A171 (SEMESTER SEPTEMBER) 2017/2018

BPMM 1013 PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING

GROUP G

REPORT OF EDC HOTEL SERVICES

LECTURER’S NAME : DR YATY BINTI SULAIMAN

NO. NAME NO MATRIC COURSES

1. SEW TIAN HUAN 253608 BACHELOR OF FINANCE

2. LOH KHAI MING 252874 BACHELOR OF MARKETING

3. OOI XUE QI 255892 BACHELOR OF MARKETING

4. MAK GAI YEE 254339 BACHELOR OF MARKETING

5. LIEW CHIN HOU 252900 BACHELOR OF MARKETING

6. KOH WEI KIAT 253003 BACHELOR BUSINESS OF ADMINISTRATION

(LOGISTICS AND TRANSPORTATION)

7. LAI SHAN YU 253609 BACHELOR OF INTERNATIONAL

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

8. LOH HUI LU 254323 BACHELOR OF INTERNATIONAL

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
 TABLE OF CONTENT

CONTENTS PAGES

A. INTRODUCTION 1-2

B. SERVICE DESCRIPTION 3-9

C. CURRENT MARKETING STRATEGY 10 - 11

D. PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

i. Problem and Solution 1 (Service Aspect) 12 - 14

ii. Problem and Solution (Price Aspect) 15 - 16

iii. Problem and Solution (Place/Distribution Aspect) 17 - 18

iv. Problem and Solution (Promotion Aspect) 19 - 20

E. CONCLUSION 21

References 22

Appendices 23
 INTRODUCTION

EDC Hotel and Resort Sintok is located 48km north of Alor Setar, Kedah and also 10km
away from the Malaysian – Thai Boarder town of Bukit Kayu Hitam. EDC Hotel and
Resort Sintok is situated on a 15 acres site at the frontal trip of the beautiful 1061 hectares
of land which is the main campus of University Utara Malaysia (UUM).

The Executive Development Centre of University Utara Malaysia (EDC-UUM) started its
operation in September 2006 as a training and seminar venue cum hotel. Specifically,
EDC Hotel was established to perform this few objectives which are to act as University
Utara Malaysia (UUM)’s training hotel. EDC Hotel not only for the students and staffs of
UUM but also for all the other learning institutions and corporate bodies. Besides, EDC
Hotel was established to generate income for UUM and also to provide a unique and
pleasant services for UUM guests and customers. Lastly, EDC Hotel was established to
create employment opportunities in the hotel industry.

At the time this study was started by Mr. Mohd Fauzi Zainal Abidin which is the General
Manager in EDC Hotel and was assisted by his management team which are Mr. Suardi
Mohamed Zakaria (CEO of EDC Hotel), Mr Akhtar Ahamad Darwis (Operation
Manager), Rudy Azrul Haezman Abas (Assistant Manager Sales & Marketing) and so on.

The staffs available in EDC Hotel and Resort Sintok are total with 60 people for all post.
Amount the 60 people they are separate in 4 categories, which is permanent staff, contract
staff, permanent part-time staff and temporary staff. The numbers of permanent staff are
in 4 people, contract staff 34 people, permanent part-time staff are 8 people and the
temporary staffs are 14 people.

EDC Hotel and Resort Sintok also provided the training program for the UUM students.
The Human Resource (HR) department is choosing the practical students from UUM to
work temporary in the hotel. This is very helpful to overcome the problem of workers
1
shortage. Furthermore, when the students finish their practical in the training program,
EDC Hotel are given them an opportunity to stay or to leave the hotel.
EDC Hotel and Resort Sintok provided 88 guestrooms that including of 2 VIP Suites, 4
Executive Suites, 6 Deluxe Room, 74 Standard Twin Room and also 2 Standard Twin
Disable. Besides that, EDC Hotel and Resort Sintok also provided many facilities such as
free parking services, 24 hours security services, Free Wifi, Laundry Service, 24 hours
Save Deposit Box, photocopies services and so on. EDC Hotel and Resort Sintok is
surrounded by the beautiful lush greenery of tropical rainforest which provides guests and
customers with warm and relaxing experience. Furthermore, the elegant and soothing
decorations in EDC Hotel & Resort Sintok creates perfect hideaways to rejuvenate the
mind, body and soul.

