Introduction
Rixos Hotels is a luxury hotel chain of Turkish origin based in the UAE. The hotel chain was founded in 2000. In addition, the headquarters of the company are located in Dubai. The company operates other resorts and hotels in the Middle East and Europe. This chain also incorporates properties in Egypt, Russia, Ukraine, Switzerland, and Azerbaijan. Extensively the company has six thousand and five hundred employees across the mentioned countries. The total revenue generated by the company is approximately 841.7 million US dollars.
As is for many hotels, the leading service Rixos hotel offers is accommodation. This is the leading service of the enterprise. Nonetheless, being a luxury hotel of high quality with Turkish culture, the hotel’s welcome is like no other. The hotel offers excellent hospitality services to all of the customers that visit.
With a decidedly modern twist, the hotel is confident in its culture and fine hospitality. The welcome by the hotel is like no other. The company’s management indicates the hotel’s hospitality is enchanting and generous. The management further indicates that this generosity comes from the heart to build an intimate environment and an inviting atmosphere for all the customers (Baron et al. 2018).
In addition, the company is determined to offer a unique spa experience and a luxurious ambiance that keeps the customers coming. The second most important service offered in any hotel is excellent food. From that perspective, Rixos hotel offers a gourmet. The company’s tradition is to offer great food, which is why customers keep visiting.
Moreover, the hotel offers a well-conditioned gym and swimming pool services to all the customers. As part of its services, the management of the hotel also offers an outstanding resort experience, usually accompanied by professional sports and entertainment.
As part of its history, the Rixos hotel was established by Fettah Tamince in Turkey in 2000. As one of the fastest-growing hotels, the first resort was established in Abu Dhabi with the same cultural setting and tradition. The opening of the resort in Abu Dhabi was to exploit the great potential of luxury hotels in a fast-developing city and the vast Middle East region (Cavallo et al. 2018).
Since its inception, the hotel chain has promoted a luxury experience and opulence, capturing a profitable market in the city and the extensive Middle East. The company, as indicated earlier, has over six thousand and five hundred employees who have enhanced its operations, more so in hospitality and food services.
Description of the service
Great food and abundant flavors
The hotel offers local Turkish and international cuisine, usually presented in an epicurean ambiance to indulge the guests. From this perspective, the company presents various concepts, from the exquisite a-la-carte to the high-end buffets.
In addition, the company also offers exceptional quality stemming from outstanding worldwide chefs. In this regard, the company is not limited to finances. It spends on every other detail and flavor in the different local or international dishes until the customer feels satisfied. The company indicates that outstanding quality is its hallmark of passion in this concern.
Lively entertainment
Breath-taking and spectacular shows by experts and professional artists present the guests with entertainment to remember. In this regard, guests also get customized entertainment based on their requests. In particular, the hotel coordinates how a group of people can get entertained by professional artists within the hotel’s premises. This way, guests can choose from a wide variety of music and general entertainment of how and what they want to be entertained. The hotel entertainment program sees more than 800 concerts which are held on an annual basis.
Accommodation
Accommodation is the main service offered by any hotel. As a leading five-star hotel, Rixos offers excellent and comfortable experiences in terms of accommodation. In particular, special room and suite occupants have been offered complimentary services such as mini-bars, spas, and fitness centers. In addition, the management of the hotel also offers pools and other exclusive features to make their customers come back.
Accommodation can only be excellent if it’s coupled with exceptional hospitality. According to Statista, 80 percent of five-star guests return due to great hospitality. With that in mind, Rixos has capitalized on its Turkish hospitality and culture as one of its exceptional services, especially in the Middle East. Most people in the Middle East are used to Arabian hospitality. For that reason, Rixos has established that gap and, in turn, offers excellent Turkish hospitality, which many people have wanted to try over the years.
Visit Tourist attraction sites.
In collaboration with the various tourist attraction sites such as the famous Burj Khalifa skyscrapers, Yas Beach, Sandy Beaches in Fujairah, and the Umbrella Beach, Rixos hotel has made arrangements to make their customers have an enjoyable experience during their stay in the hotel (Kwok et al. 2020).
As part of its program, the management of the hotel has made customized partnerships with these facilities intending to reduce the fees paid by their guest to access and enjoy the fantastic experience in these facilities. In the customer service experience rating review section, 70 percent of the customers would want to revisit the hotel due to their experience in these tourist attractions.
