6th Sem l Front Office l Solved Papers l 2015-16

Q.1. What is Yield Management? Justify its importance to the hotel industry, highlighting its advantages.

Revenue Management (RM) is the art and science of maximizing revenue under variable conditions.  It is a management tool that has the objective of increasing sales revenues by manipulating the prices at which fixed products are made available for sale in relation to the current and forecasted demand. The essence of this discipline is in understanding the customers’ perception of product value and accurately aligning product prices, placement and availability with each customer segment.

A commonly accepted definition of revenue management is to sell:

• The Right Product
• To the Right Customer
• At the Right Time
• For the Right Price
• Through the Right Channel

The terms revenue management and yield management are often confused, yet there is a key distinction between the two disciplines.  Whereas revenue management involves predicting consumer behavior by; segmenting markets, forecasting demand, and optimizing prices for several different types of products, yield management refers specifically to maximizing revenue through inventory control.  Thus, “yield management” is a tactical application within the broader field of “revenue management”.

Benefits of revenue management

There are a lot of benefits associated with the use of revenue management in the hospitality sector, especially in hotels.These benefits included the following:

1. Improved forecasting: Revenue management helps improve forecasting.
2. Improved seasonal pricing and inventory decisions: It helps in deciding the season and off-season pricing for accommodation products and also in making important inventory decisions like renovations.
3. Identification of new market segments: Newmarket segments can be identified on the basis of revenue management.
4. Identification of market segments demands: The demand of the targeted market segments can be identified with yield management.
5. Enhanced coordination between the front office and sales divisions: As the two-division work together to forecasts and manage revenue and yield, it helps enhance coordination between them.
6. Determination of discounting activity: Yield management helps determine the amount of discount to be offered, depending on the dates and periods.
7. Improved development of short-term and long-term business plans: Revenue management helps develop business plans as the management can forecast the revenue that can be generated and take measures to generate those figures.
8. Establishment of a value-based rate structure: It helps define rates structures, based on perceived values.
9. Increased business and profits: Good revenue management helps increase revenue and profits.
10. Savings in labor costs and other operating expenses: As most of the revenue management tools are computerized, it helps in saving labor costs and other operating expenses.

OR Explain the techniques used by Front Office Management to maximize room revenue.

 Hotel industry applications:

Revenue management increase revenue front office by controlling forecasting information in 3 ways:

• Capacity Management
  • Discount Allocation
  •  Duration Control

Capacity management

• Controlling and limiting Room Supply
• The hotel accepts statistically supported room reservation in excess of the actual number of rooms to offset loss because of early checkout, no show and cancellation. It is also called as selective overbooking. It reduces the risk of overselling or no selling. Generally, overbooking is done on the lower category of rooms and then upgraded. Overbooking prices depends on the level of demand of rooms.
• Determining how many Walk-ins to accept keeping in mind no show.

Discount allocation

Restricting the Time Period and Product Mix (rooms) Available at reduced or discounted rates. The objective of discount allocation is to protect enough high rate rooms to meet the demand meanwhile filling all rooms.

Limiting Discounts by Room Type through encouraging upselling. This staff needs to have a reliable estimate of price elasticity and the probability of upgrading. (Elastic price means slight increase in prices decreases the demand, inelastic price means a slight increase in price does not change the demand.

theory is low sales is better than no sales.

Duration control–

Places Time Constraints on accepting Reservations in order to protect Sufficient Space for Multi-Day Requests on high price – “A Reservation for a One-Night Stay might be rejected, even though Space is Available that Night”

Strategies dealing with room availability are as follows:

1. Minimum length of stay: requires that a reservation must be for at least a specific number of nights. Some resorts use the approach during peak occupancy or hotels during special events or high occupancy periods.

• Closed to arrival: strategies allow a reservation to be taken for a certain date as long as the guest arrives before that date e.g. 100 arrivals on 30th July, therefore, any arrival on 28^th and 29^th is accepted that will stay till or after the 30^th July.

• Sell through: strategy works like a minimum length of stay requirement except that the length of the stay can begin before the date the strategy is applied e.g. if a 3-night sell-through is applied on Wednesday, then the sell-through applies on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Arrivals on each of those days must stay for 3 nights in order to get accepted. It is effective when 1 day is peak and management does not want the peak to affect either side reservation.

