Financial Services Marketing Principles and Practice

Question: Discuss about the Financial Services Marketing for Principles and Practice. Answer: Introduction: The Grace Sydney is one of the traditional hotels located in the year 1920s a few meters away from Darling Harbor. The hotel is a fine example of Neo-Gothic architecture and a pride of the city. It has unparalleled art deco interior which enthralls every guest who comes to stay over (Grace Hotel Sydney 2015). The hotel offers its services to a diverse variety of guests. A family going for a vacation will look for a perfect hotel like the grace Sydney. A couple will find the most romantic gateway in the Grace Sydney. The hotel also has provision for business events, weddings and birthdays (Grace Hotel Sydney 2015). Discussion: Service cannot be considered as a physical entity and hence its physical evidence which is mostly a physical unit can be used to evaluate the satisfaction of the customers. The physical evidence includes facilities and the forms of tangible communication of the service sector (Ennew Waite 2013). The physical evidence of any service firm is generally of two types: Peripheral evidence and Essential evidence. Peripheral service is a part of the core service provided by a firm. It is physically tangible and can be actually possessed by the consumer. Essential service consists of the intangible evidence which the consumer cannot possess but is essential in its purpose (Ennew Waite 2013). In case of a hotel, the peripheral evidence would consist of the complimentary soaps, towels, notepads and so on which the consumer gets on visiting any hotel. The essential evidence would consist of the overall appearance and layout of the hotel. In fact, the appearance of a hotel is an important facto r that the customer checks before moving into a hotel (Richard et al. 2014). In case of the Grace Sydney, the hotel leaves no stone unturned to satisfy its customers. There are various complimentary gifts which the hotel provides to every guest. The general appearance of the hotel also inspires a general feeling of homeliness in the customers (Grace Hotel Sydney 2015). Again there are various aspects of tangible elements of physical evidence. Though service is fundamentally viewed as something intangible, there are various aspects of tangible evidence which prove to be of great importance to the customers. In this aspect, Booms and Bitner framed a servicescape which describes the physical environment where the consumer and the producers intermingle (Bitner and Wang 2014). The servicescape helps in understanding expectations and satisfactions of the customers (Nilsson and Ballantyne 2014). There are Two Elements of Servicescape: Exterior and interior. The exterior elements comprise exterior design, parking, surrounding, and so on. The interior elements comprise equipment, layout, and interior designing, and so on. If the Grace Sydney is taken into consideration, the hotel boasts of an exquisite building. The building is an excellent illustration of Neo Gothic architecture (Grace Hotel Sydney 2015). There is also a parking lot for the guests and the surrounding is also breathtaking. Some of the amenities provided by the hotel are air conditioned rooms, ironing facilities, laundry and valet services, high speed internet, mini bar and tea and coffee making facilities (Grace Hotel Sydney 2015). Such services lead to the delight of the customers (Torres and Kline 2013). The interior designing is also up to the mark. Even the customers have expressed their satisfaction with regards to the Grace Sydney (Tripadvisor.in 2016). The hotel has received 4.4 stars in a popular website that contains ratings and reviews of various hotels. This shows that the physical evidence justifies the satisfaction of the customers. The general review of the customers shows that they are happy with the staff, interior decoration, and location of the hotel. They also expressed satisfaction regarding the service provided by the staff and in the term of one of the reviewers, the staff was pleasant, helpful and professional (Tripadvisor.in 2016). There are instances of families who have come to the hotel whenever they came to Sydney and they have expressed their satisfaction for the services provided. Conversely, there are few customers who have expressed their displeasure at the services provided. They claimed that the hotel was not luxurious as claimed by the advertisements of the hotel (Tripadvisor.in 2016). There were also complaints about the food of the hotel although such complaints are rather rare. Overall, the hotel has favorable views and those avail the services recommend their friends and families to visit the place whenever they would come to Sydney. Conclusion: The physical evidence of the service sector plays a very important role in determining the satisfaction of the customers. In the chosen sector, that is, the hotel, the physical evidence had been gathered from reliable sources and tallied with the reviews of the customers. After a thorough analysis, it can be concluded that the hotel answers to the needs and demands of the customers in a satisfactory manner. The physical evidence of the hotel suggests that it is a luxurious hotel with various facilities and amenities. Although certain reviews were disparaging for the hotel, there are enough favorable views of the hotel to ensure that the hotel gives what it promises. When these evidences were checked with the experience of the customers, it showed that their expectations were satisfied with the services offered by the hotel. References: Bitner, M.J. and Wang, H.S., 2014. 11. Service encounters in service marketing research.Handbook of service marketing research, p.221. Ennew, C. and Waite, N., 2013.Financial services marketing: An international guide to principles and practice. Routledge. Grace Hotel Sydney. 2015. The Grace Sydney. [online] Available at: https://gracehotel.com.au// [Accessed 30 Aug. 2016]. Torres, E. and Kline, S., 2013. From customer satisfaction to customer delight: Creating a new standard of service for the hotel industry.International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management,25(5), pp.642-659. Nilsson, E. and Ballantyne, D. 2014. Reexamining the place of servicescape in marketing: a service-dominant logic perspective.Journal of Services Marketing,28(5), pp.374-379. Richard, B.M., Perry Jr, W.P., Czakon, W. and Czernek, K., 2014. Exploring the impact of crowdsourcing on hotel room maintenance. Tripadvisor.in. 2016. The Grace Hotel Sydney (Sydney) - Hotel reviews, photos, rates - TripAdvisor. [online] Available at: https://www.tripadvisor.in/Hotel_Review-g255060-d257296-Reviews-The_Grace_Hotel_Sydney-Sydney_New_South_Wales.html [Accessed 30 Aug. 2016].