Analysis of Hotel Names in Croatia as a Tool of Marketing Strategy

Abstract:     
Viewed globally, hotel guests can be classified according to the reason for their arrival (business trip or vacation), their numbers (individual guests or groups) and their place of origin (domestic or foreign guests). To provide services of the best quality possible, the hotel staff must understand the wants and needs of guests. One of the ways to do this is to find out the manner in which guests choose hotels. It is generally known that if a guest has already stayed in a particular town, the chances are that he will choose to stay in the same hotel again, providing, of course, that he was satisfied with services rendered. If a guest has never been to a particular town before, there is a greater possibility that he will choose a well-known hotel or one that is easy to reach. A factor that in addition to advertising, personal recommendations, hotel location and prices can influence the choice of a hotel is prejudice based on the name of a hotel. Based on the assumption that a hotel’s name can represent an important marketing tool, foremost in market communication, this paper analyses the names of all categorized hotels and apartment hotels in Croatia. The surveyed names of hotels are classified according to different criteria that could, with the application of additional marketing activities, be used to gain a better position on the tourist-generating market. Also, during a guest’s stay, a hotel’s name can be used to enhance and improve its performance, providing the name is exploited in an appropriate marketing manner. This implies creating stories linked to a hotel’s name and using its name in the gastronomic, cultural, entertainment and other fields of hotel- and tourism-product promotion.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 12

Keywords: hotels, marketing, commercial exploitation

JEL Classification: L83, M31, P29

Accepted Paper Series