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Marketing Plan: Hilton Hotels & Resorts

First and Last Name

Department and Academic Institution

Course

Professor

June 11, 2023

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Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................................... 4

MARKET SEGMENTATION.......................................................................................................................... 4

GEOGRAPHIC SEGMENTATION........................................................................................................................... 5

DEMOGRAPHIC AND SOCIOECONOMIC SEGMENTATION..................................................................................6

PSYCHOGRAPHIC SEGMENTATION....................................................................................................................... 6

BEHAVIOURAL SEGMENTATION............................................................................................................................ 7

BENEFIT EXPECTATIONS........................................................................................................................................................... 7

BRAND LOYALTY..............................................................................................................................................................................8

TIME-BASED AND OCCASION.......................................................................................................................................................9

VOLUME USAGE AND PURCHASING BEHAVIOUR...................................................................................................................9

TARGETING & POSITIONING.................................................................................................................. 11

TARGETING............................................................................................................................................................ 11

POSITIONING.......................................................................................................................................................... 12

4 P’S—PRODUCTS & PRICING STRATEGY......................................................................................... 13

THREE LEVELS OF PRODUCT............................................................................................................................. 13

PRICING STRATEGY.............................................................................................................................................. 15

4 P’S—PLACE & PROMOTION.................................................................................................................. 16

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PLACE.................................................................................................................................................................. 16

PROMOTION........................................................................................................................................................... 17

DIGITAL MARKETING................................................................................................................................ 18

PRODUCT SERVICE DEVELOPMENT................................................................................................... 19

REFERENCES.................................................................................................................................................. 22
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Marketing Plan: Hilton Hotels & Resorts

Introduction

In the travel and tourism industry, the Hilton Hotels & Resorts (H&R) is a widely

recognisable chain that belongs to the Hilton Worldwide hospitality brand. H&R is an upscale

hotel brand with locations worldwide. Founded in 1919, Hilton H&R has over 600 properties

scattered across six continents (Hotel, n.d.). Hilton Worldwide has 18 hotel brands that amount

to over 7,000 properties across 122 countries and territories (Hilton, 2022). This makes Hilton

Worldwide one of the fastest growing companies in hospitality. Some of the brands under the

Hilton Worldwide name include Conrad, Waldorf Astoria, LXR, Canopy, Signia, Curio, Double

Tree, Tapestry, Embassy Suites, Motto, Hampton, Hilton Garden Inn, Tru, Home 2 Suites,

Hilton Grand Vacations, and Hilton Honours. This report focuses on the hotel brand, Hilton

H&Rs.

Hilton H&R was selected for this marketing plan because in 2020, it was ranked number

one on Forbes Magazine’s 100 Best Companies to Work For (Hotel, n.d.). In 2022, Hilton was

the only hospitality company to make the Great Place to Work Institute’s list of top best 50

places to work for in Australia (Hogan, 2022). In the U.S., it was named the second-best place to

work for by both Great Place to Work and Fortune Magazine (Hospitality Net, 2022). This report

looks at the market segmentation, targeting & Positioning, the 4 P’s, digital marketing, and

product service development.

Market Segmentation

Market segmentation is an important element of any marketing plan because it outlines

the firm’s customers and divides them into smaller segments based on different characteristics
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such as personality traits, age, gender, and income levels (Tarver, 2022). By segmenting markets,

the company is better able to target different categories of consumers by focusing on their

common needs and tailoring their marketing strategies to reach full value (Tarver, 2022). This

section examines the following four types of segmentation: geographic, demographic,

psychographic, and behavioural.

Geographic Segmentation

Markets can be segmented based on consumers’ geographic location, and it can include

variables such as climate, region, urban or rural locations, and local population. The basis for

geographic segmentation is that consumers in a certain region may have similar needs, which

may differ from the needs of consumers in a different area (Tarver, 2022). For instance,

consumers in Adelaide might have different needs than consumers in Sydney. Hilton H&R’s

geographic segmentation relies on building hotels in popular locations where their target

customer segment visits; for example, in London, these locations include popular places like

Tower Bridge, Bankside, and Canary Wharf (Dudovskiy, 2016). As such, existing and new

locations would be built in areas that are visited often by these groups of consumers.

