Lauren Had Been a Manager of a Major Hotel Chain

question 37

Essay

Lauren had been a manager of a major hotel chain for 15 years. Due to a hotel owner's illness, Lauren was offered the opportunity to purchase a hotel near a vacation area she had often visited. It was a great place surrounded by mountains and known for its scenic beauty. After obtaining a lawyer and an accountant to assist her, Lauren did an analysis of the business and evaluated several contingencies relating to various scenarios. Since the expected monetary value of the various scenarios was much higher than the price of the hotel, she decided to purchase the hotel. She resigned her position, obtained a loan, and purchased the hotel. The following year, there was a severe economic downturn and also a very bad weather season that reduced the number of guests and also caused a resulting mold situation in the hotel building that required expensive repair work. Lauren ran short of cash, became emotionally distraught, and eventually had to sell the hotel at a significant loss. Was it a bad decision for her to purchase the hotel instead of keeping her other managerial position? Explain.

---

Definitions:

Market Level Supply

The total quantity of a good or service that producers are willing to sell across the entire market at a given price level.

Marginal Costs

The swelling of total charges resulting from generating an extra unit of a good or service.

Elasticity of Market Supply

An indicator of the extent to which the supply of a product varies following a price adjustment.

Marginal Cost Curves

A graphical representation that shows how the cost of producing one more unit of a good or service varies as production increases.