Sunday, January 26, 2020

Marketing Plan For Hospitality And Tourism Industry

Marketing Plan For Hospitality And Tourism Industry Explaining the importance of market research and advantages and disadvantages of implementation of the marketing plan for Hospitality/Tourism industry are the key concepts of this essay. To attain these objectives at first a brief description of market research and marketing plan have been given respectively followed by the importance of their presence in the service industry. Philip Kotler has defined market research as the systematic design, collection, analysis and reporting of data and findings relevant to a specific situation facing the company. (2009:190) Market research links the consumer, customer and public to the marketer through information used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems. (Albert Breneman Blankenship et al, State of the art marketing research, 1998, pg 7) Market research is a vital part of any successful business today. Some of the benefits of market research for the operation of Hospitality industry are: Market research helps the industry to identify opportunities in the marketplace. For example, if you are planning to open a hotel/restaurant in a particular geographic location and have discovered that no such organisation currently exists, you have identified an opportunity. Thus the opportunity for success increases if the location is in a highly populated area with residents who match the target market characteristics which also can be done by research. Market research minimizes the risk of doing business. For example, marketing information may indicate that a marketplace is saturated with the type of service you plan to offer. This may cause you to alter your product offering or choose another location. Market research uncovers and identifies potential problems. Suppose your new hospitality organisation is thriving at its location on the main road through town. Through research you learn that in two years, the city is planning a by-pass, or alternate route, to ease traffic congestion through town. Youve identified a potential problem. Market research creates benchmarks and helps you track your progress. Its important to know, for later comparisons, the position of your business at particular moments in time. Ongoing market research allows the industry to make comparisons against benchmark measurements as well as chart of progress between research intervals (such as successive annual surveys). Success depends on a lot of things, but when you have information about a particular market segment, a geographic area, or customer preferences, youll be better prepared to make the decisions that can make or break your business. Many companies use market research as a guide. Whether you want to expand your business into a new area or introduce a new product, market research plays a great role in hospitality industry by providing valuable insight to prevent costly missteps. A marketing plan begins with the identification (through market research) of specific customer needs and how the firm intends to fulfil them while generating an acceptable level of return. It is a written document that details the necessary actions to achieve one or more marketing objectives. It can be for a product or service, a brand, or a product line. Marketing plans cover between one and five years. It generally includes analysis of the current market situation (opportunities and trends) and detailed action programs, budgets, sales forecasts, strategies, and projected financial statements Advantages of implementation of the marketing plan for the service industry: It is imperative for the organization to regularly assess its competitive strength amidst its competitors in the market. This helps the organization in developing and modifying its marketing and sales planning. A well-written, comprehensive marketing plan is the focal point of all business ventures because it describes how you plan to attract and retain customers, the most crucial aspect of a business. It is the heart of the business, the basis from which all other operational and management plans are derived. Marketing offers you a wealth of information that if applied correctly virtually can ensure your success. Determines demand for product Aids in design of products that fulfil consumers needs Outlines measures for generating the cash for daily operation, to repay debts and to turn a profit Allows for test to see if strategies are giving the desired results Disadvantages of implementation of the marketing plan for the service industry: Identifies weaknesses in the business skills Leads to faulty marketing decisions based on improperly analyzed data Creates unrealistic financial projections if information is interpreted incorrectly Identifies weaknesses in the overall business plan (Mary Bellis. Marketing Plan for the Independent Inventor) The implementation of Marketing Planning simply tries to structure and shape the proposed marketing programmes and activities of the organisation. It offers numerous advantages; along with some drawbacks. However, the advantages outweigh the drawbacks. Part B Introduction This report is about a luxurious hotel from UK, which provides Spa utilities. Things like promotional products, who are the targets market, price, are going to be explained in detail. Spa Hotel The word spa, taken from the name of the famous mineral springs in Spa, Belgium, has become a common noun denoting any place with a medicinal or mineral spring. Less well known is its Eastern New England sense, soda fountain, probably an allusion to the carbonated or mineral water that is a staple ingredient of many soda fountain concoctions. The term Spa is associated with water treatment which is also known as ballneotherapy. Spa towns or spa resorts (including hot springs resorts) typically offer thermal or mineral water for drinking and bathing. They also offer various health treatments. The belief in the curative powers of mineral waters goes back to prehistoric times. Such practices have been popular worldwide, but are especially widespread in Europe and Japan. Day spas are also quite popular, and offer various personal care treatments. Chosen organisation: Alexander House and Utopia Spa Hotel It is located in EAST STREET, Turners Hill, West Sussex. It is an exclusive country house set in 175 acres of mature gardens and parkland yet only 15 minutes from Gatwick Airport and major motorways. The hotel has a vast range of amenities to include Utopia Spa: Target customers, Promotional activities and the Prising of the chosen product: The Hotel Spa doesnt have a specific target market but they put an accent on the adults which are keener to spend some relaxing days at a spa centre and old people too, who are coming for healthy treatments. Like any other business, the strategy to attract more customers includes promotional offers: Sunday Night Spa escape -enjoy, invigorate with an energetic massage concentrating on the back, neck and shoulders. Time= 25 minutes Bust your confidence with a special facial treatment with natural and fresh ingredients. Time = 25 minutes 50% off if you will take dinner in the hotels restaurant Everything for the price of  £140.00 Spring Special Spa Break  £159  £50 toward treatments of your choice Dinner allocation of  £30 on food only Overnight accommodation Analysis of the consumer survey questionnaire to find out the present market position of Spa Hotel: The table and pie charts given below give a breakdown of a market research on spa hotel in UK. As can be seen, people generally expect convenient, affordable and optimum services from the mentioned hotel. Research has been done by using questionnaire method, completed by 10 people from all walks of life. When we found an answer to the investigation question arisen in this report, firstly we will display the data in a table and pie chart respectively and, then, the descriptive statistics that allow us to reinforce those results and better understand those differences. In the second question, Spa experience has divided in 3 major catagories namely calm and quite place, busy night life and country side. Majority of people (6) wanted a calm and quiet place for their spa experience. A substantial number of people (3) have chosen busy night life while only one person has supported country side. In this context, we see that, in terms of the pieces of per night of a spa Hotel, the responders(6) prefer mainly option one which is  £125- £190 the lowest instead of the others, the second lowest price; in second place as 3 people chose it. Lastly nobody prefers the price of  £250- £350 for their spa experience in contrast 1 person choose option three ( £200- £300), which is second more expensive one. According to the table of second question of price section, Basic+Additional package are not on the preferred list of the people. On the other hand all inclusive and individual packages got the equal position of getting 50% response each, when responders answered about their preference about the packages. In term of services, restaurant, shopping outlets and beauty saloon are majoring in the main services offered by the Spa Hotel. 60% people have expressed that they would enjoy restaurant facilities most. Shopping outlets have come in second position with 30% while only 10% liked Beauty saloon. In the last question, people have been asked about whether they like to have outdoor facilities like cycling or climbing on a mountain offered by the spa hotel or not. 8 out of 10 people expressed the intention of joining either of the facilities. In contrast, only 2 people have denied to having them in their spa experience. Conclusion To sum up we can say that the opinion of peoples about the spa hotel defers in many ways but they have some similarities as well. One of them is they all like to have the experience of a Spa hotel. There are some restrictions that may be pointed out in this study, namely the fact of not having been highlighted a stricter age rank within the population and the samples dimension is somehow reduced. In terms of future threads of investigation, it would be interesting to cross the gender variable with age, income level, professional occupation and also to expand the same study to more than a country.

