We are 6 students (Alessio, Boris, Enzo, Pierre, Tiziano and Malena) composing team 8.1 from BOSC 1, at EHL.
What’s Moxy? Moxy’s Hotel, the Marriott International’s experiential hotel brand, made its debut in Georgia, and is currently settled in 30 other destinations. Moxy’s fun, inclusive and youthful spirit is reflected in the combination of bold design and affordable style. The Moxy experience kicks off with a bright, airy and buzzing lobby, featuring modern furniture that invites guests to relax, no matter where you decide to spend your vacation. The company’s main target demographic are Millennials.
Why this company among all the others? We chose to represent Moxy Hotel in Copenhagen because it’s a relatively new and unknown brand, at least for most of our team, which gives us the opportunity to do a lot of research. Moreover, it’s a modern and cozy boutique style hotel, which makes it more interesting and appealing to a younger audience. One of our members has a direct link with the business, so we can guarantee reliable information. Stay tuned!
Why Copenhagen? We decided to focus our investigation on this location because we believe that not only Copenhagen as a touristic destination is progressively increasing their popularity, but this also applies to our hotel. Additionally, the inherit Scandinavian influence of Moxy made it logical to go back to the routes of its heritage – as to represent some part of its legacy through one of the largest Nordic cities. Some of us have already visited the city, the others are willing to go, so we believe that choosing this “rare” destination fits with the brand, and the whole point of researching through an unknown path. Furthermore, since all our team members have European nationalities, we figured that it would be more approachable for us to stay within our “borders”.
All in all, we are looking forward to get started and hope you’ll all like it and keep updated with our weekly posts.
If you’re already interested and you want to know more, here’s the direct link to the official web page:
Hello once more, dear readers, we regret to inform you that this is going to be our last post. Therefore, we will do our best to make interesting so that you don’t forget about us. Today we are going to create a Positioning Statement for Moxy.
Statement: “To attract a young clientele, specifically the so called millennials, Marriott developed a new brand: Moxy, which offers a unique budget hotel experience, focused on highlighting the service more than the product(rooms); the idea is to provide a nice and cheerful atmosphere for young people, with a convenient location in iconic destinations”.
We, as the Moxy brand, want to be attractive to young girls and boys, from the era of millennials. We would like them to choose Moxy instead of any other hostel or hotel. Therefore, we offer a hipster decoration, a personalized service and an atmosphere of youth and party; everything at an affordable price.
Nowadays, there are plenty of hotels targeting similar markets since it is becoming an influential market which offers a lot of innovations. Here is when you should be asking yourself: why would people choose to stay at Moxy rather than any hotel with a similar style? Well, here we discuss the differentiation of Moxy. It is a fact that, as we mentioned before, this targeted segment is becoming more popular and attractive for businesses. That is to say, a competitive market is growing everyday really fast, however, Moxy still offers a unique experience, proved by the amount of guests that stay multiple times at Moxy or even go there just to consume at the outlets and enjoy the ambience. The main difference of Moxy, is the service, which is one of the aspects highly appreciated by guests. Moxy gives a personal service, available and friendly, matching with the cheerful environment of the establishment. Moreover, the provocative style and decoration, shows the personality of the brand, there is no comparison, the brand is identified with its style.
Regarding segmentation and positioning strategy, the fact that the brand focuses exclusively on a determined segment, develops a specialization on the preferences of the customers. This leads to precise and rigorous service.
To summarize, we believe that all the factors mentioned above are the reason that made as choose to do our research on Moxy Hotels. To be a relatively new and young brand(working since 2011) we’ve appreciated how successful it is, with its personal touch, and how the directive believes on it, and is not willing to change.
We hope you liked it! Thank you for reading us every week.
Hello once more! This week we would like to study the SWOT analysis of Moxy.
A SWOT analysis is a marketing study where the strengths, opportunities, weaknesses and threats are presented. We decided to do our own SWOT, with all the information we have found for previous posts, instead of using an actual one.
