International Hotel Management BA Honours

Conferences and Events are integral components of the marketing mix, serving as key drivers for achieving strategic objectives. This module is dedicated to exploring the multifaceted realm of Conferences and Events, a profession that spans across various disciplines. Within this field, teams engage in collaborative efforts with clients, overseeing on-site operations, and orchestrating the coordination of hotel functions and external suppliers.

Theoretical foundations provided in the classroom are reinforced through practical immersion in embedded work-based learning (WBL). Each student benefits from the guidance of a dedicated work-based mentor, with progress reviewed collaboratively in a tripartite evaluation involving the mentor and a member of the academic team. This comprehensive approach ensures a holistic understanding and practical application of concepts in the dynamic landscape of Conference and Events management.

The module acquaints you with the essential concepts and theories of sales and marketing within the hospitality arena. The Sales and Marketing function is responsible for developing the hotel’s share of corporate clients. They network daily with major clients, so the sales and marketing team should be able to provide an accurate estimate of the value of clients and generate new business leads. A sales team is rewarded for the number of contracts or the sales volume generated and might therefore opt for a discounting approach that creates volume. The content is structured to cultivate the skills and knowledge necessary for you to devise practical solutions to various fundamental marketing challenges prevalent in the hospitality industry.

The module aims to foster a comprehensive understanding of the core sales and marketing theories within an international hospitality framework. As you progress, you'll gain hands-on experience applying these theories and concepts to address diverse marketing issues, allowing you to formulate effective solutions. Throughout the module, there will be a continuous emphasis on refining both marketing-specific and transferable skills, all anchored in the unique nature of the international hospitality industry.

This module delves into the intricacies of the international hospitality sector, bridging the academic and professional realms. It equips you with essential academic and business writing skills, including crafting applications and CVs. You will explore effective methods of researching organisations, managing personal brands through skills and networking, and the dynamics of teamwork. Leadership and management in hospitality, entrepreneurship, and innovation are also addressed. The module emphasises ethical business practices, encompassing corporate social responsibility and preparing you for placements focusing on successful interviewing techniques.

In this module, you'll learn about sustainable food and beverage production, consumption patterns, and supply chains from farm to fork. You will also understand how hospitality food and beverages production and consumption, on a global, national, local and individual level, contribute to climate change. You will be able to recognise hospitality businesses; responsibilities and engagement in sustainability and climate action strategies to reduce CO2 emissions, the negative health effects of the most marginalised people, and reduce food and beverage waste. You will learn the roles, rights and duties of different hospitality stakeholders in the production and consumption, the benefits of championing sustainable sourcing and introducing green and/or organic menus.

Hospitality is rooted in the relationships that develop between hosts and guests, a dynamic which has existed since the first human societies emerged. This module introduces you to the origins and history of the concept of hospitality and the ongoing debate in academia on the meaning of hospitality. You will use the lessons that can be learnt from this to define hospitality experiences and explain our approach towards managing sustainable hospitality experiences.

This module primarily focuses on customer satisfaction, emphasising its intricate relationship with customer loyalty. Through an in-depth analysis of customer engagement strategies, the module equips you with the skills to actively involve patrons, fostering enduring connections. Recognition of the diverse needs and preferences of the contemporary hospitality consumer is a central theme, guiding you in tailoring services to accommodate varied cultural, demographic, and individual differences. The study of touchpoints and their effectiveness throughout the customer journey enables you to strategically influence perceptions and satisfaction at different stages.

You will gain insights into the psychological and environmental factors that shape hospitality choices by dissecting the consumer decision-making process, from initial awareness to final engagement. Practical application of customer journey mapping techniques, encapsulated in the Customer Journey Canvas, empowers you to visualise and optimise the entire customer experience. Ultimately, the module seeks to cultivate advanced skills for managing and exceeding customer expectations, fostering loyalty and satisfaction in the diverse and dynamic landscape of the hospitality industry.

This module focuses on culinary skills, gastronomy, creativity, business and restaurant management. Everything you need to manage a sustainable kitchen while developing contemporary, creative, innovative and nutritious menus. You'll delve into mastering a diverse array of cooking techniques, emphasising precision, creativity, and innovation in culinary arts. Strategic recipe and menu planning skills will be cultivated, enabling you to design menus that cater to varied tastes, dietary preferences, and contemporary culinary trends.

The module emphasises the aspect of hygiene in catering operations, ensuring you understand and rigorously implement food safety standards. Furthermore, you'll gain insights into supply chain dynamics, focusing on sourcing quality ingredients and optimising operational efficiency. Proficiency in kitchen accounts management, including budgeting and inventory control, will be developed to ensure financial sustainability and profitability.

Lastly, the module addresses leadership and staff management within culinary settings, cultivating the interpersonal and managerial skills necessary for creating a positive and productive kitchen environment. You will learn theory in the classroom with real-world application through embedded work-based learning.

Many factors influence hotel guests’ purchase decisions but price is always of major importance to customers and hotels because if a hotel room is not sold for a night, it is lost revenue to the hotel and many hotels operate in markets characterised by the undifferentiated products and services, so price can be a determining factor in customer decision-making. In managing revenue, tactics are used to predict customer behaviour at micro-market level to optimise product availability and price to maximise revenue growth. In this module, you will gain a fundamental grounding in a wide range of accounting and financial issues within hospitality management. You will also have the opportunity to develop decision-making skills that are essential for managers through the analysis and interpretation of financial information.

