by comfort and value,” describing a typical guest as “the optimistic achiever” who is driven, savvy, balanced, positive attitude, in good company, practical and responsible, and experienced traveler who is “unfazed by travel and its challenges.” They strive to provide the guest experience as dynamic, practical, accommodating, intuitive. They position themselves as “designed for the business traveler who’s driven by success, but also enjoys the break from routine that travel offers. Courtyard is the smart, dynamic hotel that helps me make the most of my time on the road, so I can make the most of me.” The Hilton Garden Inn utilizes a bright blue and red color schema and is currently underway with the “We Speak Success” campaign. They emphasize their Garden Sleep System beds in advertising and getting a good night’s sleep in one of their beds. Hampton Inn and Suites uses the tagline “We love having you here.” A sans serif font and no capitalization in combination with their script logo also signify their approachable brand identity and voice while lending a tone of formality. They use royal blue and red in the logo and brand communications. They run TV, print, and OOH advertising with placement in TSA security bins as well as handrails and escalators at various airports. They have used past campaigns like “Touchdown at Hampton wake up a winner” that cross-promotes with college football. Aloft features a red and grey simple logo that reads “a vision of W hotels” beneath a graphically designed logo. They have the most modern communication style in the competition set.

 II. Research A. Objectives Seek the motivating factors behind users of specific hotel brands and determine business travelers’ willingness to try new lodging options for booking stays. Identify dissatisfaction within the core competitors and awareness of Hyatt Place brand. Identify travelers’ demand to extend stay for leisure and to bring family on business travel. Identify frequency that business travelers book their own rooms. Hypothesis 1: Business travelers are loyal to rewards programs Variable: Rewards membership (number), Low satisfaction but members remain loyal. Variable: No membership, high loyalty Variable: Frequent membership but

 B. Strategies An exit survey given to business travelers; targeted at baggage claim areas at international airports or outside of select service hotels with guests who have just checked out. Interviews were also conducted with seasoned business travelers, road warriors with over five decades of combined experience of life on the road.

 C. Method Questions 1-4 are demographic and psychographic categorizers. We are primarily concerned with men (1A) age 35-55 (2B, 2C, 2D) with an annual HHI >$75k (3D, 3E) that travel more than three times a year for business (4B, 4C, 4D, 4E). Our secondary target extends to include women (1B) and those making $50,000-$74,999 (3C). Question 5 seeks to determine the participant’s factors in consideration set when choosing a hotel to stay at. Questions 6-8 determine the target demographics’ multiblending tendencies—a multiblender is likely to extend trips for leisure, bring family on business and how they tend to be compensated for business travel. Questions 9-10 are to further investigate parameters of brand loyalty for business travelers—do they use only one loyalty program and stay at that brand exclusively, or do they get multiple benefits plans to seek out the best deal available to them? Questions 11-12 seek to determine the purchasing power of the average business traveler. Answers (11A, 11B) and (12A) are the final psychographic indicators we are seeking out in the survey. We are interested in business travelers that get to pick their hotel at least some of the time. The next 5 operations comprise an index for competence and brand satisfaction. A score of 4 on items a, b, d and e indicates low satisfaction/loyalty

  D. Summary of Findings Business travelers will often bring family with them. Confirmed that the Hyatt Place brand is unfamiliar to most business travelers, or other hotel offered a better value. One interviewer said, “the thing I am most impressed by a hotel chain is the competence of staff, having my room ready when I check in and being able to connect to the Wi-Fi without any interference.”

 III. Problems and Opportunities

 

S    -­‐Free  Wi-­‐Fi  and  printing.  -­‐24/7  Hot  food  and  beverage.  -­‐Spacious  suite-­‐style  rooms.  -­‐Modern  design  appeals  to  guest  taste.  -­‐Good  value  and  affordable  pricing—at  least  20%  lower  than  competition.  -­‐Affiliated  with  well-­‐known  hotel  brand.  -­‐Trademarked  amenities:  Grand  Bed,  Media  Plug  Panel,  AM  Kitchen  Skillet  and  The  Gallery.  -­‐New  brand  in  infancy  stage  of  product  cycle.  

 

W    -­‐1%  unaided  awareness.  -­‐Some  locations  are  not  close  to  airport.  -­‐Smaller  hotel  distribution  than  core  competitors.  -­‐Has  not  tapped  into  young  professional  market  yet.  -­‐Complimentary  shuttle  service  to  and  from  airports  is  not  always  available.    