In Australia and New Zealand, the current branches are in major big cities that see many

tourists and visitors. Australia houses seven Hilton hotels, one in every major capital city

including Sydney, Adelaide, Surfer’s Paradise, Brisbane, and Cairns (Australian Traveller,

2020). In New Zealand, there are also seven Hilton Hotels located in big city places like

Christchurch, Queenstown, Wellington, Auckland, and Karaka (Hilton, 2022). Since this is an

upscale brand, the visitors who stay at Hilton are businesspeople or those who enjoy luxury.

Most of the Hilton properties are found in major cities across the U.S. as well, with 700,000
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rooms in this one region alone (Lock, 2022). After the U.S., the largest number of rooms are

found in the Asia Pacific region with 120,000 rooms (Lock, 2022)

Demographic and Socioeconomic Segmentation

Besides segmenting consumers based on their geographic location, businesses also group

their customers based on demographic and socioeconomic categories. This includes dividing

customers based on the following variables: household size, age, family life cycle, race,

nationality, gender, status, religion, marital status, income, occupation, education, and social

status (Burkard, 2003). The clientele that Hilton H&R attracts fall into the demographic of

middle to senior aged professions who have higher than average incomes and belong to the upper

social class (Dudovskiy, 2016). This target market aligns with their branding as a luxury resort

that caters high quality services and products for premium prices. According to Hotel Tech

Report, Hilton H&R caters to “next generation business travellers and upscale guests who want

predictable and consistently good service” (2022, para. 18). As such, to keep in line with their

current marketing strategy, future strategies would not focus on low-income, young, or non-

professionals.

Psychographic Segmentation

Markets are also segmented by psychographics, which means they aim to look at the

lifestyles, opinions, interests, attitudes, and personality of consumers (Burkard, 2003). This

segmentation is often considered the most difficult to understand because people’s traits can

change easily over time and data are not always objective or available (Tarver, 2022). However,

despite the difficulty in understanding consumers’ psychographic traits, this segmentation can

often bring out the best results for marketing purposes because it groups people based on

intrinsic motivation factors instead of external factors (Tarver, 2022). In the case of Hilton H&R,
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since consumers want “predictable and consistently good service” Hotel Tech Report, 2022,

para. 18), it can be assumed that the target consumers have an easy lifestyle based on luxury and

not hardships. They expect value for their money, which means they are willing to pay higher

prices for a hotel room in exchange for the upscale full-service trade-off. Since it is a luxury

brand, consumers who stay at Hilton H&R like the prestige associated with being a guest there.

As such, using cost-reduction or other promotions to target lower class or lower status guests

would be detrimental to the core base of existing guests who want to stand out. According to

Dudovskiy (2016, para. 5), Hilton’s psychographic segmentation involves “targeting ambitious

individuals who would like to express their perceived high status and achievement by staying in

five-star rooms offered by the hotel at premium prices.”

Behavioural Segmentation

Finally, markets are also segmented according to behaviour based on the consumer’s

relationship with the market, product, or service (Tarver, 2022). To understand consumer

behaviour, firms can look at the previous spending habits of their target market to predict how

they will spend in the future. This requires on market research to look for decision-making

patterns. The variables that identify behaviour include benefit expectations, brand loyalty, time-

based and occasion, and volume usage.

Benefit Expectations

Benefit expectations refers to what benefits are potentially attained from using a product

or service and these can be real or perceived benefits (Dudovskiy, 2016). For instance, at Hilton,

real benefits might be top class service and dependability. Perceived benefits, on the other hand,

might have consumers choose to stay with Hilton instead of competitors because they will

benefit from getting a sense of achievement, a sense of luxury, or a label of being high class.
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Brand Loyalty

Brand loyalty, or customer loyalty, is another component of behavioural segmentation,

and it refers to how faithful customers are to a firm. According to Hultman et al. (2021), brand

loyalty is formed when consumers build brand quality perceptions, which enhances affection and

association with the brand. Once brand loyalty is formed at a hotel, it can lead to repeat

visitations, positive referrals, higher market shares, and increased profits (Hultman et al., 2021).

