Hospitality Pro MBA Program in Hospitality and Tourism Management

MBA Hospitality Pro

Areas of expertise
with professional certifications

•  Financial Accounting

  The program presents financial accounting concepts and shows how they apply to the hospitality industry. It incorporates the most recent formats, information, and schedules from the newly-published Uniform Systems of Accounts for the Lodging Industry.

  Course Description:

  

  This course presents basic financial accounting concepts and explains how they apply to the hospitality industry.

  Objectives:

  1. Describe the accounting process and the roles that accountants play in collecting and presenting financial information.
  2. Define the major classifications of accounts (assets, liabilities, equity, revenue, and expenses) and describe specific accounts found within each classification.
  3. Understand the correct application of debits and credits by analyzing business transactions for a variety of accounting situations.
  4. Discuss the basis of the double-entry accounting system and identify the normal balances of the various types of accounts.
  5. Describe the posting, journalizing, and closing processes.
  6. Identify the purposes and characteristics of specialized journals and subsidiary ledgers.
  7. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the sole proprietorship, the partnership, the corporation, and the S corporation, and describe and compare accounting procedures for each.
  8. Discuss generally accepted accounting principles and explain the usefulness of each.
  9. Distinguish between cash basis accounting and accrual accounting.
  10. List procedures that help ensure internal control of a firm's cash.
  11. Discuss how hospitality firms account for bad debt losses.
  12. Describe accounting procedures involved in notes receivable and notes payable.
  13. Discuss methods of controlling and accounting for inventory.
  14. Identify and define the major classifications of adjusting entries reversing entries.
  15. Define ten steps of the accounting cycle.
  16. Describe the balance sheet, the income statement, the statement of owners' equity, the statement of retained earnings, and the statement of cash flows, and discuss the purposes of each.
  17. Identify the uniform systems of accounts relevant to the hospitality industry.
  18. Explain the purposes of footnotes to financial statements.
  19. Identify and describe commonly used depreciation methods.
  20. Describe accounting procedures used for property, equipment, intangible assets, and other assets.
  21. Describe procedures used to account for current liabilities and payroll.
  22. Describe procedures used to account for bonds, leases, and mortgages payable.
  23. Explain why hospitality firms invest in the securities of other companies, and discuss accounting for investments.
  24. Identify the kinds of information obtained through vertical and horizontal analyses of comparative balance sheets and comparative income statements.
  25. Explain ratio analysis and the purposes that it serves for managers, creditors, and investors.
  26. Identify and define five classes of ratios and explain their significance.

•  Human Resources Management

  Course Description:

  This course presents a systematic approach to human resources management in the hospitality industry. Students will analyze contemporary issues and practices, as well as employment laws that have an impact on the way people are managed.

  ---

  1. The EEOC, EEO laws and affirmative action.
  2. Disability and Disabilities Act (ADA) and its implications for human resource managers at hospitality operations.
  3. The importance of job analysis and job design.
  4. Methods for forecasting labor demand, the advantages and disadvantages of internal and external recruiting, and the functions of a computer-based Human Resource Information System (HRIS).
  5. The importance of the selection process, explain how managers use application forms and pre-employment tests as selection tools, and the types of selection errors and biases managers must overcome when screening job applicants.
  6. The purpose of an orientation program, general property orientation and a specific job orientation, specific socialization strategies and approaches.
  7. The stages of the training cycle and various training methods.
  8. The functions of performance appraisals, commonly used methods of appraising performance, and legal issues relating to performance appraisals.
  9. Types of compensation and the major influences on compensation plans.
  10. The steps and options for establishing pay structures, and summarize current issues in compensation administration.
  11. Effective incentive programs and four general categories of employee benefits.
  12. The reasons employees join unions, the statistics and trends of union membership, and the goals and content of major U.S. legislation affecting labor relations.
  13. Mandatory, voluntary, and illegal collective bargaining issues and common economic and non-economic reasons behind bargaining.
  14. Major sources of grievances, typical grievance procedures, and outline how to prevent grievances at union properties.
  15. The history, scope, and goal of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and the enforcement of OSHA standards and requirements.
  16. The components and benefits of an employee assistance program (EAP).
  17. The hospitality industry's turnover problem, the costs of turnover, and several methods for reducing turnover.
  18. Approaches to employee discipline.
  19. The appropriate use of discharge in an employee discipline program and outline an effective exit interview system.
  20. Ways in which hospitality companies assess and address social responsibility issues, and key factors in assessing whether behaviors are ethical.