Saturday, January 18, 2020

Role of Roman Legions in Republic and the Empire

The role of Roman legions in creating the republic first and then the empire has been widely acknowledged. Legions emerged from the early Roman army which was composed of levied citizens and developed into a full fledged force with a modern infantry and well organized cavalry. (McCall, 2002). The first person to conscript soldiers into legions to the advantage of the state was Servius Tullius. By introducing the census, Tullius made it incumbent for all youth to be organized in various classes based on their income and also made it incumbent for them to join the army as a mark of being Roman citizens. This tradition of use of the legions for political consolidation has thus been the hallmark of the rise of the republic as well as the empire. In Rome service in the legion was considered mandatory. This naturally led to correlation of the legion with the republic as the concept emerged over the years by consolidation of the state. For the purposes of distinguishing between classes, the recruits were divided into five classes based on their income as each soldier had to acquire his own arm and equipment. Thus citizenship and legionnaire were both concomitant thereby laying strong linkages between the republic and the legions which were exploited over a period. The legions remained conscripted and were recalled as on required basis during the Republic thereby indicating that these were transient and to be fully exploited for sponsoring the aim of the head of the state. After the Marian reforms which were brought in at the end of the 2nd century BC, the legion was professionalized by Gaius Marius. This was done by him to enlarge the legions and enable fielding larger armies. Politically too this was important as in a Republic the state had the duty to provide jobs to people, for which legions were considered to be most appropriate organizations, once again highlighting an utilitarian trend. Assimilation of the Italian soldiers in Roman legions and grant of citizenship was also a Marian initiative thereby enhancing the numbers as well as the power of the state. The ingrained manipulative streak of the masters of the legion would be more than evident in these measures. This professionalizing also led to a realization that the legions could play an important political role and hence all governors were proscribed from leaving their province with the legions to prevent precipitation of a crisis in other states. Just such a crisis precipitated the civil wars when Caesar broke the rule crossing with his legion into Italy. The civil wars saw the end of the republic and beginning of the Empire led by Augustus in 27 BC. The legions once again were very effectively used by both Antony and Augustus the ultimate victor of the civil war which led to the establishment of the Roman empire. Once having won the war though Augustus reduced the number of legions as he was finding it difficult to sustain the force. Politically it was not expedient to have many legions which could challenge the authority of the emperor at any given time. Augustus and then his successors would not however totally abandon the concept, but only added new legions as required by the circumstances and disbanded these when no longer required by the needs of the empire, thereby once again denoting how they successfully exploited the legions for the purposes of the state. Reference 1.Mccall, Jeremiah B. (2002). The Cavalry of the Roman Republic: Cavalry Combat and Elite Reputations in the Middle and Late Republic. New York : Routledge.