In other words, building brand loyalty is ideal for any organisation because it is a way to ensure

the consumer continues to buy a brand’s product or service, it can create the highest lifetime

value of customers, and it costs a business less to retain existing customers than to try and attract

new ones (Bandyopadhyay & Martell, 2007). In this sense, brand loyalty is considered the

foundation of brand equity, or how much the brand is worth (Hultman et al., 2021).

To capitalise on the benefits of brand loyalty, Hilton H&R has initiated a loyalty program

called Hilton’s Honours, which offers four levels—blue, silver, gold, and diamond—each with

its own specific rewards and privileges (Hantuli, 2016). Members can join this loyalty program

for free, but they are rewarded for the more stays they have. For instance, for guests who have

completed four separate stays of 10 nights in one year, they gain Silver status; for guests who

have 20 stays or 40 nights in one year, they reach Gold status; and for guests with more than 30

stays or 60 nights in a year, they reach Diamond status. Besides receiving perks, airline points,

and complimentary services that are personalised to each guest, other benefits of being a part of

this loyalty program is that it gives guests a feeling of being members of an elite and exclusive

club (Hantuli, 2016).

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Time-Based and Occasion

Time-based and occasion is a behavioural variable that refers to when a product or

service is used. This can be divided into three groups: promotional buyers, seasonal buyers, and

occasion buyers (Zerotap, 2022). Promotional buyers are those who make purchases in response

to discounts or special offers. This category probably does not apply to Hilton’s target market

who are affluent and high-income. Seasonal buyers respond to products and services based on

the season. This category might apply to Hilton consumers because some visitors might travel

more during the hot summer months or when school holidays occur. However, for an upper-class

affluent market, the season might not apply as Hilton has hotels all over the world where one can

always find a hot destination. Finally, occasion-based purchases refer to when a person makes a

purchase. For instance, do consumers visit the hotel for a particular event or holiday more than at

other times? Besides being used for business stays, Hilton H&R also hosts weddings,

conventions, and conferences (Dudovskiy, 2016).

Volume Usage and Purchasing Behaviour

In addition to benefit expectations, brand loyalty, and time-based occasions, behaviour

can be further segmented by usage and purchase behaviour. This refers to how consumers

behave during the decision-making process of a purchase. Purchasing behaviour can be divided

into four groups: complex, variety seeking, habitual, and dissonance (Zeotap, 2022). Complex

buying behaviour refers to a decision that requires a lot of thought and consideration of various

factors. If a guest is considering a stay with Hilton H&R, the decision might be complex if they

have to factor in location to amenities like the beach, mountain, or city centre. They might have

to consider whether the hotel is suitable for all members of their party including young children,

the elderly, or those with special needs.

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Variety seeking behaviour refers to customers buying a new product or service just to try

it out. For Hilton H&R, variety seeking behaviour can be a good way to attract new guests away

from the competitors. Some of Hilton’s major competitors include the Hyatt, Marriot, Ritz

Carlton, IHG, the Four Seasons, Fairmont, Intercontinental, and Shangri-La (Business Strategy,

n.d.). Since close competitors often offer similar levels of services, quality, and expectations,

Hilton H&R can target this market to increase their customer base and potentially create new

levels of brand loyalty.

Habitual buying behaviour refers to buying a product or service because it is what they

always do, so it is derived out of habit. Since habitual buyers do not need much enticement to

make a purchase, Hilton H&R does not need to invest too much time and resources into targeting

this segment. If their loyal guests continual to book stays with Hilton in their numerous locations

because it is born out of habit, then there is no need to correct this action since it is already

desirable.

