For those looking to open a hotel or restaurant, plan events for a living or manage a travel agency or company, there are various ways to study hospitality online.
“The hospitality industry covers things like the lodging piece, and the food and beverage piece, and the entertainment piece and the travel piece. It’s a very broad industry with lots of employment opportunities,” says Nancy Swanger, associate dean and director of the hospitality management school at the Washington State University Carson College of Business.
Here are a few different ways prospective students may learn about the field and potentially advance in their hospitality careers — from free online courses to full online degrees.
— Free and low-cost options: There are many websites where students can enroll in hospitality-related online classes at either no charge or for a small price. These are typically a good option for somebody who desires a basic understanding of the field, perhaps to benefit their career, or who wants to explore specific topics within the discipline.
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The website Coursera, for example, offers a course with Bocconi University in Italy in food and beverage management, in part examining the different challenges managers and entrepreneurs in these businesses experience today. The online learning company edX likewise offers a range of courses in the field, including its Introduction to Global Hospitality Management with Cornell University.
On either site, students may audit classes for free or pay roughly $30 to $150 to earn a certificate of completion after completing additional assignments and a capstone project.
Udemy.com is another site where students may earn a certificate for online coursework, in many cases costing less than $20. The site offers a number of courses that focus on more specific issues related to the hospitality industry — from Social Media Marketing: Hospitality and Travel Professionals to Employee Development for Your Hospitality Property to bar management training.
“A lot of the online courses focus more on practical real-life skills you can immediately apply than theoretical concepts,” Chris Haroun, who teaches 45 business online classes on the platform and is founder and CEO of Haroun Education Ventures, says of working professionals.
Other low-cost options include Typsy, a website to learn anything from different types of beers to effectively communicating with staff, as well as Alison.com. There’s also the American Hospitality Academy, where individual online hospitality courses cost $250.
— Online certificates and credentials: Different companies and higher education institutions offer a wide range of credentials that students can earn by completing online coursework. Certificates typically take less time to complete than online degrees and cost less, requiring fewer classes overall — though they typically focus on developing concrete skills in a single discipline. Degrees usually have other general requirements.
The American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute has more than 20 online classes in hospitality management. Students may take these individually or in sets for a certificate in a specific area of specialization, including rooms division, marketing and sales, and food and beverage; a certificate in hospitality fundamentals or operations; or a diploma in hospitality management.
For AHLEI nonmembers, individual courses cost $250, and a diploma is $2,200; certificates range from $1,000 to $1,500. Courses are self-paced and may be completed in four months.
Many universities also offer online certificates — either for credit or not — geared toward professionals in or looking to enter the hospitality industry. At Michigan State University, an online management three-course certificate in the business of hospitality costs $3,495, with options to take classes individually.
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Another example is eCornell, the online certificate-granting arm of Cornell University, where many certificates at the school take a few to several months to finish and generally explore different areas within the field for several thousand dollars.
“The certificate programs allow you to take the skills that you’re learning in the program and apply them in the workplace immediately, really focusing on the key skills you need in your day-to-day,” says Lisa Hatfield, vice president of individual student enrollment at eCornell.
Different programs address different needs depending on where students are in their careers, teaching either the basics of the field or niches such as restaurant revenue management, she says.
— Online hospitality degrees: There are some schools with options to earn a full degree in hospitality management and related disciplines.
The online Washington State University Global Campus, for instance, offers an online bachelor’s degree in hospitality business management. The degree — comprised of both general and industry-specific business classes — costs non-Washington state residents $567 per credit for fall or spring. Students must also complete 1,000 paid work hours in a relevant business setting.
Swanger says online students — who often juggle their education with a full-time job — can apply their day-to-day work to the requirement if they work in a hospitality-focused field. Others looking to transition into this field still need to find a way to complete this component, she says.
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When it comes to whether an online degree makes sense compared with other credentials, “Some of it depends on what the needs of the students are,” Swanger says. “For example, there are several hospitality companies that, in order to move up in the organization, require that you must have a bachelor’s degree.”
That determination, experts say, will depend largely on their previous education and their career goals. Somebody who already has a bachelor’s or even a master’s, for instance, may consider an online certificate for a career change.
Other online hospitality degree programs are available at institutions including Johnson & Wales University, which has an online bachelor’s and master’s in the field along with an online MBA with a hospitality concentration.
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Boost a Hospitality Career With Online Courses, Programs originally appeared on usnews.com