Concerning the strengths, clearly the top first one is Moxy’s unique concept. The standarized style and design, for both interior and exterior, helps the customer feel that they are at the same comfortable hotel, no matter in which destination. Financially speaking, being under Marriott and sponsor by Ikea, among others, provides a economic stabilty.
On the other side, we found a few weaknesses such as the misunderstanding of the concept, or its ambiguous objective. That is to say, they want to be a hotel where people go to rest but they offer a non-stop party life style. Which shows a lack of conventional hotel service.
Regarding the fact that Moxy is relatively new in the market, we could not find plenty of opportunities, just one: the future of Moxy. We consider that the biggest opportunity is to stick to what they are doing, which is clearly successful. Eventually it could become a new market, where Moxy would be the first brand to promote this new style of youthful budget 3-star hotel.
Finally, speaking about threats, as positive as being new and original is, at some point Moxy will reach a Maturity point where the brand will have to be constant and stable. Moreover, being new in the market doesn’t last forever, there are already a few competitors following the same path as Moxy. Moreover, the fact of being a new kind of 3-star hotel, on top of being part of Marriott, creates a huge confusion among the frequent customers of the big chain. Which can lead to disappointment as Moxy doesn’t provide the Marriott standards.
What is the impact it has on the business ?
Assuming that Moxy is aware of the threats and weaknesses of the brand, we consider that the strengths overcome them. Moxy hotels could change their strategy to enhance its weaknesses but, analyzing their performance and confidence with the succeed of the brand, we are pretty sure they have no intention of change or improvement, since they do not need it, at least not for now. That is to say, they created this new concept, they are currently the only ones proving this product, and most important, it works as it is. However, from an objective point of view, this could lead to the encouragement of competitors to reach Moxy’s market and appropriate it.
What should be done about it?
We’ve considered that having a back-up plan or strategy planned is a good idea. They won’t stay alone in this market for long, seeing how successful it is. So, soon enough there will be plenty of competitors offering the same product. Therefore, there should be ideas on how to perform when this happens. However, we consider that their idea of sticking loyal to their idea shows their confidence and makes the firm attractive.
Marketing objectives
We believe, after our SWOT analysis, that Moxy should try to differentiate from Marriot since one of the weaknesses is the comparison of standards and not providing the service expected for frequent customers of Marriot. Moreover, we think that Moxy should work on innovative ideas since there are a lot of brands trying to reach similar markets. That is to say, there are many potential competitors approaching Moxy.
That is all for this week. We hope you found it interesting!
Hello again devoted readers! This week we’re going to carry on with the research on the competitive market from the last post and we will try to improve by giving more details and enhancing the content.
We have great news! One of our members managed to get an interview with the manager of the Moxy Hotel in Copenhagen, so we are going to go through our last investigation about the competitive market and give you some new data supported by the interview.
Our first mistake during the previous research could be the fact of focusing only in 3-star hotels. Considering that the findings weren’t really conclusive nor extensive, we could have expanded the research to other category of hotels such as 4 stars. In this case, there are multiple comparisons, such as price and profitability, product offer and service standards. However, as we have discussed and studied in previous posts, Moxy has no intention of upgrading to a higher category, therefore, the competition regarding 4 or 5-star is futile considering that they are part of another league.
Furthermore, our interviewee mentioned a few relative competitors that we didn’t mention in our own findings: Motel One(3-star hotel), which plays in a similar market as Moxy but targeting another segment alternative to Millennials. CitizenM, with 3 stars didn’t start as threat for Moxy but has become more competitive since they are focusing on similar customers; and last but not least, 25 Hours Hotel, from Accor, with a category of 4 stars was also mentioned as potential competitors, since it’s growing really fast and creates similar memories as Moxy.
Another interesting fact we found regarding the “budget” price policy. Our perception was that Moxy had affordable prices to be attractive to young people, nevertheless, the interview surprised us: Moxy offers services which go beyond its category and focuses on giving an exceptional and unique personalized service, in addition to that, its extravagant decoration and theme have a high investing prices which have to be compensated, therefore, they face relatively high prices in comparison with other 3-star hotels. However, a few of the potential competitors mentioned before, also present high fees.
