Pricing Simulation: Universal Car Rental

Course Overview

In the Pricing Simulation: Universal Car Rental, students act as regional managers responsible for optimizing car rental pricing strategy across three markets—Tampa, Orlando, and Miami. This hands-on business simulation challenges participants to analyze demand elasticity, capacity management, and fleet utilization strategy to maximize profitability. Learners will manage weekday vs weekend pricing, balance business and leisure customer segments, and respond to competitive pricing dynamics in the rental car industry.

Through real-time decision-making, students gain insight into service operations pricing, revenue management, and market segment pricing strategy. The simulation demonstrates how fixed and variable costs, market share, and geographic market variation pricing influence performance. By the end of the course, learners will understand how to align pricing and capacity decisions with demand patterns to improve profitability and competitiveness in a service industry simulation.