A Study On The Marketing Strategies Of Wedding Banquets For Shanghai Maple Hotel

Hotel operations are faced with the dilemma of economic slowdown and surplus supply. However, the dramatic price rises of wedding banquets have become the strong support for the sales revenue of hotels. On the other hand, the post80s, as the main consumers, find the costs of wedding banquets are too high that an increasing number of young couples choose some other ways like traveling instead of organizing traditional wedding banquets in hotels. Compared with yacht and club, hotel is still the most common place for newly-weds to hold the banquet. Thus, wedding banquets are the main sources of income of the Food and Beverage Department.As an affiliated hotel of a governmental institution, the Maple Hotel has its unique advantages as well as some disadvantages generated from obsolete systems. At the meantime, the Maple Hotel has been faced with pressure of various competitions:challenges from those well-known global hotels;rapidly developing wedding service clubs; consumers’new choices of informal dinner parties. For this reason, hotels need to meet customers’demand well so that they can win the market and make profits in such fierce competitions.This essay aims at analyzing the environment with both opportunities and threats according to marketing theories on the basis of the current developments of hotels. On the other hand, market segmentation and market positioning have been conducted so that customers with intermediate consuming abilities have been the target of the Maple Hotel. Under this case, marketing strategies have been proposed including product strategies, brand strategies and experiential marketing. Finally, efforts should be made so that developments of wedding banquets could bring benefits to other business like conference caterings and outward services while the whole improvements will be achieved.