 

O    -­‐Capitalize  on  dissatisfaction  with  competing  brands.  -­‐Competing  brands  penalize  guests  for  booking  rooms  on  shorter  notice.    -­‐Pricing  of  rooms  is  a  driving  force  to  attract  consumers.  -­‐Business  travelers  tend  to  be  very  loyal  to  brands  that  provide  good  service.  -­‐Awareness  of  Hyatt  brand  is  widespread.  -­‐Dissatisfaction  with  older  brands  means  business  travelers  are  willing  to  try  new  alternatives.  

   

T    -­‐Guest  loyalty  may  already  be  established  with  other  brands.  -­‐Larger  brands  have  greater  accessibility  to  television  advertising.  -­‐Competition  can  house  more  travelers  due  to  the  amount  of  locations  they  have  available.  -­‐  Lack  of  awareness  means  brand  is  outside  consideration  set  for  some  users.  -­‐Not  enough  advertising  on  new  media.    

  Strengths Hyatt Place offers high-quality, modern amenities at an affordable price making it a perfect home away from home on the road. Weaknesses Hyatt Place is outside the consideration set for many business travelers. Opportunities Business travelers are dissatisfied with largest competitor. Threats Business travelers are frequently loyal to brands they have used in the past.

 IV. Marketing Objective The marketing objectives give the Brand a realistic platform to handle 1% unaided unawareness. • Inform the target audience of the feature and amenities Hyatt Place has to offer, leading to 30% increase in bookings in six months Marketing Effort: Remodeling of all Hyatt Place hotels have been established and will continue to progress to the existing Hyatt Place hotels. A revolutionary new food and beverage menu has been crafted and implemented all Hyatt Place locations. • Increase awareness of market brand by 30% within a period of six months Marketing Effort: Create an event that will increase clientele, with a dynamic of a modern casual experience at the events. The events will provide food and wine tastings. • Increase in brand loyalty by 15% in rebooking in a period of eight months. Marketing Effort: Hyatt Place offers a unique experience it’s a second home essentially. With the previous marketing efforts in the remodeling of Hyatt Place and updating the food and beverage menu as well as creating buzz around Hyatt Place for their events will prosper for prospective new bookings. Once you stay you will want to come back. Generating our marketing objectives to fit a period of six to eight months will allow us too successfully evaluate and measure the rate of success of our campaign generating buzz about Hyatt Place.

  V. Budget 1. B2B Print advertising a.) $100,000 B2B Magazine print ads b.) $2,500 in production 2. Local newspaper print advertising a.) $650,000 b.) $2,500 in Production 3.) Radio advertising a.) $500,000 b.) $5,000 in Production 4.) Internet advertising a.) $750,000 b.) $3,000 in Production 5.) Wall Street Journal: a.) $732,000 b.) $2,000 in Production 6.) Below-the-Line a.) $253,000 SUBTOTALS a.) $2,985,000 in media b.) $15,000 in production costs TOTAL: $3,000,000

 VI Advertising Strategy Convince frequent business travelers that Hyatt Place is the perfect home on the road because we have everything they need to make their stay complete.

 VII Advertising Creative Length: 30 seconds Air Dates: April 1st –May 1st Writer: Steff Antunez Date: October 30, 2012 SFX: Sound of person waking up in the morning, yawning loudly (Establish, then under) ANNOUNCER: SFX: Griddle sizzling (establish, then under) ANNOUNCER: SFX: Sound of a person enjoying their food Mmmm (Establish, then fade ANNOUNCER: ANNOUNCER: SFX: Sound of a wine bottle opening ANNOUNCER

Home is…waking up at your leisure in a plush Hyatt Grand bed, to the sizzling sound of our complimentary a.m. Kitchen Skillet. Home is…arriving to a freshly prepared meal at any time, with a gallery menu, always fresh 24/7. On the go? Then stop by to the Gallery Market for a grab n’ go case with a variety of delicious options. Home is…unwinding with a glass of wine, a yummy cocktail or handcrafted beer of your preference. Home is…Hyatt Place, come stay with us and feel Welcome to a Different Place

  VIII Advertising Media A.) Objectives 1.) Target Audience We seek to interact with business travelers of both sexes, age 35-55 with a HHI over $75,000, who conducts travel for work at least 3 times/year. Secondarily, we are targeting white collar employees who have some say in how company funds are allocated. 2.) Geography We seek to interact with domestic business travelers in the United States. The highest concentrations tend to be in New York City and along the East Coast, due to the high population density in the New York metropolitan area. The top 10 feeder markets include New York, Boston, Washington DC, and Atlanta, and include nationwide San Francisco, Chicago and Dallas, thus media dollars will be spent proportionally by region. 3.) Seasonality This campaign will run in the months April-September with a launch date of April 1, 2013. Business travel takes a backseat to family vacationing in the summer months.