Friday, January 10, 2020

Thinkers In Ancient Greece And In The Enlightenment Education Essay

AbstractionIn the centuries between Ancient Greece and the Enlightenment, revolutions irrevocably altered the position quo in many Fieldss. One of the largest beginnings of extremist alteration was found in the instruction system. Whether analysing the methods of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Jean Jacques Rousseau, John Locke, or Mary Wollstonecraft, the importance of the parts made by each mind is manifested non merely in their several period, but besides in the modern universe. The most of import differences in the instruction systems of the Enlightenment and Ancient Greece lie non in the lessons taught, but in their deductions on pupils and society. The displacements in progressive attitudes held by the minds of these periods, the focal point and importance of humanistic disciplines instruction, and the function of adult females in the schoolroom are the extreme representations of alteration between two of the most radical periods in history.Thinkers in Ancient Greece and in the Enl ightenmentAncient Greek minds Sappho, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle are arguably the most outstanding educational revolutionists of the period, and their replies sing inquiries of humanity, citizenship, truth and morality have held influence relevant beyond their old ages ( Murphy, 2006 ) . Murphy argues that Sappho ‘s educational political orientations revolved around cultivating the pupil as a whole while besides functioning as a wise man for immature adult females in order to better their abilities as married womans and Greeks, while Socrates questioned the function of the instructor in inquiring inquiries to develop their pupils ‘ abilities – known as the Socratic Method – and the importance of the morality in the schoolroom ( 2006 ) . Socrates besides argued that the ultimate donee in social instruction was society itself ( Harris, 2009 ) . Influenced by the methods and theories of Sappho and Socrates, Plato and Aristotle developed their ain doctrines ; Plato ‘s political orientations argued that the â€Å" intent of instruction is to assist the pupils to turn and develop their character, † ( Murphy, 2006 ) and that instruction is straight correlated and catered to those who will hold power in their state. Aristotle saw instruction as â€Å" enquiry into everything, plus airing of the end point cognition, † particularly when separating between â€Å" right † and â€Å" incorrect † ( Harris, 2009 ) . While the minds in Ancient Greece aimed to understand the human encephalon and how to outdo cultivate it, radical heads in the Enlightenment sought to understand the deductions of this cultivation. In a survey sing schools in the Enlightenment conducted by Owens ( 2011 ) , it was found that â€Å" early schools focused on instilling pupils with proper cognition to i ¬?rst be good members of the church, and secondly be good Christian members of their immediate community. † Outstanding minds of the Enlightenment, including Jean Jacques Rousseau, John Locke and Mary Wollstonecraft held positions that built upon the Ancient Greek foundation of instruction. Rousseau ‘s purposes, as argued by Jonathan Israel ( 2012 ) , were to guarantee that instruction and nature were in harmoniousness ; he advocated gender segregated instruction under the comprehension that males and females of course learned in different ways. Authority, Rousseau argued, could non be used as a instruction method ; if a kid was taught under a rigorous authorization, they would larn nil but the power of this force ( Zuckerman, 2012 ) . John Locke sought a liberated pupil. Through learning a â€Å" natural equality † ( Ruderman & A ; Godwin, 2000 ) , therefore leting him to use his rules in a general manner, Locke opposed political intercession and segregation in instruction while recommending for the modern thought of home-schooling. Mary Wollstonecraft has been hailed as the outstanding â€Å" feminist pedagogue † of the Enlightenment ( Murphy, 2006 ) . Her educational theories included speculations on Locke ‘s doctrine and the Socratic Method ; through recommending equality for adult females in the schoolroom and in society, Wollstonecraft was able to construct her theories around moral individualities of pupils and the deductions of gender on instruction ( Murphy, 2006 ) . The attitudes of minds in Ancient Greece revolved around groking the basic capablenesss of human cognition, while their Enlightenment-based opposite numbers sought the ability to construct upon and use these instructions in order to make an ideal pupil. Assorted theories, such as the Socratic Method or John Locke ‘s â€Å" clean slate † attack to instruction, have been introduced through these minds and their prevalence in the schoolroom is still noteworthy. The displacements between centuries manifest themselves in the sense of â€Å" higher † believing achieved by the philosophers of the Enlightenment ; without Ancient Greek contemplations on character development through instruction, there could be no doctrine sing how best to use and maximise the potency of the head.The Value of an Humanistic disciplines EducationIn a duologue between Ancient Greek philosophers Socrates and Glaucon, in which the virtues and hurts of an humanistic disciplines instruction are de bated, the value of groking poesy or engaging in art, Socrates argues, is good merely for personal growing – there can be small to no benefit for the province ( Of what value is humanistic disciplines instruction? , 2002 ) . Traditional instruction in Ancient Greece necessitated merely a basic comprehension of the humanistic disciplines for male pupils while females were taught chiefly through dance, vocal and poesy ( Murphy, 2006 ) . The end of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle was to accomplish a virtuous pupil through instruction ; merely Sappho aimed to accomplish this virtuousness entirely through demonstrating and learning the humanistic disciplines to her pupils – with the ultimate end of doing them nubile ( Murphy, 2006 ) . The position of the pupil as a animal necessitating to be tamed with cognition left no room for the docile chase of groking the humanistic disciplines. Ancient Greece, though the pinnacle of early progressive thought in the field of instruction, focused more entirely on the cultivation of people who could lend their able heads to society instead than lending their exactness for