Hotels Research

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. COMPANY BACKROUND P.3

2. PURPOSE OF RESEARCH P.3

3. RESEARCH DESIGN P.3

4. SAMPLE DESIGN P.4

5. OBJECTIVES P.5

6. DATA GATHERING AND PROCESSING P.5

7. TIMETABLE P.6

8. RMJ ADVERTISING SOLUTIONS BACKROUND P.7

1. Company background

Sheraton Hotels is the largest and second oldest of the hotels belonging to Star wood Hotels Resorts and was founded in 1937. Sheraton is a globally based hotel chain with numerous hotels scattered all over the globe and its major competitors include Hilton Hotels, Fairmont, Holiday Inn and the Best Western Group of Hotels. The Sheraton we have chosen to work with is located in Markham district of Ontario in Canada.

2. Purpose of the research:

To identify the most appropriate and efficient distribution channel for consumers - purchase from the hotels online website, book through travel agents or through expedia.com. This will help Sheraton hotels target their promotion and discounts accordingly to the different channel of distribution to the consumers.

3. Research design:

The research of Sheraton Hotel's advertising and promotion channels, done by RMJ Advertising Solutions, will be done through telephone interviews. Due to the high efficiency in speed, respondent cooperation, versatility and geographic diversity, as well as low costs and good response reliability of phone interviews, RMJ will deliver fast, accurate data that will influence future provisions for advertising for Sheraton Hotels. The questionnaire will consist of 25 questions which will be engineered to bring ultimate, reliable results for the research being conducted. Our timing of the interview will result in high and accurate responses from our interviewees, since it will be conducted in the late after noon, sometime between the hours of 6:30pm and 9:00pm. We have concluded that these times are most efficient because it is the leisure time for most people who are employed or go to school. Our targets will people who have already visited Sheraton Hotels, ages 18+, and who are inclined to go back again. An equivalent of 50 random Sheraton Hotel users will be the target for this research project. This number should cover all ages and classes of people that have used Sheraton before.

Should the phone interview process encounter any problems, we are prepared to go on site, at the Sheraton Hotels located in and around the GTA in order to finish our research. The place for this endeavor would most likely be the main lobbies in 2 or more Sheraton Hotels. Otherwise the phone interviews will be conducted by our representatives from the comforts of their homes.

Through our design and organization, one can see that we are ready to begin the research that will help our client indefinitely.

4. Sample design:

Here are some sample questions from the final 25 questions questionnaire that will be used in the interview process:

What is a primary purpose of residing in a hotel?

How do you purchase your travel package?

What is the primary source of information for finding hotel?

Is Internet an important place for your business and personal shopping?

What would you consider to have a benefit in making an online hotel booking?

5. Objectives:

The expected outcome of this research is that we are hoping that this research will tell us that the Internet is the most effective way for Sheraton Hotels to advertise. The majority of the population uses the internet, and for those who are retired and frequently travel there internet is a source of booking hotels, flights, and trips. Our group also feel that those who lead busy life styles and don't have time to book hotels for trips and don't want to deal with line-ups and travel agents, will also want to use the internet as there quick easy solution. We are expecting theses results due to the rapid growth in technology, and also almost everyone has the internet, especially in North America and Western Societies