According to promotional material published by the city of Springfield

I went with the option D for this question. Reason:

Given: Acc to P.M published by SF -- no. of tourists stay in SF > no. of tourist stay in HT.
Also other brochure from the largest hotel in HT claims that no. of tourist stay in that hotel > no. of tourist stay in RAH in SP.

If the "Report on Tourism" must be in error then the possible cause should be based on some assumption made by the report.
Option A -- It is the opposite of what we are looking for,
Option B -- Yes, this is a possible candidate. Since if the report just looked at the size of the hotels in HT and SP and decided to base its details on this information.
Option C -- Certainly not.
Option D -- Possible candidate. Again the report could have looked at this information and concluded their report.
Option E -- No.

Between B and D, I choose D.

Please post the OE after some discussions.

D is tempting, but E is the correct answer.

D. If the hotel is largest, then its not essential that more tourists stay there.

E. If the royal arms is the only hotel, then the claim of harristown hotel can not be accurate.
Since that claim is accurate, then this is erroneous statement.

Very tricky,
springsfield says
No.of people stay in springsfield> No. of people stay in Harristown

Some hotel in Harristown says
No. of people stay in this hotel > No. of people stay in Royal Arms of Springsfield

if both are correct then how it can be possible that springsfield has only one hotel, because anyways the report says that the total no. of people stay in springsfield is more than that of harrristown city.

(E) wins

in such problems, pre-thinking doesn't work but data provided should be kept handy at the time of POE

Let's analyze one by one:
A. the average length of stay is longer at the largest hotel in Harristown than it is at the Royal Arms Hotel
out of scope-avg length is not asked.
B. there is only one hotel in Harristown that is larger than the Royal Arms Hotel
out of scope-size of hotel is not asked
C. more tourists stay in hotels in Harristown than stay in the Royal Arms Hotel
already mentioned by the springsfield tourism that no of tourist stay in springsfield is greater than that of harristown-incorrect
D. the Royal Arms Hotel is the largest hotel in Springfield
again same as (B) size of hotel is not asked
E. the Royal Arms Hotel is the only hotel in Springfield
if so, then how no of tourists stay in sprongsfield is more than that of harristown?since it's also true that "A" hotel of harristown has more people to stay than royal arm hotel of springsfield

I look at this backwards to arrive to E:

Here are the two facts:
1) More tourists in S hotels than in H hotels
2) More tourists in biggest HOTEL in H than the royal HOTEL in S.

I ask myself: If these two premises are true, can it also be true that the Royal HOTEL in Springfiel is the ONLY one there?

No, because it goes against the first premise that says "more people stay in HOTELS in Springfield".

Two accurate statements:
More tourists stay in springfield than in harristown
more tourists stay in largest hotel in harristown than royal arms hotel in springfield.

Now based on this information which statement is inaccurate? We can deduce since there is one hotel in harristown where more tourists stay than royal arms, and since overall more tourists stay in springfield- it must follow that there are other hotels in springfield where tourists stay. Hence to say there is only one (royal arms hotel) in springfield is inaccurate.

Ans E it is.

I think the question, though from GMATPrep, needs some tweaking.

Going back to stimulus,

According to promotional material published by the city of Springfield, more tourists
stay in hotels in Springfield than stay in the neighboring city of Harristown.

Its already stated in the argument that there is more than just 1 hotel in Springfield; and this has been published in the promotional material mentioned in the question. Isn't this contradicting a fact when put in context with OA.

I would need an expert to look at this because I was thrown off by the "hotels in Springfield" and hence did not go for OA.

Thanks.
Vaibhav.

+1 E.

Choices A through D can all be true along with the two statements mentioned in the stimulus. So if the "Report of Tourism" mentions any of A through D. It could be right. Where as E contradicts the statements of the stimulus. If E is reported by tourism then it is definitely in error.

"Does "Report on Tourism" claims that Royal Arm Hotel is the only hotel in Springfield? I don't get it"

More tourists stay in Springfield hotels than in Harristown hotels. This is not the case for one Harristown hotel (mentioned as the largest). It has more tourists than *one* Springfield hotel (the Royal Arms). But there may be numerous other hotels in Springfield that have more tourists than Harristown hotels, making the Royal Arms an exception, or in this case the only hotel.

Which of the following most logically completes the argument below?

According to promotional material published by the city of Springfield, more tourists stay in hotels in Springfield than stay in the neighboring city of Harristown. A brochure from the largest hotel in Harristown claims that more tourists stay in that hotel than stay in the Royal Arms Hotel in Springfield. If both of these sources are accurate, however, the “Report on Tourism” for the region must be in error in stating that ______________.

Type - must not be true

A. the average length of stay is longer at the largest hotel in Harristown than it is at the Royal Arms Hotel. - Irrelevant

B. There is only one hotel in Harristown that is larger than the Royal Arms Hotel. - Irrelevant

C. More tourists stay in hotels in Harristown than stay in the Royal Arms Hotel. - May be true

D. The Royal Arms hotel is the largest hotel in Springfield - Irrelevant

E. The royal arms hotel is the only hotel in Springfield. - Correct - if this is true , then it contradicts the fact "more tourists stay in hotels in Springfield than stay in the neighboring city of Harristown"

Answer E

Premise 1: According to promotional material published by the city of Springfield, more tourists stay in hotels in Springfield than stay in the neighboring city of Harristown
Premise 2 : brochure from the largest hotel in Harristown claims that more tourists stay in that hotel than stay in the Royal Arms Hotel in Springfield.

Now both P1 and P2 is correct

Watch out the language just before the Dash however, the “Report on Tourism” for the region must be in error in stating that __________.

