University of North Carolina at Greensboro Joseph M. Bryan School of Business and Economics Department of Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Hospitality, and Tourism Spring 2014 1. COURSE NUMBER: STH 313 2. COURSE TITLE: Sustainable Revenue Management 3. CREDITS: 3:3 4. CLASS MEETING TIMES: MWF, 10:00-10:50am, Bryan 216 5. PREREQUISITES/COREQUISITES: MAT 115; ECO 201 6. FOR WHOM PLANNED: Students majoring in the Sustainable Tourism and Hospitality program. This course may also be of interest to other Business majors. 7. INSTRUCTOR INFORMATION: Bonnie Canziani, Bryan 473, bmcanzia@uncg.edu Office hours: MW 8:30 to 10:00; 11:00-12:00, and by appointment. 8. CATALOG DESCRIPTION: This course applies economic principles of demand and supply to sustainable hotel and resort revenue management, addressing sources of revenue, inventory control, pricing decisions, customer relationships, and strategic partnerships. 9. STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES: Upon successful completion of the course, the student should be able to: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Discuss the major sources of revenue in the accommodations industry. Identify the economic principles pertinent to revenue management. Compare hotel companies’ revenue management goals and objectives. Compare revenue management across the stakeholder perspectives of owners/asset managers, general managers, revenue managers, and operations managers. Explain the process of forecasting demand from various sources. Discuss pricing strategies and the influence of multiple factors, e.g., customer attributes, seasonality, product lifecycle, product features, and bundled services. Explain general room inventory control practices and related decisions, e.g., forecasting estimates and overbooking levels. Describe customer relations and green and sustainability issues that impact revenue management. Apply a variety of mathematical approaches to the evaluation of hospitality business performance. 10. TEACHING METHODS This course will use modules addressing each of the learning objectives and related subtopics with lectures tied to the text, practice problem/case assignments, and class activities and online assessments. 1 11. EVALUATION AND GRADING: Assignment/Activity Description SLOs Measured in this activity (Identify the # from your SLOs list above) % of Final Grade Or Points Possible Case studies, practice sets, and class exercises Online exams [midterm/final] (50 pts each)—objective questions design format 8 skill-based quizzes based on quantitative reasoning in accordance with text chapter content (20 pts each) Total 1 through 9 140 points 1 through 9 100 points 9 160 points 400 points Directions for each assignment will be posted on Blackboard, and will be thoroughly discussed in class. In addition, rubrics and other evaluative instruments will be posted on Blackboard and discussed in class. Thus, students will know exactly what they are to accomplish in this class as well as how their grade will be determined. Case studies, practice sets, and class exercises (35% of total grade). Students will be assigned a variety of case studies, quantitative practice sets and class activities that will address targeted objectives from SLOs 1-9. Online exams (25% of total grade). The exams combined will address SLOs 1-9. Quizzes (40% of total grade): The quizzes will be on the material covered during the semester with special attention to quantitative reasoning skills in line with the assessment of quantitative reasoning in the STH program [SLO 9]. You will receive a score of 0 for any work not submitted. To receive credit for the course, you must earn a letter grade of D- or higher on the weighted average of all assigned course work (e.g., exams, assignments, discussion postings, etc.). Your final grade in the course will be a letter grade. Letter grade equivalents for numerical grades are as follows: 400-388 A+ 387-372 A 371-360 A359-348 B+ 347-332 B 331-320 B319-308 C+ 307-292 C 291-280 C279-268 D+ 267-252 D 251-240 D- 239-0 F 2 12. REQUIRED TEXTS/READINGS/REFERENCES: Hayes, D.K. and A. Miller (2011). Revenue Management for the Hospitality Industry. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. RECOMMENDED BOOKS: Forqacs, G. (2010). Revenue Management: Maximizing Revenue in Hospitality Operations. American Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute. Tranter, K.A., Stuart-Hill, T. and J. Parker (2008). An Introduction to Revenue Management for the Hospitality Industry: Principles and Practices for the Real World. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education/Prentice Hall. Yeoman, I. and U. McMahon-Beattie (2004*). Revenue Management and Pricing: Case Studies and Applications (1st Ed.). Cengage Learning EMEA. 13. ABBREVIATED TOPICAL OUTLINE/CALENDAR (topics or assignments may be adjusted by instructor during the semester as benefits the learning environment; a full calendar will be posted to the UNCG course management system each semester): Week 1: Week 2: Week 3: Week 4: Week 5: Week 6: Week 7: Week 8: Week 9: Week 10: Week 11: Week 12: Week 13: Week 14: Week 15: Sources of revenue in the accommodations industry and the revenue manager’s role. Strategic pricing overview and economic principles of supply and demand applied to hotel products. The role of costs in pricing. The role of value in pricing. Balancing quality, service, sustainability, and price. Differential pricing strategies and the influence of multiple factors, e.g., customer attributes, seasonality, product lifecycle, and product features. Concepts of revenue optimization. Demand forecasting models and predictor variables. Data management. Inventory and price management (coding product features having sales value). Bundling and partnership decisions (e.g., room package design opportunities). Restrictions and rate fences. Overbooking as an inventory management strategy. Distribution channels (non-electronic and electronice). Distribution channel management. Business performance using STR reporting services Revenue management for food and beverage divisions. Evaluation of revenue strategies in food and beverage. Specialized applications in revenue management. 14. ACADEMIC INTEGRITY POLICY: Each student is required to sign the Academic Integrity Policy on all major work submitted for the course. Refer to the UNCG Undergraduate Bulletin or go to: http://academicintegrity.uncg.edu/complete/ 3 15. ATTENDANCE POLICY: You have three free passes for necessary absences—don’t have to notify me re: the first three. 5 points deducted from final grade for each recorded absence after that. Validated health or formal approved UNCG documentation, e.g., sport team travel, must accompany all requests for consideration of special circumstances. 16. FINAL EXAMINATION: No face to face final exam will be given in this course. 17. ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS: Students with documented disabilities requiring accommodation need to notify the instructor at the beginning of the semester. 18. OTHER REQUIREMENTS: Students are expected to be prepared for class by having read all materials and chapters prior to class. Guest speakers will be invited. NO LAPTOPS, CELLPHONES, HATS, GUM CHEWING, FOOD CONSUMPTION, OR OTHER DRASTICALLY IMPROPER BEHAVIOR WHEN GUEST SPEAKERS ARE PRESENT. [And I don’t care for them either, thanks for being considerate.] 19. STUDENT/FACULTY COMMUNICATIONS 1. Please use the email subject heading, STH 313/ Student Last Name, for ALL student questions regarding this course sent to my email. 2. Use only your UNCG email account for this course. Blackboard is set up to allow me to mail all students at once using your UNCG email addresses. Instructions, clarifications and other guidance are often provided via Blackboard email so it is essential that you are able to receive UNCG email messages regarding the course. 3. It is the responsibility of the student to make sure that s/he keeps his/her email account in good working order. Students are required to regularly check the email account they are using for this course. 4. If you cannot access the course materials, either on the course website or via the links provided by the instructor, please contact me via email as soon as possible. Sometimes there is a problem with the server where the course is located or websites go down for some reason and appropriate action cannot be taken unless a problem is identified. Don't assume that someone else has notified the instructor of the problem. ALWAYS CHECK FIRST W/ 256-TECH when you have a tech problem to see if it is the compatibility with your particular internet browser. They are also the first to know if it is a campus wide problem. 5. Computer [including printer problems] on the day the assignment or test is due will not be accepted as an excuse for late assignments. The due date is the last day an assignment can be turned in -- it can be turned in any time before that date. The operative concept here is -- Don't wait until the last minute to print it out before turning in an assignment. 4