  ---

  [ TOPICS ]

  1. Employment Laws and Applications
  2. Job Analysis and Job Design
  3. Planning and Recruiting
  4. Selection
  5. Orientation and Socialization
  6. Training and Development
  7. Evaluating Employee Performance
  8. Compensation Administration
  9. Incentive and Benefits Administration
  10. Labor Unions
  11. Negotiation and Collective Bargaining
  12. Health, Safety, and EAPs
  13. Turnover, Discipline, and Exits
  14. Social Responsibility and Ethic

   

  

   

•  Strategic Sales & Marketing

  Course Description:

  This course is designed to provide students with a solid background in hospitality sales and marketing. The main focus is on practical sales techniques for selling to targeted markets.

  Objectives:

  At the completion of this course, students should be able to:

  1. Distinguish marketing from sales and identify trends that affect marketing and sales in the hospitality industry.
  2. Identify and describe the key steps of a marketing plan.
  3. Summarize the duties and responsibilities of positions typically found in a hotel marketing and sales office.
  4. Describe the five steps of a presentation sales call.
  5. Explain the basics of effective telephone communication and describe various types of outgoing and incoming telephone calls related to the marketing and sales function.
  6. Describe internal marketing and sales.
  7. Explain the role of advertising, public relations, and publicity in reaching prospective guests.
  8. Summarize how hospitality properties are meeting the needs of business travelers.
  9. Explain how hospitality properties are meeting the needs of leisure travelers.
  10. Describe travel agencies and the travelers they serve.
  11. Summarize how hotels market and sell to meeting planners.
  12. Identify considerations for marketing hospitality products and services to international travelers and other special segments such as honeymooners, sports teams, and government travelers.
  13. Summarize trends affecting the food and beverage industry, and describe positioning strategies and techniques for restaurants and lounges
  14. Explain how hotels market and sell catered events and meeting rooms.

•  Hotel Industry Analytics (CHIA)

  The Certification in Hotel Industry Analytics (CHIA), in cooperation with AHLEI, is the leading certification for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as professors, in Hospitality and Tourism programs. This recognition provides evidence of a thorough knowledge of the foundational metrics, definitions, formulas and methodologies that are used by the hotel industry. Recipients have proven that they can “do the math” and interpret the results. They have demonstrated an ability to analyze various types of hotel industry data and to make strategic inferences based upon that analysis. Certification also confirms a comprehensive understanding of benchmarking and performance reports that are used by industry professionals. Recipients have a grasp of the current landscape of the hotel industry, including relevant current events.  Achieving this distinction announces that these students have a place among the best graduates in their profession and opens the doors to future career opportunities. Qualifying students receive a certificate of accomplishment. Their names and schools are listed on the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute (AHLEI) website and they can use the CHIA designation on their resume/CV and business cards.

  Content

  The certification is based upon four core content areas:

  • Hotel Industry Analytical Foundations
  • Hotel Math Fundamentals – the metrics used by the Hotel Industry
  • Property Level Benchmarking with STAR Reports
  • Hotel Industry Performance Reports (Trends, P&L, Pipeline and Destination Reports)

•  Managerial Accounting

  Prerequisites:

  

  Students should already be familiar with financial accounting concepts and procedures,

  Course Description:

  This course presents managerial accounting concepts and explains how they apply to specific operations within the hospitality industry.