All the three strategies may be combined together e.g. Duration control can be combined with discount allocation and so on.

Q.2. Hotel Royal Inn has 300 single and 500 double rooms. The rack rate is as follows: Single room on single occupancy: 4000/-, Single room on double occupancy:6000/-, Double room on single occupancy: 7000/-, Double room on double occupancy: 9,000/-, Rooms on Multiple occupancies are 600/-, Averageoccupancy= 90% and ARR = 5000/-.Calculate (a) Rate Spread (b) PAR (c) Achievement Factor (d) Yield.

Given,
Single room: 300/-
Double room:500/-
Therefore , Total room=800/
Rack rate Single room on single occupancy: 4000/-
Rack rate Single room on double occupancy:6000/-
Rack rate Double room on single occupancy: 7000/-
Rack rate Double room on double occupancy: 9,000/-
Multiple occupancy: 600 , that is 500/800 = 75%
Average occupancy= 90%

ARR = 5000/-

Rate Spread = (Potential Avg. Double Rate) – (Potential Avg. Single Rate)

Potential Average Single Rate = (Single Room Revenues at Rack Rate) / (Number of Rooms Sold as Single)

=(300*4000) + (500*7000)/800
=12,00,000  + 35,00,000 /800
=47,00,000 / 800
=5,875 Rs.

 Potential Average Double Rate = (Double Room Revenue at Rack Rate) /(Number of Rooms Sold as Double)

=(300*7000) + (500*9000) / 800

=21,00,000 + 45,00,000 / 800

=66,00,000 / 800

=8250 Rs.

Rate Spread = (Potential Avg. Double Rate) – (Potential Avg. Single Rate)

 = 8250 – 5,875

 =2375 Rs.

(b) Potential Average Rate = (Multiple Occupancy Percentage x Rate Spread) +   (Potential Average Single Rate)

  = (75% *2375) + 5875

 =1781.25 + 5875

= 7656.25

• Room Rate Achievement Factor = (Actual Avg. Rate) / (Potential Avg. Rate)

=5000/ 7656.25

=0.653 = 65.3%

• Yield Statistic = Occupancy Percentage x  Achievement Factor
• = 90%  * 65.3%
• =0.5877
• = 58.77%

Q.3. A hotel with 500 rooms has an occupancy of 70% and an average rate of 4000/-. The cost per occupied room is Rs.400/- and the Non-room revenue per room is Rs.1000/-. If a discount of 20% is offered, the occupancy rises to 90%. Suggest if it is advisable to offer the discount. (Show all calculations thereof).

Given ,

Room = 500

Occupancy percentage = 70%

ARR = 4000%

Cost/Room = 400

Non-room revenue per room = 1000

Discount = 20%

New occupancy = 90%

Equivalent Occupancy = (Current Occupancy Percentage) * ((Rack Rate – Marginal Cost) / (Rack Rate * ((1 – Discount Percentage)) – Marginal Cost)

= 70% * (4000-400) / 4000 (1-20%)-400)

= 70% * 3600 / 400(0.8)-400)

=2520/3200-400

=2520 – 2800

=0.9

=90%

Therefore, discount can be offered to the guest as when the occupancy level will reach 90%, the profit from the non-revenue room will also increase.

OR Briefly describe the following: Identical Yield, CMRw, Booking Lead Time, Fair Market Share, Close to Arrival, Minimum Length of Stay, RevPAG, Hurdle Rate, Dynamic Packaging, Marginal cost.

1.Identical Yield

Identical yields do not generally represent identical operating situations, however.Therefore,

Identical Yield Occupancy % = Current Occupancy % x Current rate/ Proposed rate

Clearly, identical yields should not be assumed to reveal equivalent operating positions. When identical yields are computed, judging which scenario is best often requires property specific criteria and management evaluation.

Now, Identical yield equation cannot consider because they fail to take direct account of operating costs and non-room revenues.

