McBride sat in his new office in Washington, reflecting on the concerns that Collins had expressed, with his usual blunt style and candor, about the Seven Day Countdown.

Collins questioned whether the seven-day time frame limited the hotel's ability to open at a higher occupancy rate and to reach 80% occupancy in a shorter amount of time. Since the Seven Day Countdown was only a small part of the pre-opening budget (see Exhibit 13), the costs might well be worth the benefits.

Because Collins wanted to ensure that the service established was flawless and a real draw for potential condominium residents, he questioned whether extra training would help the employees to further polish their service skills. McBride acknowledged that the $700 million investment made by the Millennium Partners in six Ritz-Carlton-managed properties certainly gave Collins the right to voice his opinions.

But it was one thing to change the kind of art in the hotels-changing the processes that seemed to finally join quality control and human resources in a perfect balance was something else entirely.

It was difficult to train new hires to meet the high expectations of The Ritz-Carlton service standards in only seven days, but that was how The Ritz-Carlton worked. True, sometimes the countdown occurred as the building itself was being completed.

Sometimes, it seemed like they barely made it under the wire for opening day. Maybe the training should be longer, but what would that mean for The Ritz-Carlton?

McBride would be responsible for opening the second Millennium Partners-owned Ritz-Carlton hotel, in Georgetown, at the end of 2001.

Construct a simple decision tree to aid McBride in his "dilemma". Associated costs and risk factors not specifically outlined in the case should be established in your analysis and assumptions noted.