Graduation thesis of hotel management major: On the positioning of hotel products Abstract: After China joined WTO, international hotel groups continued to push forward and deepen, and the competition in China hotel market became more intense. In order to establish their own advantages in the fierce market competition, it is of great practical significance for hotels to segment the market and find their own positioning. Keywords: hotel, market positioning 1. The concept of hotel product positioning: The word "positioning" was first put forward by two advertising managers, Al Reyes and Jack Trout, in 1972. Their definition of "positioning" is that positioning is based on products, but the object of positioning is not products, but the thoughts of potential customers. In other words, positioning is to determine a suitable position for the product in the brain of potential customers. Usually, whether the hotel is aware of the positioning of products or not, products with certain trademarks will occupy different positions in customers' minds. For example, "Hilton Hotel" means "efficient service", and "Holiday Hotel" gives people a market image of "cheap, sanitary, comfortable and tidy". As can be seen from the above-mentioned concept of positioning, positioning starts with products and then extends to a series of goods, services, an enterprise, an institution and even a worker. For the hotel, the product positioning of the hotel is not what the hotel should do for the product, but what the hotel's products should leave to customers, that is, to leave customers with the impression and positioning that their products are different from competitors. In fact, product positioning is an attempt to establish a competitive advantage so that hotels can attract more customers in the target market. From another point of view, the positioning of hotel products is to highlight the personality of hotel products and shape a unique market image. A product is a comprehensive reflection of many factors, including performance, composition, shape, packaging, quality and so on. Product positioning is to strengthen or amplify some product factors, thus forming a unique and specific image. Product differentiation is an important means to realize hotel product positioning. It must be emphasized here that the so-called product differentiation here is not simply to pursue the variation of existing products, but to seek to establish certain product characteristics on the basis of market segmentation, which is the concrete embodiment of marketing concept. The positioning of hotel products is of great practical significance to hotel management, which is mainly reflected in the following two aspects: (1) It is conducive to establishing the market characteristics of hotels and products. In the hotel market, the serious oversupply phenomenon makes hotels of the same type try their best to compete for limited customers, and potential competitors are eager to try and be ready to attack at any time. The market competition environment is harsh and the competition pressure is huge. In order to get a stable market for their products and avoid being replaced by other hotels because of weak competition, hotels will inevitably cultivate certain characteristics for their products from all aspects and establish a distinctive market image in order to form special preferences in the minds of customers. Just as Hilton and Holiday mentioned above emphasize the characteristics of hotels and products respectively, domestic hotels also have unique examples. For example, the slogan "Live in Jinling, eat Dingshan and play Xuanwu" has been circulating in Nanjing hotel industry for a long time, which is a high summary of the characteristics of these three hotels and their products, and these three hotels have formed product advantages by strengthening their respective product characteristics. (2) To lay the foundation for the hotel to formulate the marketing mix strategy: the hotel exchanges products with the market and gains benefits from it, which is the basic starting point of hotel management. In other words, the basis of hotel management is products. Without products, all business activities will become an armchair strategist. It can be seen that the combination of hotel and marketing is limited by the positioning of hotel products. For example, if a hotel decides to sell luxury, high-quality and high-priced combination products in the market, then the positioning determines that the hotel products must be of high standards, with stable quality assurance, and can reflect the identity of customers. Therefore, the hotel must take these characteristics as the focus of strengthening when promoting, so that potential customers in the target market can accept such product characteristics; At the same time, it is required that the hotel should be coordinated internally, and the high quality of products should be ensured by strictly implementing operating rules and norms and strengthening management means such as skill training. In other words, the positioning of hotel products determines the marketing mix that the hotel must design and adapt to. Second, hotel product positioning The method of hotel product positioning can be summarized as follows: (1) Positioning according to attributes and interests: the attributes of hotel products themselves and the benefits gained from them can make customers aware of their positioning. For example, the hotel's "luxury style", "hygiene and comfort" and so on, this positioning method, hotels often emphasize a product attribute, and this attribute is often not considered by competitors. (2) Positioning by quality and price: Changes in price and quality can create different positioning of products. In general, the quality depends on the raw materials or production technology and technology of the product, and the price often reflects its positioning. For example, people often say "high quality and good price" and "low quality and low price", which embodies such a product positioning idea. (3) Positioning by product use: It is the basic starting point of this positioning method to promote the various uses and applicable markets of the same product project. It is also a hall, which can be used as a venue for large banquets and buffets, and can also be used as a conference hall for receiving various meetings. At the same time, it can also be used as a place for various exhibitions and exhibitions. For such hotel products, hotels can establish different product personalities and images in the selected target market according to their different uses. (4) Positioning by users: This is a product positioning method commonly used by hotels, that is, hotels guide some products to suitable users or a target market, so as to shape the appropriate image of these products according to the characteristics of these users or target markets. In response to the local residents' "convenience and rich taste" dining requirements, many hotels have set up food stall restaurants with local flavor, which is based on users' demand for products. (5) Positioning by product grade: This positioning method is to position a product as the grade of another similar product, so as to compare the two. For example, in order to make customers accept their products more easily, some hotels set the grade of their room products different from those recognized by the public as good hotels. Another aspect of this practice is to find a reference for a product and compare it under the same level conditions in order to highlight some characteristics of the product. For example, apartments launched by some hotels highlight the kitchen facilities at the same level as standard rooms and are more suitable for family tourists, so as to attract family tourists to buy them. (6) Positioning according to competition: Hotel products can be positioned in different attributes or interests directly related to competition. For example, the hotel opens a non-smoking restaurant, which means that the air in the restaurant is fresher. This is actually equivalent to indirectly suggesting that customers eat in ordinary restaurants, and smoking by others will affect their health. (7) Mixed factor positioning: Hotel product positioning does not absolutely highlight a certain attribute or feature of the product. When customers buy products, they don't just get certain benefits from the products. Therefore, the positioning of hotel products can be established by combining the above methods. Doing so is conducive to exploring the competitive advantages of products in many aspects and meeting a wider range of customer needs. Please refer to the following website for other parts of the paper:/z/z/q99440386.htm.