2.CMRw  Formula of CMRw

The breakeven calculation is based on the weighted average contribution margin ratio (CMR) for all non-room revenue. While a detailed discussion of this topic is beyond the scope of this chapter, a simple formula for determining the CMRw for all non-room revenue centers is as follows

CMR w = Total Non-Room Revenue – Total Non-Room Revenue Centre Variable Costs

3.Booking Lead Time

Booking Lead Time is the period of time between when a guest makes a reservation, and the actual check-in date.

If a guest makes a reservation on March 1 and the check-in date is Mar 30, then the booking lead time for that reservation is 30 days. Alternatively, if a guest makes a reservation on the same day as check-in, then the booking lead time is 0 days.

4.Fair Market Share

A hotel within a competitive set can work out if it’s getting its Fair Market Share through a simple calculation: 

Fair Market Share = Total number of rooms at the hotel / Total number of rooms in the comp set.

5.Close to arrival

CTA stands for Closed to Arrival. It is a yield tool used to close days from reservations arriving on a particular day. When requesting a stay on the hotel’s website, with such a day as check-in date, it will show as not available. However, you can book rooms arriving before and stay through such date.

6.Minimum Length of Stay

MinLOS is implemented when a hotel is facing a high demand period, following a lower one (a hectic time after a quiet time, in other words!). A MinLos policy helps regulate reservations, meaning that short-stayers and last-minute one-night stays are avoided.

7. RevPAG

Revenue per available room (RevPAR) is a metric used in the hospitality industry to measure hotel performance. The measurement is calculated by multiplying a hotel’s average daily room rate (ADR) by its occupancy rate.

8. Hurdle Rate

Any room cannot be sold for more than its rack rate. Generally, rack rates are offered to walk-in guests, but the Front Office Manager must also set the lowest rate for a given date based on the demand. This lowest rate is called the hurdle rate. Any room can be sold at a price above its hurdle rate.

9. Dynamic packaging

It is a method used in package holiday bookings to enable consumers to build their own package of flights, accommodation, and car rental instead of purchasing a pre-defined package.

10.Marginal cost

The marginal cost to provide lodging to an additional last-minute traveler would be minimal if a hotel had unoccupied rooms. The marginal cost would include items directly attributable to the customer. They would include the added electrical bill from turning on lights or turning up the thermostat on a cold evening,. free continental breakfast, if one is provided, or perhaps the franchise fee for the added revenue. It would not include the costs such as hiring a new employee, building lease, or basic utilities.

Q.4. (a) Enlist the essential qualities of a Hotel Revenue Manager.

Every employee has a part in revenue management within their organization, but the specific role of the revenue manager provides the catalyst for formalizing and coordinating the revenue management activity with specialist analytical skills. A successful revenue manager must be a well-rounded individual, with multiple skills.

Typically, the core skills are perceived to be:

• Attention to detail
  • Numerical skills
  • Computer literate
  • Strong Excel capabilities
  • Understanding of distribution channels
  • Ability to make decisions from multiple data sources
  • Understands P&L
  • Ability to work under pressure in changing environments

As the discipline encompasses a vast array of focus areas, the above skills are only the foundations.  In addition, the following traits and capabilities are also now essential:

• Relationship skills: The most effective revenue managers spend a considerable amount of their time managing people and building relationships – almost as much as they do managing revenue!
• Creative thinking: Effective revenue managers are long term strategists and often responsible for corporate change.  Therefore, they rely on innovative thinking to develop and implement new ideas.  
• Effective sales ability: Revenue managers inevitably spend a part of their day “selling” rate and yield recommendations to their colleagues who will need to adapt their pricing strategies before they can have an impact.
• On-property experience: It is beneficial to have an on-property background and understand the impacts of RM decisions at a hotel level, with consideration for all operating areas.
• Training ability: Because of high property turnover, good training and development skills are critical to the successful implementation of revenue management recommendations.  If hotel teams do not understand the factors that go into recommendations, they may disregard the pricing, yield and distribution guidelines and therefore fail to optimize revenue opportunities.  
• Strong communication skills: Good revenue managers need to be excellent communicators (and listeners) who are as effective at presenting their ideas as they are at using a computer.
• Technically confident: Revenue managers need to embrace current technology and distribution techniques, to ensure these systems are profit enhancing and not labor-consuming!

(b) Using Revenue Management Software is the best way to generate Yield statistics. Explain.