So we need to show something which is definitely wrong given that P1 and P2 is correct

Lets Analyse this Problem by Numbers

From P1:
Lets say total Tourist in Springfield is 1000
Total tourist in Harristown is 800

From P2:
Largest hotel of Harristown has 100 tourist
Royal Arms hotel in Springfield has 80 tourist

If Royal Arm hotel is the only Hotel in Spring field then P1 never be true

So Correct answer is E

Which of the following most logically completes the argument below?

According to promotional material published by the city of Springfield, more tourists stay in hotels in Springfield than stay in the neighboring city of Harristown. A brochure from the largest hotel in Harristown claims that more tourists stay in that hotel than stay in the Royal Arms Hotel in Springfield. If both of these sources are accurate, however, the “Report on Tourism” for the region must be in error in stating that __________.

One important takeaway from this passage is that, for must be true/must be wrong problems, new information in the answer choices doesn't mean that this choice is definitely wrong, but maybe wrong maybe right. The answer choice that includes information contradicting the premise is definitely wrong.

(A) The average length of stay is longer at the largest hotel in Harristown than it is at the Royal Arms Hotel.

From the explanation above, since "length of stay" is a new information, we do not know this is wrong or right. Therefore, A is eliminated because for this problem, we are looking for the definitely wrong answer choice (contradict the stimulus/premise).

(B) There is only one hotel in Harristown that is larger than the Royal Arms Hotel.

same as above. we don't know if this is true. Therefore, eliminated.

(C) More tourists stay in hotels in Harristown than stay in the Royal Arms Hotel.

In contrast, this choice is definitely right. Since people staying in largest hotel (just one hotel) in H town is more than ppl in Royal Arms in S town. Then there are definitely more ppl stay in hotels in H town than ppl in Royal Arms in S town. But since we are looking for a wrong answer, C is eliminated.

(D) The Royal Arms hotel is the largest hotel in Springfield.

same as A and B, we do not if this is true. Therefore, eliminated.

(E) The Royal Arms hotel is the only hotel in Springfield.

If Royal Arms hotel is the only hotel in S town, then the ppl staying in this hotel could represent entire population staying in hotels in S town. We also know:
ppl in hotels of S town > ppl in hotels of H town
and
ppl in Royal Arms in S town < ppl in largest hotel of H town

The left hand side represent the same number, but because of the inequality, this answer choice is definitely wrong. Therefore, E is the one we are looking for.

I would like to share with you this appoach; it really helped me to solve the problem in few seconds


The figure depicts a situatio ndescribed by the stem.
It follows that Springfield cannot have only 1 hotel
E

Brilliant illustrations to make understanding so easy and thanks for sharing rseglia

Understanding the question stem - This category of complete the argument is more of an inference, but with a twist, we need to find the opposite: "must not be true." This means the other four options may be true somehow or may not be, but they are not "must be wrong" that we can say with 100% confidence based on information in the argument.

(A) The average length of stay is longer at the largest hotel in Harristown than it is at the Royal Arms Hotel. - No information in the argument as to why it should not be. It may be true or may not be. But not our "must be wrong" choice.

(B) There is only one hotel in Harristown that is larger than the Royal Arms Hotel. - No information in the argument as to why it is not possible. It may be true or may not be. But not our "must be wrong" choice.

(C) More tourists stay in hotels in Harristown than stay in the Royal Arms Hotel. True.

(D) The Royal Arms hotel is the largest hotel in Springfield. - Maybe more tourists are staying in other smaller hotels.

(E) The Royal Arms hotel is the only hotel in Springfield. - We can say with 100% certainty that, based on the information in the argument, it is not true.
Fact 1 - The overall number of tourists in Springfield is more than in Harristown.
Fact 2 - The largest hotel in Harristown hosts more tourists than the Royal Arms Hotel in Springfield.
So, there have to be other hotels in Springfield to host the majority of the tourists.

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Premises:

According to promotional material published by the city of Springfield, more tourists stay in hotels in Springfield than stay in the neighboring city of Harristown. 

A brochure from the largest hotel in Harristown claims that more tourists stay in that hotel than stay in the Royal Arms Hotel in Springfield. 

Conclusion:

If both of these sources are accurate, however, the “Report on Tourism” for the region must be in error in stating that __________.

We are given that more tourists stay in hotels in Springfield than in Harristown. But more people stay in the largest hotel of Harristown than stay in Royal Arms Hotel in Springfield. 
Using these two, we need to find the option that must be false. Note here that we are looking for what we may call ‘a negative conclusion’ i.e. what must be false. 

(A)    The average length of stay is longer at the largest hotel in Harristown than it is at the Royal Arms Hotel.



Length of stay is irrelevant to our argument. We are talking about ‘number of tourists’.
 
(B)    There is only one hotel in Harristown that is larger than the Royal Arms Hotel.

‘Larger’ in what terms? It doesn’t tell us. Is it larger area wise? Or tourists who stay there are more in number? Or number of rooms? So no point trying to evaluate this option. 

(C)    More tourists stay in hotels in Harristown than stay in the Royal Arms Hotel.

This is true. Since more tourists stay in the largest hotel of Harristown than in Royal Arms, certainly more tourists stay in all hotels of Harristown combined than do in Royal Arms. But we are not looking for something that must be true. We are looking for something that must be false.
 

(D)    The Royal Arms hotel is the largest hotel in Springfield.



The Royal Arms hotel may be the largest in Springfield or may not be. The argument doesn’t tell us either way. 

(E)    The Royal Arms hotel is the only hotel in Springfield.

This is not possible. Harristown gets more tourists than Royal Arms. If Royal Arms were the only hotel in Springfield,  Harristown would have more tourists than Springfield. But we are given that that is not true. So Royal Arms is certainly not the only hotel in Springfield.
Correct. 

Answer (E)
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