I Took a Nap!

My view for almost 5 hours each day

I decided to wake up at 6:30 AM today so I could study for my quiz. I succeeded in waking up and studying (kind of) and got to breakfast at 7:15 AM.

I wasn't planning on going to class early, but I was finished eating by 7:30 AM and decided to just go and make better use of my time in class, studying more. I ran into Jun on the way there and when we got to Statler I claimed the second row with four seats (that's my favorite spot in class). The entire class was freaking out for our quiz, frantically studying at the last minute.

But time was up. The quiz was not too hard. I missed at least three problems, but overall I didn't feel terrible about it. It was a positive way to start my morning. Mark began to lecture us about letter and report templates then we split up into groups A and B. 

Group B was sent to lab A, where we finally got to do our CHESS simulation. We computed (implemented) our business strategy from our memos last week into CHESS then when bravery finally set in, I clicked the clock and time began ticking. 

CHESS looks a lot like minesweeper in my mind. It's a simulation, but it is not an animated one like I had expected. When the time is running you are supposed to watch your room rates, a chart divided into the 5 rates (A through E) and see how many rooms have been sold at that rate, how many are left at that rate and how many of the total 250 rooms are available. If your hotel is doing well, in terms of occupancy rate and average daily rate (ADR), then you should sell the majority of your rooms at rates D or E. 

There are a lot of other factors to consider when running your CHESS hotel, but my hotel started off fairly well in terms ADR and occupancy rates. In the end, after running my hotel for "7 weeks" (more like an hour), I had an occupancy rate of 72% and an ADR near $68, which isn't very high considering the E rate is $100. My department income, on the last day of CHESS, was approximately $10,533. 

So maybe I'm getting a little ahead of myself and am poorly explaining what I've learned over the last week and a half. What this means is I ran a decent hotel in comparison to the rest of my class, my "competitors".

Homemade McFlurry with 
low-fat soft serve, WOO

After completing our CHESS simulations, we were lectured on revenue management by Reneta. It was quite interesting. I now know to buy directly from hotels and not travel agents because I can get the same price if only I do my own research. 

My office hours were spent creating my letter template, which was based off of my memo template, and reading some required texts. While anxiously waiting in the lab, I heard thunder. It was pouring. Luckily when I got out at 6 o'clock the rain had ceased, but the thunder kept rolling. Emma, who's from New Jersey, was making me paranoid because she kept telling me stories about lightning and her own fear of thunder. But I survived, thankfully.

RPCC was packed for dinner because a summer sports camp began just yesterday. I met up with Katie and Alli, but they left me before I finished my soft-serve. I even sneaked a cookie. Sneaked as in pretended I didn't eat it to not feel guilty. I digress. It was a good cookie. 

Anyway, I got to my dorm around 7:00 PM and... I TOOK A NAP. Hallelujah. A two hour nap. Granted, I felt like a mess waking up at nearly 9 o'clock, but I was in need of rest. I woke up and read and looked over assignments. Now I'm going to shower, to try to get rid of the lingering stickiness from my nap. Tomorrow is going to be a long day. I think there's a pop quiz. So I'll be on my toes until then!