EHL Course Catalogue 2011-2012 - Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne

Real Estate Finance and Valuation
45 hours of contact – 3 semester credits
� Summary
The objectives for this course are related to promoting sound hospitality real estate finance decisions
(primarily with hotels, but also restaurants and related land uses such as timeshares and
condominiums) using methods in financial economics. We explore the topics of valuation, debt
financing arrangements, equity capital structures, and the institutions that serve as the foundation
for hospitality real estate. The course features a mix of theoretical and practical approaches to these
topics including case studies and lectures from industry specialists whenever possible. The overall
operating premise of the course is that we want to make money on every hospitality real estate
transaction.
Revenue Management
45 hours of contact – 3 semester credits
� Summary
The revenue management course provides a set of guiding principles which govern how resources
should be allocated to maximize total overall profits, as opposed to considering room nights or rates
in isolation. The intention is to discuss the essentials of revenue management principles and their
associated systems, methods, and applications as powerful tools for effective hotel management.
Students create simple revenue optimization spreadsheets that facilitate decision-making in a
small/medium hotel through the application of low-tech revenue management. To understand its
application in larger hotels, students learn about the functionalities and use of the revenue
management system produced by IDeaS.
Services Marketing
45 hours of contact – 3 semester credits
� Summary
The objective of this course is to provide students with a clearer understanding of how competitive
intensity impacts profitability in the international hospitality industry. It will focus on studying areas
where marketers can and must make a difference for hospitality enterprises to maintain and
increase revenue at the operations-marketing interface, measuring and managing customer
satisfaction and pricing for value.
Corporate Strategy
60 hours of contact – 3 semester credits
� Summary
The discipline of strategic management deals with achieving and sustaining competitive advantage.
While most strategic management textbooks and courses espouse a rational-linear model of
strategy formulation, research suggests that practitioners rarely exhibit this behaviour. This course
takes a perspective of “praxis” to teaching, learning and doing as it focuses on the actual work
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