The Suite Life – Hyatt Partnership gives students insights from hotel executives

Working closely with the executive team at the Hyatt Regency Morristown, students in Hospitality Management Professor Li-Chun Lin’s lodging management course learn what it takes to run a full-service hotel, from interacting with customers and housekeeping services to understanding revenue management and catering event operations, to maintaining a physical plant.

The decade-old partnership between Montclair State and the Hyatt Regency Morristown provides Feliciano School of Business students a unique opportunity to get deep industry insights from front-line executives. “You can’t learn this dynamic business from a textbook,” says Lin. “Students see how situations unfold and the importance of knowing how to react and solve problems creatively.”

Lin’s students split their time between classroom lectures, executive presentations and time spent shadowing hotel management. Unlike a more traditional internship at a hotel, where a student may work in a single department under the supervision of a manager, Lin’s course enables students to explore all aspects of hotel operations and have an open dialogue with executives as they ask questions and exchange ideas.

“Our students have the luxury of working with the executives and directors, who act as mentors and have just-in-time information as it is emerging in the industry,” Lin says. Each semester, students work in teams or individually to present a potential investment or strategy for the property, identifying costs, designing building plans and calculating return on investment.

The partnership has also helped open doors for students, several of whom started their careers at the hotel and moved up the career ladder within the company. “Hyatt Regency Morristown has been fortunate to partner with the Feliciano School of Business and Dr. Lin,” says Sheila Geary, Hyatt’s director of human resources. “We have also benefited with many students coming to work at the hotel or other Hyatt hotels before, during and after they take the class which is a wonderful benefit of this partnership.”