1. There will be two exams (one-midterm and one final). The format of the tests will be multiple choice and will cover the material that has been presented in the text up to that point. The exams will be completed no later than the last day of the week on week four and eight respectively. The exams will not be allowed to taken earlier than beginning of that week as well unless authorization is given by the instructor for that student for extenuating circumstances.

1. Exam one will cover twenty-five items and end with chapters one through ten of the textbook noted above.
2. Exam two will cover twenty-five items and will cover chapters eleven through nineteen of the text.

2. There will be several written assignments as well for this class. The material that shall be covered will come directly from readings in the textbooks. The readings will be of specified length and should be properly documented. This class will take eight weeks to complete. At the end of week one, two, three, five, six, and seven, there will be a written assignment due. At the end of the fourth and eighth week, there will be no written assignment due because of exams. Late assignments will be penalized two points a day for the first five days and one letter grade for each day after that. Any questions concerning this policy need to be directly aimed at your instructor to avoid confusion.

3. Each of the written assignments with the exception of the last one should be approximately five to six pages in length (no less) double spaced and cover the material as presented in the text book. The assignments are outlined below. They are due no later than the week they are given and no earlier than the week they are given as well. Grammar is very important as well as structure. By this point in your college career, none of us should have a lot of problem with this. Deductions may be taken for poor grammar, syntax, structure, as well as, principle gaps. Please make sure that all assignments are presentable in a professional situation. Make believe that I am your supervisor in this sort of situation and that these are reports designed to show me what you know about the material. You would not present a half-way done project to your boss. Keep that in mind.

1. Read chapters 1 – 3.
2. Written assignment number one--Chapters 1 thru 3.

1. Discuss the relationships between the hospitality and the travel industry.
2. Define the role of marketing and discuss its core concepts
3. Describe a service culture.
4. Identify four service characteristics that affect the marketing of a hospitality or travel product.
5. Explain marketing strategies that are useful in the hospitality and travel inductries.
6. Explain the concept of companywide strategic planning.
7. Create a theoretical company. Develop a mission statement and set five goals. Identify and discuss the four planning activities of corporate strategic planning through which you worked and discuss the steps of the process involved in defining its mission and setting its goals.

1. Read chapters 4 - 7.
2. Written assignment number one--Chapters 4 – 7.

1. List and discuss the importance of the elements of the company's microenvironment, including the company, suppliers, marketing intermediaries, customers, and public.
2. Describe the macroenvironmental forces that affect the company’s ability to serve its customers.
3. Explain how changes in the demographic and economic environments affect marketing, and describe the levels of competition.
4. Identify the major trends in the firm’s natural and technological environment.
5. Discuss the concept of a marketing information system. Identify the types of information the company might need to organize in setting up its marketing information system.
6. Name and discuss the elements of the stimulus-response model of consumer behavior.
7. Outline the major characteristics affecting consumer behavior, and list some of the specific cultural, social, personal, and psychological factors that influence consumer behavior.
8. Explain the buyer decision process and discuss need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, the purchase decision, and postpurchase behavior.
9. Discuss the organizational buying process.
10. Identify and discuss the importance of the participants in the organizational buying process
11. List the eight stages of the organizational buying process.
12. Identify and describe the group markets in the hospitality industry.

1. Read chapters 8, 9 and 10.
2. Written assignment number one--Chapters 8 - 10.

1. Explain market segmentation and identify several possible bases for segmenting consumer markets, business markets, and international markets.
2. List and distinguish among the requirements for effective segmentation: measurability, accessibility, substantiality, and actionability.
3. Outline the process of evaluating market segments and suggest some methods for selecting market segments.
4. Illustrate the concept of positioning for competitive advantage by offering specific examples.
5. Discuss choosing and implementing a positioning strategy, and contrast positioning based on product, service, personnel, and image differentiation.
6. Define the term product including the core, facilitating, supporting, and augmented product.
7. Explain how atmosphere, customer interaction with the service delivery system, customer interaction with other customers, and customer coproduction are all elements with which one needs to be concerned when designing a product.
8. Discuss branding and the conditions that support branding.
9. Explain the new product development process.
10. Describe how the product life cycle can be applied to the hospitality industry.
11. Explain why internal marketing is an important part of a marketing program.
12. Describe the four-step process involved in implementing an internal marketing program.
13. Explain why the management of nonroutine transactions can create the image of being an excellent service provider.

1. Read chapters 11, 12 and 13.
2. Written assignment number one--Chapters 11, 12, and 13.

1. Discuss the difference between customer value and customer satisfaction.
2. Discuss attracting new users and retaining current customers by developing relationship marketing.
3. Define quality and discuss the importance of the benefits of quality.
4. Discuss the importance of management of customer complaints and identify some tactics for dealing with them.
5. Discuss the internal factors that affect pricing decisions, especially marketing objective, marketing-mix strategy, costs, and organizational considerations.
6. Identify some external factors that affect pricing decisions, including the effects of the marketing and demand, competition, and other environmental elements.
7. Discuss the key issues related to price changes, including initiating price cuts and price increases, buyer and competitor reactions to price changes, and responding to price changes.
8. Describe the nature of distribution channels, and tell why marketing intermediaries are used.
9. Discuss the different marketing intermediaries available to the hospitality industry and the benefits each of these intermediaries offers.
10. How might one use the Internet as a distribution channel?
11. Identify factors to consider when choosing a business location.

1. Read chapters 14 and 15.
2. Written assignment number one--Chapters 14, 15.

1. Compare and contrast the marketing of services from the marketing of products.
2. Describe the relationship between Internet marketing, database marketing, and direct marketing.
3. Evaluate a company's Web site and comment on its marketing potential.
4. Describe how to set up an effective database.
5. Discuss the growth of e-mail marketing.

1. Read chapters 16 and 17.
2. Written Assignment #6 for Chapters 16 and 17.

1. Discuss the growth of e-mail marketing.
2. Explain how databases can be used to develop direct marketing campaigns.
3. Explain the role and nature of personal selling and the role of the sales force.
4. Describe the basics of managing the sales force, and tell how to set sales force stratgy, how to pick a structure – territorial, product, customer, or complex- and how to ensure that sales force size is appropriate.
5. Discuss supervising salespeople and touch on directing, motivation, and performance evaluation.
6. Outline the steps in the selling process, including qualifying, preapproach and approach, presentation, and demonstration, handling objections, closing and follow-up.

1. Read chapter 18.
2. Written Assignment #7 – Chapter 18.

1. Discuss why it is important to have a marketing plan and explain the purpose of a marketing plan.
2. This is catch-up week. Review text and complete back assignments.

1. Read chapter 19.
2. Written assignment #8--Chapter 19.

1. Prepare a marketing plan for a theoretical company in the hospitality industry, following the process described in this chapter. This is a formal plan and should contain a cover page, outline and format that is professional in quality. Email your composition to the instructor.
2. Write a brief commentary on the study you have just completed.