A. Overview of Starwoods Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc.

Answer: Carnival should place a high priority on marketing. They can include more varied activities that should be marketed towards different lifestyles. This will attract more people who would not have considered a cruise in the past. They can offer many promotions that lower the cost of their cruise. The company can also offer a large selection of cruise options, with ports located in many countries around the world. (Source: http://www.echeat.com/essay.php?t=31046).

The idea of repurchasing shares was no stranger to Bill Marriott by January 1980. Almost five million shares of common stock had been repurchased on the open market by Marriott Corporation during 1979 at a total cost of $74 million and an average price of $15.16 in the belief that they were undervalued—a belief that still was not fully reflected in the market price. At $19 5/8, the stock was selling at only six times cash flow per share; and its price/earnings ratio of nine was a far cry from historical multiples as high as fifty times as recently as 1973. Its low price seemed to offer once again an obvious opportunity to benefit shareholders. However,

The all-inclusive model from today is constantly evolving being different from the old one in the way that nowadays hotels and resorts are offering complex packages and a wider range of services, day and night excursions and trips at a low price. The growing demand for the all-inclusive packages changed the earlier model that used to be associated with luxury and exclusiveness and increased every year the number of available rooms as it can be seen in Figure 3.

The hotel chain, Astor Lodge and Suites, Inc., operates 250 properties in 10 western and Rocky Mountain states. The company’s customer base primarily comprises business travelers. In addition, the locations of the properties surround airports, large regional shopping centers, and major highways close to suburban industrial sites as well as office complexes. Projections of 2005 fiscal year forecast a fifth consecutive year of a gross loss for the firm. The estimates include an anticipated $422.6 million in company lodging revenues but a net loss of $15.7 million for 2005. As a result, Joseph James, president and CEO of Astor Lodge and Suites, Inc., initiated a challenging goal for executive management to devise a strategy achieving net profits in two years and sustaining positive growth in the future.

The 1960 's marked the beginning of cruise tourism ( Brida, et.al, 2013). However, it wasn 't until the 70 's and 80 's that the cruise industry began to experience moderate growth. All of this changed however in 90 's when cruise tourism took root in Europe, Asia and Oceania and 3.8 million people worldwide embarked on ocean adventures ( Brida, et.al, 2013). Although the industry has experienced continual growth since the 90 's, and cruises are consistently ranked as one of the top preferred vacation type by holiday goers, the cruise tourism industry is still relatively small in relation to other forms of international tourism (Brida, et.al, 2013).

Carnival’s value proposition was to be a cheaper alternative to land vacations at all inclusive resorts while providing a variety of activities and destinations in one trip. Carnival was the “fun ship”, providing contemporary vacationing to first-time and repeat cruisers. Because customer retention is low, Carnival uses a more traditional style of marketing, focusing on the short-term customer.

Premier Inn is the name of a British Budget Hotel chain running the largest hotel brand in the United Kingdom. Hotel chain is running 690 hotels with more than 50,000 rooms built in different countries. The hotel chain listed in London Stock Exchange in 1987 with brand name of “Whitebread” and started trading of its services under the chain of “Travel Inn” in order to compete with travellodges. Business operation of Premier Inn is not only limited to city centers but also covering suburbs and airports locations Hotel chain is following the expansion and acquisition policies since the time of its inception and acquired hotel chain named as Premier Lodge in 2004 (Whitebread, 2013). This acquisition increased the number of hotels and the profit as well. Premier Lodge was running with 141 hotels and contributed 70% of the total profit of “Whitebread”. Target market of the hotel chain is not only the leisure visitors and families but also the world business class seeking countless business and travel facilities. Award winning business services, comfortable sleep on king size beds and delicious breakfast are further adding value for the hotel chain while elevating the status of Premier Inn to be the first choice of families and business class to take their stay decisions at Premier Inn. The ambitious and high paced profitable progress of the Hotel chain is opening new ways of expansion and development. The hotel chain is therefore, planning to increase around 45% i.e. 75,000 rooms

There are nine main cruise line, these include Ambassador International, Carnival Corporation, Crystal Cruises, Disney Cruise Lines, Louis Cruises, Regent Seven Seas Cruise Lines, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., Silversea Cruises and Star Cruises (Cruising). The major cruises out of these are Royal Caribbean and Carnival Corporation. These cruises line are known for using their popularity to their advantage by raising their prices at any given time. But on the other hand, all the ships are comparable. All passage can anticipate the equivalent experience on board. In addition Rivalry is at a peek because getting rid of a cruise industry cost more than to just keep into development.

Marriott International envisions itself to be the world’s lodging leader. Its mission is to provide the best possible lodging services experience to customers who vary in backgrounds, language, tradition, religion and cultures all around the world. Marriot is committed to environmental preservation through using environment-friendly technology and engages in social responsibility and community engagement.  We value our shareholder’s so we will only take steps that will ensure our growth. Most importantly, through our “spirit to serve”, we emphasize the importance of Marriott’s people and recognize the value they bring to the organization’s growth and success. It aims to increase revenues by 9% every year, to increase

The final uncontrollable force affecting the cruise line industry is competition (Montalvo, 2007). This is probably the least influential force since 91% of the cruise line industry is made up of three companies-Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Star. These three organizations are world-famous and have developed the cruise concept to the point that there is a cruise that will fit just about every person’s destination dream and budget reality.

Cruising has become popular in the UK and throughout the world for holidays. Breaking travel news states that, ‘Cruise holidays are on the rise and the cruise industry seems

During the recent economic contraction, the cruise industry has been continually changing with more carriers purchasing larger ships. This is part of an effort to offer better amenities when attracting upscale cliental. However, the industry has become more competitive and the total number of players has increased exponentially.

Carnival Cruise Lines is the largest cruise company in North America and carries more than 60,000 passengers a week. The Carnival experience is the standard against what past cruisers judge their later cruise experiences. Carnival has captured the "fun" psychographic and has a strong reputation for an enjoyable, relaxed cruise. Furthermore, Carnival has a strong market expansion strategy for selling the mass-market cruise category and first-time cruisers. They have a clear vision and knowledge about the industry and a commitment to their brand essence, which is fun. Also, as an extension to their branding of the "fun" ships they are the low-price leaders. Because of their strong brand image they are able to achieve double-digit growth in

Within the luxury tier, many of the players do not actually own the hotels themselves, but instead manage the operation of the business, similar to that of FSH. In the luxury segment, competition for acquiring new management agreements becomes very high as hotel owners make their choices based on the quality and value of a company's management service and most importantly, its brand name. Moreover, guests who choose to stay in luxury hotels are commonly not very price sensitive, and thus it is essential that a hotel distinguish itself amongst its competition by providing value added services as well as maintaining an untarnished, reputable brand name and image.

The luxury and destinations segments are similar in that both of them target the upper class or those with healthy disposable incomes including retirees that are at a stage in their lifecycle allowing them to take longer, exclusive cruises often. People on these cruises demand the finest quality in all respects. A formal atmosphere with refined white glove service, along with personalized service accounts for value and satisfaction. Psychologically, these users are above all and deserve the best of the best. Therefore, their lifestyles allow them to be regular and heavy users of cruise vacations. Based on their preference, it can be assumed that these segments are hard core or split loyal to the brands they choose because their attitudes are very enthusiastic towards the type of experience they expect and may be hostile towards anything less. The type of ship is small for both segments, representing the small percentage of the market occupied. Therefore, little priority should be placed on targeting these segments. Users that decide to buy this cruise package will be for the sole psychographic reason of social status to