The Learning Lab at the Springhill Suites

A new SpringHill Suites hotel in Denver is one of only 10 teaching hotels built on a U.S. college campus—80 percent of its workforce is made up of students from Metro State’s School of Hospitality, Tourism and Events.

By Kevin Woo One+| January 25, 2013

MARRIOTT OPENED A NEW SPRINGHILL SUITES hotel in downtown Denver this past August. The 150-room property, which took more than five years and US$45 million to complete, will feature 7,500-square feet of meeting space and nearly 500 pieces of original artwork. Ordinarily, news of this sort would earn barely a mention in the local paper. But this hotel is unique.

It’s unique, because it’s one of only 10 “teaching” hotels built on a U.S. college campus. This Springhill Suites property sits on the campus of Metropolitan State University. Another unique quality about the property is the way it’s staffed. Eighty percent of its workforce is made up of students from Metro State’s School of Hospitality, Tourism and Events (HTE). Working at the hotel is part of the core curriculum for students majoring in HTE. The other 20 percent of the hotel’s employees are from Sage Hospitality who also serve as trainers and mentors for the Metro State HTE students.

The crown jewel of the property, for the students, is the 28,000-square foot, super high tech Hospitality Learning Center, which provides them with state-of-the-art classrooms and interactive laboratories. The students get hands on F&B experience by working in test kitchens where they learn food preparation and management techniques. They’re also able to develop different menus and food themes and test-drive the ideas with hotel guests.

The learning center also has a sensory analysis lab where the students learn the differences between various types of beer, wine and spirits. Of course, like all classes at the Hospitality Learning Center, the class is hands on so spittoons are strategically placed alongside each desk. The students learn the differences between various types of drinks and how to manage inventory. A decent size wine, beer and spirits collection can represent more than a $250,000 investment for a property.

The lab is outfitted with specialized lighting that can be altered to simulate different types of indoor settings. It’s also completely soundproof; has it’s own HVAC system; and the room is equipped with special tables that light up enabling the students to study the legs of different types of wine.

Dr. Chad Gruhl is an associate professor at Metro State and was the project manager for the hotel’s construction. He says that teaching students how to closely manage a hotel’s food and beverage operation makes good business sense.

“You need to know everything about the food and beverage business,” he said. “For example, in a restaurant, there’s always a certain amount of employee theft. As the restaurant manager, you have to let the employees know that you’re watching so less is stolen. If they think you’re not watching, then stuff will just constantly be walking out the door.

“A large beer, wine and spirits inventory is a huge investment (for a hotel). A property can lose vast amounts of money if the inventory isn’t handled the way it’s supposed to be.”

Gruhl jokes that some students mistakenly think that taking a class in wine cellar management will be easy. After all, how hard can it be to sit in class and taste wine everyday? They quickly realize, however, that the class has more to do with chemistry, geography and the production of wine than actual consumption.

However, not all the students’ time is spent learning how to prepare meals and sipping wine. They also spend time behind the scenes learning the less glamorous side of the hotel business by working with the housekeeping staff, where they learn the proper way to change a bed and scrub a toilet. While the students only spend a week cleaning rooms, Gruhl says that week is important because the students have the opportunity to learn, first hand, one of the most important aspects of hotel operations.

But in an industry that is dominated by workers who don’t have college degrees, is a BA in hospitality, tourism and events really necessary? Are the people with a formal background in the hospitality industry any more likely to succeed than those who don’t? As with everything, the answer depends on whom you ask.

Alessandro Pereira has worked in the hospitality industry for more than 20 years. A native of Peru, Pereira realized three years ago that he wouldn’t be able to fulfill his dream of becoming a hotel general manager without first earning a degree. He reached out to Gruhl for some advice and was sold on Metro State’s hospitality program.

“In addition to our classroom learning we get out and do internships and cross-training at local hotels.” Pereira says. “We learn how to run a front desk, night auditing, human resources and operations. We meet a lot of people during our time in school. I only have one more semester before I graduate and I already have two job offers. By the time we graduate we will know a lot of people in the industry and that will help us get a good job.”

