Suppose that on a Saturday night at 10 pm, a large hotel has 300 vacant rooms, with little expectation of renting them at such a late hour on a weekend. A traveler comes in the door, looking a bit down on his luck, and asks how much a room will cost. Since he can’t afford the normal rate of $150, the night manager decides to let him stay in the room for only $40. Is it likely that this decision reduced, or increased, the hotel’s profits? Explain your answer.
What will be an ideal response?
Marginal analysis can help answer this question. The hotel’s marginal revenue in this case is $40; what is the marginal cost? It is the cost of cleaning the room and putting in clean towels and sheets after the traveler leaves. Since this is likely to be less than $40, this decision probably did increase the hotel’s profits.
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