Excelling at Yield Management

The humpday for the program has approached and it only feels like the class has just begun! It seems as if only yesterday was when we poured our blood & tears into our group presentations since the class obviously leaves no room to recover!

The primary focus for Reneta's lesson is an explanation on hotel discounts and yield management. While we were taught yesterday that the main characteristics of yield management include perishable inventory, fluctuating demand, segmenting customers, and high fixed costs & low variable costs, we further got into the nitty & gritty of the system. In fact, our class closed with a video from 1968 about the mechanic of yield management. Although the video was over 40-years-old, it still laid the ground-rules of the system.

Over in Mark's world, we dug into Microsoft Excel. While it is common practice to just input numbers and data into a spreadsheet, he taught us how to properly input the correct data and how to manipulate it in a way that is less time-consuming and more convenient. He touched on a lot from PivotTables to proper charting of data. Charts and graphs cease to amaze me and I have always wanted to compose one based on data from my own personal life. After discovering how easy it is to use the program, it might actually be something to consider when I'm bored!

We also met Janna Bugliosi, the associate director of the Summer College program. It was absolutely delightful to speak to someone who was obviously so interested in what we had to say and what our views were on the program and our place within it. It was if she was the kind next-door neighbor who discovered we just got back from the east coast!

Today didn't seem particularly difficult or consuming. While Mark and Reneta alluded to the fact that this course would be significantly easier than what led up to the group presentations, I'm a little skeptical as our first report is due in less than two days! But as long as I continue the pace I have set myself for throughout the rest of my time in Ithaca, it shouldn't be much of a problem!