Kara Wolfe the program director for hospitality leadership at Bradley University, says that while it’s not mandatory to have a degree to work in the hospitality industry it’s advantageous if a student has aspirations of climbing the corporate ladder.

“As hospitality companies become more global they like to recruit people that have gone to college (to study HTE) because it shows a four-year commitment to learning the different aspects of the industry,” Wolfe says. “Turn over is a very big issue in our business so showing the commitment to earn a degree shows that you have interest. But a degree alone isn’t going to get you a job.

“In class we not only discuss the theory and the big picture types of things but we also try to do projects that can be applied. There are also expectations that students will find internships because we want you to come back to class and say, ‘Oh I understand now’ when we’re talking about human resource and labor laws (for example) because you saw it in action.”

Another motivation for aspiring hospitality executives to earn a degree in HTE is having the credentials to address a growing concern among some industry watchers – succession planning. As baby boomers begin to reach retirement age it isn’t always clear who will take over the senior leadership positions within hospitality companies.

Wolfe says that companies will be looking for the next generation of senior managers to challenge the status quo and ask, “Why do we do things this way? What is the revenue management model? Are we serving the customers, current profitability as well as the long-term planning?”

She adds that the days of working your way up from bellhop to hotel general manager are going to become less and less likely. “By studying hospitality in college you have a better chance of moving up because you have a background in the big picture, the theory and revenue management. The industry is becoming quite complex.”

One senior executive who rose through the ranks the old fashioned way is Ray Hammer, the general manager of the Sheraton Park Center complex in Dallas. Hammer, who was formally trained as a chef at the CIA, began his career as a breakfast cook at the Sheraton in Boston nearly thirty years ago. Since then he’s moved eleven times landing in cities that were white-hot tourist destinations (Miami), and some (Shaumburg, Illinois and Nova Scotia, Canada) that were a little off the beaten path. But each successive position helped push Hammer further along in his career.

“Without question my practical experience has served me well,” Hammer says. “While school gives you the theoretical knowledge, on-the-job training gives you the practical skills that are necessary to succeed in this business. I think in the hotel industry each circumstance requires some background or experience in order to be able to react appropriately. We don’t produce widgets that are alike so every guest who walks into the hotel is different and every event is different. You have to be able to reflect back on past experience and adjust to the specific needs of that particular client or event.”

Hammer agrees that classroom lessons and studying the hospitality and tourism industry improve critical thinking skills. But, he cautions, more often than not those who work in the hospitality and tourism industry find themselves constantly working in crisis resolution situations rather than long-term strategic planning so those that develop practical, hands on, problem solving skills are the most likely to be successful.

“In the field we’re often working on one crisis after another and sometimes we have to find the path of least resistance due to time constraints and whatever the limitations of the situation are,” Hammer continued. “Sometimes the easiest [solution] is necessary even though it may not be best. Sometimes the way we deal with an event or handle a guest isn’t the way you learned it in school. Our practical sense tells us to adjust to the needs of the customer verses the academic process which is based on what we learned in school.”

Of the 700 employees who work for Hammer at the Starwood resort, only 12 have a degree in hospitality but about 100 have degrees in areas such as engineering, finance and even history. Hammer is quick to point out that not all jobs in the hospitality industry take place within a hotel property. Those who study architecture, for example, can pursue a career in property development and someone with a marketing background can develop a career managing hospitality brands or provide brand support.

However you want to measure success, academic or practical, the new Springhill hotel is already paying dividends for both the city of Denver and Metro University. Because of its amenities and upscale look and feel, the property is already considered to be the flagship property for the Springhill brand. The hotel’s special event business is also booming. It hosted a big bachelor party during its opening week and the events staff is making major headway with local event planners so the property can be a major hub during Denver Arts Week and Denver Restaurant Week.

For Metro State University, this fall 635 students enrolled in the school’s hospitality program, a 19 percent increase from the 2011-12 school year and triple the enrollment from five years ago.

It doesn’t take a college degree to know that a great property, with super smart and eager employees, excellent instruction from faculty and Sage staff and a great location equates to an unbeatable business model. One+

Read the original story in One+ here.