School of Hospitality Leadership Student Lodging Site Visits

This semester students in HMGT 2100, Lodging I, participated in a lodging site visit project in which they formed groups of five or six to arrange a hotel visit to meet with the management team. Students participated in an orientation on the project focusing on the details of a professional visit along with appropriate professional dress attire. Upon completion of the orientation the students then selected a property from a pre-arranged group of industry partners.The student groups worked with the hotel management team to schedule the visit which included meeting with the manager, taking a back-of-house tour, and arranging interviews with key executives and managers from the property – including room division managers, human resources managers, food and beverage managers and the general manager.

This term the participating hotels included: a limited-service hotel, the Hampton Inn and Suites Raleigh; the deluxe Umstead Hotel and Spa; independent boutique hotels, the Franklin Hotel and the Siena Hotel in Chapel Hill; a resort hotel, the Sanderling; a business hotel, the Renaissance Raleigh North Hills; and an all-suite hotel, Embassy Suites Durham.

As the final stage of the project, the students write a reflection essay about their visit and interviews, documenting what they found most interesting and surprising, what they learned about the lodging settings, which executive or manager they identified with the most, and what the benefits of the visit/interviews were. The coordinating managers from the hotels also evaluate the students focusing on effort, behavior, attitude, professional etiquette, etc. Photos at each property with the SHL students are below.

Embassy Suites Raleigh Durham Research Triangle

Renaissance North Hills Raleigh

Sanderling Resort OBX

Sienna Hotel Il Palio Ristorante

The Franklin Hotel

Umstead Hotel and Spa

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