Hotel City Game Guide

Hotel City is a Facebook variation of the classic game SimTower. The game puts you in charge of a high rise hotel where the goal is to attract as many customers as possible and make lots and lots of money. Hotel City is a very simplified version Tower management game, but adds some typical social gaming features to keep it interesting.

When the game starts you have nothing but a lobby and a fancy bellhop suit. A short tutorial walks you through the steps of placing your first rooms and a room cleaning services. You'll also place your first commercial room, a gym, that will be very popular with your guests. As soon as the guided tour is over you are on your own and need to start making decisions on how to run your new hotel.

The most important aspect of your hotel is not surprisingly the hotel rooms. In the beginning you can only place single rooms which is a bit of a draw back. Since leveling up in the beginning is very easy it is a good idea to not build too many single square rooms. Waiting until the large room becomes available will help your hotel grow faster. While the single and double rooms produce the same amount of coins and experience for the same amount of space required, you will come out a little ahead since the double room only needs one customer to pay out in full, with a hotel full of single rooms you run the risk of rooms being empty and costing you lost revenue.

To keep your hotel running, you will have to pay your employees to work their shift. There is no reason to not spring for the longest shift you can afford. As soon as possible try to get on a 48 hour shift schedule with the shifts starting at a time when you normally have some time on Facebook. You can not make any money while your employees are not working, so the longer shifts you are running the less time is lost in between shifts and the more money you can make.

To attract as many customers as possible, try keeping your star rating as high as possible. There are several ways to improve the rating of your hotel. The most entertaining way is to decorate the rooms. The game has a wide array of upgrades you can place in a room to increase the appeal. You can upgrade the bed and add chairs and tables as well as wall decorations and lighting. Each upgrade will improve the rating of the room. The rooms overall appeal is displayed on a status bar for each room. A hotel with many bland unfurnished rooms will see it's star rating dropping as customers are not too satisfied with the experience.

It is also important to include enough housekeeping rooms to keep all your rooms clean. A messy dusty room has a poor rating. Worse, the rooms can get infected by cockroaches. Not only is the cockroach graphic truly disgusting, but no customers will board in an infested room. Once a room has been infected you have to log in and click on the room to clean it. To avoid this kiss of death, make sure there are always enough housekeeping room. Start out with two rooms early on and keep an eye on how busy the maids are. Once you notice that both maids seems to be constantly busy it's time to add one more housekeeping room.

Your guests are more than a little health conscious. They will soon want to use the gym and let you know by thinking only of dumbbells. At the start of the game you will have enough capacity in the initial gym that is built, but as your hotel grows you will eventually have to add a second gym as well. Finally, you will also need to provide dining options for your patrons. Hotel City features a fancy restaurant room. The restaurant requires a lot of room and serves few people. Don't add one until it becomes absolutely necessary, meaning your hotel rating is dropping because too many guests are hungry.

In general you should always look to spend your money on hotel rooms, an expansion of your hotel, or fancy decorations for the rooms you already have. Add specialty rooms only when absolutely necessary.

Clever Tricks

As with all social games on Facebook, Hotel City lets you invite friends to be your neighbors. With many neighbors you can make the rounds to their hotels and scoop up some extra cash. When a neighbors icon at the bottom of the screen has a coin on it it is time to pay a visit. Your neighbors will most generously leave huge money bags in the lobby for you to collect. If you are extra lucky there will even be a tip jar you can loot.

Every time you stop by a neighbors hotel, make sure you wake up all their guests. Clicking on a sleeping guest will sometimes make you a good lot of money. In fact, pestering sleeping guests is usually the most lucrative part of visiting your friends' hotels. You can use this trick in your own hotel as well. Guests that show a coin when you mouse over them in their bed are prime for a wakeup call. Click them and some will award you with a shower of coins.

Another excellent trick for getting more guests in your hotel is to keep an eye on the street outside the lobby. There will be many people wandering about on the sidewalk, some will enter your hotel but others will pass it by. If you see a guest who misguidedly decides to give your establishment the pass, click on them to pick them up and drag them into the lobby. Once placed in the lobby they will quickly see the error of their ways and proceed to rent a room or use your facilities.