Dissonance reducing buying behaviour refers to making a decision between two similar

competitors by looking at one differing factor. For instance, of Hilton H&R is regarded as very

similar to the Hyatt or Marriott, buyers in this category might look at one defining factor that

differentiates one from the other. As such, Hilton can cater to this segment by promoting some of

their services and amenities that makes them stand out. For instance, they have been consistently

ranked as a top place to work, which means they treat their staff well, who in turn, might be more

motivated to offer superior customer service. Another factor that separates them from

competitors might be their digital experience strategies, which includes incorporating digital

services that prioritise the guest experience, protects privacy, offers extensive mobile services,

and offers data-driven personalisation (Dudovskiy, 2016).

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Targeting & Positioning

Targeting

After completing the market segmentation, two key markets emerge. The first target

market is based on demographic and socioeconomic segmentation. This includes clientele who

are 26-60 years old, or middle to senior aged professionals, with high incomes and upper social

class statuses (Dudovskiy, 2016). Their needs include a luxury lifestyle and a premium price

strategy. Luxury can include things like personalised service, secure storage, free and fast wi-fi,

luxurious linens, enviable spas, plush robes, high quality bath amenities, digital keys, and 24-

hour room service. Luxurious can also include scenic locations. For instance, the Hilton H&R on

Queenstown, New Zealand is a lakeside resort on the Frankton Arm of Lake Wakatipu. It boasts

a heated indoor pool, full-service spa, fitness centre with top-of-the-line equipment, an outdoor

terrace with views of the lake, and multiple dining options (Hilton Hotel & Resorts, 2022).

This target market also needs a premium pricing strategy, which involves using a high

price to establish itself as a high-quality product in an effort to target high income buyers

(Woodruff, 2019). To use this strategy effectively, Hilton H&R needs to price their rooms higher

than their competitors to create the perception that their product or service has a higher value

than their competitors. According to Woodruff (2019), marketing managers are confident that the

brand itself will be enough to ensure consumers that the higher priced product is in fact superior,

and that the consumer would not investigate other competitors to see if one company truly offers

a higher quality service or not. The benefits of a premium pricing strategy are to increase profit

margins and create stronger barriers of entry for competitors.

Additionally, the second target market is based on the psychographic segmentation,

which groups people based on lifestyle and personalities. Aside from high-end luxury
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consumers, Hilton H&R can market toward consumers who fall under the “actualisers” category.

Actualisers are people who operate at the top of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, which means

they are after self-actualisation to reach their full potential (Perch, 2020). Actualisers are unique

in that they are perfectionists who only want the best from their community and their work as

well as only wanting the best for themselves and their families (Perch, 2020). Since they like to

have the best of everything, brand names are significant as they like quality. They also like to

make all their purchases from one shop (Perch, 2020). As such, Hilton H&R can target this

segment by promoting their hotels and resorts as a perfection one-stop-shop where guests can

have the finest service, amenities, and rooms for all members of the family.

Positioning

Hilton H&R is one of the most recognisable brands and is constantly expanding around

the world. One reason for this successful growth is because of the strategic way it has positioned

itself that sets it apart from its competitors. First, it has positioned itself at the top of the range in

its class of hotels. When travellers, businesspeople, and other clients are looking for an upper

scale hotel, they associate the Hilton H&R brand with the highest quality. As such, another factor

that determines Hilton’s positioning is its brand name. The name and logo, Hilton H&R, is

identifiable with quality, luxury, and style whether it is an existing market or a new market. On

the product positioning map, it would fall on the quadrant of high quality and high price.

4 P’s—Products & Pricing Strategy

Three Levels of Product

According to Philip Kotler, products are more than just physical things that can be

consumed; instead, products are defined as “anything that can be offered to a market for

attention, acquisition, or use, or something that can satisfy a need or want” (Cuccureddu, 2011,
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para. 3). Thus, products can be a good, a service, a store, or even a person. It is a means to an end

and the end is customer satisfaction (Cuccureddu, 2011). There are three levels of products—the

core product, the actual product, and the augmented product—and each level adds more

customer value to the end product.

