If practiced properly, Integrated Marketing Communications is a healthy balance that can yield unlimited results beneficial to the organization's goals. Defining IMC has been controversial and has caused a lot of argument among experts, but generally it is described as the mix of all promotional efforts into "whatever works." With that in mind, hotels have begun applying this notion as part of their everyday outreach.

To begin with, traditional Marketing suggests the theory of the 4 Ps (marketing mix): Product, Promotion, Price and Place (note that Place is often referred to not only as Location but also as Distribution). The ultimate goal is to combine the Ps in such a way that the fifth element is generated, and is known to all of us as Profit.

Specifically, marketing methods and strategies will vary from hotel to hotel and some significant factors to analyze and research prior to drafting are: property size, management structure, type of ownership and type of hotel (luxury, business, hi-tech, economy, etc.), area demographics and psychographics, as well as the dynamics of the internal and external environment.

Once the research is complete, the goals have been identified, and the competitive advantage has been determined, the next step is to select ...