Students are advised to keep the report brief,concise,critical and analytical, avoidstating the obvious. These are the two core issues to address:
a. Critically analyse the extent to which the hotel industry has been affected by theevents listed below or any other specific events that you that you regard assignificant and relevant.
b.Assess the impact of the “sharing economy" on the hotel industry,and suggesthow the industry should react.
You can either perform the analysis based on the industry as a whole or select aspecific property / brand / company / sector in order to contextualise the discussion.
The relevant concepts introduced in class, such as scarcity, opportunity cost, private,social and other types of costs and benefits, supply and demand, elasticity and itsimplications, PPF,market failures and the degree of government intervention,economies of scale,pricing strategy, forms of competition, economic cycles, shouldbe integrated into your report to the best of your abilities and knowledge. It is stronglyadvised to draw your conclusions based on well-balanced，referenced facts andopinions.
Please consider the following "recent" events, and their direct / indirect impact.
2008 sub-prime crisis
Recent consolidation trends in hotel sector
Strong EUR and CHF
China's GDP growth rate
EU economic instability, budget deficits and resulting austerity
Declining oil price
The sharing economy