2
 SERVICE DESCRIPTION

DETAILS OF THE SERVICE

i. Characteristics of The Service

For EDC-UUM Hotel, they committed to provide the highest standards in hotel services
and facilities. Firstly, let recommend about the characteristics of:

Services and Conveniences:

Daily Housekeeping Luggage Storage Luggage Room

Gift/Souvenir Shop Smoking Area Free Parking
Laundry Service Photocopies Safety Deposit Boxes

Dining, Drinking, and Snacking:

BBQ Facilities Restaurant (Halal) Restaurants

Poolside Bar Room Service

Things To Do, Ways To Relax:

Fitness Center Sauna Table Tennis

Garden Swimming Pool Golf Course
Swimming Pool (Kids) Bicycle Rental

Access and Internet Access:

Buzzer/Wireless Intercom Front Desk (24 Hours) Wheelchair Accessible

Elevator Facilities For Disabled Security (24 Hours)
Guests
Free Wifi In All Rooms Wifi In Public Area

3
Available In Room :

Air Conditioning Internet Access - Wireless Satellite/Cable Channels

 Ironing Facilities Desk Mini Bar
Free Bottled Water On-Demand Movies Shower
Coffee/Tea Maker Hair Dryer Television (TV)

ii. Benefit of The Service

For the room, EDC Hotels and Resorts Sintok has 88 guestrooms consisting of 2 VIP
Suites, 4 Executive Suites, 6 Deluxe, 74 Standard Twin, and 2 Standard Twin Disable.
Facilities and services which are available in rooms are convenient for all customers. For
example, customer can make himself a coffee or tea with the coffee maker that hotel
provided. Furthermore, the super speed Wifi network provided by EDC Hotel make
customer easy to access to network to complete their business meeting through internet.
Customers of EDC Hotel no need to bring any needs because EDC Hotel has provided
the full of facilities and supply.

Apart from that, if customers want to update their room they can choose update from
Standard Room to Executive Room or VIP Suite. Sometimes, customer will choose
bigger room which has kitchenette & living room to make gathering party with family
members or friends. The VIP Suite is mostly living by business man or VIP who will be
invited to UUM to visit. These rooms are very suitable for getting a business meeting.
The Normal Price for a standard price is RM135. EDC Hotel’s rooms bring convenient
for students in UUM because students can book EDC Hotel’s places to make a party such
as graduation party night or farewell party.

For the facilities, such as barbecue facilities, poolside bar and restaurant are very
convenient for students who want to make a party. In addition, the restaurant provides
foods which cooked fresh using fresh product and the finest cuts of meat. Restaurant in
EDC Hotel such as Sri Beringin Restaurant provided breakfast, lunch and dinner which
fill with tasty selections dished out daily in a style of cooking that draws on ingredients
and techniques from the world, particularly that of Eastern and Western influences.
4

Then, there are many restaurant promotion package provided for customer who did not
book the room. Example, for the latest promotion was the steamboat dinner which
provide for students in UUM. The price is worth and very convenient for students in
UUM because there does not has any steamboat restaurant inside the campus.

Besides, facilities and service provided by Hotel EDC such as fitness center, garden,
sauna, swimming pool and bicycle rental are the features of the hotel. Customer can
totally relax and enjoy their vacation. EDC Hotel is surrounded by beautiful lush
greenery of tropical rainforest which provides our guests with warm and relaxing
experience. Its elegant and soothing decoration creates perfect hideaways to rejuvenate
mind, body and soul.

EDC Hotel provides photocopies services and souvenir shop which help customer to
commemorate their vacation. Furthermore, daily housekeeping in EDC Hotel is provided
to make sure all customers stay and enjoy a clean and fresh air room. Customers can just
park their car inside the car park which EDC Hotel provided and it is free. Laundry
service also provided to customer to help them reduce the dirty shirt which they need to
take home. Room service is also provided to customer who want to order their foods and
lazy to come out from room.