This module focuses on the Front Office, which is part of the property management system (PMS) that aims to facilitate the interaction between hotel management and the guest. The system controls property management functions for reservations, front desk, cashier, housekeeping, and night audit management. As part of the PMS this system is integrated with other systems such as the Food and Beverage or Sales and Catering so that most postings occur automatically. The hotel front office is moving towards automation with less human interface. Reservations are mostly being made with help of booking engines and guest interaction with hotels are by apps and chatbots. Artificial intelligence also occupies a major role to facilitate and enhance guest experience. Students will learn theory in the classroom with real-world application through embedded work-based learning (WBL).

This module aims to give students insights into the hospitality labour market, recruitment, selection, training techniques, and the importance of managing and leading people within the hospitality sector. Focusing on the dynamic nature of people management in diverse hospitality environments, students will explore organisational behaviour, culture, strategic leadership, team dynamics, and the application of practical management principles.

The module incorporates contemporary issues and ethical considerations in managing and leading people, emphasising the importance of integrity and solid ethical frameworks in hospitality leadership. Additionally, it highlights the significance of sustainability in creating fair and inclusive workplaces, fostering economic growth, and promoting equitable employment practices within the hospitality industry. By integrating sustainable practices, students will learn how to lead responsibly, ensuring the long-term viability of the hospitality sector and its positive impact on society and the environment.

This module focuses on Room Operations. Room Operations work is physically demanding, conducted largely from the public eye and goes unnoticed. Room Operations staff are the unsung heroes within the hotel, viewed as relatively low skilled and have a ‘Cinderella’ status within the hospitality industry. The main responsibilities of the Room Operations department lie in the need to provide clean and serviced bedrooms on a daily basis to the agreed standards. These responsibilities extend to the cleaning of the whole property and are critical to the smooth daily operation of any hotel. Recently, there has been more focus on sustainability, reducing waste and single-use plastics. Room operations provide many opportunities to embed sustainable practices. Students will learn theory in the classroom with real-world application through embedded work-based learning (WBL).

Addressing the ethical responsibilities of the hospitality industry, this module focuses on social and environmental justice. Students investigate the industry's impact on society and the environment, exploring sustainable practices and fair treatment initiatives. Through case studies and discussions, learners comprehensively understand ethical challenges and solutions within hospitality operations.

This integrated module aims to provide students (as customers) with essential tools to understand their actions as consumers and to explore consumer feelings, attitudes, and behaviours. The module introduces students to key consumer theories and frameworks, as well as research techniques from both client (organisation/brand) and agency perspectives. Through a work-based learning approach, students will apply these theoretical concepts in real or simulated workplace settings, enabling them to engage with consumer insight practices in a professional context.

Students will collaborate with or investigate a real-world organisation to design, execute, and interpret basic consumer insight tasks, such as surveys, interviews, or observations. This experiential learning process will strengthen their understanding of how consumer data is gathered and used to inform valid marketing decisions.

By bridging theory and practice, the module ensures that students develop practical skills in consumer research while also building the confidence to apply these skills in a dynamic and constantly evolving digital marketing environment.

This module focuses on the environmental management of hotels and will give students the opportunity to critically evaluate the ways in which hotels can have a competitive advantage by introducing an environmental management programme that works systematically with the demands of governments, external stakeholders, climate change requirements and legislation.

Students will understand the ways in which the hotel industry demonstrates its commitment to pursuing the best environmental practices that will minimise energy, water, and materials and minimise waste. Students will also explore ways in which the hotel industry monitors and records environmental impacts on a regular basis with a view to continuous improvement over time.

The impact of carbon emissions and sustainable building standards is central to the module. Students will learn theoretical concepts in the classroom and apply them through real-world case studies and practical examples from the hotel industry.

This module focuses on innovation in the international hospitality industry, particularly intrapreneurship – taking an innovative approach within an established organisation. It explains the basic concepts of intrapreneurship, then these concepts will be linked with the international hospitality industry. More demands from customers, more niche markets and technological advances make it possible for hospitality companies to access both worldwide markets and resources in increasingly innovative and enterprising ways. Digital disruption has revolutionised many industries, how can hotels further enhance customer experiences through digital innovation, gamification, virtual or augmented realities and even service robotics?

Strategic Hospitality Management applies knowledge and skills gained from functional subjects such as marketing, human resource management, accounting and finance. This module provides an outline of the strategic planning process and analytical frameworks in international hospitality industry. It enables students to gain an appreciation of the fast-changing environment in which hospitality organisations operate, to identify the resources and competences in the organisations, and to evaluate different level strategic options and managerial issues in global environment.

The module provides students with the opportunity to undertake an independent and substantial piece of research which focuses on the hospitality industry. Students will have the opportunity to bring together multiple elements of the programme to design, plan and execute an extended piece of work in critical research or professional enquiry to address a real contemporary business, organisational, or sector issue, challenge, or problem. This may involve research within an organisation or sector-based empirical research. Students will be given a thorough grounding in fundamental research paradigms, strategies, and methods with opportunities, as appropriate, for more specialised research training according to project focus and interest.

The module brings together many of the skills and knowledge learned throughout the course. Much of the learning in the module takes place as the student completes a flexible assessment, either a Dissertation or a Consultancy Report addressing a defined business problem initially with a proposal. All routes require students to review the literature and to design and carry out primary research to gain insights into the problem prior to defining and developing the solution.