46DE Creativity assignment year 1
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The Trade Fair and the competition
In your market, you are not the only player. You need to know who would want to stay at your hotel and you also need to know who your true competitors are – the ‘comp set’. So now it’s time to pay extra attention as to how your hotel positions in the market and the way you would promote, sell and distribute your hotel.
An online Trade Fair is coming up, and Ms. Jill Jandal has strongly suggested the Emerald Forest should participate. This is not only a good opportunity to the present your hotel to the press, industry and potential guests; it’s also the place where you can closely observe your competitors’ commercial efforts.
Trade fairs have a long history offline; examples of important events include ITB Berlin, WTM in London or the Dutch Tourism Expo. Quite recently, online experiments have started popping up. It shows that especially today, online contacts, and social media play a crucial role in our lives. In tourism and hospitality, the impact is huge. Social media has been a bit neglected by the Bergmans so far. The original hotel does have a social media profile. And Christina and Jill and other staff members are active on their 'private' accounts. However, there seems to be no coherence or logic.
Situation
This afternoon at 14.00 there will be a Trade Fair, in which your hotel will present itself. The Trade Fair has four goals:
1. Presenting your new hotel
Who are the visitors? At this fair, you will have to present your company to the press, to the general public, to your competitors and just anyone else visiting the fair.
2. Creativity
As there is a Creativity competition: your performance at the Trade Fair by presenting yourself in a consistent and creative way contributes to this creativity mark.
3. Competition analysis
The Fair is THE most important opportunity to have check out at all the other teams in your city: what are they up to, what can you learn from them, what are ideas you can use as well? So split up your team and take notice of all your competitors. You might need this information for adjusting your strategy! The Trade Fair gives you good impressions of what your direct competitors in your city are up to. So, have one of your team members walk around and make an overview or rather a competition analysis.
4. Adjusting your strategy
Important is to get a good impression on the plans of all other teams, so you can adjust your strategy to this.
The coaches and maybe others, will be visiting your booth and ask questions. Play your role: you are the new management. They will evaluate your performance and this will be of influence on your marks for the Game as well as your occupancy rate. Always keep your booth occupied, but have one (or two) checking out the competition and collecting information for your Competition Analysis!
For photos on Trade Fair check Flickr photos
Details on Trade Fair
- The language to be used during the Trade Fair is English, the setting is an international Trade Fair.
- The Trade Fair will open and close sharply scheduled
- Make clear arrangements on who is doing what (roles, answers, presenting, screensharing e.g.)
- Be creative
At least two members of your team should always be present and attending your booth. The coaches will evaluate both the creativity and consistency of your booth. Further Instructions and Recommendations:
- The Trade Fair will open and close sharply scheduled.
- Teams will be provided with one table each: organize all others materials yourselves.
- Each team has a predetermined spot: so use this spot with your team number on the table.
- Please do not damage walls, floors, and windows when installing your booth (no nails, etc.)
- Remember to appropriately respect the physical, audio and visual space of other teams (no loud music, etc.)
- Do not block emergency exits or use highly flammable materials.
- Use different forms of media (flipcharts, dress, screens, loudspeakers, objects) to attract potential customers, stir competitors, and impress anybody else passing by.
- Be prepared for questions, and realize visitors of a Trade Fair do not want to listen to a 5 minutes presentation.
- Try to get leads.
After the Trade Fair
- Pack up all your materials and equipment, as well as clean the space of your booth when the fair is over. Maybe you still need some of the materials during the Game?
- Check if your hotels' strategy is in need of a small change after what you have seen at the Trade Fair.
Live and assignment
During the Trade Fair we advise your teams to have one or two members checking out the competition. This is of use for your gameplay but also needed for this part. Your assignment is doing the Trade Fair and handing in the part specified below. Sp-lit up tasks, as you have limted time for all this.
Strategic competition analysis
This part should hold two major elements.
A - Reflection on your performance on the Trade Fair
- What were our goals on the Trade Fair?
- What went right and what went wrong?
- How does this effect your hotel?
- What would you do differently next time and why?
B - Competition analysis based on the Trade Fair
- Make a competition analysis for your hotel.
This should consist of three parts:
Theory on competition
In competition models, such as Porters Five Forces Model, competition can be seen on several levels. You are free to choose any structured way of doing a competition analysis but be sure there is a model behind your choice.
Our choice as a model to use to structure competition analysis, would be looking at three forms of competitions.
- 1- Generic competition on time and money.
How many people do travel, what is the average income? What do they spent their income on? What are the consumer's sentiments? Consumers can only spend their money once and their time as well. Use realistic figures from Germany.
- 2- Specific competition on alternatives.
If they decide to spend their money on leisure they can choose for a stay in a hotel, camping ground, friends and relatives etc. In the business market the alternatives are less logical. Try to use some realistic figures from Germany, and for instance one of the major cities!
- 3- Selective competition your direct competitors: so the consumers choice for a brand.
Do they choose for a hotel, the other competitor offering practically the same products are the most likely competitor, the competition is now mostly on brand and product specifications. Now look especially at your city Amstelburg. This is what you do at the Trade Fair, and only for your own city!
It is handy to prepare some form to use at the Trade Fair. So while some team members are working in the booth, others should visit the competitors and immediately work on this assignment.
Goal
See how your plans and hotel 'stand' so fat in the market. Get a grip on the competition. This assignment is not just about generating some mindless marketing and sales blurb! In the end your Trade fair presence contribute to better marketing communication and, in the end, it should also bring a measurable result. And, it should also give you insights into the plans of the competitors.
Task, deliverable
- Do the Trade Fair
- Make an overview of your competitors
Handing in your assignment
Hand in your competition analysis as a document. Upload it somewhere in the cloud.
- Be sure that this document is made 'public'
- Be sure the file is freely accessible without logging in or anything, just the click on the link should open it!
- Put only the link in your Team File tab Year 1, D32 Extra information
Assessed elements
- How was the Trade Fair, does it reflect the strategy?
- Was the team able to answer the questions?
- Are the question answered in a commercial way?
- Is the competition analysis logical and based on theory as well as experiences?
Additional information
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