Exploring Integrated Marketing Communications, Brand Awareness, and Brand Image in Hospitality Marketing: A Cross-Cultural Approach

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to assess customer perceptions of integration of marketing communications, brand awareness, and brand image in hospitality.Moreover, cross-cultural diff erences are considered when evaluating all the concepts, since national culture can have a considerable impact on customer behavior.Design/Methodology/Approach -After a literature review of the examined concepts, the results of an empirical study are presented and discussed.The empirical investigation was carried out by approaching 475 guests of upscale Croatian hotels.The SPSS software was employed for data analysis.Findings and implications -The results indicate that hotel guests assessed integrated marketing communications fairly highly.Brand image also reached relatively high scores, while the level of awareness of the brand was more moderate.Signifi cant diff erences in perceptions among three delimited groups according to their Sažetak Svrha -Osnovni cilj ovog rada jest istražiti percepcije korisnika usluga o integraciji marketinške komunikacije, svjesnosti o marki i imidža marke u području ugostiteljstva.S obzirom na to da nacionalna kultura može imati značajan utjecaj na ponašanje potrošača, u ocjeni ovih koncepata uvažavaju se kros-kulturalne razlike.Metodološki pristup -Nakon pregleda literature koja se bavi istraživanim teorijskim konceptima, u radu se iznose i raspravljaju rezultati provedenog empirijskog istraživanja.Primarno istraživanje provedeno je u višerangiranim hotelima u Hrvatskoj na uzorku od 475 gostiju.SPSS softverski paket korišten je u obradi i analizi podataka.Rezultati i implikacije -Prema rezultatima ovog istraživanja, hotelski gosti visoko su ocijenili stupanj integriranosti marketinške komunikacije.Oni visoko ocjenjuju i imidž marke, dok im je svjesnost o marki na srednjim razinama.Rezultati provedenih analiza nadalje upućuju Vol. 28, No. 2, 2016, pp.159-172 national culture were found.The fi ndings suggest that hotel managers should increase brand awareness and consider cross-cultural diff erences when implementing their business strategies.Limitations -A greater number of hotel guests according to their national culture should be approached to obtain more representative subsamples.Originality -The contribution of this work lies in examining three key marketing variables from the consumer point of view and under a cross-cultural approach.In particular, there has been little empirical evidence on IMC perceptions from the consumer perspective and hardly any considering the cultural background of the respondents.The contribution is also made to the hotel environment, as the variables were examined from the cross-cultural perspective, an issue that was completely neglected in the literature on hospitality marketing to date. Keywords -integrated marketing communications (

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