“Modern marketing managers practice in a consistently changing environment necessitating the need for the formalisation, implementation and evaluation of strategic marketing plans.” (Phillips, Davies and Moutinho, 2001) Nevertheless, despite the advocated benefits of strategic marketing planning, there is very little concrete empirical evidence or research to back up this claim, making it very speculative, despite appearing to be common sense. As such, it is very difficult to accurately determine how the changing business environment is likely to affect future growth in any sector, as no one appears to be able to accurately predict how the business environment will behave next. Nevertheless, this piece will attempt to determine how the changing business environment has impacted on the strategic planning in the hotel industry, and thus attempt to predict how it will impact on performance in the future.

Phillips, Davies and Moutinho’s (2001) study examines the relationships between strategic marketing planning and performance, extending the knowledge of strategic marketing planning and performance by focusing on the service industry, and providing potential controls for market-level influences, by restricting itself to the hotel sector.. The study examines the interactive effects of strategic marketing planning and performance, and its findings suggest that the issue is not whether strategic marketing planning affects performance, but rather what marketing capabilities are required to enhance performance. Indeed, Lecoustay (2004) claims that today, in spite of high-tech, constantly developing, computerised systems; it is still the revenue, or sales manager who makes the difference with his knowledge, flexibility, vigilance and reactivity to rapid changes in the environment. As such, this appears to be one area in which the changing business environment will not significantly, or predictably, affect future performance, as long as management skill levels remain at a relatively constant level.

However, with the interconnectivity of the various electronic distribution channels, the distribution opportunities are tremendous, as hotels now have access to a unique, massive and complex system: the Internet. This is increasing transparency and making all type of rates available to everyone: for instance, some promotional offers are, through a specific distribution channel, and targeted at a particular market segment. Nevertheless there are currently some limits to online marketing techniques, including the need to ensure that the pricing structure is coherent, in order to address all market segments, and also a need to understand each segment. This coherence of the pricing across the distribution channels is fundamental to success in the long term, thus hotel management must still be aware of the benefits of good revenue and distribution management. Given that these still rely very much on how advanced the respective manager is in spotting the changes in the environment, reacting and adapting his strategy, and that the complexity of the electronic distribution also requires increasing levels of expertise from the persons operating the levers, Lecoustay’s (2004) work still relies heavily on the skills of the people involved, and thus this will still determine growth potential for the foreseeable future.

Zhen and Denise Chang (2003) conducted similar research into strategies utilised by hoteliers, although their work focused strongly on the tourism industry in Ontario, Canada. They also found that limited research exists on the current strategic issues and thus they conducted a pilot study via e-mail survey, attempting to identify the current strategic issues and strategies implemented by hotels in the current environment. Results showed that among the most concerning issues are a lack of financial and government support, changing customer needs, increasing power of customer purchasing through the Internet and the top internal environment concern is related to human resources. As such, although changing customer needs and increasing purchasing power are a concern for many in the hotel industry, there is very little evidence to suggest that this will affect growth overall, rather it may punish individual firms who fail to adapt to the changing environment.

The increasing purchasing power, and availability of the Internet as a search and booking tool, adds credence to Kotler’s (1997) argument that, regardless of the initial success of the brand position in the market, any may have to be forced to reposition it later. Similarly, Trout and Rivkin (1995) state that today is more the time for repositioning than positioning, which is strongly due to the changing marketing environments that influence any organisation, including the hotel industry. Given this need, Hassanien and Baum (2002) undertook a study of the cost to hotels, in terms of the constant need for the renovations, which are inevitably essential for hotels to stay active and alive in the market. At any one time almost every hotel has recently been renovated, is under renovation, or is waiting for renovation, and Hassanien and Baum argue that hotel positioning and property renovation are inseparable in the hotel industry since most innovation is attained through renovation, and innovation is vital in any changing business environment.

One of the, potentially very real, costs that the changing business environment can create is the cost to the business when a manager undermines the trust of his staff, by constantly changing expected performance standards and goals. To measure such an effect, Simons (2002) hypothesised that when employees sense an inconsistency between what their bosses say and do, it sets off a cascade of effects, and in order to measure this expected chain reaction, Simons surveyed several thousand employees at 76 U.S. and Canadian Holiday Inn hotels. Workers were given a questionnaire and asked to rank how closely their managers’ words and actions were aligned something the author refers to as ‘behavioral integrity.’ Simons then queried the employees about their commitment and the service environment at their hotels, and correlated the workers' responses with the hotels' customer satisfaction records. The results were striking; with no other single aspect of manager behaviour having as large an impact on profits as did the integrity of a boss. The paper also identified several reasons why maintaining integrity is hard, such as sticky labels, competing stakeholders, shifting policies, changing fashions, unclear priorities, and blind spots, many of which can be seen to be due to the changing business environment, but many of which are also due to managerial skill and performance level.

