
Texas Tech has placed in the top three at the Smith Travel Research Competition for three consecutive years.

Texas Tech University's Hospitality and Retail Management (HRM) graduate student team earned third place recently during the 2017 STR Market Study Competition, an annual event organized by the Supporting Hotel-related Academic Research and Education Center of Smith Travel Research (STR).
Texas Tech's graduate team was led by HRM associate professor Shane Blum. The team consists of Hospitality Administration doctoral students Matthew Bauman, KT Manis and Rachel Mammen and HRM master's student Lindsey Ables.
The STR Market Study Competition is a multi-stage project where the students first send in a video presenting their concept. If the students are selected, they travel to New York and compete in a live competition. The competition provides an opportunity for students to examine a selected environment in order to create a plan that is both efficient and profitable for the chosen hotel market. This year's team analyzed the Boston market and made recommendations for hoteliers who might be interested in entering it.
This is the third year in a row Texas Tech has had a team place in the competition. Last year's team won the competition, while the 2015 team also placed third.
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