  Objectives:

  At the completion of this course, students should be able to:

  1. State the purposes, contents, and limitations of the balance sheet, and analyze balance sheets using both horizontal and vertical analysis.
  2. State the purposes, contents, and limitations of the income statement, and analyze income statements using both horizontal and vertical analysis. 
  3. Understand and use the most current version of the uniform system of accounts applicable to the lodging industry. 
  4. State the purposes, contents, and limitations of the statement of cash flows (SCF), and prepare an SCF. 
  5. Use ratio analysis to interpret information reported on financial statements and reports, as well as understand how the interpretation of ratio results varies among owners, creditors, and managers. 
  6. Understand basic cost concepts such as fixed, variable, and mixed costs, as well as calculate the fixed and variable elements of mixed costs. 
  7. Perform a breakeven analysis and use cost-volume-profit analysis to determine the revenue required at any desired profit level. 
  8. Use cost approaches to pricing both rooms and food and beverage items. 
  9. Forecast activity levels by using both qualitative and quantitative forecasting methods. 
  10. Prepare an operations budget and analyze variances of actual results from budgeted plans. 
  11. Manage a hospitality operation’s cash balances, cash flow, and short-term investments in securities, as well as manage an operation’s working capital. 
  12. Implement basic internal control techniques for various accounting functions such as cash receipts, cash disbursements, accounts receivable, accounts payable, payroll, inventories, fixed assets, and marketable securities. 
  13. Use various capital budgeting models such as the accounting rate of return model, payback model, net present value model, and the internal rate of return model.

•  Purchasing for Food & Beverage Operations

  Course Description:

  This course describes how to develop and implement an effective purchasing program, focusing on issues pertaining to supplier relations and selection, negotiation, and evaluation. The course includes in-depth material regarding major categories of purchases.

  ---

  1. Define value and understand its components.
  2. Establish the need for effective hospitality purchasing in achieving operational goals.
  3. Discuss the primary methods of purchasing hospitality supplies: ride the market, buy-and-inventory, cost-plus, long-term contracting, and hedging.
  4. Contrast the roles of line (operating) managers and staff (advisory) personnel as they relate to the purchasing function.
  5. Describe market channels for distribution of hospitality supplies: source, processor, broker, agent, distributor, and end-user.
  6. Indicate how business practices involved in the handling and marketing of goods are affected by governmental legislation.
  7. Suggest how buyers may improve negotiation techniques to gain greater cost advantages.
  8. Understand the impact that quality and quantity concerns have on purchase decisions.
  9. Relate the purchasing function to the internal control system of a hospitality operation.
  10. Discuss the make-or-buy decision and the use of convenience foods in food service operations.
  11. Learn useful facts regarding quality, yields, pricing, marketing, and distribution of meat, poultry and eggs, dairy products, fish and shellfish, fruits and vegetables, baked goods, and beverages.
  12. Describe major considerations in purchasing services, non-food supplies, and capital equipment.

  ---

  [ TOPICS ]

  • Purchasing Systems: An Overview
  • Distribution
  • Supplies Selection
  • Buyer-Supplier Relations
  • Quality and Quantity Concerns
  • The Audit Trail
  • Evaluation of Purchasing Systems
  • Meat Products: An Overview
  • Meat Products: Yields and Pricing
  • Fish and Shellfish
  • Poultry and Eggs
  • Dairy Products
  • Fruits and Vegetables
  • Baked Goods and Miscellaneous Food Products
  • Convenience Foods
  • Alcoholic and Non-Alcoholic Beverages
  • Equipment, Supplies, and Services

   

  

   

•  Revenue / Yield Management

  or How to improve your net income

  Overview

  Hospitality managers are charged with making strategic and proactive decisions to increase occupancy rates and total revenue for their properties.
  Applying a systematic process to such decision-making can increase their success.
  
  This certificate program in hotel revenue management, developed by renowned revenue management expert Dr. Sheryl Kimes of Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration, provides a holistic view
  of the application of hotel revenue management concepts and practices to the hospitality industry.