To conclude, we assume that a more broaden research could have been done by exploring other competitors, but we consider that the findings are reasonable and supported by a few articles, as secondary sources, and the interview which is a primary data source.
That’s it for today! Hope we gave you a better perspective of the competitive market where Moxy works in.
This week we’ve decided to study the hotel market in which Moxy Hotels compete. Several interesting facts have been found to show the brand’s success in this competitive market of modern hotels. Regarding the fact that Moxy has a completely new concept, we did the research concerning 3-star hotels developed in the same style as Moxy, avoiding the comparison with other kinds of hotels.
The first think that has been analyzed is the main competition that Moxy is currently facing. Considering how relatively new the brand is, especially the hotel in Copenhagen, there isn’t a main competition defined, but we can already find brands offering similar products, which could make them become our brand’s potential competitors. According to an article from the New York Time’s, there are many brands (AC by Marriott, Canopy by Hilton, Hyatt Centric or Radisson Red) focusing their market segmentation on “Millennials”. Therefore, their products are attracting this segment’s needs and expectations. However, each of them has innovative ideas that the others do not share. For instance, Moxy’s strategy is to open hotels in Nordic countries, which implies high prices, and offer affordable fees for its young clientele. Moreover, as we have presented in previous posts, our brand has a characteristic style, which offers a youthful and cheerful atmosphere, as well as other attractive points such as good locations and accessibility. In the same article mentioned above, we can easily appreciate that there’s a few similarities between the brands, but none has the same items proposed, which concludes our statement of not considering these alternative hotels as a direct competition.
The second aspect that has been researched is the gap of supply of a high-quality product at an affordable price for younger generations. In fact, Copenhagen presents most of its products on both extremes of the range: either affordable with an average quality; or luxurious at a price that is out of hand for most young travelers. Nevertheless, we also found an interesting article discussing how the quality of the service has become more relevant for the customer than the price or quality of the product itself. As a result, we consider that Moxy is a high competitor in this aspect, since the quality of the service is highly rewarded by its clients, as well as the affordable prices. However, it has also been found that the fact of being under the well-known name of Marriott, doesn’t always fit customers’ expectations when it comes to other guest not included as millennials, such as frequent clients of other Marriott brands. That’s why another strong point is the differentiation of the product supplied. Sometimes is better to provide customers with a new product, instead of trying to provide an existing product better than other businesses that have existed for longer; that is what Moxy has successfully reached.
The competitive research plan conducted is qualitative as it is based on verbal and conceptual data. The findings are obtained from several reliable online articles. The main purpose of this investigation is to answer the exploratory “why” questions such as why do they decide to reduce their unit profitability? The qualitative research is also used to understand why and how a business becomes successful, and how does it deal with competition. For Moxy, it’s simply because of their unique and innovative concept, which provides what the guests seek. That’s the reason why they trust Moxy and keep staying or consuming at its establishments.
In conclusion, we decided analyze the 3-star hotel market competition since we were impressed by Moxy’s budget policy in such an expensive city as Copenhagen. After having used online articles to seek information, we consider that our data source is clearly secondary since it offers an external view of the topic discussed (instead of using direct information provided by Moxy) in addition to our personal opinion based on previous studies of the brand.
As a result of a deep evaluation of the findings, we conclude that representing a relatively new brand as Moxy is, specifically in Copenhagen, with its innovative concept, has result pretty rough for us to find evidences of current direct competitors. Although we found a few articles about the brand, and its official web page offers a lot of data, we didn’t get a lot of relevant and direct information about the Moxy Hotel in Copenhagen, therefore, most of the research is supported by our own interpretation of the findings.
General Comparison with other hotels in Copenhagen
That is all for today! A lot of information, hopefully you got to the end and you learned something from it. We’re excited to read your feedback.
