About This Event

While almost every industry has experienced a slump this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, few have struggled with the economic impacts related to COVID-19 like the hospitality and tourism industry. Countless hotel bookings, spa experiences, theme park trips, performing arts evenings, and dinners out have been canceled as a result of the pandemic – all taking its toll on an industry that was already dealing with tight profit margins. And as hotel occupancy rates and average room rates have dropped hoteliers across the globe are worried about survival.

The survival of many hospitality and tourism businesses heavily depends on increasing consumer demand for services and experiences, which means that figuring out what will make customers return is essential.

But that’s not the only question facing hospitality and tourism industry leaders post-pandemic.

How will technology change the way services are delivered? What operational measures need to change to make consumers willing to come back? How will managers build employee loyalty when the industry had no choice but to lay off some top performers? How will leaders in the hospitality and tourism industry answer these questions?

So how do you move from surviving to thriving in this kind of environment?

The University of South Florida Master of Science in Hospitality Management program is hosting a free, seven-week online certificate program that can help participants determine the answers to some of these questions.

And others that you may not have worried about yet. And those who are unemployed as a result of the pandemic will be better positioned for the post-crisis job search.

The certificate will dive into several functional areas like marketing, human resource management, technology management, hospitality law and contracts, financial management, and hospitality operations to help answer several questions including:

• How can I restore the demand?
• How can I come up opportunities for off-the-beaten path?
• Technology in hospitality industry: Can it be the savior?
• Legal battle: what to look for?
• How to deal with remote workers, employee morale and digital exhaustion?
• How to optimize operations to be prepared for similar crisis in the future?

Each of the seven modules is self-contained and may build upon select pre-work, readings, and references to create an online synchronous or asynchronous learning experience that maximizes knowledge transfer and market readiness. Completion and receiving a passing grade from the associated testing will result in being granted the Post-Crisis Leadership Certificate, issued by the M3 Center for Hospitality Technology and Innovation in the Muma College of Business. The digital version of this certification will be sent to the participant by email automatically after the modules are completed.

• Module #1: Laying the foundation
• Module #2: Focusing on employees & Legal Considerations
• Module #3: What do Customers Want? Digital Marketing and Customer Experience Management in the New Normal
• Module #4: Using technology as a competitive advantage
• Module #5: Food and Beverage Management during crisis
• Module #6: Financial and Entrepreneurship considerations
• Module #7: Planning for Future

Who Should Attend?

• Professionals who lost their jobs because of the crisis and looking to add new skills to their resumes while seeking a new position.
• Mid- and senior-level professionals who want to prepare for a successful “reopening” of the economy and the new normal.
• Team leaders at all levels who want to be effective managers and build a resilient, focused team after any current or future crisis.
• Junior employees who want to position themselves as leaders in their workplace.
• Laid-off and furloughed employees who want to gain a competitive advantage for their post-crisis job search.

Career-Driven Benefits

• Navigate the transition from the crisis to the new normal by better understanding the pandemic’s financial impact on your business, re-defining your new competitive advantages.
• Recruit and build a pandemic-specific staff routine for hospitality businesses.
• Assess technology and discover new tools that will be essential post-pandemic.
• Assess the firm’s financial situation and determine ways to generate more value.
• Enhance food and beverage operations and discover best practices for seating, production, and service delivery in the new normal.
• Seize opportunities to gain and monetize customer loyalty.
• Emerge from the crisis with a better understanding of government mandates, customer expectations, and employee needs

Schedule

The 70-minute modules will become available on Nov 2 and will be open until Dec. 18. Testing after each module will ensure comprehension of critical lesson material.

Format

Attendees can join the live seminars on Monday evenings at 5 pm starting on Nov 2, 2020. During these live lectures, they can ask questions to the facilitators. Alternatively, the recorded versions of the lectures can be watched on M3 Center Youtube page (https://www.youtube.com/m3center) and tests can be taken on the Schoology platform.

Format: 100% Online

Time: Mondays at 5pm starting on Nov 2, 2020. In addition, sessions will be recorded so users may view any time

Register By: October 30, 5 PM EST.

Completion Deadline: Must be completed by December 18

Sessions: 7 total; modules airing live on Monday evenings starting on Nov 2, but recordings are available for self-pace mode.

Pre-requisite Requirements: No prior business degree requirements

Fee: $0

Language: English

Books & Materials Requirements: None

Location: Online

Dates: Nov 2. 1 to Dec. 18