Analysis of the service Marketing Mix
The service marketing mix is the integration of different services marketing aspects that organizations mainly use to communicate their brand and organizational message to their customers. This mix includes seven P’s, which will be analyzed below.
Product
Unlike a product, a service is intangible and cannot be estimated regarding feel and look, among other qualities in commodities. Nonetheless, the service product can be customized to suit guest requirements. From this perspective, Rixos hotel has mastered the art of service products. In particular, the hotel offers exceptional food and beverages. The website of the hotel indicates that the hotel offers a gourmet. Additionally, every guest has the opportunity to ask for customized drinks. These drinks are offered according to guests’ mixed priorities and tastes.
Due to the nature of the guests’ activities, they usually get injured or exhausted. Subsequently, needing doctors’ services more often. The hotel does not have doctors who reside within the hotel. However, guests usually get external doctors upon their request. This arrangement is better but needs to be improved. The hotel management must hire doctors or take care of the guest. This way, the hotel can always be sure of immediate response in case of any severe emergencies experienced among the guests.
Pricing
The pricing strategy for services is different and challenging. This is because it is not measured using the same criteria as a product. The combination of factors such as the cost of production, the distribution strategy, and raw materials are used in determining the costs of a product. However, service pricing is different. For instance, how would you charge the guest for the care shown by the guests, the delicate taste of delicacies, or even the restaurant’s ambiance (Othman et al., 2020)?
Nonetheless, Rixos has taken advantage of its location to charge the guests. Most of the guests visiting the hotel are middle-class to rich people. Stemming from this fact, the hotel has developed an effective strategy for pricing its guests. All the prices are commensurate and yet reasonable with the services offered.
Place
The location where a company chooses to conduct its services can make or break its growth. Any company management needs to know how visible the setup is to potential customers and the probability of the times they are likely to visit. As part of its strategy, Rixos hotel is situated in the heart of Dubai. The Jumeirah Beach Residence, where the hotel is located, is the most famous destination in Dubai. From its stunning location with a significant middle class to rich people, the hotel enjoys many visits, significantly contributing to its revenue.
Promotion
There is a lot of competition in the service industry. Subsequently, any company in this business needs significant promotions to pass the right message to customers. Rixos hotel has adopted direct and online marketing through social media platforms paying keen attention to the particular market segment, middle class to the rich. As part of its strategy, the company has also incorporated magazine articles with the intention of getting to the right audience.
People
A company is built on its goals, mission, and vision and depends on the employees. In fact, with qualified and experienced employees, the company is likely to head somewhere. Leveraging this fact, Rixos hotel competitively recruits its employees. In addition to competitive recruitment, the hotel also invests in its employees.
To respond to the needs of the employees, the company has developed strategic career development and event days where the employees engage. In addition, with the knowledge that the employees are the ones responsible for creating happy and returning customers, these employees are offered equal pay for the services they render to the company.
Process
Part of the strategic blueprint is how fast and efficient customers get their services. If there is no process, the company needs to develop one. In particular, Rixos, through its employees, believes in customer centricity. For that reason, the company has an elaborate, quick, and reliable process through which customers are offered exceptional services, thereby enriching their operations and revenue.
Physical Evidence
Rixos hotel has the knowledge that is offering services that do not have a personal touch works to its detriment. Subsequently, the company offers its services integrating an aspect of delight to the customers. This has been the strategy all along. In particular, the company presents a great ambiance, music, and a welcoming travel face as part of its physical evidence, which keeps the customers coming (Lahtinen et al. 2020).
Service Marketing Triangle
The service Marketing Triangle indicates three related groups, in particular, customers, the company, and the service providers that work together to develop, promote and deliver services to the customers’ satisfaction. This triangle indicates how various aspects interact and their effect on the various marketing types. In particular, Rixos has developed a system through which the service marketing triangle works (Othman et al. 2019).
Company to customers
This relationship focuses on external marketing efforts. In particular, guests to the hostel might see various promotions or social media pages of the company and decide to interact with them. Rixos have developed marketing efforts that enable them to reach their objectives by presenting their services as the best over those of other companies. This way, the company has had effective interactions with the company. Subsequently, the company develops effective strategies that enhance its understanding of the customers.
