Six graduate students won first place at the Student Market Share Study Competition in New York City through a hospitality and tourism management course.

PNW graduate students analyzed the Denver, Colorado, hotel market over a series of months and delivered a 30-minute presentation of data, which included revenue, occupancy and average daily rate of Denver’s hotel market. Members of PNW’s winning team were graduate students David Arredondo, Yeonju Bae, Richard Chambers, Paul Money, Carolyn Sandrick and Madison Walker.

The data was presented during hotel industry trade event HX: The Hotel Experience in November. Finalists in the competition included students from Michigan State University, Kansas State University, Texas Tech University and University of Missouri.

Wendy Kasche, team adviser and interim assistant dean for undergraduate programs, said the students evaluated different reports to see where Denver’s hotel market had been and where it is going.

“One of the comments from the judges that I was particularly proud of, was ‘It didn’t feel like they were students, it felt like they were industry professionals presenting to them,’” Kasche said, “which means they really took it to such a high level as a great learning experience.”

Kasche said that she is looking forward to teaching the class again in Fall 2018.