Imagine you were going out with someone for the first time. You took off early from work to go home and prepare for the night.

At the time when you were about to leave the door, you received a text message from the date, telling you all of a sudden s/he happened to book another important meeting for the night and, as a result, s/he would be happy to go out with you next weekend. What would be your reaction?

Disappointed? Upset? Frustrated? Mad?

Actually, none of those emotions is worthy as this person does not really deserve any attention from you. Would you agree? Furthermore, I would refuse to develop any relationship with someone who just canceled on me at the last minute. If a person is unable to live up to his/her word, I will not expect this person can keep any of his/her promises in the future.

In the business setting, however, a last-minute cancellation like this might not necessarily be a bad thing. While the loss is usually measurable to the business that received the cancellation, the damage to those who initiate the last-minute cancellation will become permanent and could be detrimental. Most of all, businesses may then decide to discontinue their relationship with the person who cannot live up to his/her word in order to prevent any possible future losses.

Now, if I share with you a real story just like that, will you be able to tell me how much it is worth to live up to a person's word?

I teach a hotel sales class at the Collins College of Hospitality Management in Cal Poly Pomona. Students in my class will work on a sales blitz project with a real hotel in the area, where students will stay in a hotel on a Sunday night and then do the sales blitz for the hotel on Monday. Sunday and Monday are chosen because the occupancy of most hotels is usually the lowest on Sunday, and Monday is a good day to do the sales blitz.

In the past, students in my class have worked with numerous hotels on a sales blitz project. The sales blitzes created positive results for the hotel as well as the students.

This fall, I am teaching the same class again. I contacted seven hotels over the summer. Three of them agreed to work with our students on the sales blitz project. They all had a chance to pick a Sunday/Monday in October or November that would work the best for the hotel and the manager's schedule. The final dates were confirmed by the managers and me in late August.

School started in the last week of September, and students were excited about the opportunity. Each student signed up for a sales blitz in one of the three hotels. In addition, students and I have completed all necessary paperwork for the field trip. Some of them have also requested for a day off at work or in other classes so they could make the appropriate arrangements for the Sunday and Monday when they are doing the sales blitz.

While the students were making the arrangements, they probably had no idea of how hard it was for me to just set up an appointment with one of the managers (let's name him M). Since September, I have sent numerous emails and made multiple phone calls. I left a couple of messages. Usually, I was still able to receive responses from M, but every time, he was just saying he was super busy, and he was unable to let me know an exact time frame for a meeting.

Two weeks before the sales blitz, I called him more often as I knew we had better get together to prepare. I suggested we at least spoke on the phone if he could not find any time to meet with me in the hotel. Based on my experience, the more prepared the hotel is, the better results the sales blitz will bring. My goal was to create meaningful results for both students and the hotel.

Finally, M found some time to respond to me. He said he just booked a group for that Sunday/Monday when the sales blitz is scheduled to take place. Because of that, he would like to see if I could move the sales blitz to November — as what we agreed upon, the 240-plus-room hotel would host 20 students in about 10 hotel rooms.

I knew it would be challenging to make the last-minute change after all the students had made the arrangements, but I still managed to offer him two alternative days in November for the sales blitz, considering that Thanksgiving in November is not a good time for sales blitz.

Finally, he responded to me in email that none of those days in November would work. Rather, he would prefer to work with us in 2016 instead.

I encouraged him to reconsider his decision. What he just did created a bad example and negative PR for the hotel among students — it would be even worse if I spelled out the hotel name right now, wouldn't it?

Additionally, he made a negative impact on the long-term relationship between the Collins College and the hotel. The hotel hires many of our students, and the GM of the hotel is working with our college leadership team in various capacities. Within 30 minutes, he sent me another email, refusing to change his decision.

I have never forced any hotel or anyone to do a sales blitz with our students. I approached seven hotels over the summer. Four of them did not want to do a sales blitz in the fall, which was completely fine with me because I could always find another partner who is willing to work with us.

It would be a different story if M had originally denied the proposal, or at least showed some courtesy by cancelling the event before the students signed up for it. The deceitful image M just created for himself and the hotel will stay permanently among students. He also sets a bad example of a person who cannot live up to his word. But I guess to some people, living up to one's word might not carry any value.

Do you think what M did creates any damage to himself and/or the hotel? Why or why not? How long will the damage last? Can the damage be measured in some way? What lessons should people take away from this case?