Hello, hello! Welcome once more to our weekly blog. This week we would like to talk about the microenvironmental factors that influence companies. As you may probably know, there are a number of forces that make up this macro-environment that companies function within, these factors can be demographic, economic, natural, technological, political or cultural.
We have chosen to explain the Demographic factors that Moxy Hotels face.
As we have commented in previous posts, Moxy focuses on a specific target segment which is Millennials, which involves people within 18 to 40 years of age. Therefore, their product is mostly oriented towards what this segment likes and looks for while traveling: touristic cities, accessibility from the airport and close to public transport, modern design, offering fun and party, and affordable. We had the honor of interviewing the manager of the Hotel in Copenhagen, Sydhavnen, and we found out an curious fact concerning their guests: regarding the rooms, the older aged millennials represent the highest occupancy rates in the hotel while the F&B outlets are more popular with the younger audience.
This strategy is clearly effective considering that their majority of guest are millennials. As new as the company is, it is already profitable since there are about 37 flourishing hotels and many more expected to operate in the near future. Moreover, the feedback from the guests tends to be really positive and people stay more than once at Moxy Hotels. It is true that, being part of Marriott, creates confusion because of the big difference of style and standards, specially for regular customers of Marriott, but we got confirmed in the interview that their objective is to make a distinction within the two brands.
As millennials, we admire how they have a clear customer segmentation defined and they reach their marketing target objectives. In addition, we are impressed by the fact that Moxy focusing on one and only segment, with a completely innovative style and which is so profitable. Besides, they also attract customers for their other outlets, not only for the rooms, which is not that common.
Of course we could think about improvements for the hotel, such as greater activeness on social media, considering how influenceable it is these days. But at the end, although they could seek other markets, they achieved what they wanted and it’s working. What else could they ask for?
We hope you found it interesting. If so, keep updated with our weekly posts, we always have new topics to learn and talk about!
Hello one more time! This week post is a bit more dynamic: we created an ad to advertise the hotel! Here it is:
As we have to represent the brand, but avoiding showing any detailed images of it, we chose a few topics that clearly show what Moxy Hotels are about: party, fun, young people all that gather in a budget hotel boutique.
Basically we want to show within one imagine, which doesn’t require much attention, what we have been talking about in previous posts:
Marketing: the ad is going to be targeted for millennials and young public, who are looking for fun and unconventional vacation, with a party which will start the moment that they enter to the reception and are welcomed with a cocktail. Since its main target segment is young people, the price is a very important factor, that is way they created the concept “boutique meets budget”.
The concept of the brand: Moxy’s main objective is to have budget boutique hotels, affordable and attractive for young people that are looking for a difference hotel experience
It’s a completely new style of hotel, everything about is original and different from any other boutique hotel, even from the main brand Marriott.
The ad needed to show the concept of traveling, that is why we chose a plane. Moreover, the use of colors are matching the logo of the brand.
We avoided being specific about the location we are doing our research on, so we focused on the brand in general, also showing how international it is (30 current destinations).
Overall, after many ideas, we thought that without showing the product in the ad, the most representative image is a plane, which presents the concept of traveling, with a slogan that defines the brand’s purpose and a little sentence describing other facts of the brand(party and millennials as a target).
Moxy’s target market can be determined by analyzing the four P’s of the company, which evaluate the company’s marketing plan based on their mission statement and their current situation in the market place.
Product: Moxy’s main product is obviously their hotel rooms, which make up the largest portion of their revenue. However, their product distinguishes itself from other hotels by offering several unique services that are not at disposal in other boutique hotels and target a specific customer base. For example, their rooms feature Netflix accounts and high speed internet and promise comfort beyond your average boutique hotel. The various services and outlets of the hotel are not to be neglected and make up an important part of their product. Moxy exceeds basic needs and expectations by having bars which serve local beverages and are open 24/7 and by having their own nightclubs within the hotel.
