Marketing Strategy in Increasing Ballroom Sales at New Kuta Hotel

This research aims to increase ballroom sales at New Kuta Hotel, to find out marketing strategies that should be used by the sales & marketing departments to increase ballroom sales and to find out which strategies are most effective in marketing strategies by sales & marketing department. The analysis techniques used are qualitative descriptive analysis, quantitative descriptive analysis, Internal Factor Analysis Summary Matrix (IFAS), External Factor Analysis Summary Matrix (EFAS), Internal–External Matrix (IE), SWOT Analysis and Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix (QSPM). Based on the results of IFAS matrix analysis, the main strength is the ballroom sales can help increase hotel revenue, while the main weakness is the incentives imposed by the sales & marketing departments are less appropriate. Based on the EFAS matrix analysis, it was discovered that the main opportunity was the ability of sales & marketing to bring in customers while the main threat faced was the budget considered by the customer. The IE Matrix study results put the company in the Growth Strategic (Cell II) position. SWOT analysis produced eight alternative strategies of marketing strategies from the eight strategies and obtained three marketing strategies that were prioritized and calculated through QSPM Matrix with a total TAS of 181.29.


INTRODUCTION
The tourism industry's rapid development has made the tourism sector a leading sector in generating and increasing foreign exchange. According to the WTTC (World Travel and Tourism Council), in 2018, Indonesia was the growth order of the tourism sector 9 in the world, number three in Asia, and number one in Southeast Asia. One of the destinations that Indonesia has is the island of Bali. Bali is known as the Island of a Thousand Temples. This makes Bali the best tourist destination of the 25 best destinations in the world by Trip Advisor in 2018 (Trimurti & Utama, 2019). shows that Ballroom sales at New Kuta Hotel in the last three years have significantly increased, moreover Figure 2 shows that revenue from Ballroom sales has decreased. So that it is asynchronous; therefore, this research will analyze the marketing strategies in increasing ballroom sales at New Kuta Hotels. In this study, the method used was FGD (focus group discussion). Where each question from the FGD results will be analyzed using SWOT analysis, this analysis is very different from the analysis used by Permadi et al. (2016). They wrote about the analysis of banquet revenue forecasts after the renovation of the grand ballroom. They used simple regression analysis and T hypothesis test. From the results of this analysis, Sangari et al. provides several strategies to achieve the banquet revenue target, namely the grand ballroom in-progress tour, the live hot open kitchen package and provides several other strategies including digital marketingendorsement, namely efforts to manage hotel management to maximize the use of social media such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook as a means of promoting the 70 ISSN 2527-9092 Vol 06 No 02, 2020 new Grand Ballroom. From the strategy provided by Sangari, the author will use digital marketing to increase ballroom revenue.

METHODOLOGY
This research is qualitative research; therefore the variables in this research identify internal variables which is the internal factor of the company by using the indicators of promotion mix by Kotler & Kevin (2012) that consists of product, price, place, promotion, people, physical evidence, and process. External variables consist of the competitive environment, economic environment, natural environment, technology, politics, legislation and regulation and social-cultural environment, budget and sales staff. There are two types of data: qualitative and quantitative, while the sources of data used are primary and secondary data. The method of data collection in this research is a focus group discussion.
FGD is a qualitative research method and data collection technique in which a selected group of people discusses a given topic or issue in-depth, facilitated by a professional, external moderator. In this study, the researcher conducted an interview with all of sales and marketing of the New Kuta Hotel which discussed what marketing strategies could be used in increasing ballroom sales. The sampling method used in this study is saturated sampling. Saturated sampling is a sampling technique when all members of the population are relatively small, less than 30 people (Sugiyono, 2015). In this research, the sampling was all four employees of the Sales & Marketing Department at the New Kuta Hotel. The purpose of using this FGD, involving four employees of Sales and Marketing, is to be able to develop and create more innovative strategies. Another reason for using FGD method is because a situation like this, namely the Covid-19 pandemic, has slightly hampered this research. This is also one of the weaknesses of this study.
The data analysis technique used in this research was a combination of qualitative and quantitative descriptive. IFAS analysis (Summary of Internal Factor Analysis), EFAS (Summary of External Factor Analysis), SWOT analysis (Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats). SWOT analysis, according to Rangkuti (2016:19), a SWOT analysis is a systematic description of various factors to formulate a company strategy and QSPM (Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix) analysis. QSPM analysis is used to see what strategy is best to be selected or applied in a company. The flow of data analysis in this research is started by observing and interviewing the internal and external factors of New Kuta Hotel-Pecatu to the four respondents. The second is data sorting and identification of the results into the tabulation of internal and external factors. Each indicator's results in internal and external factors will be used in the questionnaire to be filled up by the respondents to measure the weight, rating, and score of IFAS and EFAS. The total score of IFAS and EFAS will be used to find out the current position of the company by IE (Internal-External) matrix. This IE matrix can be found in what cell and what category the company stands for. The strategy is formulated based on this position and combining the internal and external factors in the SWOT matrix to find out the four types of strategies are SO (Strengths Opportunities) strategy, ST (Strengths Threats) strategy, WO (Weaknesses Opportunities) strategy and WT (Weaknesses Threats) strategy. These strategies are used to make the QSPM questionnaire to find out the total attractive score. This analysis is used to know which alternative https://jbhost.org/ strategy is the best to be chosen. QSPM matrix uses the data from IFAS, EFAS, and SWOT analysis to determine the relativeness of varieties.