Company to Employees
Employees are the people responsible for creating happy and returning clients. Therefore, the company understands its pivotal role in achieving its goals and objectives. From this perspective, Rixos has tailored a training program for employees with the intention of enhancing progression in their careers. In addition, the company offers the employees a subsidized vacation program where they pay 40 percent of the total costs while the company covers the other expenses. On the other hand, the company has stipulated their expectations from the employees to offer valuable and reliable services (Rather et al. 2019).
Employees to customers
As indicated earlier, employees are the core drivers of the purpose of any organization. From this perspective, certain employees identify prospects leveraging from their actions and decisively engage them to provide the specific services they seek. The company understands that if it has proper systems and clear values for the employees in doing their jobs, the employees will ultimately offer better customer services and experiences.
Overview of the Service Process
The company’s service process is a plan in which customers can get their services efficiently and reliably. Rixos has developed such as system. In its strategy, the company has two sections, the customers and the employees mandated to offer such services. For instance, while seeking whether a service is available in the hotel, customers can request it through the website, official social media platforms, and even through calls. Upon their request, the designated service providers directly answer those questions (Lahtinen et al., 2020).
Once the customers are in their hotel rooms, they also request services through the hotel phones. Upon the requests, the customer representatives answer their call detailing whether those services are available. They pick up the customer’s order and share it with the relevant department if available. The customer is requested to wait for a certain amount of time, and then the services are availed to them.
All the customers are always notified with every request to check the availability of resources in the hotel.
Fig 1.0: A sample flowchart showing the service process at Rixos Hotel
Every step in the flow diagram is essential. However, only some of the steps are necessary. For instance, as a strategy for standardization, the hotel can integrate the kitchen department and the order and payment department to effectively offer efficient and faster solutions to the clients in the hotel. Every client can locate the hotel. This is because it is at the heart of Dubai. Subsequently, all fail points must be registered in this process.
In addition, the company could adopt various service recovery procedures. They include apologies to customers whenever the employees are wrong. Moreover, the employees need to listen more, empathize and ask relevant questions to the customers. Finally, once a service is offered but not to the customers’ satisfaction, or when responses are offered later, the employees should always conduct follow-ups.
Summary and recommendations
In summary, Rixos is a luxurious hotel that offers exceptional services to customers. The basis for such services is a better understanding of the customer’s needs. Founded on effective service marketing, the company better understands its clients and how to serve them better. In addition, the company understands the role of employees in this whole process. It is within the understanding of the company that the employees are the ones responsible for creating happy and returning officers, and hence the company, in return, invests in them.
However, the company should improve its electronic systems to enhance the effectiveness of its services. In addition, the company should also develop a more robust website that is not prone to attacks from hackers. Such attacks could lead to the hotel’s shutdown due to significant losses. In integrating the service marketing triangle, the company should centralize the role of the employees and the customers as they are the drivers of the organization’s purpose.
References
Baron, S., Harris, K., & Hilton, T. (2018). Services marketing: text and cases. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Rather, R. A. (2019). Consequences of consumer engagement in service marketing: An empirical exploration. Journal of Global Marketing, 32(2), 116-135.
Lahtinen, V., Dietrich, T., & Rundle-Thiele, S. (2020). Long live the marketing mix. Testing the effectiveness of the commercial marketing mix in a social marketing context. Journal of Social Marketing, 10(3), 357-375.
Othman, B., Harun, A., Rashid, W., Nazeer, S., Kassim, A., & Kadhim, K. (2019). The influences of service marketing mix on customer loyalty towards Umrah travel agents: Evidence from UAE. Management Science Letters, 9(6), 865-876.
Othman, B. A., Harun, A., De Almeida, N. M., & Sadq, Z. M. (2020). The effects on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty by integrating marketing communication and after-sale service into the traditional marketing mix model of Umrah travel services in Malaysia. Journal of Islamic marketing.
Kwok, L., Tang, Y., & Yu, B. (2020). The 7 Ps marketing mix of home-sharing services: Mining travelers’ online reviews on Airbnb—International Journal of Hospitality Management, 90, 102616.
Cavallo, A. (2018). More Amazon effects: online competition and pricing behaviors (No. w25138). National Bureau of Economic Research.
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