Price: Prices for standard rooms are around 100CHF per night, which positions Moxy on the higher end for boutique/budget hotels. Nevertheless, considering how Moxy separates itself from competitors and providing experiences beyond standard budget hotels it is fair to say, that they have found a great niche price, which combines luxury with basic wants and needs.
Promotion: Moxy is vastly focusing on social media, especially on younger generation platforms like Instagram. Their advertisement takes place online as they clearly want to target young people from generation Y and even generation Z.
Place: Moxy establishments have as one of their policies that they need to be easily accessible by public transportation and near the next airport. Most of their hotels are located in young, uprising and vivid city parts, which have an exciting nightlife and attractive for outgoing millennials.
Every luxury hotel has comfortable rooms and F&B outlets, but what differentiates Moxy Copenhagen? What are the features that make this hotel one of the most popular and appreciated by the young generations? The three most important aspects are without any doubt the location and its accessibility, the range of innovative services offered and its very own reputation.
Moxy Copenhagen is located in the heart of Copenhagen. However, it is also only 15 minutes away by car from the airport, making it one of the most convenient locations from young travelers.
The team of Moxy constantly works to offer innovative services that will differentiate it from a regular boutique hotel. Moxy generally successfully reaches these goals thanks to their “young” mind. As mentioned before, the rooms feature Netflix on TV and guests can find several bars and clubs open all day-round within the hotel.
Another aspect that should not be neglected is Moxy’s very own reputation. More and more young travelers are attracted to it simply because they know Moxy will satisfy some needs that are very specific to them, and because they know they will find a clientele that is similar to them. In other words, staying at a Moxy can also mean interacting with new people and making new friends in the new destination, rather than travelling with friends to that destination, completely innovating the way young people conceive travelling. However, the fact that Moxy is part of the Marriott group can be a double-edged sword. In fact, some guests might choose to stay at a Moxy because of the reputation of Marriott, and only after find out that the hotel they have stepped into does not match expectations at all.
Their goal is to apprehend the emerging generation Y and the millennial travelers who don’t want to sacrifice comfort and design for an affordable price. They distinguished themselves from the traditional economy hotels by proposing high-tech lounges, reasonable rates, industrial-inspired amenities and grab and go meals, while the competitors mainly attract cosmopolitan travelers who just require affordable and modern spaces that feels luxurious. Moxy is making a good use of their marketing mix as they place networking and promotion as a key to reach new customers.
Moxy’s strategy is responding to the stage of psychological needs, reaching the fourth category: Esteem needs
They have already achieved the belongingness and love needs period with their creation numerous of events inside the hotel developing relationship and friendship between people and adding a personal value to the brand. We consider that they are in the 4th step since they already have prestige as a trendy brand, they assume that they accomplished how they want to be and how to make people feel in their properties.
Moxy provides an environment that appeals to both today’s modern traveller and locals. Moreover, it has inculcated a collection of publics spaces which are designed to bring cohesive sense of belonging to the community while dining, drinking and co-working.
Moxy’s hotels have been verified by online dating app Bumble as inclusive environments to create connections between people whether for friendship or professional networking.
Considering the style of the brand, we don’t think that is possible to reach the fifth level. The company has a certain target market and a different style, which is completely successful but only within the determined market they chose: Millennials. To achieve the next level they should adapt their hotels to other kinds of traveller
Having several dozen hotels operating worldwide, the Moxy brand, which established its first hotel in 2014, is still very young. So far they do not have an official and concise public mission statement. However, in an interview in 2017, the brand director Vicki Poulos made a statement which reflects the hotels target market, among the brand’s concept and goals:
“Moxy Hotels is on a mission to reinvent traditional hospitality with lively communal spaces and an energetic crew that helps Fun Hunting guests enjoy themselves whether at work or play.”(Vicki Poulos, Global brand director, 2017)
The statement clearly shows Moxy’s purpose: create a new concept which improves traditional hospitality with new means, targeting young guests who are adventurous, outgoing and like to have fun. As stated in previous posts, Moxy is living up to its mission by exchanging their receptions with bars, implementing night clubs and several social outlets in their hotels as well as making sure that their hotels are in trending quarters of towns and well communicated. That is to say, close to airports and with means of transport available.