For customer who impractical to move or incomplete, EDC Hotel has provides
wheelchair facilities and customer no need to bring their own wheelchair. EDC Hotel also
provides 24 hours security to make sure that the safety of customer and stealing incident
can avoid. The 24 hours front desk also help customer to solve their problems such as
booking process, network problem or any room service problem. Customers who come
on midnight can also book on time because the front desk is opened for 24 hours.

iii. When Was The Service Launched:

EDC Hotel’s service was launched in September 2006 as a training and seminar venue
cum hotel.

TARGET MARKET
5
1. Muslim Customer
Over the past several years, the Muslim population is growing at the faster rate than the
non-Muslim population. The increasing population has resulted in demand for the Halal
Hotels to grow solidly and quickly. Most of the hotels need to take a holistic approach in
obtaining the Halal certification for their service operations practices. In addition,
research towards Halal certification practices in hotel industry has rarely been studied.
The Halal certification practices were measured by 12 items. The 12 items of Halal
certification practices identified included Halal documentation, management
responsibility, raw material, location, exterior area, premise, facility, tools and equipment,
staff characteristic, staff policy, pest control, and waste management. EDC Hotel should
require the good Halal certification practices in order to improve their services to stay
competitive with other hotels in Malaysia and abroad.

2. Student

Students in UUM occupy the majority in EDC Hotel because the location of EDC Hotel
was located nearby UUM. Mostly, students will book the EDC Hotel’s room for
celebration or eating in restaurant since EDC Hotel provide good facilities and delicious
food in restaurant. Moreover, EDC Hotel is also target about the new student that will
coming to UUM to take a look before opening school. Those students and parents mostly
will book a hotel room to stay there one or two nights before opening school. That was
the timing EDC Hotel’s room booking full.

3. Professor and Lecturer

Sometime, professor and lecturer will book room for business meeting or make a
vacation to reduce stress. The facilities provided by EDC Hotel have a well-equipment
that customer will have a nice place to relax. EDC Hotel is very concerned about the
rating of the facilities and services because professor and lecturer’s responses will impact
the image of hotel directly.

4. Residents
EDC Hotel located at green forest and some people called it “Hotel In The Green Forest”.
Mostly, the residents in Changlun will choose this hotel as vacation because they want to
enjoy the fresh air and peace environment. While there are only 10.3km from Changlun
area to arrive EDC Hotel. This is an advantage for EDC Hotel if compared to other hotels
in Changlun. There was many packages for EDC Hotel such as Family Packages
especially when school holiday and public holiday. These were because residents from
Changlun was targeted as customer by EDC Hotel.

STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF THE SERVICES

Strength

 Strong commitment of the General Manager (vast experience in hotel management).

 The only budget hotel with premium facilities and services in its locality.
 Worldwide internet booking, convenient counter for walk-in guest and mobile
hooking (via telephone).
 Practicum students are always available for hotel use.
 Free high speed Wifi connection.

Weaknesses

 Bounded to strong bureaucratic controls that tend to eliminate competitiveness.

 Highly dependent on UUM’s Registrar and Bursar Office on recruitment process and
financial procedures.
 Backed up by the University. This may promote lack of resilient needed in growing of
a hotel chain, since the challenge to survive is lesser than the independent hotel.
 Most of the management team may have strong base of academic background, but
may lack of corporate experiences in hotel management.
 Patronized mainly by government agencies and internal guests (staff and student of
UUM). Insufficient group travellers and corporate guests.
7

OPPORTUNITIES AND THREATS IN OFFERING THE SERVICE

Opportunities

 Strong support from management of the UUM to the extent of directing all
departments to give priority to EDC-UUM as a venue for their functions.
 Those who patronize EDC Hotel network internationally and locally. Therefore, EDC
Hotel stands a prospect to obtain large market share through effective marketing
strategy and strong management team.
 Cheap labour and service from local community.
 Specializing in legal system, thus providing cheaper fees in the legal matters
compared to use consultation from private firm.
 Has training experts, training grounds, green campus, large student population, good
highway connection, and is close to Thailand.
 Situated in the Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER). Among NCER main
trusts is to transform and expand tourism sector in the region.