understanding the humanistic disciplines. Jean-Jacques Rousseau contributed assorted positions on the deductions of learning pupils the humanistic disciplines. He argued that if his co-workers taught scientific disciplines and the humanistic disciplines as a exclusive course of study, â€Å" they would be destroying the state ‘s kids by fixing them for leisure and enjoyment, alternatively of for labor, for luxury alternatively of asceticism, for refinement alternatively of simpleness † ( Israel, 2012 ) . Sing the deficiency of humanistic disciplines in Sparta, Rousseau viewed the early metropolis as oppressive to poets, and its abilities to throw out from its walls artists a point of virtuousness ; an inflexible sense of moral virtuousness and instruction could non be intertwined with disingenuous chases if successful teaching method were to be achieved ( 2012 ) . While the Enlightenment was a clip of higher acquisition and diverse thought, the purposes of instruction were to cultivate reasonability in pupils an d give them the tools to successfully oppugn their universe ( Murphy, 2006 ) . Friedrich Froebel advocated the usage of these tools in humanistic disciplines instruction, as he believed kids could heighten larning through hands-on comprehension and develop a autonomous sense of drama and creativeness ( Murphy, 2006 ) . Cultivating the â€Å" whole kid, † it could be argued, included guaranting all of their possible involvements were explored, irrespective of social benefits. The ends of minds in the Enlightenment in mention to instruction frequently overlap ; their methodological analysis of accomplishment, nevertheless, shows obvious contempt or intent for cultivating the disingenuous gustatory sensations of the pupil. The benefits associated with teaching pupils about humanistic disciplines, as argued by Socrates, could be merely personal, or, as argued by Rousseau, largely useless in society. Basically, the deductions of learning pupils about the humanistic disciplines are still considered in modern instruction. Between Ancient Greece and the Enlightenment, positions became more polarizing sing the humanistic disciplines, and the development of course of study in both periods reflects these alterations.The Education of WomenThe end of educating adult females in Ancient Greece was chiefly to develop them for a life of matrimony and family responsibilities. Women ‘s schools, such as that of Sappho, existed merely to heighten pupils ‘ abiliti es to execute undertakings in the place sphere ( Murphy, 2006 ) . Even within Sappho ‘s school, non all adult females were equal in their lowered position ; Sappho taught adult females about appropriate behaviors and appropriate frock, but held obvious disdain for adult females who did non partake in properness. Ingalls ( 1999 ) found that Sappho viewed behavior as the extreme representation of accomplishment, saying that â€Å" a adult female who has wealth without civilization will lend nil worthwhile, nil memorable to her community. † The virtues of a school chiefly covering with the instruction of adult females become overshadowed by the fact that these adult females were viewed merely every bit objects to go mistily civilized and married off to work forces, at which point their lives would go around around maintaining a place and raising kids in order to be ideal representations of society ( Murphy, 2006 ) . During the Enlightenment, the political orientations environing the deductions of gender became more outstanding ; instruction, it was argued, should be based on ability instead than gender ( Murphy, 2006 ) . Rousseau argued that boys entirely should larn practical, â€Å" manfully † accomplishments such as measuring and woodworking, while misss entirely would larn of spinning, run uping and cleaning. This segregation was in concurrency with Rousseau ‘s theory that instruction should fix kids for work ( Israel, 2012 ) . Differences in gender besides served to explicate sensed differences in head. Biology, it was argued, was the ground adult females had â€Å" presence of head, trenchancy, and elusive observations, † yet these accomplishments were non suited in practical facets of life, and should be utilized largely in developing feminine functions of female parents and married womans ( Sobe, 2012 ) . Mary Wollstonecraft, one of the first women's rightist pedagogu es, argued against the sensed restrictions of sex ; by actively disapproving of traditionally â€Å" female † chases such as usage of cosmetics and unreal idiosyncrasies, Wollstonecraft was able to run for the release of the female pupil in the schoolroom and in society ( Murphy, 2006 ) . The deductions of gender in the schoolroom in both Ancient Greece and the Enlightenment played of import functions in the construct of instruction and equality. Womans in society – as pupils, kids, female parents or married womans – faced segregation based on their sex and their sensed inability to execute the same undertakings as their male opposite numbers. In Ancient Greece, the construct of feminist intercession was to farther segregate adult females pupils in order to learn them properness through stringency and the humanistic disciplines. The Enlightenment, though immensely improved in the rights of worlds, played host to revolutionary ideas sing the instruction and capablenesss of females, in so far as that their abilities may fit those of work forces. The growing in instruction systems following each period is representative of the changes in social focal point and an obvious illustration of the difference between Ancient Greece and the Enlightenment.DecisionTho ugh centuries apart, both Ancient Greece the Enlightenment are vastly brooding of non merely each other, but modern society. The foundations for instruction discovered and built upon in Ancient Greek society served as the basis for gestating and overhauling instruction during the Enlightenment. The differences and similarities of attitudes held by radical minds of each clip period, the virtues and hurts of an arts instruction and the deductions of adult females in instruction service as representatives of some of the greatest displacements between the periods. Contributions of these clip periods hold unreplaceable value and obvious deductions on the instruction systems of today ; groking the huge differences of these two radical clip periods gives a great trade of penetration sing perceived values of instruction and the patterned advance of cognition within society.

