THE HOSPITALITY BUSINESS - 2025/6

Module Overview

This course's main aim is to provide students with an appreciation and understanding of the Hospitality Industry, and its links with tourism. This is a multifaceted sector. A wide range of themes will be introduced and investigated during this module. Amongst these will be: hospitality concepts/products, their characteristics, classifications, markets, market share and customers, processes in the industry, management science and key trends. This module introduces students to the study of hospitality from a multi-disciplinary approach. It will demonstrate the size and scope of the industry and its complex nature. It will examine the various sectors within the national and international industry and highlight the concepts, principles, influences and trends of the industry as a whole. The assessment provides students with the opportunity to apply these concepts to specific sectors.

Module provider

Surrey Hospitality & Tourism Management

Module Leader

VAN ACHTERBERGH Leon (Hosp & Tour)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 4

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 1

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None

Module content

Indicative content includes: What is hospitality? Historical, cultural, and philosophical roots. Hospitality as experience, as people, as property, as a business. The Hospitality Industry scale, scope and significance national and international. Sectoral comparisons size, characteristics, major companies etc. Sectors to include accommodation: hotels, apartments, resorts, cruise, spas etc. Food: restaurants (fine dining to QSR), F&B in hotels Indirect Events, B&I, Drink: pubs and bars, nightclubs Support services: suppliers, HR/recruitment, consultancy, professional bodies.

How do hospitality businesses make money / fail? Volume, costs, space/perishability. Cost structures in different sectors  manufacturing/retail and service distinctions. Business / operating models Analytical Skills Using descriptive and predictive analysis. Design Managerial skills & competencies.

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

Alternative assessment for group coursework. Individual assignment PowerPoint submission with notes of max 1000 words

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate: The assessment strategy is designed to allow students to demonstrate that they have achieved the seven intended learning outcomes. Students are required to carry out some primary and secondary research:

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

• A group presentation based on the analysis of a company that you all will visit, organised by the university. The required outcomes of this group assignment are to understand the scope and context of the sector/s, also within the wider industry. 


• An individual report based on answering 10 independent, but topical, questions. These weekly supplied questions need to be analysed and answered by illustrating your understanding of it, accompanied with required research. The required outcomes of this report are to practically apply the theory covered during the whole module to the students' understanding of the industry.

Summative feedback: For the group presentations, students also receive online feedback for the group. A formal feedback sheet outlines students strong points, areas for improvements and suggestions on how to improve students performance for other presentations. A post-assignment feedback session is designed to help students to fully understand the feedback given. The written feedback for the individual report will enable students to increase their knowledge and understanding of the sector. Workshops and lectures are given to support both assignments prior to hand in.

Formative Assessment and feedback: During the 3rd tutorial, the assignments and the feedback process is explained. Feedback is also provided during and after in-class discussions  Pre-assignment online Q&A sessions are an integral part of this module and are offered during the semester for both assignments. Group presentation and individual report feedback based on supporting literature. Once marking is completed, students can access online reports, which contains generic feedback as well as a breakdown of the module marks. Organisational field visits provide Q/A sessions with industry professionals; feedback is provided via open debate.

Module aims

• provide students with an overview of the International hospitality industry
• inform students on the history, size and scope of the industry and its complex nature
• consider the structure of the industry and its importance the economy drawing on UK and international statistics
• develop a capacity to use descriptive and predictive analytics on industry data

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to encourage students to think critically about the management of contemporary issues in hospitality organisations:

The teaching and learning strategy is designed to:

1. Increase students understanding of the nature and current issues of the International Hospitality industry

2. Provide students with an up-to-date knowledge and understanding of Hospitality products and services.

3. Increase students ability to analyse and synthesise material from a variety of sources.

4. Increase students management of learning.

The learning and teaching methods include: Lectures. Smaller tutorial discussions. Visiting and researching local hospitality operations. Hand-outs and online information and guidance on SurreyLearn.

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: MAN1151

Other information

Further explanation of the five pillars:

i. Employability: This module provides students with a working knowledge of the key planning tools used by entrepreneurs in practice. These tools will be demonstrated with the students' understanding and presentation of their assignments. Many key transferable skills will be practiced during the semester that will test their entrepreneurial approach to business challenges.

ii. Resourcefulness and Resilience: The approach of this module focusses on tutorial topics where students are consistently critically challenged with business issues that require creative and innovate thinking. This adds to their understanding of the resourcefulness needed to make a business profitable and sustainable.

iii. Global and Cultural Capabilities: The module also addresses global perspectives, highlighted by best business practices and case studies across the world. Students are encouraged to share experiences and knowledge from their own cultures and backgrounds, and to respect and value differences in entrepreneurial experience.

iv. Digital Capabilities: Learning to navigate the VLE, SurreyLearn, is an essential part of this module. Teaching and learning materials are provided in several formats, and students are encouraged to use discussion boards for communication. Students are also encouraged to communicate with one another for preparation of their group presentations using various electronic means. Specific teaching on conducting literature searches and using referencing software is included in this module. Students are encouraged to work together in groups, utilising collaborative tools to communicate. Their Excel skills, among other software, would be enhanced, in expressing and publishing their assignment findings.

v. Sustainability: All approaches to business should refer to environmental and social impacts, and therefore a sustainable approach is integral to planning business. In each of the topics covered, the sustainable current issues and challenges are discussed, and assessed in the assignment outcomes.

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2025/6 academic year.