A. Internal and External Analysis
The qualitative analysis is started by doing the focus group discussion regarding internal and external factors of New Kuta Hotel to four talents as the key informants. Then, the results of the focus group discussion will be used as a tool in measuring the weight, rating, and score in focus group discussion as the quantitative analysis.
The results of focus group discussion in this research are inputted in the form of IFAS or Internal Factor Analysis Summary matrix (Table 1) and EFAS or External Factor Analysis Summary matrix (Table 2) with the common issue. In this opportunity, the talents of the sales and marketing department, especially the manager, decided the weighting and rating that is shown in both matrix and the results will be used to analyze the position of New Kuta Hotel in the IE or Internal-External matrix ( Figure 1).
The IFAS score is acquired from the weighting of internal indicators that is multiplied by the average rating in each internal indicator. The internal factors in IFAS matrix divided into two categories are strengths and weaknesses. The details of IFAS matrix with total score of 2.88 can be seen in Table 1. After analyzing the current situation's internal factors, it is continued by analyzing the external factors faced by New Kuta Hotel that divided into opportunities and threats, which can be seen in the EFAS matrix. The total score in the EFAS matrix is acquired from the weighting of external factors is multiplied by the average rating in each external factor. The details of the EFAS matrix with a total score of 3.12 can be seen in Table 2. After analysing internal and external factors, it is continued by moving the score into the Internal-External matrix. In the previous calculation, it was found that the score of IFAS is 2.88 and the score of EFAS is 3.12. These score scans are used to analyze the New Kuta Hotel's position, shown in Figure 1. Figure 1 shows the position of the New Kuta Hotel marketing strategy is in cell II and cell I in the internal-external matrix. Cell II and cell I show that the sales & marketing department's marketing strategy is at the Growth Strategy stage with concentration through horizontal and vertical integration, both internally by increasing the ability of sales & marketing employees to do ballroom sales promotions such as making packages at prices special. Externally by utilizing technological advancements to promote products owned and have competitive prices with other hotels. The IE matrix results will be used as consideration in formulating technical marketing strategic alternatives in the SWOT matrix analysis. ST2 -Improving the quality of service to customers, especially services in the process of selling ballroom, as well as hone the ability to do personal selling by providing training to sales & marketing department employees.

Figure 1. Current Position of New Kuta Hotel by IE Matrix
WT2 -Prioritizing guest satisfaction during the low season by providing additional benefits when using a ballroom, such as free one night stay at New Kuta Hotel. Based on table 3 above, it can be explained the strategies with details as below.
1. Strategy Strength -Opportunities (SO) SO (Strengths Opportunities) Strategy Based on New Kuta Hotel's strengths and opportunities, there are two alternative strategies that are recommended in this SO strategy. First is New Kuta Hotel -should create more packages considering that New Kuta Hotel has many facilities to develop new products that can support ballroom sales. And the second is to increase incentive volume when successfully selling ballroom so that sales & marketing employees are more enthusiastic and motivated when promoting and selling ballrooms, which leads to increased ballroom sales and can optimize profits to be achieved by management.

