There is nothing like getting the family together to play a board game. Not only do they teach valuable skills such as turn-taking, following instructions, how to be a good winner or loser – but it is also good for moral development and the strengthening of the family unit. My boys really love Hasbro’s Monopoly – in fact we have so many versions that we even have one in French! So they were keen to give Hotel Tycoon a try. I think the verdict was that they really enjoyed it as they asked to play it again and again.
Hotel Tycoon Review
Like Monopoly, but different… in a good way.
The aim of Hotel Tycoon is to build a resort empire by developing areas of land a hotel that you expand by adding new buildings.
Setup: The first time you play Hotel Tycoon you will need to make all the buildings, which means folding all the cardboard panels and putting the relevant roofs and bases on. Luckily the box contains a sheet of paper that shows you how to pack all the buildings neatly into the box so you don’t need to remake them each time.
Playing: Each player puts their playing piece (an airplane) on the start runway, and then take turns to roll the standard six-sided die to decide how many spaces to move. Each space has an image on it depicting what action to take:
- A suitcase full of money – buy the title-deed to any land next to the space you are currently on. If you are the first person to buy the deed, then you pay the full price, but if another player has already purchased the deed but hasn’t yet built any buildings, you may buy it off them but only have to pay the repurchase price (which is half the original price) – the other player cannot refuse.
- A builder’s hat and tools – gives the opportunity to develop on any of the areas that you have the title-deed for. If you choose to build you have to decide where you want to build and how many buildings (which must be built in order) you want to build. You then have to announce to the other players your decision – then you must roll the second die, which has the coloured dots on (the Planning Permission die).
If you manage to roll a green dot then you just pay the bank the amount for the buildings you chose to build. If you roll a red dot planning permission was denied, and you may not build. If you are lucky enough to roll a ‘H’ you get all the buildings you announced for free no matter how much it would have cost. However if you are unlucky and roll a ‘2’ you must pay double the price – you cannot back out of the build even if you can’t afford it!! If this is the case then you must auction a site to raise funds.
- A hotel entrance – if you own an area with at least one building on it you can claim a free hotel entrance.
- A tower – you receive a free building for any area that you own the title-deed for.
As you progress around the board, passing the hangar (red line) will give players £2,000 and passing the air control tower (yellow line) will give players the opportunity to purchase one hotel entrance per area of land.
Hotel entrances (either bought or gained) are placed on spaces that are adjacent to areas that you own (and have a building on). Once a hotel entrance is placed on one side of a space, another cannot be placed on the other side, this can be quite a useful tactic if you want to block another player from placing entrances.
If you land on another player’s hotel entrance, you must roll the standard die to see how many nights you stay at their hotel. This in conjunction with the rating of the hotel (decided by the number of buildings) will determine the amount of money to be paid to the hotel owner.
Auctions: If you are in a position where you cannot pay a debt for whatever reason, then you must auction one or more sites, to raise funds to pay the debt off. If no-one bids then the buildings must be removed and the deed returned to the bank. If you cannot pay the debt, you are bankrupt and out of the game.
Summary: The game was fun to play, and in the early stages, title deeds can change hands many times, making it a frantic dash to get those first buildings onto a site. The ability to block other players from placing hotel entrances by placing yours on spaces that affect them makes for a tactical aspect of the game. The use of colourful 3D buildings make the game pleasing to the eye and a bit more fun for younger players.
Suitable for ages 8+ (but our 6-year-old played fine when playing with an adult)
Players 2-4
Visit http://www.hoteltycoongame.co.uk/ for further information and reviews.
Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/hoteltycoongame
I received the game for purposes of review. All words and opinions are my own. The giveaway has finished.
I love the idea that this game is not only a game but it is a way of expressing your own ides! Who wouldn’t want to build their own resort empire and hotel and make it just perfect!
I love the great design and that it’s very straight forward to play.x
It looks like a really fun game & my son thinks it looks really interesting
Looks great fun and not too complicated.
a lazy christmas afternoon with the children having fun and winning 🙂
love board games
Looks great fun xx
It looks like a lot of fun, I like to play games with my hubby except Scrabble as he is rubbish at it! Fingers crossed and thanks for the lovely giveaway 🙂
It’s a game which will appeal to all the family.