Revenue management software

The most effective way of handling data and generating yield statics is through a computer. Sophisticated revenue management software is available that can integrate room demand and room price statics and can stimulate high room revenue-producing scenarios. The software provides information and supports managerial decisions. Computers store, retrieve, and manipulate large data and can help management create models that produce the probable result of the decision. Decision models are based on historical data forecast and booked business.

Revenue management software generated reports

1. Market segmentation reports information about customer mix that helps in forecasting market segment.
2. Calendar/ booking graphs: present room night demands and volume of reservation on a daily basis.
3. Future arrival dates status report: furnish demand dates of each day of a week. It enables us to forecast the occupancy trends by comparative analysis.
4. Single arrival date history reports: indicate the hotel’s booking patterns. This report relates to the booking graph by documenting how a specific was constructed on the graph.
5. Weekly recap report: contains the sales rate for rooms and the number of rooms authorized and sold in marketing programs with special and discounted rates.
6. Room statistics tracking sheet: tracks no shows, guaranteed no shows, walk-ins, and turns away. This information can be instrumental in inaccurate forecasting.

Benefits of revenue management software’s

1. Continues monitoring- track and analyze business 24 X 7
2. Consistency- software responds to the specific change in the market place with specific corporate and local management rules.
3. Information availability: its store, retrieves, and analyze.
4. Performance tracking: analyze sales and revenue transactions to determine how well revenue management goals are achieved.
5. Offers discounts during a certain period and at other times; the hotel increases the price of the rooms.
6. Eliminate Errors with the Revenue Management System
7. Revenue Management System is Scientific: Besides human errors, systematic revenue management software will collect accurate data, build a historic data inventory that will clearly segregate the prices and demands for lodging. So, you can create your pricing strategies with a competitive edge.
8. A revenue management system is user-friendly, easy to set up a tool that allows hotels to increase their RevPAR, regardless of the size of the hotel. Follow the price recommendations and maximize your hotel’s RevPAR.
9. Save time by implementing an optimal price strategy- Powerful yet simple to use platform saves on adapting time
10. The algorithms deliver the highest quality price recommendations – Decide the right price for each room

Or Mention the tactics to be applied during High Demand by a Business Hotel.

Potential high demand techniques

• Try to define the Right Mix of Market Segments in order to sell out the Highest Possible Room Rates
• Monitor New Business Bookings and use these changed Conditions to reassign Room Inventory (As Occupancy increases, consider closing out Low Room Rates and open them Only when Demand decreases)
• Consider establishing a Minimum Number of Nights per Stay
• Select the Group that offers the Highest Total Revenue
• Try to displace Price-sensitive Groups to Low Demand Days

Q.5. Define Timeshare. Describe the various types of Timeshare options.

An advertisement released by a ski resort owner in the French Alps encouraging consumers to ‘buy the hotel’ than ‘rent a room’ started the revolution in the world of holidays and “the timeshare” concept was born”.

The timeshare or vacation ownership strategy or concept has recently become very popular and timeshare properties are another preference of vacationers. It is an expanding part of the hospitality industry. It is spread across countries with the biggest brands being a part of the growth-

Inthe U.S:   Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt, Disney, Starwood.

In Europe:   Sol Melia, Pestana, Awana,

In Malaysia:   Berjaya, Swiss Garden

In South Africa:  Southern Sun

The World Tourism Organization defines timeshare as: “the advance purchase of time in holiday accommodation. The purchaser pays a capital sum to acquire the timeshare and then pays an annual contribution towards the maintenance of the property. The period of time sold is usually based on modules of a week.”

A timeshare is a form of vacation property ownership. With timeshares, the use and costs of running the resort are shared among the owners. While the majority of timeshares are condominiums or cooperatives at vacation destinations, developers have applied the timeshare model to houseboats, yachts, campgrounds, motor homes, cruises, and private jets.

Important features:

• These properties are normally found in resort areas – hills and beaches, etc. which offer attractive climate and a variety of recreational amenities throughout the year.

• Vacation ownership properties typically involve individuals who purchase the ownership of accommodation for a specific period of time- one or two weeks or more, in a year usually at a one-time price. The lifetime term of timeshares varies from 20, 25, 30, 50, or 60 years. This means, for example, the owner has the right to the property for one week every year for 25 years.

