On April 20-21 undergraduate students Hunter Clark and John Saiki, escorted by Dr. Jichul Jang, attended the 2018 KAHTEA Conference (The Korea American Hospitality & Tourism Educator Association), which was held in Las Vegas, NV. Their paper titled “Do online reviews affect a Hotel’s RevPar? It Depends.” won first place in the undergraduate division. The purpose of this research was to examine how managing online reviews influence hotel performance. Dr. Michael Ottenbacher sat down with Hunter and John to find out more about John and Hunter for our Student Spotlight.
Name: Hunter Clark
Age: 23
Hometown: Minneapolis, KS
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Name: John Saiki,
Age: 26
Hometown: De Soto, KS
Michael Ottenbacher: “First, congratulations for winning the Best Paper on the undergraduate section of the Korea America Hospitality and Tourism Educators Association (KAHTEA) conference in Las Vegas last month. What is the topic of our paper and what are some of the result and implications of this study?”
John Saiki: “The paper is titled “Do online reviews affect a Hotel’s RevPar? It Depends.” We studied the correlation between hotel RevPar and hotel reviews, analyzed data from the hotel market in St. Louis from 2016 and compared them to 2017. If the reviews were positive it did impact RevPar overall.”
Hunter Clark: “We wanted to give more attention to online reviews and how those can be used to drive revenue components.”
M.O.: “Why did you choose to study hospitality management and why at K-State?”
J.S.: “Originally, I was in finance when I came to Kansas State Hospitality Management as a transfer student from Johnson Community College. I wasn’t getting any jobs in the finance field so I had lots of connections in hotels. I had an internship in summer 2015 when I worked at the Westin Crown Center Hotel as a Bellman/Concierge. I really fell in love with the service and the aspects of HM so I made the decision to switch over. I love everything that it brings, the traveling, the people you get to meet, making people happy and I love Kansas State.”
H.C.: “I actually have an associate’s degree in Broadcast Journalism which I got from Cloud County Community College. I took it, took a gap year, and worked at a radio station there. I got to a point where I just didn’t want to do this anymore. I really love skiing and there’s not a lot of opportunities for communications, except for Marketing, which wasn’t really my thing so I started looking around at schools for Hospitality Management. Ultimately, I got accepted here at Kansas State. I decided it wouldn’t be such a niche degree and I can’t say it’s been a bad decision and has been really awesome and my internship experiences have really solidified my decision. Through my internships I do realize that I do want to work at the seasonal resorts or industry.”
M.O.: “Where did you get work experience during your 4 years at K-State?”
J.S.: “The internship I had at the Western Crown Center for the first year and I did that for the summer and the fall when I was on break in Kansas City. The second year for my other internship I worked a summer at the Country Club at Lake Quivira in Kansas City and the last summer I had a guest services internship at the Downtown Marriott in Kansas City.”
H.C.: “As far as hospitality experience goes I worked at a nursing home kitchen in high school and I actually transferred to getting a job a line cook at Meadowlark hills here in Manhattan. In 2016 my first summer after my first full year I went to work Custer State Park Resorts or the Bluebell Lodge in Custer State Park. Last summer I went back for the same company as a Manager in Training working at the State Game Lodge, which is also managed, by the company. I’m going back as Banquet Manager for my final internship. Been a positive experience there so I keep going back.”
M. O.: “What is your advice for HM freshman at K-State?”
J.S.: “My advice could be to get involved immediately when you get here. Join a club, if there’s any leadership roles take them. I find that the leadership role can really transition your career into what you’re doing. I’ve gotten really involved in the clubs. I used to be a really shy person but now I’ve become really outgoing just because of the clubs and getting involved. Volunteering for TDA and organizations that do big events like that. If you ever have an opportunity to get involved in undergraduate research, I suggest you take it. It teaches you so much more than what a classroom setting would. It taught us how to interpret the data, gather the data and how to actually present that data. To a point where people can understand you and I think that Hunter could vouch for that. I feel like that’s going to really help me in my career.”
H.C.: “Off of what John said I would also say immerse yourself. I’ve been at Kansas State for 3 years and last semester was actually the best semester I ever had at Kansas State and at college. That was because I really immersed myself in my education. We also had a ton of group projects and so that was an overall positive experience that led to the undergraduate research. I haven’t been as involved as John has due to my work schedule. For incoming freshman, if you’re going to be involved you’re going to have to make the effort and you’re going to have to sacrifice the work hours if you work to do that and plan it out. Definitely make a plan to get involved and stick with it. Do things that peak your interest like TDA.”
M. O.: “When are you finishing your undergraduate degree at K-State? What are some of the highlights in the past four years?”
J.S.: “I graduate this May. Definitely making the decision to go to Hospitality Management in the first place. The biggest highlight by far is the undergraduate research experience. These past few months have been busy, frustrating but actually really fun all at the same time. I learned so much and it opened my mind to a lot more. It’s just absolutely incredible. Definitely undergraduate research is the highlight of the last four years on top of joining Hospitality Management in the first place.”
H.C.: “I have one semester left so I won’t graduate until next May but, I’d have to say the highlight obviously would be the undergraduate research. That has been my biggest achievement as an undergrad. Last semester we took HM 664 and we did the STR Market competition. That for me was like wow I actually enjoy this stuff and for me it was definitely something I could use in the future. I learned about how a football team did by analyzing market data and draw conclusions on how a football team was doing based on occupancy and RevPar, which was really cool along with the KAHTEA Conference in Las Vegas.”
M.O.: “What are your plans after graduation?”
J.S.: “I just accepted a position at the Western Crown Center as a Complex Group Coordinator. I will be working with the Revenue Management Office and the Sales Office, dealing with groups of ten people or more. I’ll be managing their blocks to ensure that everything is set up when they come.
H.C.: “Post-graduation I am a little undecided right now. My main plan is to work seasonal resorts and alternate between summer and winter resorts hopefully in various management positions and do that for a few years. Figure out what I like and don’t like. As much as I want to go into the ski industry, I haven’t been able to work in the ski industry due to school. I’d like to do that for a few years and build my experience and network and figure out where I want to go from there.”
To see the article showcasing John and Hunter on the College of Human Ecology’s website, click here.