Hospitality Business Management
Program focus
Hospitality business management focuses on management operations in the hospitality field, lodging, tourism, food and beverage, and senior living businesses. Students will be taught theoretical and applied methods, interpersonal skills, leadership aptitude and teamwork strategies.
The hospitality business management degree will be offered beginning fall 2013.
Contact academic advisor Mary Stender at mstender@vancouver.wsu.edu to learn more about the degree and 2013-14 curricular offerings.
Eligibility
To be eligible for certification as a major in hospitality business management, students must have earned at least 60 semester hour of credit and completed the following certification courses with a GPA of 2.50 or higher: ACCTG 230, 231; B LAW 210; MGTOP 215; ECONS 101, 102; ENGLISH 101; MATH 201, MATH 202; MIS 250
Required courses
- ECONS 305 Intermediate Micro Economics, or ECONS 323 Labor Economics
- HBM 182 Introduction to Industry Experience (1-credit major course)
- HBM 280 Hospitality Systems
- HBM 320 Industry Experience (1-credit major course)
- HBM 358 Foodservice Systems and Control
- HBM 381 [M] Hospitality Leadership and Organizational Behavior
- HBM 491 Operational Analysis
- HBM 494 [M] Service Operations Management
- HBM 495 Capstone, Case Studies and Research (HBM 491 and 494 are prerequisites)
Hospitality business management has the same College of Business requirements as the BA in Business Administration but differs in the following ways:
- MGMT 450 Human Resource Management is substituted for MGTOP 340 Operations Management
- HBM 495 is substituted for ENTRP 492 as the capstone course for the major
Internship
Hospitality business management majors are required to have 1,000-hours of paid internship experience to complete the degree. Most will have multiple internship positions with progressive responsibility.
- 1,000 hours of paid work in the hospitality industry must be done after high school graduation and before the HBM degree is granted.
- All work experience must be approved by the School of Hospitality Business Management (SHBM).
- Documentation will be required.
Outcome
Students who earn their degree in hospitality business management can expect to qualify for jobs managing top restaurants, hotel departments, convention centers, sports facilities, entertainment services, senior living centers and vacation centers. Other potential hospitality careers for graduates include purchasing, publicity, hiring and training employees, organizing catering and forecasting facility profits. Alumni of the program may also become entrepreneurs and operate their own restaurants or hotels.
The School of Hospitality Business Management will produce graduates who will be able to:
- Complete a 1000 hour industry requirement, earning employer evaluation scores of 80% or higher.
- Apply qualitative and quantitative hospitality business skills to solve problems.
- Identify service gaps and propose solutions for service recovery, while considering multiple stakeholders.
- As members of a team, through a group project, evaluate a hotel's position and present acceptable findings and/or solutions considering the implications for multiple stakeholders.