• The timeshare business is divided into 52 weeks and each week is a unit. The price of the unit depends on the season for which one is buying a unit. For different resort locations, the peak and low seasons will vary depending on the demand. In hill stations, the summer may be the peak while for a ski resort the winters will be the peak season. The seasons are usually designated with color codes and a resort may use different colors to describe peak and low seasons.

Types of timeshare contracts:

Deeded vs. Right to Use: A major difference in types of timeshare ownership is that between deeded and right to use contracts.

A. Deeded contracts

 The use of the timeshare resort is usually divided into week-long increments and these are sold as fractional ownership and are real property. As with any other piece of real estate the owner may use his or her week, rent his or her week, give it away, or leave it to his or her heirs. While this form of ownership can offer additional security to the owner as a form of physical ownership, deeded timeshare ownership can be as complex as outright property ownership in that the structure of deeds varies according to local property laws

B. With right to use contracts

The timeshare purchaser has the right to use the property in accordance with the contract but at some point in time the contract ends and all rights revert to the property owner. In other words, the right to use contract grants the right to use the resort for a specific number of years.

C. Timeshare ownerships (fee simple)

here, the purchasers jointly invest in a property, allocate interests to each owner, and employ a manager to run the unit which has attached amenities, services, and recreational facilities.

D. Club agreement

This involves the ownership through purchases of shares of which shareholders receive points in proportion to the value of the investments. These points entitle them to the use of any apartment at any time of the year. This concept is very popular in Switzerland (Hapimag) and France (Club hotel Timeshare Group which is part of Club Mediteranee).

Q.6. What are the advantages and disadvantages of Timeshare business? Timeshare business is fast developing in the developed as well as developing world. In our country’, it has started late but the concept is catching up with the world.

Advantages of timeshares

• Vacation ownership – a fast-growing tourism brand
• Promotes all types of tourism -inbound, outbound and domestic tourism
• Theme-based leisure tourism that satisfies consumer needs
• High potential for employment opportunities
• Domestic tourism- the catalyst for India’s tourism growth
• Full potential of domestic tourism—to be exploited by industry and government partnerships

Advantages of timeshare can be broken down to benefits to:

1. Community
2. Developer
3. Owners

a. To community –

• Employment opportunities for locals
• Repeat visits, if not of same guest, then of exchange guests
• Improved economy- increased spending by visitors

b. To developer-

• Increased level of occupancy
• Overall profitability – through renting out
• Annual maintenance fee from each owner – each property being able to be sold 52 times (in 52 weeks)

c. To Owners–

• Options of new destinations every year
• Payment of maintenance fees guarantees that all community areas will be well maintained
• Enjoy spacious accommodation
• Can get friends & relatives without extra costs or ‘per head basis as is valid in hotels
• Can sell their interests when they want
• Limits costs and expenses associated with ownership such as taxes, insurance, etc.
• Costs of maintaining the property are distributed over a larger number of owners

reducing the worries and costs associated with it can have world-wide “Bonus Time” available – these are extra weekends through Exchange Companies. These weeks require no payment of maintenance fees and can be used often and can be absolute bargains.

Disadvantages of timeshares:

The biggest disadvantage of the timeshare business is that it is still not well organised and the major portion of its cost is being spent on marketing.

There is a rough estimate that of the actual cost/price of the timeshare unit, 18-20 % is the actual cost of the unit and the remaining is divided among sales and marketing (33%), maintenance, upkeep, and other costs (27-30%) and the remaining 20 % is the profit. That means that a customer who buys the unit gets only 20% of the price value and is required to pay a yearly maintenance fee as well as daily service charges for actually staying in his own unit and using services like telephone, cable, swimming pool, common areas, etc.