Threats

 Direct and indirect competition from low budget (including guesthouses and lodging),
budget and premium hotels in district.
 Insufficient support from students and alumni.
 Insufficient support from state and local government.
 Bound to government procedure.
 The constant changes in management team.
 The emergence of small hotels in the surrounding area.

THE SIMILAR SERVICE BEING OFFERED BY THE COMPANY’S CLOSE

COMPETITIORS

The closer competitors to EDC hotel are T Hotel Changlun, Changlun Chalet, and GM
Hotel Sdn Bhd. Their service, price, distribution, and promotional aspects are shown as
below: 8

Hotel’s Name Service Rate Price/Night

(0-5) (Start From)
 T Hotel Changlun 4.4 RM115
Changlun Chalet 3.9 RM100
GM Hotel Sdn Bhd 2.8 RM85

According to customer feedback, T Hotel Changlun has provide the best service compare
to the other hotels and has the highest service rate from the customers which is 4.4/5. GM
Hotel Sdn Bhd has the lowest service rate from the customers which is only 2.8/5
compare to T Hotel Changlun, and Changlun Chalet. These hotels have used the same
distribution and promotional aspects.

9
 CURRENT MARKETING STRATEGY

1. SERVICE

EDC Hotel and Resort Sintok provides the highest standard in hotel service. Their service
are 24 hours save deposit box, laundry services, free Wifi, free parking, 24 hours security,
luggage room, photocopies, facsimile and wheel chair. EDC Hotel and Resort Sintok has
88 guestrooms consisting of 2 VIP Suites, 4 Executive Suites, 6 Deluxe, 74 Standard
Twin, and 2 Standard Twin Disable. Their official check in time is 2pm and check out
time is 12 noon. Customers have to check in before the official time and check out after
time are request and subject to room availability.

EDC Hotel and Resort Sintok provides customers experience and enjoy, fun activities
while you and your group engage in mental and physical challenges. For example, Hotel
Explorace (Wet and Dry), Tele-Match Game (Indoor and Outdoor), mountain bike rental,
jungle trekking, mini gym, paintball target shooting, swimming pool, sauna and table
tennis. This activities will make the customers feel joyful and relax while stay in EDC
Hotel.

EDC Hotel and Resort Sintok provides food to customers also. For example, Sri Beringin
Restaurant. In this restaurant, customers can enjoy with eastern and western food as their
breakfast, lunch and dinner. They also have academy lounge that provide daily sumptuous
buffet and a la carte.

2. PRICE

EDC Hotel and Resort Sintok’s room package have three types which is VIP suite,
executive room and standard room. VIP suite have publish rate with around RM800,
corporate with around RM500 and government with around RM450. Executive room has
publishes rate with around RM650, corporate price with around RM400 and Government
with around RM350. Standard room has publishes rate with around RM220, Corporate
10
with around RM180 and Government with around RM135.
All room rate quoted are not inclusive of 6% GST. All room rates are per room per night
inclusive of daily breakfast for 2 pax. After payment done, customer can enjoy to use
individually controlled air conditioning, colour TV with selected Astro channels, mini
fridge, tea and coffee making facilities, hair dryer (upon request), iron/iron board (upon
request), baby cot (upon request), interconnecting room available, special room for the
disable and suites rooms complete with kitchenette and living room.

3. PLACE

Through the hotel we making the research, EDC Hotel is located near the UUM so most
of the consumers are students and their parents. And we also get that, EDC Hotel gets two
peak seasons in every years, that is when the UUM running the week of orientation and
during the convocation. The rooms of EDC Hotel are fully booking by many students and
their parents during peak seasons because the location of EDC Hotel is near to the UUM.

4. PROMOTION

EDC Hotel and Resort Sintok provided many different promotions to the customer. For
example, for food promotion, Restoran Sri Beringin in EDC Hotel provided the best
steamboat which only costed RM15 per pax from 3.00pm until 11.00pm. Besides, EDC
Hotel and Resort Sintok also provided the tourism package where the customers can
choose either 1 day trip which cost around RM 70 per pax or 2 days 1 night trip which
cost only around RM150 per pax.