ST (Strengths Threats) Strategy
ST strategy uses the strength to tackle the threats that faced by New Kuta Hotel. The alternative strategy in this ST strategy is New Kuta Hotel. New Kuta Hotel can further promote ballroom sales by offering a reasonably low price that has been considered and adjusted to the desired profit. And improving the quality of service for customers, especially services in the process of selling ballroom, as well as honing the ability to do personal selling by providing training to sales & marketing department employees. This strategy is expected to attract more customers to come and use ballroom facilities 3. WO (Weaknesses Opportunities) Strategy There are two alternative WO strategies that can be used by the New Kuta Hotel to minimize weaknesses and take advantage of opportunities at the same time. New Kuta Hotel can increase the number of sales & marketing department employees so that the company's operations run smoothly and can increase ballroom sales and further optimize product promotions for employees sales & marketing department through social media such as Instagram, Facebook and the website.

WT (Weaknesses Threats) Strategy
In minimizing weaknesses and overcoming threats, there are two alternative WT strategies that can be implemented by New Kuta Hotels such as New Kuta Hotel. Holding language training for sales & marketing department employees to facilitate ballroom sales promotion. And prioritizing guest satisfaction by providing additional benefits when using a ballroom, such as free one night stay at the New Kuta Hotel. Providing this will add to the customer loyalty that will benefit the company and with a feeling of satisfaction with the customer, the customer will feel comfortable and think of renting a ballroom again at the New Kuta Hotel.

B. QSPM (Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix) Analysis
This analysis's final stage determines the assessment of alternative strategies formulated by using the SWOT analysis matrix previously into QSPM analysis. The purpose of this alternative strategy assessment is to find out the most effective digital promotion strategies that can be applied by W Bali-Seminyak by using QSPM (Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix) analysis. This QSPM assessment uses the average rating and average alternative strategy that produces the total attractive score (TAS). The calculation formulas are mention as below (Setyorini et al., 2016 The output of QSPM is the promotional strategy that formulated for New Kuta Hotel which can be seen in Table 4 as follow. Prioritizing guest satisfaction in low season by providing additional benefits when using the ballroom, such as providing a free one night stay at the New Kuta Hotel 137.59

ST1
Has a dynamic price to face competition 132 Table 4 shows the results of QSPM that the management selected for determining the most effective digital promotion strategy that can be implemented by the New Kuta Hotel. The management can apply all the strategies or a few of them. Nevertheless, based on the results of QSPM, the management has scored and chosen three alternative strategies as the priority that can be applied by the New Kuta Hotel for their marketing strategies. The first strategy comes from the SO2 strategy with a total score of TAS about 181.29 increase incentive volume when selling ballrooms. The second strategy that comes from the WO2 strategy is More optimize hotel product promotions, especially ballroom products for sales employees through social media such as Instagram, Facebook and the website with a total score of TAS about 175.91 and then followed by SO1 strategy which is creating product variants in the ballroom such as weeding packages, meetings, graduations and gala dinners, considering that New Kuta Hotel has facilities that can support ballroom sales at the New Kuta Hotel with total of TAS about 157.05.

CONCLUSION
Based on the results and discussion of the marketing strategy consisting of New Kuta Hotel's internal and external factors in the previous chapter, the conclusion can be explained as follows. The internal factors of New Kuta Hotel consist of strengths and weaknesses. Their strengths are the products owned by New Kuta Hotel, namely ballroom and packages offered, relatively low prices, online and offline distribution channels controlled by the sales & marketing department and how to do promotions by the sales & marketing department while their weaknesses are the lack of sales & marketing department employees at the New Kuta Hotel and the lack of motivation possessed by the sales & marketing department employees due to the relatively small incentives provided when sales & marketing employees are able to sell the New Kuta Hotel ballroom.
External factors New Kuta Hotel consists of opportunities and threats. The opportunity is that political conditions in Indonesia are relatively stable, the level of security in Bali is relatively conducive, extensive internet network, development of electronic devices and modern applications, local cultural appeal, the natural environment around the hotel area is well maintained and the threat is the presence of competitors around the Pecatu area which has a similar product, many similar hotels around Pecatu offer lower prices. An appropriate marketing strategy that can be applied by New Kuta Hotel is to create more product variations such as ballroom usage packages, increase incentives for employees who are able to sell ballrooms to customers and more optimize promotion through social media.