1. Marketing: since it is not an essential requirement of the buyer and it is an unconventional package holiday product not easily available for viewing, the marketing and sales techniques of the resort developer may be and have been aggressive, causing a lot of opposition in the market.
2. Damage to local societies and the environment especially in overcrowded and undeveloped destinations.
3. Maintenance fees have to be paid annually and can keep increasing every year, the customer ends up paying more than he wants or had assumed.
4. Resale of timeshare units is not very easy because the value of the unit depreciates quickly because of the volatility of the real estate market. So, the owner may cover his costs with no profits when he decides to sell his interests in the unit.
5. There may exist fierce competition for the most desirable locations and certain periods of the year so the client may be disappointed very often.
6. The client’s/owner’s money gets tied up in something he can’t use for the moment.

Q.7. write short notes on:

 (a) GOPPAR

GOPPAR stands for gross operating profit per available room, and this is a commonly used key performance indicator in the hotel industry. It is a particularly useful metric for hotel owners because it gives them an idea of the bigger picture in terms of how valuable their hotel is as an asset.

GOPPAR involves non-room revenue to measure the overall performance of the hotel in terms of profit. Unlike REVPAR it takes into account the fact that hotels make much of their profit from activities other than providing rooms, which is non-room revenue of which food and beverage sales are particularly important. It can be calculated continuously, on a daily basis, or at the end of a year by dividing your total yearly operating profit by the total number of daily rooms that were available over the course of the year.

(b) RCI

Resort Condominiums International (RCI) is a subsidiary of the firm Wyndham Worldwide (previously Cendant). Founded in 1974, RCI has grown to become one of the larger brokers of timeshare trades. RCI has over 4,000 affiliated resorts in over 100 countries around the world. Its membership base is just over 3 million members worldwide. It has 30 vacation accommodation brands including vacation ownership condominiums, villas, cottages, city apartments and second homes, fractional interest, and private residences clubs, etc. and 50 worldwide offices. It has 37, 922 rooms worldwide and more than 7, 50,000 owners worldwide.

(c) Required Non-room revenue

Non-room revenue accounts for up to 50% of the total revenue. As such, the modern revenue management system today has evolved to a more holistic approach that requires collaboration from all functions within the hotel instead of each department operates independently.

Nonroom related revenues turn them up for unique geographical marketing which is the hotel’s own local area. Restaurants, night club, salons, bar and banquet, and hotel shops are examples of these revenue sources.

Therefore,

Non-Room Revenue per Guest = Required Increase in Net Non-Room Revenue ÷Number of Additional Guests

(d) Deeded Time Share

Master Deed (Condominium)

The master deed is also known as the condominium declaration or the declaration of condominium. This document is used by condominium developers to record projects and set what is considered part of the unit and what is “common area”. Also, the master deed includes a list of “rights and obligations” for the unit owners as well as a master floor plan.

Q.8. Explain how the government can play a significant role in promoting Timeshare.

Although the government should not be in the business of running a business it’s their job to facilitate an environment that is conducive to business. This creates an atmosphere in which confidence of the investor is high and they can focus only on running their business instead of focusing on other issues.

Some of the areas where government plays a pivotal role in Timeshare industry are listed as below:

1. Security: Safety and security is an important concern for any industry and specifically so for the tourism industry. No tourist wants to visit a destination where he perceives a threat to his life or belongings. It is the government’s duty to ascertain that law enforcement agencies such as Police and Para-military work properly to maintain security at the destination. At some places, the government has also started a concept of tourist police who are specifically responsible for policing in tourist areas.

• Infrastructure: The timeshare industry is dependent upon infrastructure provided by the government to run its operation and to facilitate the convenience of its customers. The infrastructure to be provided by the government includes proper roads, a continuous supply of electricity, clean drinking water, sewage pipelines, garbage disposal facility, street lighting, etc.

• Loans and Subsidies: The timeshare industry is capital-sensitive. It requires a huge initial investment to start a time-share business. The government can play an important role in this regard by providing financial assistance on a loan basis through nationalized banks and through other financial institutions. The government also provides subsidy on the interest of these loans and other things like import duty, excise duty, etc. to promote an industry which is in a nascent stage.

• Regulatory Body: The timeshare industry has received a setback due to the unscrupulous activities of the fly-by-night operators which resulted in the loss of credibility for the industry. The government in this case helps the industry by playing the role of a regulatory body that curbs the dishonest players and controls the financial transactions between the properties and their members.

5. Taxation: Government’s role also includes collecting taxes and dues from the Timeshare operators and the money collected from the taxation is then used for infrastructure and developmental activities in the region.

OR Discuss the growth and challenges faced by the Indian Timeshare Industry.

• Timeshare is enjoying unprecedented growth in demand in India.
• There is a need to link all timeshare resorts and their members into one chain through exchange agencies.
• Timeshare units should charge according to the peak and lean seasons of the hotel.
• The owner should make arrangements for resale of timeshare weeks
• Charge lump sum amount consisting of the membership fee and maintenance fee at the initial time of enrolment.
• Increase the number of destination resorts for members to have more choice on their holiday destination.
• These timeshare concepts and resorts need more advertisement.

The Challenges are as follows:

Even though the customers are quite happy with the quality of timeshare resorts that they are offered still they feel that the number of destinations (resorts) is quite less and they do not get much on their platter. However, this problem can be overcome by having affiliation with an exchange company such as RCI, II, Dial an exchange, etc.

 Having an affiliation from an exchange company is also crucial because practically it is not feasible for any of the timeshare companies to offer a bunch of resorts to the customers.

 Moreover having an affiliation also opens the international gateway for the customers.

· The second issue is of annual maintenance charges which customers feel are quite high. This issue can be tackled if companies start charging a lump sum amount which consists of the membership fee as well as the annual maintenance charges right away at the time when a member gets enrolled.

If one looks at the internet one will find complaints of almost every company, whether it is banking, insurance, telecom or any other sector. The similar story is with timeshare also but reports from organizations of repute such as AIRDA, ARDA etc. has proved that most of the customers are satisfied with their timeshare scheme.

It may be of interest to note that in case of private company the annual maintenance charges are of concern but customers are happy with other things whereas in case of public company customers are more concerned

Q.9. A Translate the following into English:

(i) Bonsoir, je m’appelle John Martin.

(ii) Je suis enchantee de vous rencontrer.

(iii) Est-ce-que vous avez une chamber pour deux?

(iv) Pour sept nuits. S’il vous-plait?

(v) Ce quiest le prix par chamber par jour?

1. Bonsoir, je m’appelle John Martin.- Good evening, my name is John Martin.
2. Je suis enchantee de vous recontrer- I’m delighted to meet you.
3. Est -ce- que vous  avez une chamber pour deux? – Do you have a room for two?
4. Pour sept nuits. S’il vous-plait? – For seven nights. Please?
5. Ce quiest le prix par chamber par jour? – What is the price per room per day?

B. Translate the following into French:

(i) Excuse me, What is your name?

(ii) Happy journey, Good bye Sir.

(iii) give me your passport please.

(iv) No smoking. I am sorry.

(v) Can I exchange dollars here?

1. Excuse me, What is your name? – Excusez-moi, Quel est votre nom?
2. Happy Journey, Good-Bye sir. – Happy Journey, Good-Bye monsieur.
3. Give me your passport please- donnez-moi votre passeport s’il vous plaît 
4. No smoking. I am sorry. – Ne pas fumer, je suis désolé 
5. Can I exchange dollars  here. – Puis-je échanger des dollars ici 

Q.10. Match the following:

(i) Equivalent Occupancy	(a) Transient business
(ii) Disney Vacation Club	(b) Occupancy x ADR
(iii) Yield	(c) AIRDA
(iv) Timeshare Secondary Market	(d) Discount Grid
(v) Displacement	(e) Getaway
(vi) Contribution Margin	(f) De Haan brothers
(vii) Interval International	(g) Resale opportunity
(viii) RevPAR	(h) Point system
(ix) RCI	(i) Occupancy x achievement factor
(x) Independent Non-profit advisory	(j) Sales – Variable cost

 

(i) Equivalent Occupancy	(d) Discount Grid
(ii) Disney Vacation Club	(e) Getaway
(iii) Yield	(i) Occupancy x achievement factor
(iv) Timeshare Secondary Market	(h) Point system
(v) Displacement	(a) Transient business
(vi) Contribution Margin	(j) Sales – Variable cost
(vii) Interval International	(d) Discount Grid
(viii) RevPAR	(b) Occupancy x ADR
(ix) RCI	(f) De Haan brothers
(x) Independent Non-profit advisory	(c) AIRDA