Through this package, customers or visitors can enjoy University Utara Malaysia (UUM)
tour visits such as Dewan Mas UUM, Anjung Tamu, Academy Golf UUM and others. In
addition, customers can also join many sport activities such as obstacle, flying fox, jungle
trekking in this package. Furthermore, for the room promotion, EDC Hotel and Resort
Sintok provided residential package that only cost around RM130 per pax (Twin Sharing)
for 2days and 1 night. This package is included of 1 standard room, breakfast, morning
11
tea break, lunch, afternoon tea break, dinner and supper, free use of meeting room for 8
hours and so on.
 PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

Problem and Solution 1

SERVICE ASPECT
Problem
1. Lack Of Experiences
EDC Hotel such as productive chefs lack of experiences, this cause the hotel provides
low quality foods to their customers. Once the hotel get a bad recognition in their locality
or city, it is very difficult to regain good position. Finding the right cooks, employee and
managers may be a difficult task, especially if it is a small hotel owner. Usually, five-star
hotels (luxurious accommodation providers) recruit professional chefs at high cost. Hence
it is a hectic job for the low-budget hotels to find the right persons.

Employees or staffs have also been complaint because of their poor English and Malay.
Sometimes they do not understand what the guests needed or requested. So, it is hard to
communicate with customers and they failed to show their kind for customers. This
causes customer did not feel their kind.

Solution
In Hotel Industry a reservation system must be very accurate and very user friendly. So,
employees should be in proper way which can be helpful for customers. However, EDC
Hotel has very simple stage of reservation system for advance room booking. In addition,
the management is facing many issues with this present system. To improve all the staff
or employees’ experiences, manager in EDC Hotel should provide courses and training
for all of them. Apart from that, manager can also hire staffs who have enough
experiences compare to who have higher degree but lack of experiences.

If an employee is underperforming, manager of EDC Hotel should prepare to discuss the

issue with employees and understanding the cause of the performance issue. A key goal
12
of meeting with the employees is to confirm that the problem is ability, not motivation,
direction, priority setting or other factors, that will cause the performance issue.
The manager should enter the meeting with a clear understanding of what is expected of
the employees and which expectations are not being met. It is important for the manager
to accurately define the standard to which the employee is expected to perform the task.
The standard should be based on the job, not the employees. The standard should be
achievable, specific, measurable, time oriented and be written to ensure it is clearly
communicated and can serve as a consistent reminder to the employee and the manager.

Problem
2. Facilities (Mini Gymnasium)
EDC Hotel provides mini gymnasium which is free for guest of EDC Hotel and member
of EDC Hotel. Although it is free of charge, there are just a few people exercise over
there. It has said that it’s called mini gymnasium and the word “mini” means that it was
just a small gym room. How can a small gym room fitted with variety of equipment of
gym? There are just some typical gym’s equipment such as treadmill, dumbbell and
fitness ball. Limited of equipment causes guest cannot enjoy in exercising in the gym.

Besides, the equipment they provided are mostly worn out. For example, there are three
treadmills provided, but just one of them are available, that means many facilities are in
maintenance. This shows that the facilities are unsafe to use. So, the poor facilities,
service and welfare of EDC Hotel are bad enough for their customers and they are the
problem of EDC Hotel.

Solution
EDC Hotel should renovate their mini gymnasium become a huge gymnasium to let
customers comfortable in exercising. Big gym room contains many kinds of equipment
such as recumbent ride, squat, shoulder press and so on. The gym room also can supply
exercise class or yoga class at the specific time, so that the gym room looks professional.
Sorry to assume that if EDC Hotel is not able to carry out a renovation for gymnasium,
they also have to provide a variety of equipment or classes
13 in the mini gymnasium
because a common saying: “A circle, though small, is yet complete”. And so, a small gym
room is also able to make users feel comfortable.
Then, for some equipment that are spoiled have to be repaired. The time of recondition
must in around 3 days to 5 days and do not just simple paste a paper: “In Maintenance”
on the damaged equipment and do not bother it anymore because this shows that EDC
Hotel is not take care of this small details. So, EDC Hotel has to give excellent welfare in
every area of services they provided.

