a market research and satisfaction study has been conducted.

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Executive summary X is a company founded by X, who is a tour operator specialised in chalets. X is responsible for the management in several chalets villages in X and X is their biggest chalet park with fifty chalets and a restaurant. About five hundred people can stay in the park and the restaurant has space for sixty-five guests. This research report is designed to research how the sales of products and services can be increased by making the management of X more efficient. To research this, a market research and satisfaction study has been conducted.The products that X relies on for profit are ski passes, ski lessons and ski rental.The sales of ski passes and ski rental have been holding steady for the last 2 years. However, from the questionnaire results we can conclude that there is a possibility to increase the sales. Sales of ski lessons have experienced a dramatic decline in sales. Therefore, it is important to establish how the sales of ski passes, ski rental and ski lessons can be improved. To answer this, a satisfaction study was conducted.An important asset to the company is ‘x’, which includes the restaurant and reception of X. X used to be a very successful restaurant, but since X took over, the restaurant started failing. Also, the costs for renting ‘x’ are very high. Therefore it is important to establish how X can attract more guests to the restaurant. To do so a satisfaction study was conducted.The structure of the organisation of X changes every year since X hires other employees to manage the park every season. As a result there are no clear guidelines and the organisation did not improve their management over the last years. It is important to investigate how the efficiency of the local management can be improved. To do so, previous seasons have been compared to each other and a new model for the organisation is proposed.To increase the satisfaction of the guests it is important for X to change important procedures. For example, one source of irritation for guests is the waiting time before they can check in. A study is conducted to explore how the internal procedures can be improved.After conducting this research, it was possible to answer the main research topic, how the sales of products and services can be improved by making the management more efficient. From this research it was possible to see which procedures or services need to be improved in the future. This study made it possible to recommend how to improve local management in X. The SWOT- analysis and the marketing mix are important tools which indicate the weaknesses and strengths and to formulate the recommendations.Finally, several recommendations are made to improve the efficiency of the local management. Firstly, by automating the check-in process and by hiring more staff 2 / 6

the sales of ski lessons and passes are expected to increase. Moreover, the final cleaning needs to be obligatory for the guests. Secondly, the restaurant can attract more guests by opening the restaurant and bar on Saturdays and by giving promotional discounts to X guests. Thirdly, it is necessary to strengthen the relationship with the locals by organising events and by hiring local employees.With the information presented in this research report, X can improve their local management and increase sales. With the following the recommendations the sales of products should improve, the number of guests in the restaurant are expected increase and by simplifying internal procedures guests and employees will be happier. 3 / 6

Table of Contents Introduction......................................................................................................................................6 1.2 X...............................................................................................................................................7 1.3 Bestuur Bedrijfsvoering Vakantiewoningen.............................................................................8 1.4 Services and products offered by X.........................................................................................9

1.4.1 Ski passes..........................................................................................................................9

1.4.2 Ski and snowboard rental.................................................................................................9

1.4.3 Sales of ski lessons............................................................................................................9

2.0 Analysis of the environment......................................................................................................11 2.1 Destep analysis......................................................................................................................11

2.1.1 Demographic and socio-cultural aspects........................................................................11

2.1.2 Technological aspects.....................................................................................................11

2.1.3 Economic and political aspects.......................................................................................11

2.1.4 Legal aspects...................................................................................................................12

2.2.2 X.....................................................................................................................................13

2.2.3 X......................................................................................................................................13

2.2.4 Comparison of competitors............................................................................................14

2.2.5 Conclusion......................................................................................................................17

2.3 SWOT analysis.......................................................................................................................18

2.3.1 Internal analysis..............................................................................................................18

2.3.2 External analysis.............................................................................................................21

2.3.3 Confrontation Matrix......................................................................................................23

2.3.4 Advised strategy.............................................................................................................26

3.0 Market research........................................................................................................................27 3.1 How to increase the sales of the services and products?......................................................27

3.1.1 Ski passes........................................................................................................................27

3.1.2 Ski or snowboard-Rental.................................................................................................29

3.1.3 Ski lessons.......................................................................................................................30

Speeding up the check-in process...........................................................................................32 ....................................................................................................................................................33 3.2 The restaurant X....................................................................................................................34

3.2.2 How to increase the number of guests in the restaurant during dinner time?...............36

3.3.2 Changes made by X during previous seasons.................................................................39

3.3.3 How to improve the local management of X in X?..........................................................39

4.0 Marketing Plan..........................................................................................................................42 4.1 Segmentation........................................................................................................................42 4 / 6