Hospitality, Tourism &

Events
Service, unique characteristics
 Definition of services

Unique characteristics of services

Areas of Unique characteristics of events

interest: Impact on unique characteristics

on how events are managed.

Services marketing mix

 Definition of service

“ A service is an act of performance that one

party can offer to another that is essentially
intangible and does not result in the ownership
of anything. Its production may or may not be
tied to a physical product.” Kotler
 The Economist defines service as
any activity "you can't drop on your foot“

The Economist , April 2010

 Product
Combinations
Service
…...
Experience
 Unique characteristics
• What are the features that makes services
different from products?

• How does these impact the consumer in their

purchasing decisions?

• How can we market services and events as

services better?
Unique Characteristics – services &
events

Intangibility Variability Lack of ownership Ritual & ceremony

Inseparability –
Perishability Timebound
labour intensive
• Can’t see touch or feel before
you purchase

• Sell through website,

brochures

• Customer relies on
reputation,
recommendations &
testimonials
You can’t kick the tyres when assessing a
service
 Continuum of Tangibility

100% intangible
100% tangible

Fiona Budds - Services Marketing 10

Product Service Experience

ADD VALUE TO
TRADITIONAL PRODUCTS
 Signage
Add Tangible Cues
Website
Decor
People Uniforms
• Each experience totally
unique

• Difficult to manage

• May be positive or
negative
• Atmosphere

• Weather, time of day, day

of the week

• Busy /quiet, queues, traffic

• Unruly customers

• Your Mood
  Buy a service - own
nothing

 Transient nature of the

Lack of purchase
ownership
 Holiday : suntan,
photos, souvenirs
 Tennis game?
 • Strategies to encourage
a sense of ownership:

• time share
Lack of • frequent flyer clubs
ownership • Members bar
• Cannot separate service
from service provider

• Customer may be co-

producer

• Importance of customer
oriented well trained staff
Service,
service
provider
• Goods – stages in process:
produced, transported,
stored, sold and
consumed.

• Services –produced,
transported, stored, sold
and consumed
concurrently
• Services need to be sold
when fresh

• Short shelf-life

– Cinema seat?

– Hotel bedroom?

– Concert ticket?
• Services have a shelf life

• Need to manage supply

and demand

• Account for seasonal

nature of demand
 • Price – maximise when
demand is high, offer
discounts when low

• Manage people needs-

high cost of idle staff
Marketing mix elements
 product

Physical
Price
evidence

Services Marketing Mix

7 P’s
Process Place

People Promotion
 People
• Focus on role of employees in service delivery
• People may add value
• Need to classify people based on customer
contact and involvement in marketing activity
(SAS airlines)
• Cannot be replaced by technology (?)

Fiona Budds - Services Marketing 25

 Physical Evidence
• Focus on the tangible elements that support
the service delivery
• Technical quality

Fiona Budds - Services Marketing 26

 Process
• Procedures must be in place to ensure smooth
and consistent delivery of the service
• Standardisation of tasks – SOP’s
• Staff Training
• Quality management systems – ISO9002

Fiona Budds - Services Marketing 27