We love monopoly here and I’m looking for more challenging board games for Sunday evening family night! This sounds perfect
Awesome, count me in 🙂
My son loves monopoly and I think it is too old and too competitive for him. I think he will enjoy this much more! It is more for his age and he will be able to practise his maths skills 🙂
i love the fact that it is something my kids would love and encourages family time
I love trying new board games and this one is very visually appealing with the 3D buildings and colourful board.
Cool to watch your hotel grow and then charge people rent for stopping by
I think it looks like a nice family game and you get to see your hotel grow. It makes a nice change from monopoly
My boyfriend and I are planning on opening our own hotel in the future – this would be a great fun gift for him! 😀
This sounds like an interesting game but it is also quite tactical, blocking people from the Hotel, very sneaky.
Looks like a great game.
the great design and that it’s very straight forward to play
love the originality of this game
sure our grand-kids would especially 9 year old boy as he likes to win things, but he’ll make the rules up as he goes along
Ahh this would keep out Alice quiet for an hour or 2. unless she loses.haha
We love the game as the whole family like playing together and the concept of the hotel is very appealing for the family. That would be lot of fun to play.
I like that it is tactical and this is one game I haven’t tried so would be good to do so.
I love the design and it looks lots of fun for the whole family!
i like to fact the whole family can play it together
I like the simple concept of this game, and think it would appeal to a range of ages – would be great for Christmas!
good family fun
To me it’s the fact that it is a Tycoon game. I have played a lot of them on PC (Roller Coaster Tycoon, Railroad Tycoon etc.) So it would be good to see how this compares.
What a wonderful prize the kids will love it.
Looks easy to play and ideal for all the family
Looks fun, competitive and a great family game!
It’s a game that looks fun for all the family.
lovely prize x
This is the sort of game that my boys enjoy,they are very competitive and this would certainly appeal to them.
Looks like my favourite game monopoly
It brings back memories of playing a similar game.
I have played similar games on my phone – I love these kind of games and my kids are old enough to be able to play them properly now.
It looks more fun than monopoly x
I like the idea of this game as it is the only way that I will ever get even close to being a Tycoon! we love board games and haven’t ever played this.
This looks like a really fun game
This game looks like great fun for all the family. we too are Monopoly lovers and really would like to give this game a try
it looks like a fun challenging family game
The game looks fun, challenging and a great way to spend a rainy afternoon
I love this game, I had the old version when I was a kid and the most appealing part (then and now) is the 3D aspect where you actually get to build your own hotels.
|The game looks like something me and my daughter would enjoy x
I just like the idea of building hotels as that is what I always wanted to do when I played Monopoly!
This looks awesome my daughter would love this x
looks a fun family game!
this game looks like a lot of fun for all the family!!
It sounds as though thee is more scope to “do the dirty” on others than in Monopoly =-would suit my family!
It would be great fun to play this with the family
hours of fun for all the family
I like the design & little figures, i hope its not to complicated to play.. lets find out 😉
looks easy and fun for allthe familygood
I think it would appeal to my son as it involves building, and he likes building stuff, & the rest of us would enjoy the competitive Monopoly-esque element of it!
I love the buildings – the board looks really cool, and I’m sure the game is a lot of fun. 🙂
I like a game where you have to use your brain and think about a game plan to outwit the other players.
Looks great fun xx
Looks really bright and colourful, very well designed.
I love having different board games in the house that the older kids can play when the weather is bad and they cant get outside, I like the idea that this game allows them to build up their own empire! a great lesson!
I think this would be fun to play with Dee because it looks very much like the build a city type of app games he’s forever playing.
Would be nice to do something together.
A ‘fun for all the family’ game, something we’d love
It looks really bright and fun – perfect for all ages!