  The courses focus on several high-impact drivers for maximizing revenue: forecasting and availability controls, pricing and distribution channel management, overbooking and group management, and non-traditional revenue management applications. Each course explores a topic in depth, with particular emphasis on the role of strategy in effective revenue management and the practical application of tools and techniques in the hospitality setting.

  Introduction to Hotel Revenue Management

  Implementing a revenue management strategy can be one of the most important revenue-generating initiatives available to a hotel, significantly increasing room revenue and profits. This course provides an overview of revenue management applications to the hotel industry designed to inspire a strategic shift to managing revenue per available room (RevPAR).
  
  Revenue management is a systematic process designed to increase revenue by selling the right room to the right person at the right time for the right price. In addition to evaluating different pricing models and applying duration-management strategies, this course provides a foundation for more advanced revenue management courses in forecasting, group management and overbooking, pricing strategy, and application of revenue management techniques to other hospitality-related industries including spas and athletic facilities.

  Participants who complete this course will be able to:

  • Describe hotel revenue management and its benefits to the organization
  • Discuss the strategic levers of hotel revenue management and how they can be manipulated to increase revenue
  • Describe hotel revenue management in terms of its component parts and critical considerations
  • Recommend non-traditional ways in which revenue management techniques can be applied to increase revenue in the hospitality industry

   

  Forecasting & Availability Controls in Hotel Revenue Management

  All successful revenue management strategies are based on the ability to forecast demand accurately and control room availability and length of stay.
  
  This course explores the role of the forecast in a comprehensive revenue management strategy, including the selection of the best type of forecast and the impact of forecasting on other functions such as labor scheduling and purchasing. It presents a step-by-step approach to the mechanics of creating an accurate forecast. Participants learn how to build booking curves; account for “pick-up”; segment demand by market, group, and channel; and calculate error and account for its impact. The course also explores the impact of availability controls, including length-of-stay management, on revenue management and how they can be leveraged.
  
  Participants use Microsoft Excel to practice forecasting and availability control techniques.

  Participants who complete this course will be able to:

  • Explain the role of forecasting in hotel revenue management
  • Create a forecast and measure its accuracy
  • Apply length-of-stay controls to their hotel
  • Manage availability and make rate recommendations based on demand patterns

   

  Pricing Strategy and Distribution Channels in Hotel Revenue Management

  Pricing is one of the most powerful tools a hotel can use to increase revenue. This course teaches you how to set the right prices, develop rate fences (differentiate prices by customer type), and use multiple distribution channels to manage price more effectively. You’ll learn about the impact of variable pricing and discounting on revenue management in the context of price elasticity, optimal price mix, perceived fairness, and congruence with positioning and sales strategies.
  
  Channel management is an essential tool for controlling differentiated pricing, maintaining rate fences, and increasing revenue. You’ll explore various approaches to managing distribution channels including direct sales, agencies, the Internet, and opaque pricing channels.
  
  Finally, discussions of best practices and industry case studies help you extend and contextualize your learning experience.
  
  Participants use Microsoft Excel to practice pricing and distribution-channel-management techniques.

  Participants who complete this course will be able to:

  • Use variable pricing strategies to increase revenue
  • Develop effective rate fences
  • Manage prices using distribution channels

   

  Overbooking Practices in Hotel Revenue Management

  Businesses that accept reservations must cope with the problem of no-shows: customers who make a reservation but fail to honor it. Hotels can protect themselves against revenue lost from no-shows and generate increased revenue by overbooking. This course teaches you how to strategically overbook and how to manage issues associated with overbooking, as well as how to evaluate groups and determine which rates to charge.
  
  This course explores the components of a successful overbooking strategy including no-show forecasting, no-show rates, arrival uncertainty, pricing policies, and cancellation forecasts. It explores the risks of overbooking and presents strategies to minimize costs and mitigate customer impact.
  
  To fully realize your property’s revenue potential, you must be able to manage group reservations. This course teaches you how to create a group forecast and explores yieldable and non-yieldable business and incremental group costs and revenue opportunities. It introduces models to calculate displacement costs and contribution margins to determine which groups are most profitable.