Problem
3. Food
EDC Hotel has opened a few number of restaurants such as Mayang Sari Bistro, Sri
Beringin Restaurant and Academia Lounge (in UUM). Those restaurants mostly provide
good Malay traditional food. Most Malay food are spicy, have variety flavors of spices
and are fry food. Customers of EDC Hotel cannot choose other types of food to eat
because EDC Hotel mostly cooks Malay food. Some customers do not like to eat spicy
food or greasy food, they prefer light food, but there have no choices for them to choose.
This shows that the restaurant do not think for the public.

Solution
Malaysia was a multiracial country, so there are variety of culture and festival. EDC
Hotel’s restaurants should provide many types of foods such as Malay food, Chinese
food, Indian food, Thai food and so on. This shows that EDC Hotel is willing to service
variety of races and would like to share the culture to everyone.

There will also international students or those people from other country stay in EDC
Hotel. So, EDC Hotel can be a place to let foreigners experience our culture of Malaysia.
They can try many kinds of food from different cultures and the most important is they
have choices to choose what they would like to eat. Restaurants of EDC Hotel should
take a chance to organize some event during festivals such as Hari Raya, Deepavali and
Winter Solstice. For example during Winter Solstice, the restaurants can organize an
activity which is making Chinese dumpling. And i am sure
14 these festival activities can

attract many of customers.

Problem and Solution 2
PRICE ASPECT
Problem
1. Price Of Each Package Is Not Reasonable
The price is the amount a customer pays for a product, and can be determined in such a
way that a company would earn profit. The price must suitable with value market and can
be affordable by customer. Such a policy also matches with the company’s mission.

However, the price of EDC Hotel was quite expensive. EDC Hotel provides a higher
price with each package like food package, room package and member package. EDC
Hotel also face direct and indirect price competition from low budget (guesthouse and
logging), budget and premium hotels. Insufficient support from students and alumni in
EDC Hotel. Most of the students will choose other low budget hotel compare to EDC
Hotel because high budget students cannot afford.

In member package, the member fees of EDC Hotel per month is RM 30 and above. It is
more expensive compare with member fees of another hotel. Apart from this, all lectures
of UUM be force to join as the member of EDC Hotel. Although member of EDC Hotel
could get discount when they purchase, but the price still high.

Solution
Price is closely related to the psychology of people. High pricing may lead to low sales.
Hence, EDC Hotel should offer some packages which all students and staffs can afford.
EDC Hotel should know their customers well. Their customers mostly are students, so
they should not put the price too high. If the price of food package EDC Hotel expensive
due to expensive raw material, the EDC Hotel can change the raw material their use. For
example, use local ingredients in preparing food.

EDC Hotel can set the menu that the ingredients easy to get. EDC Hotel can also prepare
the food by follow the season such as durian. Season for durian is typically from June to
August, EDC Hotel can provide the food related with durian such as tempoyak, ketan
durian, dodol, durian cake and more. Local ingredients are cheaper compare to the
ingredient be import. On the other hand, the customer of EDC Hotel many of them was
foreign tourists, so using local ingredients to prepare food is more suitable. Foreign
tourists have a chance to try our local food. EDC Hotel should reduce the price of those
packages when the price of ingredient decreased.

EDC Hotel must know well their competitors in pricing. The price they set must mostly
same or slightly cheaper as their competitors to attract more customers to choose them.
EDC Hotel need to know their market well to set a value-based price. EDC Hotel should
have to look at invoices and make sure they are charged correctly and that their
inventories are in line for everything from paper goods to linens to food. So that EDC
Hotel can always has enough inventories and avoid wastage problem.

Besides, EDC Hotel should also know their revenue target before they set a price. They
should have a revenue target for how much of a profit they want for their business to
make. Rooms traditionally occupied by guests should probably be priced higher on
weekends and holiday times. While rooms prefer by business travellers should be the
opposite. Peak seasons drive more bookings and revenues, but can also put a lot of stress
on hotel staff. Prices may need to be reduced during off-peak seasons. When hotel is
getting full ahead of time, they must raise their prices.
Problem and Solution 3
PLACE / DISTRIBUTION ASPECT
Problem
1. Rural Area
Place represents the location where a product can be purchase or a service can be provide.
It is often referred to as the distribution channel. It can include any physical store as well
as virtual stores on the Internet. E.D.C Hotel is at University Utara Malaysia, Sintok
Kedah, Malaysia, which is located 48km north of Alor Setar, Kedah and just 10km from
the Malaysia Thai Border town of Bukit Kayu Hitam.

