Market Segmentation In Hotel Industry

Until the 1960s, a few firms used market segmentation. However, recently it has become more popular and played an important part in the marketing strategy of almost all the successful firms. Market segmentation has been a powerful marketing tool. Market segmentation is useful for firms to divide the homogenous customers into groups, choose their target groups and recognize the advantage in each segment, as well as develop a marketing mix for each segment accordingly from the past to now. It is one of the most elementary concepts in modern marketing (Kotler and Armstrong, 2005; Wind, 1978) and said to be “one of the most talked about and acted upon concepts in marketing” (Green and Krieger, 1991). Its importance grows even more in the context …show more content…
There is a large market that includes different type of customers such as backpacker, couple, family or business traveler. Especially in the hotel industry, segmentation helps how to satisfy the customers who is targeted by the hotel with limited resources. The needs or lifestyle of customer are changed day-by-day. In developed countries the aging population is contributing to more frequent use of hotels and higher expenditure. Recently, one of the major influences on the hospitality industry has been the growth of the Internet and technology advances. So that brings a huge change in the hotel industry such as the facilities or knowledge of these types of products. There will be a new segment to target the customer due to fulfill their needs and …show more content…
He was one of the first to know the importance of market segmentation. According to Smith (1950), he stated that Market segmentation is depends on developments on the demand side of the market and stand for a rational and more precise adjustment of product and marketing effort to customer or user requirements. To make clear this statement, he saw market segmentation is an important tool for marketers to better meet customer needs. This concept has become a widely accepted and used marketing way and more recent definitions of what is market segmentation are stated by other scholars. McDonald & Dunbar (2004) stated that is market segmentation is the process of splitting customers, or potential customers in a market into different groups segments within which consumers share a similar level of interest in the same or comparable, set of needs satisfied by a distinct marketing proposition. Kerin (2011) said that market segmentation involves aggregating prospective buyers into segments that have similar needs and will respond similarly to a market action. As Lamb (2003) points out, Market segmentation is to divide a market into smaller segments of buyers with distinct needs, characteristics, or behaviors who may request separate products or marketing mixes. Or explained in another way, market segmentation is the division of the whole market into smaller, relatively equivalent segments. Some of