“Stolling Down Burbon or finding Nemo”
Choosing the right Vacation

GM 530 Managerial Decision Making
Professor: Glen MacDonnell
Session/ March 2009

Choosing the right Vacation
Summary
Creating the perfect vacation spot for our family is very important. With individuals ranging from age 24- to 65 we want everyone to be able to enjoy themselves. Everyone has already agreed the beginning part of May would be the perfect time to take a family vacation. However the family lay divided on where they should spend their time vacationing. Our family has a limited time to take a vacation so it’s important for us to pick a great spot because no one wants to waste time on a vacation that is less than stellar. As a family we would like to enjoy the sun and the sites while keeping in mind each other’s personal preferences for fun. There are so many beautiful places to have fun but some have become increasingly more expensive to vacation at.
As a family we have saved enough money to go on a vacation that does not total over 7,000. The family has saved for approximately two years for this vacation.

Problem Statement
Out immediate family includes my mom and Dad and two sisters and one brother. We all have different views on our idea of fun. My Parents don’t mind staying close by and having fun in a nearby state. However the siblings and I would rather spend time in some place further away so that we can enjoy summer weather and beaches. A variety of places have been thrown up in the air, but no decision has been made. It has been two years since any of us have been on a vacation. The last vacation I took was to Chicago for a long weekend. I believe the hardest part of deciding about our vacation has already been done. The family has decided the first part of May would be the best time for everyone to go. The next decision which I will use the PrOACT approach is to decide on an actual vacation site.
Objectives
The family will benefit from a vacation because everyone seems to lead pretty much stressful lives between work and school and raising children. We want all the family members to have a say in where we decide to vacation. Before deciding on a vacation site we must narrow it down. The main objective for everyone is to have fun. So at a family gathering we all decide that each of us would list our first choice and we would toss them in the hat before we decided on where we go. Potentially there would be six different locations. However we only have four Alternatives because to people pick locations of someone else. The Family would like to spend time with each other and also have fun as one of their main objectives. Since we have raised approximately 7000.00 we would like to stay as close to the budget as possible. The 7,000 dollars should cover travel and hotel expenses and some food expenses. Each member of the family will be expected to bring their own spending Cash. The family wants to have the ability to see different historic sites at whatever location they choose. So in order to research possible alternatives we must attend to the means objectives. The mean objectives of the vacation are: 1. Location – no more than 4 hr flight away, access to a beach 2. Average Prices of travel and lodging 3. Activities or Events taking place 4. Typical Weather patterns 5. Crime rates 6. Historic Sites
With our mean objectives established we will be able to decide if the four choices that the family has decided upon will fit into the main objectives for the vacation.
Alternatives
Based on the family’s proceeding decision to draw from a hat random places in which they would like to vacation at. We arrived at four locations. These locations include, Orlando, Chicago, Sacramento, and New Orleans.
The Orlando Florida area is home to a variety of tourist attractions such as Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando Resort, and Sea World Orlando. Florida also offers Hip Hop music scenes as well as club scenes both on the Disney resort and outside of Disney. The Orlando Metropolitan Area is also home to a substantial theatre population. Several professional and semi-professional houses and many community theaters dot the area including Orlando Shakespeare Theater, Orlando Repertory Theatre (Central Florida's only Professional Theatre for Young Audiences), Orlando Theatre Project, Mad Cow Theatre, Theatre Downtown, The Osceola Center for the Arts, Winter Park Playhouse, Theatre Winter Haven, and Icehouse Theatre. Disney also offers a cast theater company known as S.T.A.G.E. as well as Encore, a cast choir and orchestra whose annual charity concerts have raised thousands of dollars. There are many more attractions that Orlando does offer. Because my parents wanted more of a Historical or site seeing vacation, Orlando does offer many Museums. These Museums offer artifacts from early days during the formation of the city. There are also areas to discover from the early native Indian area. One of the reasons why the family wants s to go on vacation is to do a little out of town shopping. The Florida Mall is the largest mall in Orlando, one of the largest single-story malls in the USA at over 1,849,000 sq ft with over 250 stores, seven anchor department stores, and the Florida Mall Hotel & Conference Center Tower. Air travel thru Air Tran will cost the family $226.00 per family member. Hotel Cost for this trip with three double rooms will 2179.00 for a week’s stay. This vacation is within the family’s budget. There are also many beaches within an Hour’s drive of the main vacation spot.
