Reflect and Evaluate Cinnamon Lakeside’s Marketing Principles
With regard to Coursework 1, we were required to make a presentation on our analysis of the marketing performance of a brand of our choice. The brand we based our presentation on was “Cinnamon Lakeside”. The purpose of this essay is to identify, evaluate and reflect upon the principles of marketing as a whole and also those of the chosen brand i.e. Cinnamon Lakeside.
Principles of Marketing
The term “marketing” is defined as “the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large” (AMERICAN MARKETING ASSOCIATION, 2013). I have come to understand that marketing refers to the collection of activities performed by a business in order to carry out commodity exchange effectively and acquire and maintain customer relationships. In turn I have understood “marketing principles” to be the concepts and ideas according to which marketing activities are carried out. It is apparent to me that the principles of marketing (including those of Cinnamon Lakeside) revolve around the 4 P’s (and 7 P’s in the service industry including Cinnamon Lakeside). I have also come to a realization that while Porter’s five forces, PESTEL analysis and SWOT analysis are indispensable in the field of marketing they do not qualify as principles of marketing. They are tools used in the analysis of the current state, status or position of a business in the market or the internal and external environments of a business. I have identified several factors which depend on, are aided by, are described and coordinated by principles of marketing:
• Market research and market behaviour
• Marketing strategy
• Product management
• Product distribution/product distribution management
• Customer behaviour
• Advertising and promotion
• Pricing
Cinnamon Lakeside
Cinnamon Lakeside is a Colombo city hotel owned and controlled by the John Keells Hotels Group.
The 7 Ps
Product – Cinnamon lakeside is a leader in the hospitality industry. It provides customers with products and services that go beyond those offered at a typical five star hotel (hotel rooms, food and beverages, recreational facilities etc.). Because of this it was awarded the best 5 star city hotel in the country award 2 years consecutively. Cinnamon lakeside prides itself upon its specialized banqueting and conferencing facilities which set them apart from its competitors. For example Cinnamon Lakeside was preferred hotel during the Commonwealth Heads Of Government Meeting during which occupancy levels reached 100%.
Price – The Sri Lankan government has enacted laws with regard to the minimum price at which a room in a 5 star hotel can be priced at ($125). Due to this it seems though Cinnamon Lakeside loses a fraction of customers. To compensate it offers a wide range of rooms with various prices to chose from. Taxes imposed by the government on its products is fairly high, approximately 24% - 28%. This can lead customers to believing that they have paid more than what the product is worth. To prevent this the hotel needs to strive to provide customers with products and services of higher quality.
Place – Cinnamon lakeside is situated in the heart of Colombo with easy access to almost everything Colombo has to offer, from shopping malls to a lake . I believe that the facing of the hotel towards the “Beira lake” gives Cinnamon lakeside an advantage. It gives the hotel a “resort touch” and can help in drawing in leisure clientele. No other city hotel in Colombo has this benefit.
Promotion – Cinnamon lakeside has a website embedded in the cinnamon hotels website, facebook page, twitter page and is registered on travel directories. Cinnamon Lakeside does not take part in many promotional activities. This is understandable seeing as it has an excellent brand awareness in its targeted demographic (in Sri Lanka) and also having a respected corporate identity (being owned by John Keells Holdings). I believe that online promotion is the most effective and viable means of promoting the hotel since its main clients are foreign tourists and also because the entire landscape of advertising is making a shift towards online advertising. Therefore It is my opinion that Cinnamon Lakeside should open its own website where the customers attention would not be drawn away by other hotels on the parent site.
People – From my personal experience I have found that Cinnamon Lakeside has a very commendable staff. A short chat with a few of the tourists showed that the staff members appeared to be well trained, were courteous, cordial and hospitable. This can be attributed to the transition of ownership of the hotel from Transasia hotels Pvt Ltd that brought about large changes to the hiring policy and training programmes at Cinnamon lakeside. I believe that the “people” play one of the most important roles in a service industry, especially the hospitality industry.
Process – Achieving customer satisfaction with this regard is demanding, especially in the hotel industry. Customers constantly require attention from the time they check in to the time they check out. Regardless of the process that takes place on the business end the final service or product needs to be delivered to the customer in the shortest possible time. For example a customer who walks in to the hotel after a long journey expects to be checked in as soon as possible and have his/her baggage to be delivered to his/her room by the time he/she reaches it. The back process which makes this possible (from the programme that the desk clerk uses to check a customer in to how fast a bellhop could move a customer’s luggage) needs to be fast and efficient. With this regard I have discovered, based on customer feedback and comments (online), that cinnamon lakeside shows an average performance and has room for improvement.
Physical evidence – Services, being intangible entities cannot be experienced before delivery. Because of this customers base their judgment on what physical evidence they have access to. For example having an attractive lobby in a hotel can be what causes a customer to chose that particular hotel. Comments of others who have experienced this service before can also influence a person’s choice. Cinnamon Lakeside in my opinion requires improvement with this regard. There has been a fair amount of negative feedback from customers with regard to room states.

In an interview with my group, the Human resource manager of Cinnamon lakeside mentioned that the main target audiences of Cinnamon is the upper middle class. However with the consistent increase in GDP per capita since 2000 in Sri Lanka, and therefore increase in disposable income in Sri Lankan families, I believe that Cinnamon lake could target the middle class. I also believe that cinnamon lakeside should increase its promotional activities towards Sri Lankans due to the same reason. With the end of the war Sri Lanka has been increasingly involved in hosting international events e.g. CHOGM. These events provide an excellent platform to perform promotional activities. It is also my opinion that Cinnamon lakeside should emphasize its resort-like features e.g. The large garden, the Beira lake. This would attract a larger portion of the leisure clientele and also make the hotel more attractive to business clientele and to those hosting conferences and events.

Conclusion
Overall I believe that Cinnamon Lakeside does not have a well defined marketing principle.

References

AMERICAN MARKETING ASSOCIATION. 2013. AMA Publishing.
Cinnamon Lakeside. 2014. [online]. [Accessed 4 April 2014]. Available from World Wide Web:
Cinnamon Lakeside Colombo. 2014. [online]. [Accessed 4 April 2014]. Available from World Wide Web:
JOHN KEELLS HOLDINGS. 2013. JKH Annual Report 2012/2013.
Marketing and the 7 Ps. 2009. [online]. [Accessed 5 April 2014]. Available from World Wide Web:
SRI LANKA TOURISM DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY (SLTDA). 2013. Tax Schemes. [online]. [Accessed 5 April 2014]. Available from World Wide Web: