Confusing CR

dextar · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 2:48 am Post subject: Confusing CR

In order to promote off-season business, Mt. Dunmore Lodge made the “Welcome Back” offer to their winter guests: guests who rent a room for atleast a week during ski season can come back during the summer and get 25% off the standard summer price of any room they rent. After the summer passed, the owners of the lodge determined that the majority of their guests had taken advantage of the offer and paid the reduced rates. However, they were surprised to find they still managed to rent more rooms at full price than they did at the discount rate.

Which of the following reason may resolve the discrepancy in the above argument?

1) Most of the guests who stayed at Mt. Dunnmore Lodge during the winter didn’t stay for a full week
2) Those guests taking advantage of the discount were more likely to bring their families with them then were those guests who were paying full price.
3) Some of the guests who received the ”Welcome Back” discount also received a 10% rate reduction
4) In order to pay for the construction of a new gymnasium and a new pool, the owners if the lodge raised their summer prices considerably
5) On average, guests who took advantage of the offer spent more money at the hotel on additional goods and services than guests who paid full price for their rooms

I chose 1 because if the guests din't stay for full week then they won't be eligible for the offer .

s_raizada · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 2:50 pm Post subject:

I think answe is 2. Even though the guest got the room at discounted price, he brought additional guests with him who paid full price for the hotels.

Answer 1 does not resolve the paradox or answer the question: in spite of evey winter guest availing the discount offer why hotel managed to rent more room on full time price.

Ur_Sky · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 6:28 pm Post subject:

Hi, I think it is number 1, and this how I saw it:

1) Most of the guests who stayed at Mt. Dunnmore Lodge during the winter didn’t stay for a full week
>>If you give hypothetical numbers to visualize this statement then you can say: from a total of 100 winter guests, 70 stayed 6 days or less and 30 stayed for more than 7 days. So there are MORE guests that won't be able to use the discount but will still go to the lodge in summer and pay a full rate.

2) Those guests taking advantage of the discount were more likely to bring their families with them than were those guests who were paying full price.
>>With this statement you are saying that in summer time the hotel must have more discount rate rooms than full rate rooms occupied because the people that could take advantage of the offer will bring more people with them, and this idea is contradicting the original.

3) Some of the guests who received the ”Welcome Back” discount also received a 10% rate reduction
>>As in number 2, this statement would support the idea of more discount rate rooms occupied.

4) In order to pay for the construction of a new gymnasium and a new pool, the owners of the lodge raised their summer prices considerably
>>A bit illogical that most of the guests were willing to pay more for their rooms just to benefit the hotel constructions.

5) On average, guests who took advantage of the offer spent more money at the hotel on additional goods and services than guests who paid full price for their rooms
>>We never talked about how much money was spent by any kind of guest.[/b]

sandeep_chhabra · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 9:37 pm Post subject:

According to me the answer should be 2.

1) Most of the guests who stayed at Mt. Dunnmore Lodge during the winter didn’t stay for a full week:
Since most of the guests stayed for less than a week, they will NOT get the discount and thus these guests are less likely to visit again in summer. The assumption in question is that the discount will attract more people. And since there is no discount for guests staying less then 7 days, these guest might not visit again in summer.

2) Those guests taking advantage of the discount were more likely to bring their families with them than were those guests who were paying full price:
If we go through the question closely, it states that:
In order to promote off-season business, Mt. Dunmore Lodge made the “Welcome Back” offer to their winter guests: guests who rent a room for atleast a week during ski season.
It is clear that the discount would be available ONLY to those guests who have visited in winter and stayed for 7 days. The 2nd statement states that those who got discount will not come alone and bring their family members with them. So the guest visiting again will surely get the discount BUT not the family members who did not stay in winter. Hence the family members will be charged FULL rent.

I would choose 2nd option.

Correct me if I am wrong.