EDC Hotel is situated at a secluded and rural area that surrounded with trees and very far
away from the urban area. It’s very obvious that the problem of place strategy that EDC
Hotel faces is there is far from the city. There are many competitors which are T Hotel (at
Changlun), GM Hotel, Aushaf Homestay and so on. T Hotel is 15 minutes drive from the
Thai border, 40 minutes drive from Alor Setar City and an hour’s drive from Kedah
Airport. On the other hand, T Hotel also very near with C-mart which is 5 minutes from T
Hotel. Those competitors have affect EDC Hotel. That’s make customer would like to
choose hotel which is in town rather that EDC Hotel which is in village.

Solution
EDC Hotel was far from city town so it was quit and suitable for people who wanted rest.
On the other hand, EDC Hotel was surrounded with trees so the air is very fresh. For
those customers who prefer in jungle and green trees environment, and want to take a
fresh air can choose EDC Hotel as rest place.

EDC Hotel can target the customer who interest and prefer with green, quiet and fresh air
environment. For example, foreigner, people who want to enjoy a quiet surrounding,
people who want to take a short break after work and elderly. This is because, target
people who want enjoy such environment is better than target travellers who want have a
jolly time. On the other hand, EDC Hotel will easier to do promotion and get customers
who favour this kind of environment. Target customers also help in reduce wasting of
resources. This is because company only focus on specific customers.
Problem
2. Transportation Problem
People more prefer to go to place where easy to get transportation like T Hotel which is
very near bus station and easy to get taxi. From the first problem we had discuss jus now
which is EDC Hotel located at rural area, this cause the transportation problem. As we
know that EDC Hotel is located at a secluded locality, there are no public buses or trains
to bring customer there. The only transportation for customer is taxi. That is why it is a
problem because it is not convent to customer to go there.

In addition, if there are guests stay in EDC Hotel, they want to go for shopping, eating or
wherever in the town, guests have to book a taxi which is very expensive or maybe rent a
car rental which is also high price for them. This causes rare people would like to stay in
EDC Hotel because most of their expenses are just for transportation. For example,
Penangties who do not have their own transportation have to travel by commuter train
from Butterworth station. Arau station which is costed RM9.50, while Arau station to
EDC Hotel by taxi is costed up to RM35. This is quite expensive for those who are from
poor family.

Solution
Hotels should be ready to provide more transportation facility from all the major pick-up
points of a city or town. Even a small car or van from the major spots such as airports,
main city, tourist destinations and so on. Transport facility is a must for hotels situated in
the remote locations. If a place easy to get transport customer will always travel at that
place. This is because they no need wasting time to find a transport and they can go
wherever they want.

To solve the transportation problem EDC Hotel can cooperate with some specific
transport company like taxi, Grab, Uber, myBus and others. This cooperation makes
customers easy to move to the place they want. EDC Hotel can ask for information from
customers before they come to EDC Hotel. This is because, with that information, the
hotel can prepare the transports for customers when they need. Moreover, EDC Hotel can
list down all type of transports to let customers choose the what they preferred.
Problem and Solution 4

PROMOTION ASPECT

Problem

1. Promotion Is Not Interesting

EDC Hotel patronized mainly by government agencies and internal guests (staff and
students from UUM). Insufficient of group travellers and corporate guests is also the
problem of EDC Hotel. On the other hand, EDC Hotel lack of doing promotion in rooms,
foods and activities. The food and rooms promotion package was not attractable enough
for their customers. The price of the product and service is still expensive although it
already discount. Apart from that, the poster of the promotion that made by EDC Hotel
was not so interesting enough. EDC Hotel did not put their promotion poster at internet,
UUM bus, newspaper, bulletin and websites to let their customers know about the
promotion.

