Capstone In-Residence Update from Team Dusit!

Capstone Company: Dusit International
Team Members: Magali Castells Viñals, Filip Schmidt
Location: Bangkok, Thailand

“Dusit International is a well-respected Thai hotel group that is renowned for its rich history, outstanding Thai hospitality, and gracious services. The group is currently operating 27 properties in 9 countries around the world and has officially announced the opening of 50 new properties in the coming years.

As Buddhism plays a central role in the culture of Dusit International, the company places a strong emphasis on the field of education to support the local community. As expressed by the company founder Thanpuying Chanut Piyaoui, “If Thailand is to be among the world’s leaders in the hospitality industry, the education and training of staff would be of the most importance.”

Dusit International has an Education division that runs two reputable colleges, three culinary schools, and one vocational school. Dusit Education plans to expand into different markets to answer the demand of the industry and sustain the future growth of the hotel group.

During our capstone in-residence period we worked close together with the Education division of Dusit International. Having a capstone partner that is directly related to the Dusit family enabled us to access internal information and develop connections with the different departments. Thanks to conversations with members of the executive team, we were able to fully understand the vision of the company and see the potential of Dusit Education to sustain the future growth of the Dusit International. Our project is divided in the following two objectives:

1. Integrate the educational division as a main driver of Dusit International’s future growth strategy
2. The conceptualization and operational development of an integrated hotelschool in Manila, Philippines.

Additionally, we had the chance to attend several hotel investment and hospitality education conferences such as APacCHRIE and APHIC, to learn more about the current trends in the ASEAN region. We also used this opportunity to meet industry participants and learn from their passions and working experiences in Asia.

Besides spending time at the office, our capstone partner really encouraged us to travel and discover Thailand. Although Bangkok is amazing, we followed his advice and spent most of our weekends outside of the city in places, including Amphawa, Chiang Mai, Hua Hin, Koh Tao, Koh Samui, Koh Phangan, and Koh Lipe

Due to the diversity of backgrounds within our capstone team, we have been able to see the project from various perspectives. By combining our knowledge and experiences, we were able to fully integrate with the company and understand the hospitality educational industry that we were not previously familiar with. At first, the project took each of us out of our comfort zones, but ultimately enabled us to grow personally and professionally.

We are very much looking forward to finalizing our project and delivering qualitative recommendations that can directly be implemented to support the sustainable growth of Dusit International.”

 

Capstone In-Residence Update from Team citizenM!

Capstone Company: citizenM
Team Members: Karim Abed, Tatiana Bassatne, Mohit Dang
Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands

“Excitement and curiosity are the words that best describe our anticipations before embarking on our current journey with citizenM Hotels in Amsterdam. Our experience so far has been both enlightening and fulfilling as we are working with a company that runs on the principles of innovation and foresight. Our project aims at helping citizenM build further expertise and develop an innovative and forward-looking global distribution strategy for its hotels. Throughout our time, we have been involved in various aspects of citizenM’s business functions and it has been enriching to learn about the many facets of the hospitality industry. From strategic meetings to vital updates from the industry, the team at the support office strives to broaden our horizons about the company and the hospitality industry. The flexible nature of the company allows us to conduct our academic research in absolute autonomy, which has positively impacted the progress of our project. We have also realized the importance of the skills and competencies acquired during our time in Lausanne and Hong Kong and this in-residence period has given us the opportunity to apply them in actual work situations. Our journey with citizenM is definitely a high point of our Masters program thus far and we are eagerly looking forward to the outcomes of our project.”

Capstone In-Residence Update from Team SGS!

Capstone Company: SGS
Team Members: Sandra Heimburger, Hao Bin Jack Lai, Ivan Pupavac
Location: Geneva, Switzerland

“It has been an amazing and extraordinary journey so far working at the headquarters of SGS in Switzerland, Geneva. SGS is the world’s leading inspection, verification, testing, and certification company. With over 85,000 employees, they operate a network of more than 1,800 offices and laboratories around the world. Throughout the course of our capstone project, we support the development of the business plan for the Travel & Hospitality industry under the Certification and Business Enhancement business line. Thus, we always learn something new every day such as understand what matters to hoteliers and how valuable and important compliance is in the world of hospitality. Alongside with the mentioned core project, we also initiated a feasibility study on possible solutions for the Governments and Institutions business line, supporting tourism industry development for worldwide destinations. We are now aware of what is necessary for a hospitality business to do to improve quality, safety, productivity, and reduce risk in an increasingly regulated world.”