An Association of Marketing Students®

HOSPITALITY SERVICES MANAGEMENT
TEAM DECISION MAKING PILOT EVENT

PARTICIPANT INSTRUCTIONS

•	The event will be presented to you through your reading of the General Performance Indicators Evaluated, Specific Performance Indicators Evaluated and Case Study Situation. You will have up to 30 minutes to review this information and prepare your presentation. You may make notes to use during your presentation.
•	You will give an ID label to your adult assistant during the preparation time.
•	You will have up to 10 minutes to make your presentation to the judge (you may have more than one judge), followed by up to 5 minutes to answer the judge’s questions. All members of the team must participate in the presentation, as well as answer the questions.
•	Turn in all of your notes and event materials when you have completed the event.

GENERAL PERFORMANCE INDICATORS EVALUATED

•	Communications skills—the ability to exchange information and ideas with others through writing, speaking, reading or listening
•	Analytical skills—the ability to derive facts from data, findings from facts, conclusions from findings and recommendations from conclusions
•	Production skills—the ability to take a concept from an idea and make it real
•	Teamwork—the ability to be an effective member of a productive group
•	Priorities/time management—the ability to determine priorities and manage time commitments
•	Economic performance indicators

SPECIFIC PERFORMANCE INDICATORS EVALUATED

•	Explain the nature of positive customer/client relations.
•	Reinforce service orientation through communication.
•	Describe the nature of target marketing in the hospitality industry.
•	Describe the concept of promotion in the hospitality industry.
•	Select advertising media.
•	Develop promotional plan for a business.
•	Write a news release.

CASE STUDY SITUATION

You are to assume the role of advertising specialists for Sharp Advertising Ltd., a full-service advertising agency. Sharp Advertising is a large, global firm and is contracted by 20 of the Fortune 500 companies. The chief executive officer (CEO) of Vacation Inn (judge) has asked your firm to create a promotion campaign to help bolster the hotel chain’s damaged reputation. The owner of firm has asked the two of you to work together as a team on this project.

The CEO of Vacation Inn (judge) was appointed to the position 10 months ago and is under pressure to repair the chain’s image quickly. Vacation Inn is a mid-priced hotel chain designed with the traveling family in mind. The 125 locations have suffered profit losses due to years of poor management, inadequate maintenance and customer neglect. Customer feedback has indicated a lack of confidence in the hotel chain, and reservations have been declining steadily. Last year, Vacation Inn was the subject of a lead story in the national news when it was the target of a lawsuit brought by a group of people who claimed they were denied service because of their cultural background.
 
After settling out of court, positive, radical changes were made in all Vacation Inn locations. Several local managers were fired, and all employees underwent training in customer service and cultural sensitivity. All employees were also retrained in the duties specific to their positions, with an emphasis on cost management. The Vacation Inn logo was even redesigned. The improvements are in place, and the CEO wants to run a major promotional campaign to let potential customers know. 

Vacation Inn has asked your firm to develop a promotion campaign that portrays the hotel chain as well maintained, customer oriented, safe and socially responsible. You are to plan a six-month promotion campaign that will regain the trust of Vacation Inn’s target market. The CEO (judge) has asked that the campaign focus around a national press conference kick-off. The CEO (judge) wants to run the press conference and needs specific assistance with the details, including exactly what to say. The rest of the campaign is up to you to plan, including the mix of advertising, publicity, sales promotion and sales techniques.

Your team will present the promotion plan to the hotel’s chief executive officer (judge) in a meeting in his/her office. The CEO (judge) will begin the meeting by greeting you and asking you to present the promotion campaign. After you have answered the CEO’s (judge’s) questions, the CEO will conclude the meeting by thanking you for your work.

JUDGE’S INSTRUCTIONS
You are to assume the role of chief executive officer (CEO) of Vacation Inn. You have asked  Sharp Advertising LTD., a full-service advertising agency, to create a promotion campaign to help bolster the hotel chain’s damaged reputation. A team of two advertising specialists (participant team) has been assigned your account. Sharp Advertising is a large, global  firm and is contracted by 20 of the Fortune 500 companies.