Solution

EDC Hotel should do survey the price before they do any promotion. Poster was the most
effective way of communication. Poster is printed advertising message that are posted for
display on advertising structure. Business poster is one of the best marketing tools to
promote a business, product and service. EDC hotels should do a poster that has high
visibility as they can decorate with different colour, text and message so that it can build
EDC Hotel image well and create awareness to their customers.

The poster advertising message should be simple, brief and attractive. EDC Hotel should
display the poster at bulletins, newspaper, internet and their website so that their
customers can get the information. They also can put their promotion poster at UUM
buses also. This strategy can attract UUM students to get the information. If they display
any food promotion poster at UUM buses, UUM students can invite their friend to have a
lunch or dinner at EDC Hotel together. This can increase the sales of EDC Hotel because
they can target UUM Hotel most easy. It is because it is most near to UUM students.
Next, EDC Hotel must have membership programs that cost nothing to join and reward
frequent guests with extra amenities, upgrades and free nights. If EDC Hotel can manage
to create loyalty in its guests, they are likely to look for and use the same brand every
time they travel, if not for the experience, then for the rewards they earn by doing so.
Manager of EDC Hotel can also sending customers virtual coupons like breakfast and
dinner coupons. This will make the promotion seem more exclusive and will give the
customer more of a push to visit EDC Hotel often. Think about sending coupons to loyal
customers that have spent over a certain amount. EDC Hotel could also consider sending
coupons to visitors that have experienced bad customer service, to try and convert them
back to happy customers.

EDC Hotel can offer special rates for online or smartphone bookings. Online bookings
save the time and effort of a real person at the hotel who must answer the phones and take
the reservation. EDC Hotel should also promote low-season rates to attract guests to
rooms that would otherwise be empty. While the rates may be far lower than in-season
prices, the hotel is happy to offset the loss of empty rooms.

Last but not least, EDC Hotel can cooperate with travel agencies. Travel agencies provide
an easy way to multiply the advertising and brochure market presence at very little cost.
In most cases, national travel agencies create annual brochures, promotional fliers, TV
and radio commercials and signage that feature key properties in key destinations. With
this action, EDC Hotel are able to secure such placement enjoy broad exposure so that
many travelers can reach by all of these campaigns. In some cases, additional incentives
are given to agents and travel companies to secure a large number of reservations.
 CONCLUSION

The EDC Hotel supply chain comprises of all goods and services that go into the delivery
of EDC-UUM products to customer. It also involves many components including
accommodation, transport and excursions, food and restaurants, souvenirs, and the
infrastructure that supports EDC-UUM. In this project, we suggest that management team
of EDC Hotel should enhance their marketing strategy and facilities so that can attract
more customers and become more competitive. The planning of solutions which written
in this project should be referenced by management team of EDC Hotel especially the
problem of lack of experience and the price problem because they need to know that the
most important of a hotel is the service while EDC Hotel should concentrate of their
worker’s quality.

And also while marketing strategy should be based on many reference especially by
target customers who the main targeted customer are students of UUM. This problem
should be review and the solution that we provided can be referenced as helping the hotel
to be more attractive so that EDC Hotel can get competitive with those 5 or 6 stars high
class hotel. When doing this project, we can see that EDC Hotel’s rating in Google was
3.5 and there were still many comment that EDC Hotel was just ‘‘plainly OK’’, poor
facilities, high of price. But there also many comment praise that EDC Hotel is a
university hotel with peaceful environment.

What we can see that the feature of EDC Hotel are special in the environment which is
the ‘‘Hotel In The Green Forest’’. This strengthen part of EDC Hotel is very special and
different with other Hotel in the cities. So, EDC Hotel should start plan action and
execute those suggestions to become feature hotel and attract more potential customers to
come and visit EDC Hotel.
References

1. http://edchotel.com.my/

2. https://www.agoda.com/edc-hotels-resorts/hotel/sintok-my.html?cid=-218

3. https://www.facebook.com/pages/EDC-Hotel-UUM/214598938554753

4. http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/analyze/analyze-community-problems-and-
solutions/define-analyze-problem/main

5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketing_strategy
Appendices