A grab-bag of "things students actually ask." Skim once. Come back as a reference when stuck.
Login & access
I forgot my hotel password
You can request a reset directly from the login page:
- Click Hotel Team on the landing page
- Click the small Forgot password? link below the "Enter Hotel Dashboard" button
- Enter your simulation ID and hotel name. You can optionally add a short message (e.g. "we've been locked out since yesterday")
- Submit. Your professor receives an email notifying them of the request.
- Your professor will set a new password and share it with you (usually within a few hours, depending on their schedule)
You don't see the new password until your professor sends it to you — the simulator never emails passwords directly to students. That's by design: your professor is the security checkpoint for your team's credentials.
My simulation ID isn't working
Triple-check the spelling — they're often long alphanumeric codes. Copy-paste from the email your professor sent if you can.
Wrong hotel name error
The hotel name is case-sensitive. "Grand Plaza" ≠ "grand plaza" ≠ "Grand-Plaza". Match exactly.
Editing decisions
Why are my inputs grayed out?
One of two reasons:
- The current period is closed (your professor has run it).
- Your professor has locked editing — even though the period is technically open.
Look for the 🔒 banner at the top of the page; it'll tell you which.
My professor unlocked editing but I still can't edit
Hard-refresh the page (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + R). The lock state is cached and sometimes stale.
I made a change, navigated away, came back, and it's gone
You forgot to click Save on the tab. Each tab saves independently. There is no auto-save.
Can I copy-paste prices across days?
The Pricing tab has a Pre-populate action that copies from a previous month, either by date or by day-of-week. Use day-of-week when possible — it preserves the weekly rhythm of your pricing.
Why won't a past pace-mode day let me edit?
Because it's already been processed. Pace mode locks past chunks. You can only edit days that haven't been run yet.
Pricing
What's the "right" price?
There is no single right price. The right price is the one that lines up with:
- Your forecast for that day
- What competitors are charging (Market Intel)
- Your hotel's product strength (amenities, brand, reputation, channels)
- Your strategic identity (premium / volume / corporate / direct)
Read Chapter 5 carefully and run your first period as an experiment.
My ADR went down even though I raised prices. What?
Check your segment mix. If you got a lot of advance-purchase bookings (which pay a discount off retail), your blended ADR drops even though your retail rate went up. This is normal.
Why did I get walked (overbooked)?
You sold more rooms than you had available. This happens when:
- You priced very aggressively and demand exceeded your inventory cap
- You didn't reduce your "available inventory" on a peak day
- Your forecast was off and the actual demand was much higher
Walks are penalized (walk-cost in your P&L) and hurt reputation slowly. Avoid by holding inventory back on expected peak days.
RFPs
I bid but didn't win. Why?
The professor (or auto-awarder) chose another bid. Usually that means another hotel bid lower or had a better fit. You can ask your professor for feedback; sometimes they'll share why.
I won but my P&L looks worse than expected
You may have bid too low and displaced higher-revenue retail bookings. Use the displacement panel (if your professor enables it) on your next bid.
Can I withdraw a bid?
Before the deadline, yes — just edit and resubmit (or delete). After the deadline, no.
The displacement panel doesn't appear for this RFP
Your professor disabled it for this specific RFP. You'll have to estimate displacement yourself based on your forecast.
Results
My results don't match my decisions
A few common causes:
- You didn't click Submit Final. Your decisions were saved but never "committed" — the engine used your previous period's prices as a fallback.
- Your professor unpublished and re-ran the period with different inputs. Ask them.
- You misread a number — re-check the daily breakdown.
Why is my occupancy capped at 100%?
The simulator caps displayed occupancy at 100% even when you were overbooked, because >100% looks weird in a chart. The "Overbooked" column shows the excess.
Forecast variance — what is the percentage?
Some simulations show a forecast-vs-actual accuracy score. It's an MAPE (Mean Absolute Percentage Error) — lower is better, meaning your forecasts were close to reality.
Marketing & Channels
My marketing campaign is active but I don't see a difference
Marketing has different timing:
- Buzz campaigns show effects within 1 period.
- Baseline campaigns build slowly over 3+ periods.
- One-shot campaigns are a single boost — if you don't see it the same period, something's off.
Also: campaigns add to your "package" but don't override pricing. A weak product with a strong campaign still has a weak product.
Should I activate every available channel?
No. Each additional channel has diminishing returns and comes with commission costs. 2–4 channels is usually optimal. Read Chapter 3.4.
Direct says "always on" — can I turn it off?
No. Your own website is always available, free of commission. There's no reason to want to turn it off.
Reputation & Service Score
Why is my reputation dropping?
Common reasons (in order):
- Weak amenity stack → low service score → drags reputation
- Overbookings → walk penalties
- Independent + no marketing → no positive pressure
- Brand mismatch — joined a brand that doesn't fit your hotel type
How do I raise reputation fast?
You can't, by design. Reputation builds slowly. Be patient. Run Baseline marketing, strengthen your amenity stack, consider joining a stronger brand. Wait 3+ periods.
The pending arrow on my reputation pill — is that locked in?
It's a projection of what the engine thinks will happen based on your committed decisions. The actual published value may differ slightly because other moving parts (other hotels, events) influence the final number.
My Hotel
I upgraded my amenity but lost revenue that period
Check whether you upgraded mid-period. Recent versions of the simulator handle this cleanly (old amenity stays active until new one comes online), but if you saw a revenue drop, double-check by asking your professor to look at your hotel-view.
Switching brands — is there a penalty?
Yes. There's a joining fee for the new brand and often an exit penalty from the old one. The Loyalty tab shows you both before you commit.
Can I be "independent" then later join a brand?
Yes. You can change brand path each period if you can afford the switching cost.
Pace mode
Why are some of my Forecast cells grayed out?
They're for days in past pace chunks. Once a day has been processed, your forecast for that day is sealed against actuals — you can read what you forecasted, but you can't change it. Use it as a learning signal for the days you can still edit.
How do I know which chunk we're in?
Open Decisions → Month in Progress. The pace timeline shows you visually which chunks are done and which are still ahead.
Technical
The page is acting weird / something looks broken
- Hard-refresh (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + R)
- Log out and back in
- Try a different browser
- If still broken, message your professor with a screenshot
Can I use this on mobile?
The simulator is built for desktop. It will load on mobile but the pricing grids and tables don't fit well. Use a laptop or tablet in landscape.
Does my data save if I close the tab?
Only if you clicked Save first. Always Save before closing.
Where to learn more
- Chapter 4 — Reading the market
- Chapter 5 — Setting prices
- Chapter 9 — The leaderboard
- Chapter 10 — Reputation & service score
- Chapter 11 — Strategy tips
Ask your professor too — they have access to the full picture of your hotel and can answer "why" questions the simulator can't.
Good luck. Have fun. And remember: the goal isn't to win the simulation — it's to learn how to think like a revenue strategist.