It is argued by Verma and Plaschka (2003) that so called ‘choice modelling’ can yield valuable insights for market-driven strategy development, by revealing customer clusters, suggesting the potential effects of changing levels of value drivers, assessing overall brand equity, and identifying customers' switching barriers. The authors also claim that the stream of research on customer choice modelling published over the last few years has provided hotel managers with the potential knowledge and ability to implement such strategies throughout the hospitality industry. It is thus interesting to note that the new technologies and other capabilities that for a part of the modern competitive environment are only used by the authors to help gather data and implement these models, with the actual design and analysis still strongly dependent upon the managers skills and experience.

In conclusion, irrespective of the up or down economic cycles, new technology and more demanding consumers mean that today's business environment in the hotel sector, and the tourism industry in general, is even more competitive than during any other time in recent history. To a certain extent, companies can re-engineer, restructure, and cut costs, but at the end of the day any firm must identify a sustainable and profitable business model that will nurture growth, and in the hotel industry this must be strongly based on the skill, attitude and professionalism of the hotel managers. Creating a sustainable and profitable business model can prove to be as ruthless as any political campaign, and can often resemble all out war with companies determined to drive out competitors. As such, provided that hotel chains can continue to recruit and train high quality managerial staff, with the ability to react to changing market trends, whilst also coping with new technology and maintaining the support of staff, then these hotels have nothing to fear from the rapidly changing environment. However, should managers in any hotel not be up to scratch, these hotels can expect to see their business shrink rapidly, and the cutthroat environment may see them disappear altogether.

References:

1. Hassanien, A. and Baum, T. (2002) Hotel repositioning through property renovation. Tourism & Hospitality Research; Vol. 4, Issue 2, p. 144.
2. Kotler, P. (1997) Principles of Marketing. Prentice-Hall Inc, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
3. Lecoustay, J. (2004) General Overview Statement from the Industry: "Flexibility, Reactivity and Coherence" Are a Must in Our Fast Changing Environment. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing; Vol. 16, Issue 4, p. 5.
4. Phillips, P. A. Davies, F. M. and Moutinho, L. (2001) The Interactive Effects of Strategic Marketing Planning and Performance: A Neural Network Analysis. Journal of Marketing Management; Vol. 17, Issue 1/2, p. 159.
5. Simons, T. (2002) The High Cost of Lost Trust. Harvard Business Review; Vol. 80, Issue 9, p. 18.
6. Trout, J. and Rivkin, S. (1995) The New Positioning: The Latest on the World No. 1. McGraw-Hill, New York.
7. Verma, R. and Plaschka, G. (2003) The Art and Science of Customer-choice Modeling: Reflections, Advances, and Managerial Implications. Cornell Hotel & Restaurant Administration Quarterly; Vol. 44, Issue 5/6, p. 156.
8. Zhen L. and Denise Chang, G. (2003) Strategic issues faced by Ontario hotels. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management; Vol. 15, Issue 6, p. 343.
9. 选择旅游或酒店业的一个部门，并讨论如何在瞬息万变的商业环境很可能影响其未来的增长。
   “现代营销经理人的做法在一个持续变化的环境需要规模化，战略营销计划的实施和评价的需要。 ” （菲利普斯，戴维斯和穆蒂尼奥，2001），然而，尽管所提倡的战略营销规划的好处，很少有具体的实证证据或研究支持这种说法，很投机，尽管似乎是常识。因此，它是非常困难的，不断变化的商业环境中如何准确判断是可能会影响到未来的增长在任何领域，似乎是因为没有人能够准确地预测未来会表现的营商环境如何。然而，这片将试图确定如何在不断变化的业务环境已经影响到酒店业的战略规划，从而试图预测在未来它将如何影响性能。
   菲利普斯，戴维斯和穆蒂尼奥（2001）研究探讨战略营销规划和性能之间的关系，扩大战略营销规划和性能的知识，重点服务行业，并提供潜在控制市场水平的影响，限制本身的酒店业..该研究探讨互动战略营销规划和性能的影响，其研究结果表明，问题不在于营销战略规划是否会影响性能，而是需要营销能力，以提高性能。事实上， Lecoustay （2004）今天声称，尽管高科技的不断发展，电脑系统中，它仍然是收入或销售经理，谁使他所知，灵活性，警惕和反应迅速变化的差异环境。因此，这似乎是一个面积在不断变化的业务环境不会明显，或可预见的，影响未来的表现，只要管理技能水平保持在一个相对稳定的水平。
   然而，随着互联互通的各种电子分销渠道，分销机遇是巨大的，酒店现在已经进入到一个独特的，庞大而复杂的系统：在互联网上。这是增加透明度，使所有类型的利率提供给大家：例如，一些优惠，通过特定的分销渠道，并针对特定细分市场。然而，目前有一些限制，包括网络营销技术需要确保的定价结构是一致的，以解决所有细分市场，也需要了解各分部。这种连贯性在整个分销渠道定价是在长期成功的根本，因此酒店管理仍必须意识到良好的收入和分配管理的好处。鉴于这些仍然依靠非常多么先进各自的经理是在察觉环境的变化，反应和调整自己的战略，并认为电子分布的复杂性也需要增加水平的专业知识的人经营的杠杆， Lecoustay （2004年）工作仍然严重依赖所涉及的人的技能，从而在可预见的将来仍将确定增长潜力。
   臻和Denise昌（2003）进行了类似的研究，为酒店业者使用的策略，虽然他们的工作主要集中在加拿大安大略省，对旅游业强劲。他们还发现，存在有限的研究，目前的战略问题，因此，他们进行了试验研究，通过e-mail调查，试图找出由酒店在当前的环境下实现当前的战略问题和战略。结果表明，在最令人关注的问题是缺乏金融和政府的支持，不断变化的客户需求，增加顾客购买的力量，通过互联网和顶部的内部环境问题是关系到人力资源。因此，虽然不断变化的客户需求，提高其购买力是许多在酒店业的关注，很少有证据表明这会影响整体增长，而是惩罚单个企业无法适应不断变化的环境的人。
   购买力的增加，以及可用性的互联网作为一个搜索和预订工具，增加信任科特勒（1997）论点，无论品牌在市场上的位置的初步成功，任何可能有要被迫重新定位它的后。同样，鳟鱼和里夫金（1995） ，今天状态是更多的时间重新定位，不是定位，这是强烈的，由于不断变化的市场环境，影响任何组织，包括酒店业。鉴于这种需求， Hassanien和鲍姆（2002）进行了一项研究成本到酒店，在需要不断的翻新，这必然是必不可少的酒店在市场保持活跃，活着。在任何一个时间几乎每家酒店最近经过重新装修，正在装修，或者正在等待装修，和Hassanien和Baum认为，酒店定位及物业装修在酒店业是分不开的，因为大多数的创新是通过改造达到，创新是在任何不断变化的业务环境至关重要。
   的，可能是非常真实的，不断变化的业务环境，可以创建成本之一是成本的业务，当一个经理破坏了信任他的工作人员，通过不断变化的预期的性能标准和目标。要测量这样的效果，西蒙斯（2002）科学家的假设，当员工感受到他们的老板说什么和做之间的不一致时，它设置了一个级联的效果，并以此来衡量这一预期的连锁反应，西蒙斯调查了几千名员工在76美国和加拿大的假日酒店。给予工人有一份问卷，询问排名如何密切，他们的经理的话和行动一致的东西笔者指的是作为'行为的完整性。 “西蒙斯然后查询员工在下榻的酒店对他们的承诺和服务环境，和相关工人酒店客户满意度记录的反应。结果是惊人的大，对利润的影响，做诚信的老板经理的行为有没有其他一个方面。该文件还确定了几个原因，很难保持完整性，如粘性标签，互相竞争的利益，政策变化，变化的时尚，不清楚重点和盲点，可以看出，其中很多是由于不断变化的经营环境，但许多这也是由于管理技能和性能水平。
   由维尔马和Plaschka的（2003）认为，所谓的“选择模型” ，可以产生有价值的见解，以市场为导向的战略发展， ，揭示客户群，建议价值驱动因素的变化水平的潜在影响，整体品牌资产评估，确定客户的转换障碍。作者还声称，在过去几年出版的顾客选择模型的研究提供了流与潜在的知识和能力，实现这样的战略在整个酒店业的酒店经理。因此，这是值得注意的新技术和其他能力的现代竞争环境的一部分仅用于由作者仍然强烈地依赖于管理者技能与实际的设计和分析，以帮助收集数据，并实现了这些模型，和经验。
   总之，无论向上或向下的经济周期中，新技术和更挑剔的消费者的意思是，今天的商业环境的酒店业，旅游业普遍，比在其他任何时间在最近的历史上更具竞争力。在一定程度上，企业可以重整，重组，削减成本，但在一天结束的时候，任何企业都必须找出一个可持续的和有利可图的商业模式，将培育增长，这必须在酒店业强烈的基础上酒店管理者的技能，态度和敬业精神。创建一个可持续发展和盈利的商业模式，可以证明是无情的任何政治运动，并决心赶走竞争对手的公司往往能像所有的战争。因此，连锁酒店可以继续招收和培养​​高素质的管理人员，具有不断变化的市场趋势作出反应的能力，同时也应对新技术和维护人员的支持，那么这些酒店有什么担心瞬息万变的环境。但是，应该在任何酒店的经理不划伤，这些酒店可以期望看到他们的业务迅速萎缩，竞争激烈的环境中，可能会看到他们完全消失。
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