The Cornell-Nanyang Institute of Hospitality Management (CNI) is offering a USD 500 discount on its Professional Development Program (PDP) courses for the July 2009 intake. Hospitality professionals who wish to take up the discount offer must register and pay in full for their course by the 31st of May. Popular with hospitality executives from across Asia-Pacific and as far as the Middle East and Europe, the PDP courses offer a rich academic immersion experience into subjects of choice, such as Marketing, Financial Management, Food, Beverage, & Restaurant Management, General & Strategic Management, Human-Resource Management, Operations Management, and Property-Asset Management & Real Estate.

Participants in the past have commented on how beneficial they have found not only the academic learning from the world renowned faculty but also from each other during the PDP courses. Nori Tsuda, President & CEO of the Breezbay Hotel Corporation in Japan endorses the CNI PDP. "In Japan, I have my own company – a hotel operations company, which operates 16 hotels and out of those, I own 11 properties. I was doing my own way, before coming to this course, as I don’t have extensive hotel management experience. By attending this course, I could plan the next step for my business, I would figure out the role of asset management and the asset manager and the role of an investment manager. After going back to Japan, I will think about establishing these roles in my organization. I appreciate the professor, the staff and my classmates for this experience.”

International faculty returning in 2009 include Robert Perry for Leading and Motivating in the Real World and Gregory Norkus for Foodservice Management and Profit Strategies for Restaurants, Stowe Shoemaker with Strategic Pricing for Hotels, Bruce Tracey with Essential Human Resources Practices for Managers, Bill Carroll with Demand Management, Rohit Verma with Hospitality product and service innovation and Project Management, Sunmee Choi with Revenue Management courses and Douglas Hoffman with Marketing Management. Renowned NTU faculty will also lead courses such as Toh Thian Ser with Strategic Hospitality Management and Nilanjan Sen with Strategic Financial Management for Hotels. Alongside the world-renowned faculty are industry leaders including Ali Kasikci, Managing Director of Montage Beverly Hills in Beverly Hills, California, USA teaching Strategic Leadership.

Clyde G. Min, Vice President, Asset Management, Asia Pacific for Kingdom Hotel Investments is using the PDP courses to acquire professional certification. “I have now completed the third of four required courses for my certification in Asset Management conveniently through the PDP at the Cornell-Nanyang Institute of Hospitality Management in Singapore. The PDP is an excellent opportunity for professionals in their current positions to upgrade skills or acquire new expertise which are in high demand!”

The PDP is not just for professionals at the top of their game, it is highly beneficial for those who wish to advance their careers. Vindy Lui, Catering Manager at The Peninsula Hong Kong illustrates this. "I found the PDP to be both stimulating and informative. It provided significant opportunities for participants to debate industry issues with experienced delegates. It has been a great privilege to bounce around ideas and approaches with a talented group of leaders from different organizations." Hospitality professionals who are interested in upgrading their skills can visit for more information about the programmes.

About Cornell-Nanyang Institute of Hospitality Management
The Cornell-Nanyang Institute of Hospitality Management (CNI) is jointly operated and governed by Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration and Nanyang Technological University’s Business School. Located in Singapore, CNI is strategically positioned to develop leaders, managers and entrepreneurs for the Asian hospitality and tourism industry. CNI offers three hospitality education programs designed to alleviate the severe shortage of qualified talent that is currently plaguing the hospitality industry in Asia and the Middle East.

Equivalent to an MBA, the one year Master of Management in Hospitality (MMH) program prepares students to be theory-based, action-oriented leaders of executive management teams and entrepreneurial ventures in the hospitality and service industry. CNI MMH students spend six months at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York and six months at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, thus taking advantage of educational and networking opportunities in both Asia and North America in a single year.

The Professional Development Program (PDP) offers three-day courses that cover different aspects of hotel management. PDP teaches cutting-edge management techniques, presented by internationally recognized faculty members and industry leaders. Participants can earn Cornell certifications in Financial Management, Food, Beverage, and Restaurant Management, General and Strategic Management, Human-Resource Management, Marketing, Operations Management and Property-Asset Management and Real Estate. CNI has hosted over 1000 PDP participants from nearly 40 countries in the last two years. The PDP will be held from July 23 to August 5, 2009 in Singapore.

The General Managers Program (GMP) is designed for hotel general managers of full service hotels and their immediate successors. Participants in this 10-day program concentrate on strategic hospitality management issues, work collaboratively to expand the foundation of their knowledge, and produce new solutions to the challenges they face. GMP 2009 in Singapore will be offered from July 20-30, 2009. Please visit the Cornell-Nanyang Institute of Hospitality Management website for more information.