 B. Strategies 1.) Media Mix and Types A blend of media the target most often uses: Print, radio, and Internet. 2.) Media Formats As most business travel are in technical, professional and managerial positions, we would take out B2B advertising in information technology magazine InfoWorld, Quarter-page, four-color print ad. Local newspapers will run ads quarter-page, four-color weekly ad for three months of campaign in top 10 feeder markets, some examples would be:

-Chicago Tribune (Chicago area) -The Star-Ledger (Newark, New Jersey, and surrounding area) -The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and surrounding area) -Wisconsin State Journal (Wisconsin area) -The Des Moines Register (Iowa area) -The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Atlanta/Georgia area) -Star-Telegram (serving both the Dallas and Fort Worth area)

The Wall Street Journal will run black and white, quarter-page ad; rates are $60,991/day for national circulation, which sees distribution to over 1.5 million readers. We will run the ad weekly on Thursdays, when business travel plans for the next week or two weeks are being made, to make up a 12 week campaign that would cost just under $732,000. Local radio advertising spots in the top 10 feeder geographic markets in early morning adult contemporary and talk programming formats. Internet advertising will include banner ads linking to the Hyatt Place website based on Google searches for travel keywords, i.e. “hotel” or “flight” as well as locally tailored ads e.g. someone searching for “San Jose” will have banner ads informing them that the Hyatt Place is coming to Downtown San Jose. 3.) Geographic use of media: 4/10 of the top feeder markets are Eastern region, the highest concentrations of business travelers are around the New York metropolitan area, and most travel is to that region as well. The eastern edition of the Wall Street Journal, for example, has a distribution of just over 700-thousand, nearly half of their over-1.5-million issues for national distribution daily. Thus media dollars should be allocated proportionally by geographic target.

  IX Below-the-line A. Event Marketing 1. Current Situation Hyatt Place does not have a full-service kitchen to handle catering. Guests respond positively to free food and drink as indicated in our research, so there must be a way to provide a unique experience to the target audience. 2. Objectives We aim to align the Brand with small businesses that offer sustainable menus, locally influenced menus and the fresh tastes of our target audience. 3. Strategies The Brand can positively influence the guest experience by including a chance to try new food and drink while they enjoy their stay. 4. Rationale 45% of guests responded that their favorite treat at a hotel is the free food and beverage elements. This lead to an obvious answer: 5.Tactics An example of an event would be the grand opening at Chicago Hyatt Place, where we would hold a catered event with local brewpub Revolution Brewing Company. This is an immersive, free food-and-drink event that is held in the Gallery on opening night to showcase the hotel and spur interest throughout the campaign. Other Hyatt Place locations will similarly offer a free food and drink event weekly through the duration of the campaign, each offering the best in localvore dining: beer, wine and food tasting. The cost to produce these events would be around $3,000 per night. just over a quarter-million dollars is allocated in the budget to produce these events at Hyatt Place locations around the country. There will be integration with social media, especially on Twitter and YouTube that creates buzz in the target audience as they search to see where the next events will be held. 6. Payout Throughout the 12 week campaign, that hits a total of 84 Hyatt Place locations, users will inevitably share their experiences on social media pages of their own, the positive brand interaction that goes a long way. The events will be a source for video promotion that can be hosted on YouTube, promoted on the company Facebook and Twitter pages, allowing users to interact directly with the Hyatt Place name and creates buzz for both the Hyatt brand and the restaurants that provide the catering service. Locations opening this year in Carlsbad, San Jose, Riverside CA and Raleigh, NC are a must. Guests will want to try and find where the next location is holding the tasting and be reminded to check on the website when their next business trip comes up this summer.

 X. Evaluation This campaign is considered successful if we create 30,000 midweek (Sun-Thurs) bookings in the three months of this campaign (April-June 2013) and a 30% increase in midweek bookings three months following.