Strategy Tips

This chapter is meta-advice. It doesn't reveal anything about the engine — instead it captures patterns observed across many cohorts of students playing this simulator. Use it as a checklist before each period.

The five most common mistakes

1. Pricing in a vacuum

The mistake: You decide "fair" prices for your hotel without checking what competitors are doing or what your forecast looks like.

Fix: Position → Forecast → Market Intel → then Pricing. In that order, every period.

2. Ignoring My Hotel after period 1

The mistake: You set up amenities and channels in period 1, then never revisit them. By period 5 your product is stale and your competitors have lapped you.

Fix: Block 5 minutes every period to review the My Hotel sub-tabs. Even if you don't change anything, you've made a conscious decision.

3. Reacting to one bad period

The mistake: You have a weak period 2 (low occupancy) and panic-discount in period 3. You sell out in period 3 but at a terrible ADR, and now your "discounted" reputation pulls you down for periods 4–5.

Fix: Two-period rule. Don't make a strategy change based on a single period. Wait until you see the pattern twice.

4. Skipping marketing

The mistake: Marketing feels expensive, so you skip it. Meanwhile a competitor runs a Baseline campaign for three periods and pulls ahead permanently.

Fix: Allocate a marketing budget every period, even a small one. Buzz for short-term gaps, Baseline for the long game.

5. Forgetting RFPs

The mistake: You don't bid on RFPs because they "feel separate" from your main strategy.

Fix: Treat RFPs as part of your pricing strategy. They fill rooms you wouldn't have filled, on dates you wouldn't have filled, with cash that doesn't pay channel commissions.

The strategic identity question

Before period 1, decide: what kind of hotel are you?

Pick one of these (or define your own — but commit):

Hotels that commit to one identity outperform hotels that try to do all four. The simulator rewards focus.

A useful weekly routine

Build this habit:

1. Open Position → write one sentence about last period
2. Open Forecast → write one sentence about next month
3. Open Market Intel → write one sentence about competitors
4. Open Pricing → make decisions consistent with those three sentences
5. Open My Hotel → quick scan, only change if there's a clear reason
6. Open RFPs → bid or consciously skip every open one
7. Submit

Total: 15-20 minutes per period once you're in rhythm.

Reading the Demand Factors panel

After each period your professor can show you a Demand Factors view that explains why your hotel got the result it got. Different professors expose this differently — some show it openly, some make you ask. If you can see it, study it. It's the single most learning-dense screen in the simulator.

Common scenarios

"I'm in last place after period 1"

Period 1 results are noisy. You may have over-priced for the actual demand, or your product (amenities, brand) needs work. Read your daily breakdown — was it under-occupancy or under-ADR? — and adjust ONE thing for period 2.

"I had a great period 1, but something went wrong in period 2"

Two common culprits:

• A competitor improved their product (added a spa, joined a strong brand) — check the leaderboard for changes
• You got complacent — same prices in a season where demand shifted

"I keep winning RFPs but my P&L is shrinking"

You're bidding too low. RFPs displace retail bookings that would have paid more. Use the displacement panel (if shown) and bid less aggressively.

"My cash is dropping but my revenue is fine"

Check your operating costs:

• Are you running too many ongoing marketing campaigns?
• Is your channel mix heavy on commission-charging OTAs?
• Did you over-invest in amenities and now carry too much ongoing OpEx?
• Are you paying a high franchise fee for a brand that's not lifting demand enough to justify it?

"My reputation is dropping and I don't know why"

Likely causes (in order of frequency):

• Weak amenity stack → low service score → drags reputation
• Overbooked rooms (walks) → reputation hits
• Independent and not running any Baseline marketing → no positive pressure to offset natural decay
• Brand mismatch — joined a luxury brand but you're a budget hotel

The 80/20 rule

If you do nothing else, do these three things every period:

1. Read Position and write one sentence about the previous period
2. Look at competitor pricing in Market Intel (if unlocked) before pricing yourself
3. Bid on, or consciously skip, every open RFP

That alone will put you in the upper half of your class.

Next

→ Chapter 12: Financial Instruments (only if your sim has them enabled)