20EE Tasks and decisions

There is still some small changes to come, almost ready :-)

Your tasks during the game week (April 27 - April 30)

The total of this assignment has 4 parts: each part linked to the years 1 to 4. Be sure to work on this assignment during the gameweek in the applicable years. Find the deadlines for each part from the schedule and please make sure to e-mail them in time! This work will get evaluated and has an influence on your final mark. Be sure to write specific, in a business-style and give sources etc. Please write in English. For any questions on this you can consult your staff in Tallinn. An indication is to have 3 to 6 pages on each of the 4 parts, so all together 12 - 24 pages of real content.
All assignments have to be handed in on time by mail: efhcoach@gmail.com. For the deadlines see the schedule!

Year01, part 1 in combination with the Trade Fair

During the Trade Fair we advice your teams to have one or two members checking out the competition. This is of use for your gameplay but also needed for this part.
Strategic analysis of the competition
This part should hold two major elements.

A - Reflection on your performance on the Trade Fair

• What were our goals on the Trade Fair
• What went right and what went wrong?
• How does this effect your hotel?
• What would you do differently next time and why?

B - Competition analysis based on the Trade Fair

• Make a competition analysis for your hotel.
  

This should consist of three parts:

Competition in the city
You are playing this game in a competition: all of the teams start with the same history. The main outlines of your tasks in running the hotel are:

• keep the hotel financially healthy, and run it in a profitable way. This does not mean you have to go for maximum profit: you can have other targets as well, as long as you make (acceptable) profit.
• keep it independent (no joining of a big company, no selling of the assets or the total of the hotel etc.).

With a number of teams you will compete over customers in your city. Among the other competing teams in your city the customers will be "divided". The market will develop depending on the actions of all of the hotels in their city too. So a market can develop different in any city, because all of the teams go, for instance, for price-leadership.
There is also a page on competition that might help you with more information.

Theory on competition
In competition models, such as Porters Five Forces Model, competition can be seen on several levels. You are free to choseany structured way of doing a competition analysis but be sure there is a model behind your choice.

Our choice as a model to used to structure competition analysis, would be looking at three forms of competitions.

• Generic competition on time and money.

How many people do travel, what is the average income? What do they average spend their income on. What are the consumers sentiments? Consumers can only spend their money once and their time as well. Use realistic figures from Estonia (!) and for instance Tallinn! The example is from another country and competition.

Example of general and some specific competition.

• Specific competition on alternatives.

If they decide to spend their money on leisure they can chose for a stay in a hotel, camping ground, friends and relatives etc. In the business market the alternatives are less logical. Try to use some realistic figures from Estonia and for instance Tallinn!

• Selective competition your direct competitors: so the consumers choice for a brand.

Do they chose for a hotel, the other competitor offering practically the same products are the most likely competitor, the competition is now mostly on brand and product specifications. Now look especially at your city Amstelburg. This is what you do on the Trade Fair, and only for your own city!

The example is from another country and competition.

Example of overview direct competitors.

Of course explanations on this table is needed.
Is is handy to prepare some form to use on the Trade Fair. So while some team members are working in the booth, others should visit the competitors and immediately work on this assignment.

Year02, part 2 in combination with your financial results

This part is in combination with your financial results you have had so far.
In the secure section you can find your operating review of your first year under the tab results. Your Key metrics are in there, which you will need to make this part.

Calculating ratio's
The is a number of figure in the results section and some Key metrics. Using this information and other pages in Category:Hotel info calculate the next items. For each of them be sure to show in a proper way the calculations and explaining them.

• the number of guests-nights in weekend, during the week, and total. Check the general occupancy rate and persons per room
• the average F&B-turnover per present person in weekend, during the week, and total.
• think of two more yourself and indicate why you chose those.

Other ratio's
Look for ratio's for year 1, which can be taken from your hotel results for year 1.

• fixed costs per room per day
• fixed cost per occupied room per day
• variable cost per room per day
• variable cost per occupied room per day
• net profit per occupied room per day
• average margin on any occupied room per day in euro's
• average margin on any occupied room per day as % of the average sales price of these rooms.

Further Instructions and Recommendations
Use suitable literature or websites to prepare and analyze the results, including managerial and financial accounting textbooks. Give all sources.

Try to find benchmarks for a real hotel like the Emerald Forest in Estonia. Reflect then on

• sales prices of your hotel and match that with real figures in the market.
• occupancy rates of your hotel and match that with real figures in the market.
• calculate the different revenue-sources and their contribution to the total revenues and match that with real figures in the market.
• the net profit of your hotel and match that with real figures in the market.

Write in a concrete and serious way as to show knowledge on the subject. Be sure to make calculations and explain them! Maybe make the calculations in Excel en copy past them into your file.

Year03, part 3 in combination with the event happening

This part goes in combination with the management issue that take place during this year.
Being the management of a hotel always brings upon unexpected situations where you have to react quickly. This can be in damage-control in case of a problem but it can also be in seizing an opportunity which arises. Explain what you have done and why.

Give a comprehensive explanation in your assignment that answers the next questions.

This year your hotel faces a special situation.

• Assess the situation that took place and the impact on all stakeholders.
• What actions did you take on hearing the news? Put in screenshots of your actions taken, give the right URL's!
• Explain which organizational concepts you used for solving this situation.
• Give the step by step actions you took and explain each step.
• Try to assess the total damage of the incident and it's solution in money (also think of staff costs). Be as specific as possible.
• How are the responsibilities in your hotel regarding this kind of problems: be very specific and concrete in this!
• What do you think of the solutions you have heard from other teams?
• How will you prevent this from ever happening again? Use theory like the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points to give a theoretical view but also operational on how to handle situations like this.

Year04, part 4 combined with your 3 minutes and promotion

1. There is a paintball club in Tallinn that is organizing the games in different locations, also in one of the forests not far from Emerald Forest Hotel. The club has a lot of high quality equipment and professional staff, but not enough clients and good marketing ideas. The paintball club management proposes you to create an effective marketing campaign for attracting new clients. In exchange the club will organize the paintball games for the visitors of Emerald Forest Hotel for free during one year.

2. Let's have a look at the international situation. Check out the page Category:Emerald forest finished teams and check out the pages All teams with logo's from finished competitions. We would like you to find cultural differences which would influence the management of your hotel.

• Chose two team photos which you think are totally not suitable for a hotel management team and explain why!
• Chose two logo's which you think are totally not suitable for a hotel and explain why!
• Chose two hotel names which you think are totally not suitable for a hotel and explain why!

You can click on the user link underneath the photo's to go to the page of these teams. Your team File is not visible.

3.
3 minutes
You acted at the 3 minutes of fame. Answer the next questions as if it all where for real, so from a business perspective. You do not have a lot of times after the three minutes. Most of the following questions can be made upfront.

• what was the exact goals you had in mind with this presentation?
• what was the target group as an audience you aimed at?
• what will, concrete, be the planned follow-up after the 3 minutes
• how could you measure the result of the 3 minutes related to the goals in a concrete way?
• how does your performance match with the Trade Fair?

Write in a concrete and serious way as to show knowledge on the subject. Make sure you decide on who is going to do what tasks.

→ GO! Top of this page

Emerald Forest Hotel offering an emerald hotel experience! | Run your own hotel in this management simulation.