First, the inner level is the core product, which represents the core customer value. It

represents the underlying need for the product, or why that product was purchased in the first

place. The core value for Hilton H&R might be to provide lodgings for consumers who need

somewhere to sleep while on business or vacation. Another core value might be to attain a status

symbol, as staying at the Hilton is more prestigious than staying at a Holiday Inn. These core

values can be developed and enhanced by adding another category such as promoting

sustainability. There is a growing trend for the hospitality industry to be more environmental,

which includes reducing waste and achieving a circular economy. Since the travel and tourism

industry is one of the worst polluters and travellers are increasingly aware of their carbon

footprint, Hilton H&R can enhance their core value by aggressive marketing that outlines their

environmental initiatives. For example, the brand has vowed to cut emission by 75% in their

hotels by 2030 and they have also created their first net-zero hotel (Otley, 2022).

At the second layer is the actual product, and this layer incorporates the brand name, the

packaging, the design, the quality, and the product features (Claessens, 2015). To set themselves

apart from competitors, Hilton H&R has their brand logo and name, which denotes a worldwide

chain of luxury and class. The features that set it apart includes its location, its amenities, its

exclusive loyalty program, its staff, its reputation as a good workplace, and its digital

competitive advantage. To develop and enhance this layer, Hilton H&R needs to ensure

consistency across all its chains in every location including the ones in developing and developed
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countries. The quality and features must be the same whether it is a Hilton hotel in Indonesia,

Auckland, or New York. The packaging should have a similar feel but not be identical. Identical

buildings can look cheap and low class while chains that take advantage of the specific

geography (i.e., next to a mountain or lake or in an old building) and make use of the settings can

add more value by enhancing the feeling of quality, originality, and extravagance. To enhance

this layer, Hilton H&R can continue to invest in quality dining options, reliable Internet

connections, and modern facilities like fitness rooms, spas, and digital entertainment systems.

Finally, at the outermost layer is the augmented product, which can add further options of

differentiation that can set Hilton H&R apart from its competitors. Hilton H&R does this by

offering product support. For instance, it has a Price Match Guarantee, which states that if a

guest finds a lower price on another official site, it will match the price and give the guest 25%

off their stay. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it launched its Hilton CleanStay program to

ensure high standards of hygiene and housekeeping throughout all its facilities. To develop and

enhance this layer, Hilton H&R can focus on an improved after-sale service, which can include

using social media or the hotel’s own website platform to contact guests after their stay to

receive feedback, to offer personalised communication options, and to keep loyal customers

close. When given a chance to give valuable feedback, customers can feel as though they are

taken seriously by the organisation, which can maintain or enhance loyalty (Basbouman, 2017).

However, this can be a tricky task because there is a thin between actual personalised care and

daily spam.

Pricing Strategy

A value-based pricing strategy is the most suitable strategy for this organisation based on

an assessment of the target market. Value-based pricing can be defined as a “method of setting a
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price by which a company calculates and tries to ear the differentiated worth of its product for a

particular customer segment when compared to its competitor” (Dholakia, 2016, para. 2). To use

this strategy, however, Hilton H&R must direct it on a single segment. As such, a value-based

strategy is tailored for the target market mentioned above of guests between the ages of 26-60

who have higher income and belong to upper social classes. To determine the price of a room,

the marketing manager should compare it with the next best alternative, which would be a

similar room at the Hyatt, Marriott, or another close competitor, and then determine the

differentiated worth. This strategy would work well at this hotel because it has already

established a reputable brand name that is associated with luxury and class. As such, consumers

have an enhanced perceived value of the product. Thus, this strategy is customer-focused, and

the customers at Hilton H&R come from high socio-economic classes to pay premium prices for

what they value to be premium products.

Another effective strategy at Hilton H&R is competition-based pricing. This strategy

involves choosing price points based on competitors’ prices and offerings to gain an advantage.

This type of pricing is often used when more than one company is selling a similar product,

when the product has been on the market for an extended time, and when the price of a product

has reached a level of equilibrium (Investopedia, 2020). This pricing strategy would be effective

for Hilton H&R in geographic areas where there are close competitors nearby that offer similar

rooms, features, and services. For example, if geographic location is similar, there might not be

any major differentiation features between Hilton H&R and the Marriott or Hyatt that consumers

perceive to be worth a higher price point.

