XAT 2018 — Decision Making Question 21
Answer the following question based on the information given below.
Madhuri Apte, a busy professional, rents out her studio apartment located in South Mumbai. Since she stays three hours away from the studio apartment, she uses a networked digital lock to monitor the property remotely. Each customer gets a temporary and unique access code for the digital lock that enables them to enter the studio apartment for the duration of stay. The apartment’s entrance door can also be opened with physical keys and MadhuriApte has two such keys in her possession. Madhuri Apte has employed a cleaner who has a permanent access code to enter the apartment for cleaning every day. She is available only between 15:00 hrs and 17:00 hrs. Madhuri Apte’s apartment caters largely to international customers. A customer typically stays for 3 days, paying an average rent of $125 per day. While Madhuri Apte's studio apartment gets good feedback on other aspects, many seem unhappy as they found the operation of the digital lock complicated.
Madhuri's apartment received good feedback from the guests, except with respect to the operation of the digital lock. She decided to leave a spare physical key in the house for her guests. Recently some of the guests had forgotten to leave the key behind during checkout. Making a spare key will cost $500 and will take about 10 days to arrive. She was confused if she should continue leaving the spare key and was looking for a way out.
Which of the following would be the best way out for her?
Answer & solution
- A
Keep Digital lock as the only option and communicate to customers.
- B
Be present during checkout to ensure the key is returned.
- C
Request the cleaner to be present during checkout.
- D
Send polite reminders to guests before checkout date and on the day of checkout to leave the key behind.
Charge security deposit of $100 which will be forfeited if the keys are not left behind.
The guests are forgetting to return the key. Thus, Madhuri has to spend money and time to make a duplicate key. The solution here is to ensure that her customers do not forget to return the key. For this (5) is the best option.
Hence, the correct answer is option 5.