The tiles represent hotels. Players may purchase stock in hotel chains. The more tiles which make up the chain the more the stock is worth. When a tile is placed in such a way as to connect two chains the chains merge and the larger chain absorbs the smaller. The top two stockholders in the losing chain receive compensation for the merger.
All players can then reinvest their stock as they see fit.
The players calculate their stock values and the player with the highest net worth is the winner. As a business simulation it is quite abstract but as a game it works very well, with the players having to carefully decide how to manage their stocks and investments and how to play their tiles so as to maximize the worth of their holdings. Games magazine ranks this as one of their all time classic games, a rating it certainly deserves.