Game 55NL home
Welcome to the Emerald Forest Hotel!
We are currently preparing to welcome the new Management Teams from BUAS, Breda University of applied sciences, located in Breda, Netherlands. We welcome students from the study fields of hospitality. This is the homepage of your simulation in Breda, the Netherlands, called 55NL. All the content is in English as the Emerald Forest hotel is an international oriented hotel.
What is the Game?
You and your fellow Capstone-team members are tasked with the take-over of the Emerald Forest Hotel as the new Management Team. You will manage the hotel, bring improvements to its current operations, and deliver noticeable results when compared to prior years. Last year's performance results and its related decisions will be made available to you. Along with historical data, this will serve as a point of reference. This becomes the same starting point for all (other) teams.
The Emerald Forest hotel is located in a number of (fictitious) cities. There are beaches, mountains and a forest nearby. In each city, multiple hotels (approx. 9 hotels) will be located. Your main competitors are the other hotels within your city. CEO Jill Jandal and owner Christina Bergman want you to effectively manage the Emerald Forest Hotel. Your coaches will help you achieve this task; meanwhile, Jill and Christina will be following any developments along the way behind the scenes.
History
At the outset, historical data, including last year's results will be made available to you, so all teams start on the same level playing field. You all start with the same initial situation, the same hotel. As the new management team, you will adapt this within certain boundaries to fit your own hotels strategy. All hotels will be located in one of the four (fictitious) cities / regions, mentioned later. In most cases, you will find 8 to 10 hotels in each city / region. The ones within your city-region will be your main competitors. CEO Jill Jandal and owner Christina Bergman are counting on you to effectively manage your new hotel concept under the new Emerald Forest Hotel portfolio. Your coaches will assist you in achieving this task; meanwhile, Jill and Christina will be following any developments behind the scenes.
Current Business and Market Environment
Staying agile and adaptable to increasing market demands and evolving customer behaviour has become not only a primary focus for major players in the hospitality industry but rather a must in the current post-pandemic era.
Of course, Corona has highly impacted the situation in hospitality in 2020-2022, and still does in some aspects. Remember, a large number of benchmarks and figures are still heaviliy affected by these years, 2020-2022. However, it is precisely times of uncertainty (wether it is a pandemic, politics, natural disasters or war), that creativity and innovation are needed, and new initiatives take place.
Guests change, desires changes and technology changes especially due to G-AI. To have a grip on a hotel, your hotel, you have to be aware of the market. Reports like
- AHLA - 2025 state of the industry report
- Oracle Automated intelligent, more on technology
- SHMS hospitality trends
can help you to get insights.
The hospitality industry is confronted with a “next normal” period, which some categorize as “no-normal”. The main dominant trend is that being eco-friendly is no longer a niche. In fact, most hotels have successfully advanced towards being socially and environmentally conscious and sensitive to the ecological impact of their customers’ experiences.
Thus, developing more sustainable solutions rather than just features, and adopting to a digital era with new technologies such as AI and metaverse, are predicted to go side by side as enablers of this innovative transformation.
In the game, a number of benchmarks and figures are available. During the game, new insights and announcements will be shared with you, so stay put.
AI is changing the market and the industry
Right now, the impact of AI is huge. Consider that AI can help you as Management with a wide range of tasks in hospitality. But 'just' the free version of ChatGPT e.g., means your data will be included in the overall data set. That is very undesirable. Also remember, guests use AI and see results from AI as well. Through the app store of ChatGPT, for example, we already see a large number of apps, which serve as platforms. As guests increasingly rely on AI—both for orientation and as personal agents to make bookings—and the hospitality industry adopts AI tools to manage those bookings, we are entering a new era of AI-to-AI interaction.
This shift is becoming particularly significant at the discovery and booking stages, where new affiliate models are emerging. Among the thousands of AI tools available, some—like the widely recognized ChatGPT—are beginning to unlock a new revenue stream: commerce and sales enablement. These tools can guide customers to specific destinations or even manage end-to-end sales processes on behalf of service providers (hotels).
This evolution could reshape how customers are directed and how bookings are converted. The full impact remains to be seen, but the potential for AI-driven distribution and marketing is profound.
What are the goals?
You are taking over the existing hotel as the new Management Team, inheriting its full operational history and legacy. This is your starting point. From here, it is your responsibility to implement your own strategic vision—within the defined parameters and constraints—shaping the future direction of the hotel. The existing timeline, milestones and set dates offer you the possibility to apply sound management skills and use the knowledge you gained thus far. The learning goals entail that you and the team:
- Select, process, and analyse a fair amount of relevant data that you can use and apply to ultimately help you in successfully running the brand-new hotel site.
- Work on time-sensitive assignments so you put into practice your developing skills, and the ones so far acquired during the course of your first-year studies;
- Can run the operations of your (adapted) hotel site as a Management Team in an eager, joyful, and professional manner.
- Perform as competent and skillful managers: dealing with uncertainties, finding solutions, and learning from your own mistakes.
Consequently, you are expected to carry out your managerial duties and deliver the following:
- A set of assignments during the course of the Game;
- A strong and clear substantiation (support) behind each of your decisions and actions;
- Living up to the deadlines in a timely and punctual fashion while being responsive to new situations and challenges ahead;
- Creating a distinctive competitive position and clear strategic outlook for your new hotel.
The credits for this module are awarded to you and your team, based on the assignments and the marks obtained during the Game.
Having your team become familiar with all aspects of your hotel will enable you to get a better grip on the game and help you bring the assignments to a good end.
Communication
This platform is the main source where you can find most documentation of the relevant elements of your new hotel.
As the Management Team, you will select two social media platforms that best align with your strategic goals to effectively position and promote your hotel online.
Be aware the role of management entails dealing with many uncertainties, and as such you will be confronted with a large amount of information and many challenges. Managing a hotel may not be as easy as it appears. It is all part of the Game. Your coach(es) will always be your first point of contact.
Your coaches
Each team consists of approximately 4-6 students, with whom you will be teaming up as part of a new Management Team. Each city will be guided by his/her own coach(es).
| Teams and cities: your coaches | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City name | Teams | Coach | |||
| -01- Amstelburg | Team A01 to Axx | Jaap Heijmeijer | |||
| -02- Budano | Team B01 to Bxx | Karlien Klijn | |||
| -03- Copenstadt | Team C01 to Cxx | Chaja Kersten | |||
| -04- Dreskovski | Team D01 to Dxx | Em Smith & Rob van Ginneken | |||
Decisions
Each year, determining your pricing strategies and allocating costs to support your strategic initiatives is a critical component of the overall management process. Being consistent and keeping your prices and costs in alignment with your business decisions, and able to clearly explain and support (validate) them, will have a major impact on the occupancy rate of your hotel, and consequently its overall profit.
A set of game algorithms will process all this information, calculate, and provide you with their respective outcomes and rank your team all the way through this competition until its final standings. The occupancy rate is the primary factor influencing the overall success of your hotel. Alongside it, the prices paid by your guests -combined with occupancy levels- ultimately determine your total revenue. Fixed and variable costs are outside your control and are directly tied to occupancy. However, the strategic team decisions you make, and the associated costs to support those decisions, will have a direct impact on your profitability.
You will find all the exact steps you need to take on the 55NL Assignments and timeline page.