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4 P’s—Place & Promotion

Place

Place is an important aspect of a marketing plan because it outlines how customers can

access a company’s product or service. Currently, guests can book rooms at Hilton H&R through

their direct booking system on their website or calling a customer representative. The hotel brand

also relies on HILSTAR, its own central reservation system developed in 1999 that feeds

information into its global distribution system as well as into individual hotels (Hotel Online,

1999). Guests can also book through online travel agencies like Booking.com and Expedia.

Although Hilton H&R already utilises a variety of distribution channels, here are three

recommendations for new distribution channels.

First, Hilton H&R should refocus marketing on direct online distribution through its own

website using a hotel reservation system. Although the Hilton was the first hotel to offer a multi-

hotel reservation system in 1948 (Hilton History, 2019), it has since utilised intensive place

strategies where bookings can be done on virtually any place. However, it is recommended that

the hotel try to revert to either selective or exclusive place strategies for the purpose of enhancing

its luxury-based brand and to increase revenues. Research shows that booking through third party

channels can cost hotels up to 30% of hotel revenues depending on the channel (Lee et al., 2022).

Data also shows that within the past two decades, online travel agencies and third-party booking

websites like Expedia and Booking.com have taken a large share of the market accounting or

58.28% of bookings compared to 41.72% of hotel-direct bookings (Lee et al., 2022). Thus, by

reverting exclusively to direct bookings, Hilton can reclaim revenue from other sites. Since the

Internet and mobile technology is more accessible today than it was two decades ago, users have
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the means to book directly through the website’s online hotel reservation system just as easy as it

is to book through Expedia.

This placing strategy has numerous benefits. Using a hotel reservation system gives

guests more autonomy to book themselves, gives the brand a good first impression because all

the information is on the hotel’s website and consumers do not need to be redirected away from

the company’s page, and it can increase revenues for the hotel. It can also lead to a smoother

booking process, is more efficient as it syncs automatically across various channels, and it

creates an enhanced customer experience (Lacelle, 2021). It also reflects growing trends, as more

than 700 million people are projected to use online booking by 2023 (Lacelle, 2021).

Besides reinvesting in direct website bookings, two other suggestions include phone

reservations for older guests and direct social media booking for younger guests. Phone bookings

might sound outdated when everything has shifted to digital, but for many guests, talking to a

real-life person is a form of luxury that is hard to come by in lower class hotels. Phone bookings

will require a front desk, call centre, or reservation line where a human is on the other end ready

to take the booking, answer questions, and upsell any features. This route is also low cost and

offers a personalised experience for guests. It also reflects the upper-class clientele who are less

worried about costs and deals and more concerned with brand familiarity and luxury.

Promotion

Hilton H&R would benefit from the following promotional strategies. First, it should

reward direct bookings by offering upgrades, complimentary services, or small gifts in the room.

Secondly, it can take advantage of strategic partnerships that align with its values and reflects its

market segments. For instance, to stay aligned with luxury and class, it can work to be mentioned

in niche travel guides like the Louis Vuitton City Guides, Living on Vacation, or Wallpaper City
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Guide. It can also partner with airlines that also have a similar brand image of luxury and class

like Air Emirates. Third, another promotional strategy is strategic referencing and social media

influencers. Strategic referencing involves getting Hilton’s name mentioned in ads, books, or

Instagram that correspond with their values and target market.

Finally, using a carefully selected combination of owned, paid, and earned promotion can

help market the brand without overmarketing. For owned content, search engine optimisation can

boost brand awareness and strengthen online presence, especially if the brand wants to capitalise

on direct online bookings through their website. For paid promotion, product placement and

social media ads would be a good way to entice younger crowds. For earned promotion, the

brand should strive for social recommendation, ratings, and review since most travellers rely on

reviews to see whether a particular hotel in a particular location meets the standards and

expectations.

