The CHESSmaster

Realizing that the majority of the class had become majorly stressed from the past week, Mark gave the class a pep talk. He made note of how many of the students were unsatisfied with the grades, and said that getting a single B+ or an A- is nothing to worry about; Hotel Operations is a condensed  college course, and as such it an exceptionally hard class, meaning that college's will be impressed no matter what grade we get. He also told us that one of the most important characteristics a student can have is confidence.

Our time with Mark was spent learning how to make letter templates and report templates. The process involved modifying our memo templates to fit new purposes, a tactic that Mark stressed as being both productive and resourceful.

During lunch, I realized that  left my ID Card in my room and without it I could neither get my lunch nor could I return to my dorm to retrieve it. Luckily, my friends Cami and Bernadette were nice enough to buy me lunch, and thanks to them, I was able to enjoy my lunch, as per usual.

For the second session, Reneta had us play another round of the CHESS Simulation. Whereas I was struggling  to make a decent profit, other students were raving about their revenue being in the $10,000 range. One girl even broke that all-time revenue record, breaking in at over $11,000 per day. Although I was initially discouraged by my peer's success, I've become more motivated than ever; I'm determined to master the CHESS Simulation and

Following a short fifteen minute break, Reneta gave us a lecture on the basics of revenue management. We learned that hotels impose rate restrictions in order to prevent high-paying customers from choosing lower rates. This led to a brief discussion on the morality of this practice, as it seems as though hotels are purposefully extorting money out of their consumers. While I don't believe the system is entirely ethical, I do think that is profitable, as it allows for easy revenue maximization.

With class over, Mark and Reneta decided to reveal our presentation grades. My group received the second highest grade, scoring a total of 95 points-only one point behind the other group. Mark congratulated our class on our spectacular performances, stating that we were the best class that he had ever seen. Because of this project, I was able to gain a better idea of the academic expectations of college, thus making the transition from high school to the university level much easier.

I used the time during office hours to finish my letter template, as well as replaying the CHESS simulation. Although I wasn't able to finish my game, I was doing a much better than during my previous attempt.By the time I reached the first week in the simulation, class was already over, and I returned to my dorm room to studt.