Courses

The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular semester. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the Student Link for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.

• SHA HF 488: Operations and Service Consulting
  This course teaches students techniques on how to run a lean operation in hospitality while building up their analytical skill-set. Students will learn advanced methods to measure labor productivity, throughput and service levels in hospitality operations.
• SHA HF 515: Asset Management
  This course is designed to introduce the student to a rapidly growing area of the lodging industry, namely, asset management. The course will define what asset management is today and examine the skills required to be a successful asset manager. There will be a special focus on the benefits to the hotel owner of hiring an asset manager and the role of the asset manager in representing the owner in deliberations about annual operating budgets and capital plans with the hotel management company. Finally, the course will examine what kinds of job opportunities are available in industry to those who desire to become asset managers. 2 cr. Offered Fall Semester.
• SHA HF 516: Hospitality Franchising
  This course deals with both the legal and practical applications of franchise systems including the startup, development, operation and management of franchises from the perspective of both the franchisor and the franchisee. Particular emphasis will be placed on the franchisor- franchisee relationship, as well as organizational development for building and operating multi-unit franchised systems. The course will focus on both the restaurant and hotel industries. 2 cr. Offered Fall Semester.
• SHA HF 532: Hospitality Leadership
  This course will focus on leadership and management for the hospitality industry. Using a leadership continuum as a framework, we will explore several different levels of leadership, from a "traditional" leadership role as the head of a major corporation to the more personal aspect of self- leadership. Several different leadership models will be analyzed and applied to the hospitality industry. Leadership tools will be explored - hands-on, realistic tools that you will be able to use in your personal lives, while in school and in the business world upon graduation. A special paper about leadership in the hospitality industry will also be required. 4 cr. Offered Fall & Spring
• SHA HF 550: Hospitality Law
  A look at the laws that apply to hotels, food-service establishments, and the travel industry. Consideration of innkeepers' duties to guests. Concepts of liability and negligence, contract and property practices, and miscellaneous statutes applicable to the hospitality industry. 2 cr. Offered Fall & Spring.
• SHA HF 560: Hospitality Strategic Marketing
  This is an advanced course focusing on hospitality marketing strategies for hotels, restaurants, tourist attractions or other related events and experiences. In this course we will build upon and integrate basic marketing principles into complex marketing strategies designed to capture market share. All projects are for real situations with real "clients" to be delivered in real time, enabling us to work with industry professionals. Special attention will be placed on market research, targeted marketing, digital marketing, and presentation skills. 4 cr. Offered Fall & Spring.
• SHA HF 619: Hotel Development and Deal Making
  The Hotel Development and Deal Making course will cover the basics of real estate development: Site acquisition, required approvals, zoning, and financial strategies. As it pertains to hotel assets, the course will help students navigate the intricacies of negotiating franchise agreements and management contracts that are necessary for any development deal. This course will also promote sound real estate investment and financial decisions via the knowledge of theory and strategies and their application in the real world. We will learn about potential sources of debt and equity financing through the study of the four quadrants of capital, study about the factors that affect an investor's buy/sell/reposition decisions, and delve into the complex relationship between the equity participant (owner), the lender, the operating company, and the brand.
• SHA HF 621: Advanced Food and Beverage Management
  This course is meant to provide students at the Master's level a broad and practical understanding of foodservice operations for the new world in which we are living. Foodservice encompasses much more than restaurants, though special attention will be paid to various types of restaurants to understand how they operate and what they may look like in the future. Students should expect to gain insight into both strategic and day-to-day operational management, as well as a high-level discovery of the various segments of foodservice.
• SHA HF 631: Advanced Hr
  This course description is currently under construction.
• SHA HF 667: Fundamentals of Digital Content Development
  This course teaches students to use digital tools to create messaging, story lines, and infographics for print, online, audio and video content marketing. Use of Adobe Photoshop, Premier Pro, In Design and other elements of the Creative Suite will be used to design materials for real lodging and food and beverage clients.
• SHA HF 679: Financial Reporting and Analysis
  This course will teach students the process of examining a company's performance in the context of its industry and economic environment in order to arrive at a decision or recommendation. The central focus of financial analysis is financial statement analysis and interpretation of financial disclosures on evaluating the company's performance to improve risk assessment and decision-making. Students will be able to understand company's future risk performance by analyzing the financial statements.
• SHA HF 688: Operations and Service Consulting
  This course teaches students techniques on how to run a lean operation in hospitality while building up their analytical skill-set. Students will learn advanced methods to measure labor productivity, throughput and service levels in hospitality operations.
• SHA HF 701: Hospitality Operations Analysis