While Orlando seems like a fun an exciting place to go, strolling down the streets of New Orleans will offer a taste of New Orleans and southern cooking and home town music. Located just 1000 miles away and no more than a 4 hour flight from Toledo OH. New Orleans is located in southeastern Louisiana, straddling the Mississippi River. It is coextensive with Orleans Parish, meaning that the boundaries of the city and the parish are the same. It is bounded by the parishes of St. Tammany (north), St. Bernard (east), Plaquemines (south), and Jefferson (south and west). Lake Pontchartrain, part of which is included in the city limits, lies to the north, and Lake Borgne lies to the east. The New Orleans vacation spot offers Airfare from 219.00 for each member of the family. Because New Orleans sits in a bowl surrounded by water there really is no beach area to travel to. The area offers rich and strong musical history. There are also lots of historical sites to see as well as club and night life. Unfortunately post Katrina Crime has increased in the New Orleans area and surrounding Parishes. While this is not the strongest chacteristics that the family will go on for choosing a vacation area they do want to feel somewhat safe during the seven days they will be in the city. The cost of the Hotel for seven days in May will be approximately$ 2,932 plus airfare which will leave the family with roughly 3000 dollars for food and other amenities.
The windy city offers the family a very close getaway packed with tons to do in the day and night full of excitement. The day offers historic sites such as the sears tower while the night offers clubs and eateries. Chicago seems to always have some event going on and the family feels confident that they will be able to find lots to. The Magnificent Mile offers lots of shopping and eateries for the family to enjoy. This trip does not offer any beaches but there are things to do on the water. The family would not have to fly because Chicago is only 4 hours away from Toledo, OH. The travel cost would be minimum. The hotel stay would cost the family almost 5,000 dollars to stay in a three star Hotel which is almost all of the saved vacation money.
Sacramento California is the family last choice for vacation. It is the furthest from their home state nearly 3000 miles away and will most notably cost the family more in travel expenses. Sacrament is home to wide variety of state and local parks. Sacramento is also the capital of California so there is a rich history in which to enjoy. The historic parks include shops, restaurants, riverboats, antique trains and many things to look at and do. For entertainment, Sacramento is home to one of the largest jazz festivals, held usually in May, which is perfect for the family. There are also miles of bike trails, river ways, golf courses, museums, a beautiful convention center and mountains and wineries nearby. The airfare for the family would range between 198 and 250 if they choose a discount ticket. Hotels range from $595.00 to 2600 dollars. All these Alternatives seem to fit some if not all of the family’s objectives. The table below lists some of the objectives in relation to the Alternatives given: Objective | Alternatives | | | | | Orlando | New Orleans | Chicago | Sacramento | Crime rates 100 being the safest | 1 | 9 | 9 | 3 | Weather | 88F | 84F | 70F | 80F | Activities /events | Disney world | Jazz event | Lots of events | Not enough | Cost | Within budget | Within budget | Below Budget | Out of Budget | | | | | |
Selection
The family based on the information above has weighed their options of cost and their mean objectives. They have tentatively have decided that Orlando would be the best choice for the family. Using the information collected each objective was given a rank 5 being the most important: Objectives | Alternatives | | | | | Orlando | New Orleans | Sacramento | Chicago | Location /beaches | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Cost/lodging | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | Activities /events | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | Weather | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 | Crime rate | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 |
Using the ranking system Orlando received 23 points while New Orleans 17 points, Sacramento 16, and Chicago received 16 points. Based on this Orlando would best meet all the families’ objectives? Even though Chicago and New Orleans were tied for the lowest points they meet few of the family objectives and can be eliminated.

Consequences
Each Alternative has some area of uncertainty. The consequences of all Alternatives are most certainly will the family have fun. The Uncertainties of choosing Orlando could be the following: Bad Weather, The possibility of too many tourists making it very congested event cancellations. Selecting New Orleans could also lead to a host of uncertainties which include: weather being too hot, high crime, event cancellations. Having narrowed out decision to Orlando and New Orleans we are able to then we could compare uncertainties and determine what risk the family would be willing to take in order to have fun and spend time with each other. Some of the uncertainties are the same for both Orlando and New Orleans. However from recent television and crime statistics New Orleans foster a risky safety option. It also does not meet some of the objectives of the family. After completing a risk assessment the family has made its final Selection. The best selection has been determined to be Orlando it holds the least amount of risk and uncertainties.

References
City of Sacramento http://www.cityofsacramento.org/
City Of Chicago http://egov.cityofchicago.org/city/webportal/home.do
City of New Orleans http://www.neworleans.com/
City of Orlando http://www.cityoforlando.net/