Page 3 9318A028 rooms were business and wedding clients. Business clients valued the variety of room sizes, electrical outlets, and amenities; wedding clients valued the choice between bringing food into the venue or having food catered by the hotel. Currently, the hotel was experiencing great success with full occupancy for conferences on weekends, forcing Paliath to turn down business because the hotel had no additional conference space. Guest Rooms The Gold Crest had a maximum occupancy of 80 guest rooms of varying types (see Exhibit 3). Approximately two-thirds of guest room bookings were done through travel agents, repeat corporate clients, and partnership tourism companies. The remaining bookings were made through the hotel by returning guests. The Gold Crest valued its reoccurring customer base and relied heavily on its staff to recognize familiar guests and their preferences; however, no formal guest loyalty program was in place. Less than 10 per cent of Gold Crest guests were tourists. Restaurants and Nightclub The Gold Crest had three restaurants, which served breakfast, lunch, and dinner to hotel guests and local visitors. Although restaurant revenues were not directly correlated with room bookings, Paliath was pleased with the restaurants' nancial performance and anticipated revenues to grow with additional guests and visitors. Club Rock Bottom was open Thursday to Sunday and provided the hotel with stable revenues on weekends. The nightclub's protability was negatively affected during the slow tourist season. CURRENT ISSUE Although conference rooms were in high demand on weekends, the hotel had difculty reaching target occupancy with guest room bookings. In the high season (April to June), the hotel maintained an average room occupancy figure of 80 per cent but retained only 50 per cent occupancy in the remaining slow months. The pressure to turn a prot was heightened by the hotel's seasonality and a high xed rent expense. Moreover, with increasing competition from local hotels with discounted room rates, Paliath wondered how he could leverage the Gold Crest's reputation as a luxury hotel brand to attract customers. Preparing for the upcoming slow season (July to March), he needed to decide if he should continue to target business professionals to ll room vacancies or if he should target the growing tourist segment. ALTERNATIVES The rst alternative Paliath considered was to continue targeting business professionals. He knew that major businesses valued the conference facilities, and he believed business clients would value the luxurious atmosphere and the personalized care offered by Gold Crest staff. Moreover, business guests would greatly value staying close to the conference venues rather than commuting to the site. He wondered how he could leverage strategic partnerships with local and foreign businesses for corporate guest room bookings. Currently, conference rooms had xed rates based on their size, but Paliath wondered if he should provide a discount for conference rooms if a certain number of hotel rooms were booked