Students enrolled in the School of Hospitality Management (SHM) in the College of Health and Human Development (HHD) received a first-hand look at the operations of a major hotel corporation.
Twelve students had the opportunity in December to tour Marriott International’s newly renovated headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland, as part of a pre-professional development experience organized by Marriott Foundation Grants Manager Margaret Buckley, SHM Director John O’Neill, SHM Industry Relations Director Brian Black, and HHD Director of Development Kathleen Rider.
The experience was led in part by Carl Berquist, CFO of Marriott International, who met with students in the executive boardroom. Buckley and Anne Gunsteens with the Marriott Foundation gave students a tour of Marriott’s newly renovated corporate offices. Beth Shuster with Marriott Archives showed students the archives of Marriott’s 80-year history. Steve Bauman and Lisl Ewing with Marriott Global Learning Deployment discussed talent acquisition and career opportunities. The group met with Chief Development Officer Eric Jacobs and experienced Marriott’s Innovation Labs, including prototypical model guest room mock-ups of Marriott’s newest brands. Corporate Chef John Huppman also showed students Marriott’s test kitchens.
“Much of the experience a student gets through internships and other work experiences comes at the local operating level. By visiting the corporate headquarters of a lodging company such as Marriott, the student gets to see how the overall strategy gets developed and implemented,” Berquist said. “Items such as visiting the model rooms and the innovation labs gives the students insight into the level of effort that is generated to produce what will be in the hotels two to three years from now. Experiencing the workplace where ideas are generated and turned into reality, even if only for a day, demonstrates just how complex but exciting the industry is and perhaps a different view of what it has to offer from a career standpoint.”
O’Neill said, “Such trips provide students with a chance to learn about the latest trends and career opportunities in the hospitality industry, at both the corporate and hotel-unit levels. Marriott International has been one of the top recruiters of our students for years; they have been a significant donor to the School of Hospitality Management; and they have placed our students at both the corporate and hotel-unit levels.”
Additionally, students met with Collin Urgo, principal and senior vice president of operations at Urgo Hotels, a Marriott franchisee. Students toured and stayed overnight at Urgo Hotels’ new dual-branded hotel property in Rockville, Maryland.
“Urgo Hotels is one of the newest recruiters and donors to our school, and they have placed our students in both corporate and unit-level positions,” O’Neill said. “Though we compete with many other schools of hospitality management to place students in hotel unit operations positions, very few schools are able to place their graduates at the corporate level, and trips like this help us to strengthen relationships allowing that to continue in the future.”
Berquist and Urgo are members of the Penn State SHM Industry Advisory Board.
“The advisory board is a great opportunity for those active in the industry to participate, from an advisory standpoint in the future of SHM, and at the same time learn about the recent trends being taught in the academic areas,” Berquist said. “It also gives us a chance to meet the students who hopefully will one day be associates working in the industry. These students are the future leaders of the industry and it’s exciting to meet them as they start their careers.”
Jian Huang, an international student from China and member of the SHM student organization Elite League of Hospitality in Asia, described the trip as a great opportunity to learn about the hospitality industry from a successful corporation.
“The experience at Marriott headquarters was absolutely amazing,” Huang said. “We had a chance to talk and interact with Marriott executives, which was awesome. In addition, we visited all kinds of prototype rooms that we will only see in the future from Marriott. My career goal is to become an entrepreneur; therefore it is a good lesson for me to learn their room designs, and I am impressed by their marketing efforts with rooms design.”
Support for student travel was provided by the Penn State Hotel & Restaurant Society Endowment for Pre-professional Leadership and Hospitality Industry Experiences.