You were appointed to your position as CEO of Vacation Inn 10 months ago, and you are under pressure to repair the chain’s image quickly. Vacation Inn is a mid-priced hotel chain designed with the traveling family in mind. The 125 locations have suffered profit losses due to years of poor management, inadequate maintenance and customer neglect. Customer feedback has indicated a lack of confidence in the hotel chain, and reservations have been declining steadily. Last year, Vacation Inn was the subject of a lead story in the national news when it was the target of a lawsuit brought by a group of people who claimed they were denied service because of their cultural background.
 
After settling out of court, positive, radical changes were made in all Vacation Inn locations. Several local managers were fired, and all employees underwent training in customer service and cultural sensitivity. All employees were also retrained in the duties specific to their positions, with an emphasis on cost management. The Vacation Inn logo was even redesigned. The improvements are in place, and you want a major promotional campaign to let customers know. 

You have asked Sharp Advertising to develop a promotion campaign portraying the hotel chain as well maintained, customer oriented, safe and socially responsible. The advertising specialists (participant team) are to plan a six-month promotion campaign that will regain the trust of Vacation Inn’s target market. You have asked that the campaign focus around a national press conference kick-off. You need specific assistance with the details of the press conference, including exactly what to say, since you want to run it. The rest of the campaign is up to the specialists (participant team) to plan, including the mix of advertising, publicity, sales promotion and sales techniques.

The advertising specialists (participant team) will present the plan to you in a meeting to take place in your office. You are to begin the meeting by greeting the advertising specialists (participant team) and asking them to present the promotion campaign. 

After the initial presentation you are to ask the following questions of each participant team:

1.	What standards were used to select promotional media?

2.	How can we utilize your ideas long-term without constantly reminding our customers of the negative past?

3.	How quickly will we see results from your ideas?

Once the advertising specialists (participant team) have presented their plan and have answered your questions, you will conclude the event by thanking them for their work on this project.

You are not to make any comments once the event is over except to thank the participants.

JUDGING THE PRESENTATION
The Management Team Decision Making events were created by DECA in response to the career opportunities available for participants in these occupational areas.

The participant team will first take a comprehensive exam based on knowledge of general marketing competencies. Participant teams with a career interest in one of the occupational areas will analyze a case situation related to a business in the chosen occupational area. The participant team will make decisions regarding the situation, then make an oral presentation.

The participant team will assume the role of a management team for the business represented in the case situation. The role of the judge(s) is that of an executive (if one judge) or executive team (if more than one judge) for the business.

Participants will be evaluated according to the Evaluation Form.

Participants will be scheduled for presentations at fifteen (15) minute intervals.

Please place the participant team’s name and identification number in the upper right-hand corner of the Evaluation Form (unless it has already been done for you).

During the first 10 minutes of the interview (after introductions), the participant team will present their analysis, decisions/recommendations, and the rationale behind the decisions. Allow the participants to complete this portion without interruption, unless you are asked to respond.

During the next 5 minutes you are to ask questions of the participant team to determine their understanding of the situation presented. Both members of each team should respond to at least one question. To ensure fairness, you must ask each participant team the same questions (questions are provided in the Judge’s Instructions). After asking the standard questions, you must ask other questions specific to the current participant team.

After the questioning period you will close the event by thanking the participants for their input. Then complete the Evaluation Form, making sure to record a score for all categories. The maximum score for the evaluation is one hundred (100) points. The presentation will be weighed at twice (2 times) the value of the exam scores.

A score of “Exceptionally Well Done” in any category means that, in your opinion, the information is presented in a very effective way; in effect, nothing more could be expected of an employee.

A score of “Well Done” in any category means that, in your opinion, the information is presented well. Though there may be a few minor problems or omissions, they are not significant.

An “Adequately Done” score means that the information is presented adequately. It meets minimum standards of acceptability.

A score of “Little Value” in any category means that some major flaw has been noted that damages the effectiveness of the presentation. This may be a major omission, a serious misstatement or any other major flaw.

A “No Value” score means that the information presented is of no value. It is presented in such a way that it does not help the presentation at all.

We hope you are impressed by the quality of the work of these potential managers. If you have any suggestions for improving the event, please mention them to your event director.