  Participants who complete this course will be able to:

  • Develop an overbooking approach
  • Manage issues associated with overbooking
  • Evaluate groups
  • Determine appropriate group rates

   

  Non-Traditional Applications of Hotel Revenue Management

  Revenue management can be applied to any industry with relatively fixed capacity, time-variable demand, and perishable inventory. This course teaches you how to apply revenue management concepts and practices to hospitality-related industries such as restaurants, meeting spaces, spas, and golf facilities. You’ll learn a step-by-step process to develop, implement, and monitor a revenue management strategy to maximize top-line revenue.

  Participants who complete this course will be able to:

  • Refine the practice of revenue management to include other aspects of the hotel industry
  • Extend the practice of revenue management to other industries
  • Lead a revenue management effort, from gathering baseline data to monitoring results post-implementation

   

  

   

•  Financial Management

  Decision Making & Measuring Investment Performance

  I - Marketing and Operational Performance

  • Pricing and Incentives
  • Advertising
  • Staffing
  • Service Quality
  • Room Amenities and Other Operating Decisions

  Students learn:

  • How to evaluate financial statements.
  • Keep those decisions balanced.
  • React to competition and the marketplace and measure success.

   

  II - Managerial Accounting Concepts and Measures

  The real world environment.

  Includes the analysis and interpretation of financial information to make better-informed decisions. This understanding includes reviewing concepts and tools such as:

  • Cost/Volume/Profit Analysis
  • Flexible Budgeting
  • Operating Leverage
  • Ratio Analysis
  • Revenue Management
  • Measurement of Conversion of Revenue into GOP.

  Emphasis is placed on the fact that accounting is not just numbers, but rather a powerful tool to better manage people, performance, and profit.

   

  III - Financial Measures of Performance

  The Finance segment focuses primarily on issues below Gross Operating Profit (GOP). This includes a discussion of the impact of the owner’s decisions on the hotel’s performance including financial leverage. The analysis concentrates on the economic assessment from the owner’s perspective and presents a clearer understanding of owner’s measures of success and investment criteria including:

  • Net Income
  • Cash Flow
  • Return on Equity (ROE)
  • Return on Equity (ROE)
  • Return on Assets (ROA)
  • Return on Capital Employed (ROCE)
  • Growth
  • Market Presence

   

  

   

•  Certification in Advanced Hospitality and Tourism Analytics (CAHTA)

  A comprehensive training program on hotel and tourism research.

  Participants demonstrate step-by-step analytical skills, observe a range of case scenarios and then apply what they have learned to complete their own comprehensive research project.

  The training can be personalized related to a geographic area, type of research or related to specific needs.

  The program includes five modules:

  • Hospitality and Tourism Research
  • How to Conduct a Market Study – Analysis of hotel performance for a city.
  • How to Conduct an Impact Analysis – Hotel performance related to an event.
  • How to Conduct an Economic Analysis – Hotel data correlated to economic data for a country.
  • How to Conduct a Feasibility Study – Making the decision to build or not build a hotel, utilizing a feasibility study template.

   

  

   

•  Marketing and Entrepreneurial Development

  Strategic and Marketing approaches that proved successful in the past may not apply to our new hospitality world: customers’ needs evolve constantly and organizations have to identify “blue oceans” of new demands to generate revenue, profit and growth.

  For the Marketing and Entrepreneurial Development course, students are organized in small groups and are confronted with 3 challenges:

  - A Creative Challenge by Identifying a profitable New Product Idea, around the Hospitality and Tourism world .

  - A Business Challenge by Writing up a full Business Plan from the market need identification to the competitive environment, up to the recommended strategy and all product tactics necessary to achieve the chosen objective. A 3 year P&L projection completes the exercise.

  - A Self-assertiveness Challenge by Pitching their group Business Plan in front of a Jury to confirm their ability to present convincingly and answer questions from “could be” Business Angels : thus, a complete preparation to future professional presentations.

   

  

   

N.B. : The organization of certain management courses may be modified depending on the schedule of certain visiting professors.

See all courses