The Business of Hotels minor will suit students who want to expand their horizons beyond just the hospitality operations part. We explore hotels as both a real estate investment and as a revenue-generating business, and study how companies cooperate to create value.

What is it all about?
The minor consists of two closely linked courses.

In the Asset Management course we discuss a variety of operating and branding structures and contracts (think of leases, franchises, and management agreements). The Demand Management course deals with revenue management, distribution channels such as OTAs, data (management) and online marketing, with the aim of optimising net revenue. In other words, the programme will show you how hotels create demand, sell the right product to the right customer at the right time, through the right distribution channel, for the right price; and how all the different stakeholders may be involved and share the proceeds.

In Asset Management, we focus specifically on alignment – or lack thereof – between brands and owners. Many international chains have, over the years, moved away from hotel ownership (the ‘asset-light’ trend), focusing instead on managing hotels for third-party owners, and on being franchisors. This has left the owners with all or most of the financial risk and sometimes limited control over their hotels. Demand Management has a strong online marketing flavour. Many of our guest speakers represent companies that help hoteliers understand travellers’ booking journeys, demand levels, booking behaviour, competitor pricing, etc.

Students will appreciate the main responsibilities of, and relationships between hotel owners, operators, managers, and brands. This sets the stage for an advanced understanding of how Demand Management can add value to hotel operations for all stakeholders. Successful participation in the minor will give you knowledge not many other hotel school graduates have! Our alumni now work in Revenue Management, for hotel investors, consultancies and of course for hotel operators.

The minor is open to all students with a keen interest in exploring the Business of Hotels. We urge all interested to attend the information session. Candidate students need to meet their home university’s requirements for progressing to the fourth/final year. For a successful completion of the minor, we expect candidates to have very few, if any, uncompleted courses.

Compulsory: Musgrove, R., Raleigh, L. and Singh, A., eds. (2016). Hotel Asset Management: Principles & Practices, 3rd edition. Lansing, Michigan: American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute.

Additional reading provided on a weekly basis for both topics.

CHIA (Certification in Hotel Industry Analytics)
Multiple choice, online                                                      Individual
2 ECTS credits

Validation
Written exam+ interview                                                  Individual
10 ECTS credits

New Hotel project
Presentation                                                                    Group
6 ECTS credits

Capstone project
Presentation                                                                  Group
6 ECTS credits

Final assignment
Essay                                                 
Individual
6 ECTS credits

Competencies
It is important to realise this is not an operational minor, but rather a conceptual one – focusing on application in real-life examples and a capstone project. That said, a negotiation skills workshop is also part of the programme, and students will find ample opportunities to enhance their investigative, presentation and other social skills!

Topics
Asset Management:

• Types of hotel investors, operators and brand owners (franchisors) and their objectives; including aspects of agency theory
• Hotel ownership, operating and branding structures: leases, management and franchise agreements
• Hotel feasibility and valuation (discounted cash flow modelling, IRR)
• The hotel asset management cycle
• Hotel design, development, and construction

Demand Management:

• Developments in the field of revenue management and optimisation
• Demand management, focusing on the role of human capital, systems, and organisational issues
• Online marketing applied in a hospitality context - the digital guest journey
• (The role of) data in an online marketing environment
• AssetSIM simulation game - applying relevant aspects of demand management in a competitive environment

Structure of the minor
Alternating Asset Management and Demand Management weeks. In November, theoretical knowledge is tested on a Validation Day, with a written and an interview component. After that, students mostly work on the real-life Capstone project first (until Christmas), and then on the Term Paper (in January).

Teaching methods
Mixed. Every week, students will be asked to prepare by reading extensively about the subject and report back in class. There is a strong involvement of industry through many guest lectures. Each week students will receive assignments/cases, to be concluded on Friday. All of these are formative (feedback, no grades).  The set-up, and the learning curve of this minor is such that we expect active student participation.

Every Monday, students are given literature to be studied before the start of week (flipped classroom). This is typically a mix of academic / scholarly and professional / industry publications. Classroom time is scheduled on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. As should be clear from the above, students are expected to dedicate significant time to the minor on Mondays and Thursdays, too.

International context
The hotel business is an international business. In recent years we have had guest speakers representing major international players such as HOST, Xenia Hotels & Resorts, NH, Accor, Hilton, Colliers International, Amadeus, Booking, and OTA Insight. Most cases and literature are also international. The real-life Capstone assignments were provided by Sircle (then EHPC), Host Hotels & Resorts, and Starwood Capital.

Costs
Students may incur travel expenses for any field excursions.