1. Student Stay
by Marriott
Cracking into an untapped market
Amy Stamm
Brad Olin
Michael Cantalupo

2. Mission Statement
 To promote safe traveling practices to college
students by providing welcoming, reliable, and
safe short-term lodging in top European cities at
rates students can afford.

3. Competitive Advantage
 We will provide hostel services at a lower cost than
comparable area hostels while maintaining a safe, clean
and welcoming environment because our number one
priority is promoting safe travelling practices.

4. Main Objectives
 Non-financial
 To develop a widespread reputation as a reliable and safe
place for college students to stay when traveling in Europe.
 To educate customers on safe traveling practices in general as
well as in each hostel’s particular city.
 To generate a sense of community among travelers staying in
the hostel in order to encourage travelers not to explore the
city alone.
 To form partnerships with university study
abroad/international student offices to educate students on
safe traveling practices.

5. Main Objectives
(Continued…)
 Financial
 To form partnerships with local businesses to decrease
cost of running hostel by 10%.
 To earn enough revenue to open a new hostel every 3
years.
 To secure charitable donations or partial financial
backing from at least one organization or person (such as
Visitors Bureaus, area attractions or local
philanthropists) in each city to which we plan to expand.

7. Why You Should Join Us
 Benefits to Marriott
 Good public relations because it shows that Marriott
cares about safety in traveling
 People who stay at StudentStay can be translated into
general Marriott customers in a few years; good-will
will create loyal customers

8. Why You Fit With Us
 Marriott’s involvement in StudentStay would give
credibility to our hostels, advancing our goal of
making it easy for students to find reliable and safe
hostels in which to stay.
 Marriott has business connections in the
international markets to which we hope to open
hostels.

10. External Factors
&
Environmental Forces

12. Target Market
 College Students (international and national)
 Parent’s of college students
 Possibly study abroad schools looking to cut deals for
their students traveling abroad
 All demographics
 Age 18-25
 All races
 Aimed toward students in middle class (financial)

13. What Makes Us Different?
 Safety
 Affordable
 Student discounts
 Meet other college students
 Customer service
 List of activities for popular travel destinations
 With contact information
 Location
 in a variety of different cities, customers know that they can
trust our hostel chain.
 Choosing a hostel when visiting a variety of cities is made easier

14. Connecting With
the Customer
 Psychological influences: Financial security
(always low prices for the customers),
 Situational influences: Easy to navigate website &
excellent trained customer service
 Sociocultural influences: Allows comments from
past customers, connects to Facebook to inform
customer which friends have used our service

15. Marketing Research

16. Understanding Our
Target Market
 Market segments
 college students
 traveling for pleasure
 part of a study abroad program.
 Limited income (if any)
 Want low prices while not having to settle for quality.
 Only design the bare minimum  the essentials
 Sleep and directions for popular attractions
 Cleanliness and maintenance efficiency

17. Positioning Statement
 For students who want an inexpensive place to
lodge
 Don’t want to settle for cleanliness, customer
service and quality of the facilities,
 Student Stay by Marriott is the perfect place for
students to lodge while they are exploring the
amazing sites our world has to offer.

18. Introduction/Growth Stage
 Advertising through Marriot
 Introduce our new hostels.
 We will claim how the Marriot hotels are clean and safe;
“Student Stay matches your Marriott standards”
 Educate our audience about our hostels and also create
the message we want to be heard (clean, safe, and
reasonably priced).
 Growth  manage our price right, attract our student
audience.
 Therefore, increasing sales/revenue and creating ways
for the hostel to grow.

19. Pricing Scheme
 Hostel rates will change, fluctuating depending on
city, day of the week, time of year and holidays.

20. Marketing Channels and
Supply Chain
 Transactional Intermediaries: HostelWorld.com,
Hostels.com, HostelBookers.com
 Channels: Direct Channel and Electronic Marketing
Channels
 Inventory: furniture, linens, hostel store stock
 Reducing inventory costs: seek not-for-profit
discounts from local businesses
 Customer Service: dependability and convenience

21. Social Media Networks
 Primary social media networks
 Great for engaging people who like your
brand, want to share their opinions, and
have customer service questions
 Great for monitoring programs to track
what people are saying about your brand
 A powerful tool to build my channel, to
explain a complex product, and to brand
our videos.

22. Content and Resources
 Large assortment of video tutorials




“Things to Remember to Travel Safely”
“Top 10 Places to Visit in Rome/Paris/Madrid”
“How to Pack for your Weekend Abroad”
“10 Things You Need to Know Before Studying Abroad”
 Shared on ALL our social media networks
 Will also be distributed to universities and other
partners

23. Interactive Marketing
 Context Fun, engaging design; easy to navigate
 Content Hostel info; travel tips; Marriott messages
 Customization User account
 Connection link to Marriott site
 Communication eBlasts, comment section on website
 Community connect with other student travelers
 Commerce make reservations directly from the
website (student travel deals)