Discover how to build a top-flight sales team with creative, successful sales and marketing programs that really work. This course shows how to sell rooms and food and beverage services to business and leisure travelers, travel agents, and meeting planners. Industry professionals provide tips on marketing strategies that work, and sidebars who how concepts presented in the course are applied in today’s industry.

Syllabus

Prerequisites: None

Course Description: This course is designed to provide students with a solid background in hospitality sales and marketing. The textbook’s main focus is on practical sales techniques for selling to targeted markets.

Objectives: At the completion of this course, students should be able to:

  1. Distinguish marketing from sales and identify trends that affect marketing and sales in the hospitality industry.
  2. Identify and describe the key steps of a marketing plan.
  3. Summarize the duties and responsibilities of positions typically found in a hotel marketing and sales office.
  4. Describe the five steps of a presentation sales call.
  5. Explain the basics of effective telephone communication and describe various types of outgoing and incoming telephone calls related to the marketing and sales function.
  6. Describe internal marketing and sales.
  7. Explain the role of advertising, public relations, and publicity in reaching prospective guests.
  8. Summarize how hospitality properties are meeting the needs of business travelers.
  9. Explain how hospitality properties are meeting the needs of leisure travelers.
  10. Describe travel agencies and the travelers they serve.
  11. Summarize how hotels market and sell to meeting planners.
  12. Identify considerations for marketing hospitality products and services to international travelers and other special segments such as honeymooners, sports teams, and government travelers.
  13. Summarize trends affecting the food and beverage industry, and describe positioning strategies and techniques for restaurants and lounges
  14. Explain how hotels market and sell catered events and meeting rooms.

Group Teaching Guidelines: This course is designed with fourteen chapter sessions that can be combined or broken down to meet a variety of scheduling needs. Many class activities are included in the Instructor’s Guide.

Evaluation: The student must complete a comprehensive final examination.

Learning Resource: Hospitality Sales and Marketing, Fifth Edition, by James R. Abbey, Ph.D., CHA.