COURSE NUMBER:
HTM/ENT 354
COURSE TITLE:
Hospitality Entrepreneurship
CREDIT HOURS:
3 credit hours
PREREQUISITES:
Junior standing or above
FOR WHOM PLANNED:
Requirement for students in Hospitality and Tourism Management at the
junior level; open to HTM minors; ENT majors and minors and other
interested students.
PROFESSOR:
Dr. Bonnie Canziani
473 Bryan Building
Hospitality and Tourism Management Program
Bryan School of Business and Economics
CATALOG DESCRIPTION:
Students will explore the role of entrepreneurship in the hospitality and tourism industry,
determine risks and rewards of self-employment, and develop sustainable business concepts
based on the hospitality/tourism skill set.
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES:
Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:
1. Explain the link between recognizing opportunity/opportunity costs and creating
a sustainable hospitality or tourism business/being self-employed.
2. Describe the roles and responsibilities of entrepreneurs and small business
owners in implementing sustainable and ethical business practices.
3. Explain the conceptual relationships among creativity, innovation, and
entrepreneurship.
4. Discuss the basic issues related to financial planning for self-employed
individuals.
5. Analyze the competitive business and market advantages of sample
entrepreneurial businesses in the hospitality and tourism industry.
6. Identify ways the hospitality/tourism skill set transfers to a variety of
organizational contexts outside the traditional hospitality and tourism sector.
7. Evaluate the feasibility of a new business concept that is based on the
hospitality/tourism skill set.
8. Apply the hospitality/tourism skill set to an innovative project in an experiential
learning environment.
1
TEACHING METHODS AND ASSIGNMENTS:
This class is to be lecture/web blend and participatory with the students doing their work as they need,
meeting all completion deadlines. Part of the class time will be spent in lecture and discussion of case
material. Additional time will be spent on doing classroom exercises related to creativity and opportunity
analysis. Out of class time will be required as group work; students will be expected to create and
implement a hospitality activity for a local organization.
Use of BLACKBOARD: (https://blackboard.uncg.edu). Students are required to utilize Blackboard
technology to check class announcements, access course assignment sheets and power point slides, check
grades, and perform other tasks as assigned.
Students are expected to do the following:
1. Read all materials and do all assigned coursework.
2. Perform to rubric-based competency standards on team activities.
3. Take responsibility for the learning process.
EVALUATION AND GRADING:
Course Requirements
% of Final Grade
Outcome(s) Assessed
Media report on H&T entrepreneur
10%
# 1, 2, 4, 5
In-class and online exercises
50%
# 1-4, 6-7
Team presentations of case studies
10%
# 1, 2, 4, 5
Hospitality activity
30%
# 7-8
Grading:
A+
97-100
A
94-96
C+
76-79
D-
60-62
A-
90-93
C
73-75
F
Below 60
B+
86-89
C-
70-72
B
83-85
D+
66-69
B-
80-82
D
63-65
2
BOOK REVIEW OR PERSONAL INTERVIEW REPORT
Each student will prepare a media report on either a book about or a formal interview (with additional
secondary data research) with an entrepreneur in the hotel, restaurant, or tourism sectors. Any media
format is acceptable that can be posted to BB, e.g., blog, video. Students will also be required to view and
debrief on a subset of these as part of their online exercises.
EXERCISES
Announcements of these assignments will be made during class and listed in the syllabus. Assignments will
vary from semester to semester adjusting for student interest, potential guest speakers, and student mastery from
week to week of subject competencies.
TEAM PRESENTATIONS ON CASES
Student teams will manage class discussion of the assigned case studies. Case study management will be graded
using a rubric.
TEAM ACTIVITY: IMPLEMENTING HOSPITALITY
While the general concept of hospitality and tourism business brings to mind hotels, restaurants, and
travel destinations, hospitality is also by definition a skill set that merits consideration in the context of
other industry/organizational sectors. Hospitality activities and events are often implemented in order to
create goodwill and a sense of welcome with customers and give incentive to employees of companies.
Student teams will need to create and implement one hospitality activity/event during the semester for a
local organization. The team will detail what will be done, where it will be done, and when it will be
done. The team will submit this plan for review by the instructor and the entire class. The team will also
execute the activity during a specified week and will assess the effectiveness of the selected activity.
TEXT REQUIREMENT
No text will be used. Students will be required to procure selected published case studies. An instructordesigned set of Modules will be posted to Blackboard with readings and activities. A recommended list of
books about hospitality and tourism entrepreneurs will be compiled to support the Media Report assignment.
3
Date
Lecture Topics
WK 1
Overview of course/Goals of Self Employment
WK 2
Responsible Entrepreneurship in Hospitality and Tourism
WK 3
Recognizing Opportunity and Opportunity Costs
WK 4
Case studies in the Hotel Sector
WK 5
Case studies in the Tourism Sector
WK 6
Case studies in the F & B Sector
WK 7
Creativity and Innovation: Tapping the Creative Self
WK 8
Defining Hospitality as a Business Concept
WK 9
Hospitality Business Opportunities in Non-H&T Sectors
WK 10 The link between Quality and Innovation in H&T
WK 11 The link between Sustainability and Innovation in H&T
WK 12 The link between Globalization and Innovation in H&T
WK 13 Start-up Investments and Financial Planning
WK 14 Determining Competitive Market Advantages
WK 15 Branding a New Concept
Readings
Handouts
Module 1 on BB
Module 2 on BB
Module 3 on BB
Module 4 on BB
Module 5 on BB
Module 6 on BB
Module 7 on BB
Module 8 on BB
Module 9 on BB
Module 10 on BB
Module 11 on BB
Module 12 on BB
Module 13 on BB
Module 14 on BB
No Final is required. Students will be required to work
outside class time within an experiential setting to execute
their team project.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY:
Academic dishonesty (cheating, plagiarism, misuse of resources, falsification of documents, and facilitating
academic dishonest by helping others cheat) will not be tolerated and the UNCG Academic Integrity Policy will
be strictly enforced. This Policy is available on-line at: http://saf.dept.uncg.edu/studiscp/Honor.html
ATTENDANCE POLICY:
Students are expected to attend class on a regular basis. Each student gets three absences to be used as needed
for personal reasons, accident, illness, religious holiday, or just want to sleep in days. It is your responsibility to
get the missed notes or handouts. More than three absences will result in 5 points per additional absence being
deducted from the course final grade.
While no final exam is given in this course, you will be expected to attend certain events outside the
scheduled class period when and where your team is working on their experiential team activity.
4