Thursday, January 2, 2020

The Problems Of Philosophy By Bertrand Russell, Ayn Rand,...

While the use and understanding of philosophy goes widely unknown by a majority of the population today, a selective few have recognized its potential and utilized it to its fullest. In the following essay, three prominent philosophers; Bertrand Russell, Ayn Rand, and Christopher Hitchens. Each gives their insight to three important topics; the value of philosophy, using philosophy and its value, and the importance of freedom of speech. All of whom will be discussed, and agreement or disagreement will also be concluded and supported. Bertrand Russell’s essay â€Å"The Problems of Philosophy†, is in most ways an argument for the continuation of the practice of philosophy. To summarize Russell’s argument, it is a vindication of the practice of†¦show more content†¦While it is clear that Bertrand Russell wished for the continuation of the practice of philosophy, he acknowledges most people have no idea what philosophy is, outside of the idea of a group of people thinking about life. With this writing while giving some of the products that have come from philosophy, he also warns that not all answers can be gained from the philosophy. While definite answers can be gained through the sciences, philosophic study only raises more uncertainty. Bertrand Russell supports his arguments with insight that comes from teaching, practicing, and seeing the effects of philosophy both within himself and the people around him. While studying philosophy Russell will only intensify the uncertainty about the world around us and the inner workings of our mind. Likewise in support of Russell’s argument, the study of sciences that is aforementioned such as; Phycology, Astronomy, and Physics which were originally pondered by philosophers has moved from philosophical theory to scientific study. Likewise with the pursuit and study of philosophy, the likelihood of the student holding on to the dogmatism, and predigests that is set forth by society and past experiences. Along with this the aforementioned Practical Man Russell supports his argument with a description, â€Å" The practical man who recognizes only material needs, who realizes men must have food for the body, but is