BU students win Passion 4 Hospitality competition a second time

Five Bournemouth University (BU) students formed the winning team at a national student competition for the second year running. 

The annual Passion 4 Hospitality Business Management Game involves a simulated business management scenario in the hospitality sector using HOTS, a simulation programme which is used by industry professionals worldwide. This year the focus of the business game was on revenue management, social media and guest reviews. 

BU were up against teams from Plymouth University, Manchester Metropolitan University, University College Birmingham and Westminster Kingsway University, all of whom had to make it through the online heats to reach the final. 

Each of the five teams competing in the HOTS business management game were given the responsibility of managing individual hotels within the simulated environment. The teams were tasked with creating a revenue management strategy for their hotels and then executing this within the simulation. They could also sell rooms through online channels, set their rate strategies and also manage their social media profiles. The competition was judged on their hotel performance results and a written revenue management plan each team produced. 

The Business Management Game was delivered by the teams from HOTS and arena4finance and in partnership with the Institute of Hospitality, HOSPA, a not for profit hotel education association, and the Council for Hospitality Management Education (CHME).

The winning team were Harry Watts, Harry Champion, Molly Stephens, Ellen McCausland and Antony Iontton, all of whom are studying BA (Hons) Hospitality Management. Their prize was a day in industry from a partner organisation who will give them real life experience of what it is like working in the hospitality industry. 

Peter Russell, Operations Manager from HOTS (The Total Simulator Company) said, “We wanted to present the teams with a curveball this year and present them with an exercise closely focused on revenue management to see how they would cope.”

“This will be an essential skill for them in years to come and all five teams coped very well, with all of them running profitable hotel businesses by the end of the competition, which is a great achievement.”

Debra Adams, Head of Professional Development at arena4finance said, “We were very impressed by the commitment and level of achievement demonstrated by all the teams taking part at this year’s event. All the teams massively improved their key performance indicators for their virtual hotels resulting in a very close contest!”

Final year student and member of the winning team, Harry Watts, commented, "We had a fantastic day at the Passion4Hospitality conference, I am immensely proud of our team, we worked very well together to bring home the trophy for a second year! No pressure for the team next year!"

Team member Ellen McCausland tweeted after the event, “@HOTS_Simulation Such a fantastic day yesterday at @IoH_Online Conference. Proud to have brought home the trophy for a second year! #BUproud”.