As hospitality continues to evolve into an investment-led industry, trusts, surveyors, funds and asset management teams seek talented professionals with a specific set of analytical and management skills. These specialists need the investment and real estate expertise to develop new hospitality concepts, as well as innovative retail and corporate spaces.
In response, Glion has launched the only Master’s degree in the world that combines the subjects of real estate, capital markets and global hotel development. The Master’s in Finance, Real Estate and Hotel Development, taken at the Glion London campus, delivers highly sought-after expertise and opens the door to rewarding career opportunities worldwide.
Three-phase program structure
Senior Lecturer and Head of International Hotel Development, Jonathan Humphries, explains the structure of the course. “The overarching themes of this new Master’s program are starting with an individual hotel asset focused on creating a new concept, asset managing that, and looking at all the financial KPIs along with how to integrate that into an overall mixed-use resort development.”
“Following this, it goes into a more macro aspect looking at all different real estate asset classes, from retail to office, and looking at the global markets of real estate. The third phase is around capital markets looking at the play of debt and equity and overall stocks and how they relate to the real estate asset classes.”
From the classroom to the latest concepts
Jonathan runs his own company focused on creating new hospitality concepts, which, combined with two international field trips, gives students an immersive educational experience grounded in today’s hotel industry. “There are two field trips: one to Amsterdam and one to Dubai. The one to Amsterdam is really focused on looking at all the great new concepts that have taken place in the hospitality sector over the last ten years.”
“Dubai, which is one of the big growth markets in the world and a great hub for logistics and airlift, has a multitude of new mixed-use developments which the students will be exposed to.”
Real-world internships
A key part of the Glion educational ethos are the internships, where students can put their knowledge to the test and gain career-boosting real-world experience, as Jonathan explains. “In addition, students will be exposed to an internship with industry partners in advisory, development, or investment, and also an opportunity to do a capstone project.”
“Industry partners, include the likes of HBS which is a global consulting firm, and STR, one of the largest data providers in the industry. This is a great opportunity for students who want to get significant exposure to all of these different areas and have a potential future career in either finance, either at a corporate level, asset management on the investor side, development or any aspect of real estate investment.”
