Source: Bournemouth University

Hospitality management students were given a flying start to their careers as their talents for public speaking and decision making were put to the test at Passion 4 Hospitality (P4H), the annual debating competition and careers forum organised by the Institute of Hospitality. Bournemouth University emerged as the winners not only of the live debating competition but also of the virtual hotel business simulation competition run by HOTS and arena4finance.

As he presented the winning teams with their prizes, Arthur De Haast FIH, chair of the Institute of Hospitality Executive Council, said: "I'm astounded by the polished performances we have seen today and that they come from people who have not even finished university yet. In addition to your full-time studies, you voluntarily chose to be part of this event and these competitions and that makes you stand out from the crowd."

The live debate was won by Michael Daw, Lewis Greenwood and Rebecca Jagger from Bournemouth University, as they presented their argument that hotel operating companies are most effective and deliver maximum shareholder value when they own a very small proportion of their properties.

Rebecca Jagger said: "It's been a great day; very well organised and well-structured; allowing us to take part in the competition heats and attend the panel discussions and speed networking sessions."

The P4H Live Student Debate was expertly moderated by Russell Kett FIH, Chairman of the HVS London Office, and judged by Gillian Hayes FIH, vice-chair, Institute of Hospitality; Thomas Kilroy MIH, social business manager, Baxter Storey; and Simrian Kaur Gujra AIH, graduate trainee manager, Baxter Storey; with advice provided by Sally Messenger FIH.

The HOTS Business Game to run a virtual hotel was won by Ellen McCausland, Oliver Palmer, Yasmin Okerika, Hannah Styles and Ben Sansom, also from Bournemouth University.

The simulation scenario was created to compliment the theme from the P4H live debate final. The teams were tasked with increasing shareholder value, which was judged by assessing the figures for return on capital employed (ROCE) and retained earnings. Teams were also given a brand document to follow and they also had the daily operations of the hotel to contend with.

Debra Adams, Head of Professional Development at arena4finance said, "It was a delight to work with all of the teams, who worked tirelessly all day to turn around the fortunes of their virtual hotels, based on a range of investment strategies. We are looking forward to next year!"

The runners up in the live debate and the HOTS Business Game respectively were teams from Hotelschool The Hague, Holland, and IMI University Centre, Lucerne, Switzerland. Other participating finalists came from University College Birmingham, University Campus Suffolk and the University of Derby, Buxton.

P4H 2014 was generously sponsored by Gram Commercial A/S; Austin Reed Corporate; Fresh Montgomery; Harbour & Jones, CHME, HOTS, Arena4finance plus the venue sponsors University College Birmingham and The Studio, Birmingham.

The Institute of Hospitality is the professional body for individual managers and aspiring managers working and studying in the hospitality, leisure and tourism industry. It has been the industry's leading network for more than 75 years. Nearly a hundred colleges and universities are signed up to the Institute's Education Membership Scheme, giving hospitality students and tutors access to unique resources and career support.

Bournemouth University has been running programmes in Hospitality Management for over 30 years. Our focus is to equip students with knowledge and professional and transferable skills to be in a position to take up managerial positions within the Hospitality Sector.

We are internationally recognised as a leading provider of courses in hospitality, retail, events, leisure, sport and tourism and our courses are rated as 'excellent' by the Quality Assurance Agency, our research was assessed as being of national and international excellence in Research Assessment Exercise and we have been awarded the UNWTO-TedQual accreditation for tourism provision.

A specific strength of the Hospitality course is the exceptionally high level of engagement our students have with all aspects of our industry. This is undertaken through live industry projects, visiting speakers, industrial placements and the inclusion of a live consultancy project in the final year. Previous clients have included a wide range of regional, national and international organisations including Hilton Hotels Worldwide, Le Manoir aux Quat Saisons, Sodexo, IHG and CH&Co. It is our close relationship with our industrial partners which helps us maintain our position at the leading edge of strategic thinking within the 'experience economy' and the Hospitality sector.

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Andrew Boer
Associate Dean Hospitality and Retail Management
+44 (0) 1202 965235
Bournemouth University