Dee Hardy was angry, and Randy Moran was just as angry.

“They said it was an absolute disaster. Bad service and we ran out of food,” said Dee.

“What did you expect,” replied Randy. “It’s your fault. We did our best!”

Dee and Randy were discussing the previous day’s breakfast at the 500-room hotel where Dee served as DOSM and Randy as the F&B director. Between 6:30 A.M. and 7:30 A.M. the previous morning, over 500 guests had attempted to enter the hotel’s 250-seat dining room. With too few servers scheduled and too little food preprepared, guest waits were long, service slow, and the kitchen ran out of several key breakfast items.

“Those rooms weren’t on the forecast you passed out at our revenue management meeting last week,” said Randy. “When you add 150 rooms, with four people to the room, and you don’t tell me about it, what do you expect?”

“We only got the business three days ago,” replied Dee. “And at a good rate. Were we supposed to turn it down because we couldn’t serve a few extra people a decent breakfast?”

“We can serve 1,000 extra,” said Randy as he stalked off, “and we can serve them well—but only if you do your job!”

Questions Linked to Case Study 3

1. Assume Randy had known about the 600 extra guests two days prior to their arrival. What steps might he have taken to ensure the guests received a quality breakfast experience on the day of their departure? (4 points)

2. Would you define 600 unexpected guests as “a few extra”?

What was Dee’s responsibility to the hotel in this situation?

As a customer-centric revenue manager, what was Dee’s responsibility to her arriving guests? (8 points)

3. Part of an RM’s responsibility must include ensuring that guests get what they pay for. Assume you were this hotel’s GM. What would you expect from your RM team in a future and similar circumstance?