Eight young students received the prestigious certificate, earned through dedication and hard work at the first Hotel Academy located within an hotel in Italy, specifically the WorldHotels Crafted Mulino di Firenze.
This specialized structure has been strengthened by the new partnership between HIA – Hospitality Innovation Academy, HIM Business School in Montreux, and BWH Hotels Italia & Malta, the largest Hotel Group in Italy with 170 hotels under the WorldHotels, Best Western, and SureStay Hotels brands. HIA is the first and only Advanced Training Academy, founded in 2022 in partnership with HIM Business School, part of the Swiss Education Group (ranked sixth worldwide among hospitality schools according to the QS World University Rankings).
This innovation can help bridge the gap between labour supply and demand, as a study by the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart on “Employment and Mismatch in Tourism and Services” shows that the trade and tourism sector will need 760,000 new employees by 2027, a problem that already affects the tourism industry, with 47% of businesses struggling to find personnel due to a mismatch between required and available skills. Moreover, the most in-demand roles are front office staff, waiters, night porters, and housekeeping staff, with most candidates having less than two years of experience.
The goal is to offer advanced training in hotel and tourism management, a highly sought-after specialization that is increasingly essential in the global hospitality and food & beverage industries, especially in luxury markets. The Hotel Academy program includes two years of training in Italy at the Academy’s Student Campus, hosted by the WorldHotels Crafted Mulino di Firenze, a 4-star superior hotel on the banks of the Arno River, with a third and final year at HIM Business School in Montreux, Switzerland.
The first two years at Il Mulino Hotel in Florence run from October to March, followed by curricular internships at HIA partner companies from April to September, allowing students to apply their acquired knowledge. This two-year period aims to provide students with an environment where academic activities and real-world professional experience are integrated. The curriculum is designed to train students to make decisions and develop strong leadership skills through a combination of theoretical knowledge, practical skills, and teamwork. At the end of the program, students achieve qualifications suitable for supervisory roles in large hotel companies and may access Term 4 at HIM Business School to obtain the Swiss Higher Diploma.
BWH Hotels Italia & Malta and HIA aim to help young people develop their abilities and put them in the best possible position to succeed. The instructors are selected by HIA and certified by HIM Business School, comprising a mix of professionals from the hospitality and tourism industries and academia. The curriculum is continually updated to cover the essential skills required for a manager in the tourism industry, including hospitality, leadership, digital skills, finance, hotel design, and sustainability.
“HIA was created to accelerate careers in hospitality and foster a continuous connection between tourism businesses and young professionals eager to explore various roles and emerging opportunities,” says Giancarlo Carniani, founder of HIA. “With access to HIM Business School for the third year, students have prestigious employment opportunities worldwide.
BWH Hotels Italia & Malta has shown great interest from the start in collaborating to develop new talent who will face the ever-evolving tourism and hospitality industry in the coming years. We are honoured and excited to tackle these challenges with such a prestigious hotel company.”