In the past 20 years Hotel Management Schools emerged like mushrooms all over Switzerland; why so? Switzerland obtained the reputation for being “The Hotel Management Schools Country” from the famous Ecole Hoteliere Lausanne, which was the first hotel school in the World. Today, with over 30 hotel schools competing to enroll students from throughout the World, it has become very difficult to make the right choice, when picking your hotel management school.

So what should you look out for when choosing your hotel management school?

Accreditation’s, is surely the answer to this question. Find out which accrediting body recognizes the school or the particular course you intend to sign up for. Only a fraction of schools are accredited by important accrediting bodies like NEASC, SACS or ACBSP.

ASEH (Swiss Hotel School Association) is an important membership, grouping only schools which applied and passed the required quality criteria imposed by the association. However, it is important to know, that EHL, Glion and Les Roches voluntarily chose not to be part of ASEH in order to differentiate themselves from other schools.

It goes without saying that Swiss hotel management schools is a good business and every student is important for the schools. Therefore, each school has an army of agents throughout the World promoting their school in any way they can. The Internet is of course the most popular way where schools try to promote their courses and there is where it gets difficult for the prospecting students. Each website is setup differently and this makes it nearly impossible to compare the following information:

How long is the program, what will it cost and what is included in the price?

What are the levels of education and which course corresponds to your career goals?

Where will you be staying, does your room come with TV, Internet, private or shared bathroom?

What is the infrastructure of the school; sports facilities, gym, restaurants, video room?