The statement clearly reflects their target market and concept, however it is lacking an exact and developed purpose of the organization and the value they would like to create for their customers; which will be further discussed within the next topic: Maslow’s Pyramid.
To conclude, we assume that this is not an official mission statement, but a well-fitting declaration.
Moxy Hotels are very successful in understanding future trends, having millenials as their main target. Millennials are expected to account for 90 percent of the working-age population within a decade, and Moxy sees in this a growing and promising market.
Moxy Hotels has been designed to give millennials everything they need. Rooms are cosy, featuring a variety of premium comforts, as well as convenient services such as 24/7 Grab and Go, fast and free Wi-Fi, keyless access, self check-in/check-out via smartphones, plenty of plugs, etc..
Opening rates at the new Moxy London Stratford begin at £68 per night. However, its affordability is not a sacrifice of style, nor a loss of comfort.
Nevertheless, Moxy Hotels are very present on social medias, a key component when targeting millennials. They offer Internet TV with partners such as Netflix, YouTube and plan to establishes other partnerships with airline companies such as Easyjet and Emirates to promote their servicFurthermore, Moxy Hotels are receiving a tremendous financial kick from Marriott and the IKEA group. Therefore, an impressive development seems very likely to take place in the near future.
As a result, we can say that Moxy Hotels distinguish themselves from other brands, they have understood the generation X and Y as market segmentation and place technology as the key component to engage their targets.
Very present on social medias, they also dispose of financial assets, necessary to expand over the world.
What does their handling of the individual MOTs tell you about the company overall?
As we know, the first moment of truth is crucial in the marketing process. At Moxy Hotels, the staff commits since the very first contact to make customers feel at ease, from before they even enter the building.
As there is no Front Desk, the check-in process takes place at the bar, where free cocktails will be offered. In this way, the check-in takes place in a very “young” and informal atmosphere. This warm welcome ensures customers an immediate immersion in a “fun-hunter” lifestyle. They clearly set the frame, “hotel made for people who like to party”. In fact, the first thing you see is the bar and the very first action you are invited to do is to relax with a drink. That is the first moment of truth for the customer and it is vastly appreciated by millenials.
Once the guests take ownership of the room, several activities are available within the hotel. Such as Billard, Foosball and of course, having a drink at one of their trendy and busy cocktail lounges. This is the second moment of truth: meeting strangers and having fun with people. This is also what millennials try to find nowadays, “never feel bored”. Other activities you can take part to along the week are, Dj appearance, rooftop fitness, meditation, pizza-making class, etc..
The zero moment of truth is another crucial aspect for Moxy Hotels: the image that potential guests have of Moxy Hotels. The logo talks for itself. Written in pink neon-light, it represents the philosophy of the brand which is to be different and relevant for millenials. “The heart of a boutique hotel and an attitude that doesn’t always follow the rules” is the slogan, informing potential future customers that they will not experience the usual performance in one of the 45 Moxy hotels around the world.
Are there any inconsistencies or areas that could be improved?
After launching their first establishment in 2014 in Milan, Italy, over 40 new hotels under the brand of Moxy have been opened. Several further accommodations are to be opened in 2019. The numbers alone clearly show how the Marriott-owned brand is vastly expanding thanks to their successful business strategy and specific concept.
However, Moxy does show some inconsistencies and weaknesses which could be improved. One of their main reason for customer dissatisfaction is expectations from loyal and frequent Marriott guests, who demand similar values, services and professionalism from the sub brand. This does not only affect customers perception of Moxy but will as well reflect negative thoughts about Marriott itself. Another inconsistency is that some establishments were planned, constructed and made fully operational within a time span of a few years. This rushed business concept was made due to their rapidgrowth and success. However, due to this pressured construction plan, there are some avoidable mistakes in logistics and infrastructures, such as poor planning of parking areas, sound isolation and room layout.
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