I like the idea of building my own empire x
We love playing Monopoly and property games
It would be a great game to to play as a family
Loved the original. Glad it has been reissued
We love Cluedo and monopoly, we’d love a more challenging game
I used to play Hotel as a kid and then went on to do my HND and degree in Hotel Management and worked in them for years, so this feels prety personal for me. Mich x
PERFECT FOR ME TO HELP MY SONS PLAY
My son would enjoy watching his hotel grow and then charging people rent for stopping by
it’s visually impressive which will appeal to the kids
looks interesting
this would be great for afternoon game over christmas time
love new board games
would love this game
i used to have a similiar game called theme park which i loved and i think the kids would like this one xx
We love board games in our house and this looks tactical as well as fun for all the family to enjoy
great board games brings the family together to have fun
It looks like a fun game to play and would make a change from monopoly!
It looks fun and good for learning how to use money
We love family board games so it would be great to introduce a new one.
we love playing board games as a family, this looks great fun to play after dinner christmas day 😀
I like money.
easy for the children to understand making it family fun
Simple, easy to learn and kids will love it
It looks fun and interesting would keep mine engaged and not becoming board of it xxx
Family game which could provide lots of fun for the family as they interact playing the board game.
My Husband had this game years ago and we loved it, now our Daughter is old enough to play it I would love for it to become one of our family board games (our current favourite is Game of Life)
this looks like the kind of game my husband would take waaaaaay too seriously! kids would enjoy it as it does look fun!
I love that it looks similar to a monopoly type game & looks like it could get competitive
what appeals to me the most is that it seems like the sort of game which can be played again and again with the family and never get boring. It seems to be a family friendly competetive game which would be great fun for christmas get togethers
This sounds so good and fun for all the family
Love that you have actual buildings to represent your purchases!
It’s a game that looks like a lot of fun and will appeal to all the family.
I think the whole family would love this!
This looks a brilliant family game suitable for all. We would use it at home and on holiday in the caraven
It is visually appealing and encourages tactical thinking
Its a great way to spend a stormy day
looks fun for the whole family x
We love board games and often play them over Christmas. Would love to win this as it looks like it will satisfy both the Monopoly lovers and haters.
Fun for all the family without getting too complicated.
It sounds very entertaining and involving. I love the idea of stopping others in their hotel pursuits, all very scheming!
We need some new family board games and this looks like it could be right up our street, uncomplicated and great fun!
I love the great design
looks a fun and competitive family game
I like the fact that it’s suitable for ages 8+, making it perfect for the ages of my children. I also like it that it sounds a little bit like monopoly, so I know my children would enjoy this.
looks like a brill family game that everyone can enjoy x
We’d have a lot of fun with this
My family would enjoy playing this game, as they would enjoy the competitiveness of it.
I’ve always loved games like this, even as a child I love having to use my mind. I like that this game requires thinking and can be somewhat educational for children playing. Not to mention super fun!
This looks a great game that all the family can enjoy together
Looks great for all the family, easy, simple to learn and we always enjoyed Tycoon games! Would love to win 🙂
looks fun and enjoyable
Looks colourful and fun to play
It looks like a fun game, that will appeal to the whole family. My kids would love it! We enjoy playing board games as often as possible x
I love games like these to play with my kids
I loved playing the computer game when I was younger, and we all love Monopoly – so I suppose the main appeal is Hotel Tycoon computer game meets Monopoly board game and it looks great fun!
i used to play the game so it will be kind of nostalgic for me xx
I like that it is similar to monopoly but something all the family can enjoy.
It looks like a really fun game for all the family
It would teach my grandson to use strategy in play
I like the 3D look to the game – it seems quite easy to play and relatively quick!
I love the look of this game. My daughters are a little bit older now and we already love Monopoly, trivial pursuit or the Logo game so this would be a perfect addition to our sunday gamesnight collection
I love the rush to get yourself properties
My inner billionare is gagging to play this game! Its right up my street!
it looks like a fun and entertaining game 😀
it looks like a fun game to play with the family
I like 3D buildings, it makes the game more realistic
Lovely game for all the family 🙂 I would love to give this a try x
Something different with the 3D buildings and something we would all enjoy playing together x
the board looks colourful and I like how it then goes 3d with the buildings
Thank you so so much xx