The purpose of this study is to understand the impact of the research to the success of Marriot hotel chain. Marriot has been conducting market surveys to understand the customer perception and expectations on their hotels, employees and facilities to determine the necessary improvements. As a result of the survey findings, Marriot managed to expand the company offerings to different and varied needs of the customers and effectively cater for different segments of travelers.

1. Impact of research on the success of Marriot Hotels 1
Impact of Qualitative Research had on the Success of Marriot Hotel Chain
Charm Rammandala
California Intercontinental University

2. Impact of research on the success of Marriot Hotels 2
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to understand the impact of the research to the success of Marriot
hotel chain. Marriot has been conducting market surveys to understand the customer perception
and expectations on their hotels, employees and facilities to determine the necessary
improvements. As a result of the survey findings, Marriot managed to expand the company
offerings to different and varied needs of the customers and effectively cater for different
segments of travelers.

3. Impact of research on the success of Marriot Hotels 3
A Detailed Study to understand the impact of qualitative research had on the success of Marriot
hotel chain
There are fundamentally two different approach to conduct a survey, namely qualitative
study and quantitative study (Buzzerman 2012). Qualitative research is primarily exploratory
research. It is used to gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions and motivations. It
provides important insights into the problem to develop ideas and opinions. Quantitative research
is used to quantify the problem by way of generating numerical data that can be transformed in
to usable statistics (Chapman 2015)
In order to understand the customers view on the services and facilities of the company, the
best research method for Marriot is to conducting qualitative market research. Qualitative
marketing research provides an easy and relatively inexpensive way to gain an in-depth
understanding of how and why people think feel and act the way they do. Some of the methods
to conduct qualitative research are in-depth interviews, focus groups and questionnaires (Baum
1999)
Essentially people select specific hotels for various reasons such as location, price, service,
ambience, and loyalty programs. By conducting qualitative research, hotel can gain further
valuable information relating to other amenities such as airport transportation, business centers,
exercise facilities, complimentary breakfast, in-house restaurants, and Wi-Fi facilities and the
quality of those services and how those affect travelers’ decisions about where to stay. As a
result of regular and properly conducted surveys, hotel can uncover unmet needs, such as
amenities that guests would like to have offered as well as to understand the relative importance
of those desires. Marriot could gain significant inside in to customers thought process through

4. Impact of research on the success of Marriot Hotels 4
qualitative research which would help to penetrate deferent market segments and gain the market
leadership (Baum 1999).
Segmentation and data analysis
Market segmentation is one of the most important strategy decision for the hotel industry. In
order to retain the current market share and to increase the market penetration, it is important to
understand the company’s core competencies and where improvements are needed. Proper
market segmentation allows a hotel to price and apply inventory controls in order to maximize
revenue from various lines of business (Alfino 1998)
Hotel industry market segments can focus on mainly five areas. Pricing, Quality, service,
convenience & amenities (Baum 1999). The need for properly defined and researched market
segmentation is becoming increasingly important due to the immense competition in the market
place and rapid changes in customer needs and expectations. With the lines blurring in respect to
amenities and specific market offerings, segmentation has become a complicated issue.
Importance of report preparation and presentation of the survey findings
It is important to understand the different audience who would be interested in the survey
findings. In order to make them understand the findings and data analysis, it is important present
them the way they would understand and able to use them to make important management
decisions (Hair 2012)
Report findings can be presented to an audience as an oral presentation. Also in a form of a
report. The type of visuals and charts used for these two types of presentations are slightly vary.

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when conducting an oral presentation, software such as PowerPoint or Keynote are becoming
very common. In an oral presentation, speaker have the option of using various types of charts
and graphs to get the message across to the audience (McDaniel 2012)
Some of the options available includes, large geographic map. On the Marriot segmentation
survey, it is important to give a visual reminder to all participants where the current locations of
the hotels and what segment there falling in to. This will give a clear understanding about the
spread of the hotels and what are the locations need further attention for either expansion or for
improvements (Chapman 2012)
Pictographs which includes small photographs of the different amenities and other important
info in photos can be used to discuss the findings. This will give a clear understanding to the
participants on research findings. Pie charts and bar charts are also a good option to share
research findings with an audience or readers of the research findings.
Summery
Marriot understood the importance of market research to understand the customer
expectations and the competition they face. As a result of conducting regular surveys, company
got a deeper understanding about their customers. This information helped to increase the market
penetration through diversification in to various different segments in the hospitality industry.

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References
Alfino, M (1998). Critical essays on consumer culture. New York, Pearson
Baum, T. (1999). Economic & Management methods for tourism & hospitality research, NY,
Pearson
Bazerman, H (2012). Judgement in managerial decision making. New York, Pearson
Chapman, C (2015). R for marketing research and analytics, Pearson, NY
Hair, J. (2012). Essentials of marketing research. New York, McMillan
Malhotra, N. (2010). Marketing Research: An applied orientation. San Francisco, Pearson
McDaniel, K. (2012). Marketing Research Essentials. New York, Pearson
Schilling, M (2010). Strategic management of technological innovation. Irwin, McGraw-Hill

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