The Protea Hospitality Group in South Africa has launched an application for iPad, designed to put users to the challenge of running their own Protea Hotel or any other business profitably.
The application operates as a game, which educates users on financial management in an entertaining way and also challenges the user to improve revenue by thinking laterally.
“What’s great about it, though, is even if you’re not a games buff you can play this one. It stretches your mind laterally because you get to choose which guests to accommodate at the right time based on demand,” The Media Online quoted Danny Bryer, director of sales, marketing and revenue of the Protea Hospitality Group, as saying.
He added: “Put them (guests on app) in rooms you think will tickle their fancy, and accept or reject offers to maximise the revenue of your hotel. You only have one week and five rooms to play with, so think carefully. Each decision you make could cost the hotel money…”
Bryer said aside from ensuring the satisfaction and comfort of guests, the management of revenue is the second most important aspect of running a hotel. “It’s not exactly the rock n roll side of the business, though, so the best way to learn about it is to make the process fun.”
Once the user has completed the game, the application will display the revenue the user’s hotel managed to earn against the highest achievable revenue.
The application, titled “Protea Hotels Revenue Management” is now available for download through the Apple iTunes app store and is compatible with iPads using iOS 4 or later versions.
