Hospitality Strategy

• Senior leadership at hotel properties
• General managers
• Executive committee personnel
• Managers hoping to move into a senior leadership position
• Hotel owners
• Corporate-level managers interested in formulating business-unit and corporate strategy

• Hospitality Strategy Certificate from Cornell's Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration
• 50 Professional Development Hours (5 CEUs)
• 7 Professional Development Units (PDUs) toward PMI recertification
• 20 Professional Development Credits (PDCs) toward SHRM-CP and SHRM-SCP recertification
• 20 Credit hours towards HRCI recertification

To achieve sustained success and survive unpredictable economic challenges, hospitality organizations need to set themselves apart from their competitors. That differentiation requires an effective strategy.

In this certificate program, you will carefully examine the key elements in the strategic management process, which consists of two equally important parts: strategy formulation and strategy implementation. You will first investigate the fundamentals of strategy, including what makes a good strategy, how to think like a strategist, and which of your organization's resources and capabilities will lead to a sustainable competitive advantage. Next, you will explore strategy formulation, which involves planning strategies that define where and how your company will compete. More specifically, you will explore the key elements of direction setting and develop a strategic vision and mission. You’ll also study business-level and corporate-level strategies to compete and create value.

You will then examine strategy implementation, which focuses on the shorter-term actions and choices intended to carry out the strategic plan. Even if your organization has carefully formulated and articulated its strategy, your organization won’t get far without the ability to implement it, so you will determine how to put strategy into action. You will look at how to set priorities and objectives to build a strategy-supporting structure and culture. You will also analyze how to evaluate performance and control actions. Finally, you will delve into the details of action planning and master the tools and concepts needed to develop and lead strategic organizational change. You’ll come away from the program better prepared to position your hospitality brand for success in even the most competitive and volatile markets.

This program includes a year of free access to Symposium! These events feature several days of live, highly participatory virtual Zoom sessions with Cornell faculty and experts to explore the Hospitality industry’s most pressing topics. Symposium events are held several times throughout the year. Once enrolled in your program, you will receive information about upcoming events.

Throughout the year, you may participate in as many sessions as you wish. Attending Symposium sessions is not required to successfully complete the certificate program.

The courses in this certificate program are required to be completed in the order that they appear.