Case Study: If We Could Work Together The Every Town Inn enjoys a great location in a suburban area with numerous businesses and many office buildings located within just a few miles. It is a limited-foodservice property serving a complimentary breakfast.

The inn has a small kitchen housing a commercial refrigerator, oven, and even an upscale dishwasher along with ample dry storage space. The kitchen is convenient to the spacious lobby, and the business center and a storage space have recently been merged to create a meeting room with an occupancy rating of 20 persons authorized by the local fire department.

Sandra Perez is the general manager of the property, and her plan is to use the remodeled space as a conference room and small meeting center to service the numerous businesses in the area. Her plan: market the meeting room for small business meetings, receptions, and celebrations including retirement events held during workdays.

Sandra had meetings over the last several weeks with the marketing manager and front desk manager (who supervises the morning breakfast program). She has discussed plans for mid morning and mid-afternoon coffee breaks with several employees scheduled at different times to supply and clean the lobby during breakfast hours. Sandra has also chatted with the general manager of a nearby restaurant to discuss the logistics of a special meeting menu that could be provided to the inn for lunches.

Despite Sandras insistence, there has been little progress on plans for this new revenue center. In a recent meeting, the front desk manager noted that the problem was a lack of marketing ideas. The marketing manager replied that there was little to sell except room rental and coffee!

Discussion Questions

1. What is the problem being reviewed in the above discussion?

2. What should Sandra Perez do to correct the problem in the long term?

3. What should Sandra Perez do to address the current situation?