In recent years, simulation training has become a popular educational tool in schools and on the job. Airline pilots refine their skills using flight simulators, surgeons update their techniques in a virtual reality environment and at Kent State University students are managing virtual hotels as part of an upper-division elective in the Hospitality Management program.
Dr. Swathi Ravichandran, a professor in the College of Education, Health, and Human Services, teaches 13 junior and senior hospitality management students how to operate a large, run-down coastal hotel that needs revitalized through a computer-based simulation software called Hotel Operations Tactics and Strategy (HOTS).
The Strategic Lodging Management class is split into two or three students per team. Throughout the semester each group analyses its current situation and decides on any changes to its policies and resource allocation for the coming month. The simulation calculates the trading results for each team and provides them with sales analyses, financial statements, feedback from customers and employees and information on the sales and current status of their competitors.
Through the HOTS simulation, students find that in order turn around a poorly-ran hotel operation they need to retrain employees, advertise, drop hotel prices and purchase loans to renovate outdated furnishings and add in-house health clubs, mini bars, restaurants and bars and internet access to their virtual hotel.
Since each hotel is located in same virtual location, teams compete for the same customers and each group's decision can affect their neighbor's hotel. The winning team members who are the most profitable at the end of the semester will receive an increase in their final course grades.
To learn more about HOTS simulation and its uses in the classroom, visit the HOTS Web site.
