Hotel business simulator
Run an established hotel group at its real size — 280,000 guests on day one — year by year for eight years, before you bet the real one.
Rooms, rates and the season that pays for the rest of the year. This one opens as Lantern Hotels: A group of hotels in cities and resorts, selling rooms to holidaymakers, business travellers and events. Rename it, reprice it, or describe your own hotel group and let Nova rewrite it to fit.
What a steady hotel group ends up with
Played steadily for all eight years — quality first, then growth, a fair share of the bank spent each year — a steady hotel group here ends its last year on $536m of revenue and $66k of profit, with 517,000 guests and 21% of the market (#2 of 8).
It opens as it stands today: 280,000 guests, 2,300 staff and $25m in the bank.
People who play it well do better, and a bad plan runs out of money.
Revenue in the last year: $536m
Profit in the last year: $66k
Guests at the end: 517,000
Share of the market: From nothing to 21%
Where it finishes: #2 of 8
Years and decisions: 8 years, yearly
What you'll decide each year
Each year you set prices, brand and sales spend country by country, decide capacity and headcount, choose where to expand next, and how much to borrow or pay back.
Each decision shows on a forecast before you file it, and every period resolves against the rivals and the economy.
Who your guests are
At this size the market barely grows, so every point of share is taken from somebody, country by country — and the leader fights back.
2 million guests in all, across Home country, Southern Europe, Northern Europe, Caribbean and Asia.
Budget travellers: Millions of them, loyal to the price and nothing else. About 1 million of them, worth $630 a year each.
Families on holiday: They buy the brand they trust and switch when it lets them down. About 640,000 of them, worth $990 a year each.
Luxury guests: They pay for the best and expect it to feel that way. About 240,000 of them, worth $2.2k a year each.
Corporate and events: Contracts, volume discounts and a procurement team. About 120,000 of them, worth $3.6k a year each.
Who you're up against
You start as one of the big names, with four rivals around you and every one of them after your guests. They play to win: they cut prices, spend on marketing and answer what you do.
The global leader: The biggest, and slow to change — it has stopped listening to its smaller customers. Holds about 30% of the market.
The discount giant: Wins on price and little else; its customers leave the moment somebody is better. Holds about 22% of the market.
The regional champion: Hasn't changed in years and is living off the customers it already has. Holds about 14% of the market.
The fast-growing challenger: Clever and quick, but stretched thin and hard to get hold of. Holds about 8% of the market.
How it works
Free until you start: building and previewing cost nothing, and starting is $10, once.
Build it — free: Press build and you get your own copy of this market: four kinds of guest, four rivals and five countries.
Make it yours: Change any number, describe your hotel group in a sentence or two and let Nova fill it in, or upload a profit and loss or a month-by-month sales history to fit it to your real figures.
Preview — free: See what a steady hotel group ends up with, and every warning worth reading, before you pay anything.
Start — $10: Pay once to start, your seat included. Then run it year by year for eight years.
Also for
hotel · hospitality · resort · travel · rooms · accommodation
How much does the hotel business simulator cost?
Building and previewing are free: make your own copy of this hotel group market, change anything in it and see what a steady hotel group ends up with without paying. Starting the simulation is $10, once, and your own seat is included.
Can I make it match my own hotel group?
Yes. Every number can be changed — the guests and what they pay, the rivals, the countries, the costs and the starting cash. Or describe your hotel group in a sentence or two and Nova, SparkTower's AI, fills every section in for one Nova action. If you already trade, upload a profit and loss or a month-by-month sales history and the simulation is fitted to your real numbers.
Are the numbers realistic for a hotel group?
The template is checked against what real ones do: played steadily, a believable one finishes year eight turning over between $150m and $500m, with between 150,000 and 550,000 guests. Your own prices, costs and figures change that, which is the point of trying it here first.
Can I use it to test a hotel group business plan?
That is what it is for. Put your plan's prices, costs and starting cash in, play it forward year by year, and see whether the money lasts, how many guests you would need and what a rival's price cut does to you — before you put real money in.
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