Specialized MBA: Beyond Hospitality Management

Puneet Chhatwal knew exactly where he wanted to wind up. According to Hotel Management International, the Indian native began learning German in 1981 with one goal in mind. He wanted to someday work for Frankfurt-based Steigenberger Hotel Group. It took over three decades before Chhatwal landed a hospitality management job at Steigenberger and began working there – as the new CEO. His dream of working in the field was aided by the French government, which awarded him a scholarship to study at ESSEC Business School, where he earned his MBA in 1991. As he relates on the school’s website, “[The two-year program] inculcated in me the ability to think ‘out of the box’ and find solutions.” “The course content,” he continues, “the quality of the faculty, the setting of the campus, the nationality mix, exposure to industry professionals and real life case studies,” all helped prepare him for a hospitality management job.  

Chhatwal's journey included a stint at Brussels-based Rezidor as chief development officer, presiding over an expansion from 150 to 435 properties – making it the fastest growing hotel company in the world. Upon arriving at Steigenberger Hotel Group, Chhatwa acknowledged the challenges he faced. The company was not well known beyond Germany – only 14 of the hotel’s 81 properties were located outside of the country, and all but four were in Europe.

“We're one of hospitality's best kept secrets,” Chhatwal reflected during a 2013 interview with HMI online, before going on explain how this could be used to Steigenberger’s advantage. “The ‘made in Germany’ message plays extremely well in the emerging markets – it represents quality and solidity. Our ‘Germanness’ is something we must embrace and leverage. Germans are liable to understate; they're not so into this kind of aggressive marketing and self-promotion, spending time talking about how good they are. We must proclaim our identity and shout about our achievements a little more loudly!”

Like Chhatwal, Olivier Chavy was a young man when he recognized what he wanted to do for a living. “I knew I wanted to be in the hospitality industry at the age of 14,” he told D Magazine in 2014. “Two years later, I got a summer job as a pool attendant at a Novotel hotel in the south of France.” Chavy was still in his 20s when he became general manager for Deauville’s Hotel Normandy – the youngest GM in the hotel’s history.

Over the course of a 25 year career in hospitality management, Chavy has worked in operations and development for major chains like Hilton Worldwide and Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, for with smaller luxury properties like Lucien Barrière. Today he has shifted from hospitality management to working as president & CEO of Dallas, Texas-based architectural design firm Wilson & Associates. Soon into this job, he found himself facing several challenges. For one thing, although his background in hospitality was good preparation for the sort of upscale customer service Wilson & Associates demanded, it was a distinctly different enterprise from hotels. Further, he was taking over from the firm’s namesake, founder Tricia Wilson. Finally, less than a year into his tenure the firm was purchased by Shanghai’s East China Architectural Design and Research Institute Co., Ltd., designers of some of the tallest buildings in the world.

Chavy, who earned his MBA in Hospitality Management IMHI from ESSEC Business School in 1988, explained on the school’s website that, “To this day the learning I acquired at the ESSEC IMHI MBA program is still incredibly valuable and I often refer to it now in my own career.” Last year, Chavy was inducted into the university’s Hall of Honor.

Chavy and Chhatwal are just two of the over 1,500 graduates of ESSEC Business School’s hospitality management program across the world. They meet regularly for informal get togethers, which students are often invited to attend. Chavy and Chhatwal and other members of the alumni network are available for assistance throughout the student’s education and their efforts to land a top hospitality management job.

Whether MBA students in ESSEC Business School’s Hospitality Management program are on one or two-year tracks, as they approach graduation they embark on a two-month, full-time field project. Designed to apply the student’s acquired knowledge to a practical situation, field projects combine students from several different concentrations under the supervision of an ESSEC faculty member and a company manager. As second year student Bruno Trenchard, explained in an ESSEC blog, it was, “A tough, demanding, but highly enriching experience that taught us how to work in a professional context with all the issues involved. Managing a team, explaining different concepts, motivating teammates, and working in a good atmosphere are the things that are best learned on the field, and through this project.”

Well-prepared MBAs aspiring to top-level hospitality management jobs can take some encouragement from recent reports. In 2016, Hospitality Net predicts

global hotel industry revenue to hit the US$550 billion mark – an increase of nearly US$100 billon. Despite a challenging environment with currency fluctuations and security concerns, international tourist arrivals across the globe reached a record 1.2 billion last year – a trend the UN World Tourism Organization expects will continue. 

For both students and graduates of ESSEC Business School’s hospitality management program, the opportunities seem truly endless.

This article is sponsored by ESSEC Business School’s MBA in in Hospitality Management IMHI program.