  This course investigates the distinctive operational characteristics, operational mechanics, technology and management practices of hotels and restaurants. Throughout the course, students will be provided with advanced techniques and tools to analyze and improve operational capabilities of a hospitality organization. Analysis of daily operations with a focus on developing viable solutions to problems is emphasized. The first half of the course will focus on the theoretical principles and operational tactics of lodging operations and on how the departments within the rooms division of an individual hotel operate. Students will explore the managerial aspects of hotel reservation, the front office, housekeeping, engineering and security. The second half of the course will focus on principal operating problems facing managers in the restaurant industry. Topics such as concept development, pricing strategies and restaurant revenue management, menu performance analysis, cost control, labor management and customer service processes are addressed. 4 cr. Offered Summer II.
• SHA HF 702: Innovation and Disruption in Hospitality
  In today's suddenly uncertain world, disruptions are the norm and are mandating that we adapt our organizations and our individual selves. To stay ahead and remain resilient, businesses must ready themselves for crisis and change management. They must also excel at problem-solving and identifying opportunities to innovate effectively. Using case studies, media coverage and other content, this course will examine some of the most dramatic changes encountered by the hospitality industry, from the onset and impact of Uber and Airbnb to the current COVID-19 pandemic. Hospitality leaders need to know how to be the disruptors in the industry, as well as learn how to survive and capitalize when the industry is disrupted. In both situations, effective innovation is key to staying relevant and succeeding. Each week the class will meet to discuss different challenges that businesses have faced and approaches that entrepreneurs have taken to manage them. Examples will focus on both proactive change (addressing disruptions through innovation and early detection), as well as reactive change (leading in times of crisis). This course is offered in the FALL term in lieu of the required HF 701 for students entering with extensive industry experience. It is also offered in the Spring as an elective for those who have completed HF 701 and for those pursuing the Innovation & Entrepreneurship concentration.
• SHA HF 707: Hospitality Entrepreneurship
  This course is intended to be a capstone experience for students seeking to understand hospitality entrepreneurship and innovation as a professional business system. Student teams will create, develop and design a concise Pro Forma Business Plan for a start-up non-profit or profit-driven hospitality enterprise. At the end of the semester teams will make a competitive presentation integrating the principles and skills mastered in previous coursework to a panel of successful hospitality entrepreneurs. 4 cr. Offered Fall Semester.
• SHA HF 710: Finance for the Hospitality Industry
  Studies the techniques financial managers and external analysts employ to value the firm and its assets. Topics include financial statement analysis, taxation, discounted cash flow, stock and bond valuation, cost of capital, and capital budgeting. The techniques of discounted cash flow and the command of taxation principles developed in the course are applied to commercial real estate analysis, including hospitality properties. 4 cr. Offered Fall & Spring.
• SHA HF 711: Hospitality Financial Management
  Accounting has been described as the language of business. Consequently, the ability to speak and understand this language is a fundamental competency for practitioners of business. A central aspect of accounting is the composition of financial statements that depict the underlying economic reality of the firm being operated. This course is intended to introduce fundamental elements that are used to compose these financial reports. Specifically, course content will include an examination and quantitative analysis of the balance sheet, income statement and statement of cash flows from both a conceptual and pragmatic perspective. How these statements are both composed and relate to business planning, control and decision making in hospitality enterprise will be a central topic. 4 cr. Offered Summer II.
• SHA HF 712: Managerial Accounting for the Hospitality Industry
  After a review of financial-accounting principles, this course examines how financial information is assembled and presented according to the Uniform Systems Accounts for hospitality enterprises. The primary emphasis of the course is on analytical and decision-making uses of financial information, including such topics as cost behavior, leverage, cost-volume-profit analysis, contribution-margin pricing, and budgeting. The course concludes with a review of hotel operating forms, including franchising and management contracts and assessing their impact on financial performance and risk. 4 cr. Offered Fall Semester.
• SHA HF 714: Hospitality Market Feasibility and Valuation
  This course provides an introduction to and detailed instruction regarding the hotel market and feasibility research process including hands-on preparation of a feasibility analysis for a proposed hotel development. The course will consist of a series of lectures and possible guest lectures regarding the fundamental aspects of hotel feasibility analysis. Students will learn about and then put into the practice the analytical techniques presented, building to completion of a full feasibility analysis in a team fashion which will be presented at the end of the semester both in written and oral form. 2 cr. Offered Spring Semester.
• SHA HF 715: Fundamentals of a Hotel Real Estate Deal
  The purpose of this course is to introduce the students to the various aspects of a Hotel Real Estate Deal. The target audience is any student who aspires to have a career involving the ownership, development and/or financing of lodging assets. 2 cr. Offered Spring Semester.

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