Digital Marketing

Hilton H&R has an effective digital marketing process for communicating to customers,

especially through their strong online social media presence. Research shows that of the top five

hospitality brands on social media, Hilton H&R has the most followers and has been ranked

number two in customer care response times (Sprinklr, 2021). They use all major social media

platforms and categorise each one for different uses and objectives. For instance, the company

uses Instagram to post user-generated content, including photos of hotels, pools, and cityscapes

from users who have stayed with them. While it posts user-generated images on Instagram,

Hilton posts corporate photos with a more luxurious feel on its Facebook (Sprinklr, 2021). It also

uses this platform to promote its smaller brands like Embassy and Double Tree as well as recipes

from exotic locations where its hotels are situated. Finally, on its Twitter feed, the brand posts
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news stories like any awards or recognition it wins, any new openings, or any interesting news

about cities where it has hotels.

In addition, the brand has also succeeded in communicating with customers on social

media through its innovative online concierge service found through @hiltonsuggests. It was

launched in 2009, is available in over 115 cities, and is powered by volunteer employees at

various Hilton hotels (Wood, 2018). It is innovative because it is a social listening tool, which

operates by “listening” to users who ask questions in cities where Hilton hotels are located. For

instance, if someone tweeted “what can I do in Auckland?” Hilton Suggest will identify the tweet

and one of its volunteers can provide an answer to the question. The benefits of this social

listening program are that it has created travel excitement and it has created a personal

connection between travellers and Hilton Hotel, as many users would take photos of the

recommended places and post it online (Wood, 2018).

Product Service Development

Companies in the hospitality industry can differentiate themselves, remain competitive,

and reap benefits by offering a new service development. In line with being more innovative and

environmental, it is recommended that Hilton introduce a widespread green initiative across all

its locations. Sustainability can be difficult for many firms because it is often associated with less

efficiency, higher costs, and an unwillingness to change habits and behaviours in employees and

guests. However, because Hilton is an upscale hotel and its residents have higher income, they

may be more likely to associate price and value with sustainability.

Here are some examples of what Hilton H&R can offer in addition to its current

objectives of cutting emissions by 2030, increase energy efficiently, reduce water in its

operations, reduce waste in its operations, and create opportunities in the community. First, it can
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remove all plastic from its facilities by switching to glass bottles or installing purified water

stations with dispensers on each level. Water waste can be avoided by installing high-efficiency

water fixtures that control the water, water tracking systems, and low flow toilets. Water and

energy are greatly wasted through daily linen and towel changes. Although Hilton H&R is

marketed as a luxury accommodation and their clients might prefer the luxury of fresh towels

and new linen each day, this habit can be changed by awareness. With the right tools, they can

convey the message that luxury does not need to happen at the expense of the planet.

Furthermore, at its various restaurants, the menu can be more limited to reduce food

waste, and it can reflect local food products that are in season to reduce the need to import

ingredients from far away. Cleaning products often have harsh chemicals that are toxic for the

environment, so sourcing natural based alternatives that is safe to go into the water and sewage

system. Single-use toiletries are also a big source of waste for the hospitality industry and

substituting these small plastic bottles for refillable stations can not only reduce waste but also

save on costs. Data shows that when IHG removed single use toiletries from their hotels, they

saved 200 million small bottles from being produced, and when the Marriott removed single-use

toiletries, they saved $14 million (Oaky, 2022).

Finally, it is recommended that Hilton H&R digitalise their guest experience as much as

possible to reduce the hotel’s carbon footprint. Digitation not only has the benefit of efficiency

through automation, but it reduces paper receipts, invoices, bills, and other documents and

replaces it with apps and QR codes. Digitalisation can also be used in promotional strategies to

remove the need for flyers and brochures.

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References

Australian Traveller. (2020, February 12). A run down of the Hilton Hotels, Australia.

https://www.australiantraveller.com/australia/a-run-down-of-the-hilton-hotels-australia/

Bandyopadhyay, S. & Martell, M. (2007). Does attitudinal loyalty influence behavioural loyalty?

A theoretical and empirical study. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 14(1),

35-44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2006.03.002

Basbouman. (2017, October 6). Online aftersales in the hotel industry. Customer Engagement

Management in Tourism.

https://customerengagementmanagementintourism.wordpress.com/2017/10/06/online-

aftersales-in-the-hotel-industry/

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