A few New Orleans hoteliers reneged on promises to set aside hotel rooms for the National Football League’s Super Bowl XXXI, a senior NFL executive and New Orleans tourism executives said. Tourism officials said they feared the conflict created ill will with the football league, which could make future Super Bowls more difficult to land. According to Jim Steeg, director of special events for the NFL, several hoteliers decided to ignore the promise and sell about 400 [of approximately 15,000] rooms reserved for the NFL.
a. Discuss the strategy of the hotels reneging on their promise to the NFL. Do you think that these hotels are considering the long run implications of their actions?
b. Is it possible for a few hotels to hurt the larger community in which they operate? How or why?
c. Suggest an alternative strategy to the managers of these hotels.