Case Background

 

Forte Hotels, a large European hotel chain, is developing a new hotel chain in the United States. The chain, named Forte Executive Innes, will combine the ambiance of a European hotel with American functionality and convenience. Forte decided to invest in this hotel chain partly to take advantage of the increasing numbers of business people traveling from Europe to the United States.

 

Forte’s strategy in developing the new chain is twofold. European business travelers in the United States will recognize the Forte name and associate it with comfort and service. Forte executives also expect that American business travelers will associate the new chain with “pampering” that is often lacking in the mid-priced hotel chains, while at the same time perceiving the hotel to have all the functionality of American hotel chains. Although the hotels will have a European ambiance, the facilities and services will be comparable to those available in such hotel chains as Hilton, Sheraton and Courtyard by Marriott.  

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Conjoint Analysis Dataset

 

As a first step, the company decided to explore consumer preferences for five key attributes on which Forte Executive Innes could be differentiated: room type, business amenities, leisure facilities, conveniences and extras, and restaurants and dining. Within each attribute, it defined several different options. Forte’s challenge was to decide which combination of the attribute options would most appeal to its target audience. 40 business travelers to participate in the conjoint analysis study.  

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Tools

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Excel

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