Associate of Arts Degree in Hotel-Hospitality Management West Los Angeles College

This dynamic program addresses high demand careers in the hotel, resort and other lodging sectors of Los Angeles and Southern California. With some 500 hotels in a ten mile radius of West Los Angeles College, there are professional growth areas nearby and the potential for career opportunities throughout the U.S. and the rest of the world.

Certificates of Completion are offered in the following concentrations: Hospitality, Hotel Front Desk and Back Office Operations, Hotel Sales and marketing, and Event and Convention Planning.

WLAC's Hospitality program will prepare you to enter the rapidly growing field of Hospitality.

Hospitality's wide range of careers opens the door to a future filled with job opportunities and flexibility. Substantial and growing employment options are available to you in hotel operations, guest services, event and convention planning, sales, marketing, and food service operations.

WLAC's Hospitality Program provides:

• Academic & hands-on training
• Overview of the hospitality Industry
• Skills necessary for leadership
• Internships in hospitality-based venues

Certification and Degree - Program Requirements

WLAC offers three 18-unit certificate options, one 36-unit Certificate of Completion, and an AA Degree in Hotel-Hospitality Management. The following are the program requirements:

CERTIFICATE # 1 -- HOTEL FRONT DESK AND BACK OFFICE OPERATIONS (18 Units)

Required:
Travel 300 – Introduction to Hospitality
Hospitality 302 – Hotel/Motel Operations
Hospitality 303 – Hotel Front Office Operations
Hospitality 325 – Guest Relations Management
Hospitality 330 – Managing Hospitality Technology

Electives: Choose one
Travel 100 – Introduction to the Travel Industry
Hospitality 310 – Hospitality Sales
Hospitality 335 – Hospitality Human Resources Management
Hospitality 350 – Training Design for Hospitality
Travel 931 – Cooperative Education/Internship

CERTIFICATE #2 -- HOTEL SALES & MARKETING (18 Units)

Required:
Travel 100 – Introduction to the Travel Industry
Travel 300 – Introduction to Hospitality
Travel 305 – Hotel/Restaurant Supervision
Hospitality 310 - Hospitality Sales
Hospitality 311 - Hospitality Marketing

Electives: Choose one
Travel 140 – Travel Sales, Service, and Marketing
Travel 931 – Cooperative Education/Internship

CERTIFICATE #3 -- EVENT AND CONVENTION PLANNING (18 Units)

Required:
Travel 175 – Meeting/Convention/Incentive Planning
Hospitality 302 – Hotel/Motel Operations
Hospitality 320 – Hospitality Law
Hospitality 340 – Introduction to Professional Food Service
Hospitality 345 – Event Management and Planning

Electives: Choose one
Travel 100 – Introduction to the Travel Industry
Travel 300 – Introduction to Hospitality
Hospitality 335 – Hospitality Human Resources Management
Hospitality 350 – Training Design for Hospitality
Travel 931 – Cooperative Education/Internship

CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION – HOTEL-HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT (36 Units)

Required:
Travel 100 – Introduction to the Travel Industry
Travel 300 – Introduction to Hospitality
Hospitality 302 – Hotel/Motel Operations
Hospitality 303 – Hotel Front Office Operations
Travel 305 – Hotel/Restaurant Supervision
Hospitality 310 – Hospitality Sales
Hospitality 311 – Hospitality Marketing
Hospitality 325 – Guest Relations Management
Hospitality 330 – Managing Hospitality Technology

Electives: Choose three
Travel 140 – Travel Industry Sales, Service and Marketing
Travel 175 – Meeting/Convention/Incentive Planning
Hospitality 320 – Hospitality Law
Hospitality 335 – Hospitality Human Resources Management
Hospitality 350 – Training Design for Hospitality
Travel 931 – Cooperative Education/Internship

ASSOCIATES OF ARTS (AA) DEGREE IN HOTEL-HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT (60 Units)

Required:
To obtain an AA Degree in Hotel-Hospitality Management, complete the 36-unit curriculum for a certificate of completion and fulfill the college's 24-unit general education requirements in force at the time of enrollment at WLAC.

Career Opportunities

There are approximately 47,000 lodging properties in the United States, with over 4 million rooms. Hospitality tourism is currently the third largest retail industry in the country. Tourism directly supports more than 7.3 million hospitality and travel industry jobs. Future forecasts indicate continued growth of revenue and excellent employment opportunities with rapid career advancement.

Within 10 miles of West Los Angeles College are over 500 hotel/motel properties serving Los Angeles International Airport and the west side of Los Angeles. Because the number of lodging facilities in our service area continues to grow, there is an increasing demand for skilled hospitality workers.

Class Descriptions

Travel 100 – Introduction to the Travel Industry (3 units)
This course will give you a practical overview of the fast-growing travel industry, including such sectors as cruising, tours, travel agencies, air transportation, car rentals, lodging, as well as information on career opportunities, both full-time and part-time.

Travel 140 –Travel Sales, Service, and Marketing (3 units)
This course covers marketing objectives, strategy planning, travel motivation and research, promotional ideas, press releases, advertising, sales techniques and applications. Discover the secrets of selling travel profitably, effectively serving customer needs, and successfully marketing travel products.

Travel 175 – Meeting/Convention/Incentive Planning (3 units)
Students will learn how to plan and operate travel programs for meetings, conventions, and incentive groups, including site selection, pricing, entertainment, supplier negotiations, and motivational techniques.

Travel 300 –Introduction to Hospitality (3 units)
You will learn about exciting careers in hotels, resorts, restaurants, private clubs, and other lodging and dining venues. Discover how knowledge of duties, organization, marketing, revenue sources, and more, will give you worldwide opportunities in this growing business.

Hospitality 302 –Hotel/Motel Operations (3 units)
With employment opportunities growing every day in the hotel industry, this course will help open the door to those opportunities and start you on your way to a rewarding career. By providing an overview of the lodging industry, this course will introduce such topics as hotel classifications and the various departments within a hotel, including accommodations, front and back office operations, logistics, accounting, the food and beverage division, hotel engineering, and housekeeping. You'll learn industry terminology and the scope of the hotel industry's relationship to other parts of the tourism, travel and hospitality industries.

This course will provide an overview of the rapidly growing hotel/motel industry and introduce you to the many career opportunities available. Among the topics covered will be hotel/motel classifications, front and back office operations, accommodations, the various departments within a hotel, and food and beverage operations.

Hospitality 303 –Hotel Front Office Operations (3 units)
Exciting and rewarding careers are available in the fast growing hotel industry and in this course students will become familiar with the nature of hotel front office operations, including the scope of the industry. The relationship of hotels to other parts of the tourism, travel, and hospitality industries will be included. Among the many sectors will be front desk operations, departmental organization, industry terminology, front office accounting, customer service, interpersonal skills, decision-making skills, and teamwork.

This course will give you a practical overview of the front office operations in the hotel industry, including such topics as front desk, reservations, customer service, night audits, and human resources, as well as information on career opportunities, both full-time and part-time.

Travel 305 –Hotel/Restaurant Supervision (3 units)
In this course you will learn management and supervision concepts and techniques in the hospitality industry. Emphasis is placed on leadership, communication, employee selection and training, performance appraisal, motivation, coaching, delegation, decision making and planning.

Hospitality 310 - Hospitality Sales (3 units)
Sales skills are some of the most important abilities any professional in the hospitality industry can possess. This course is designed to teach those skills based on a how-to approach to consultative sales. Students will learn sales skills used in the hospitality industry including prospecting for clients, opening techniques, probing for needs, presenting the product, overcoming objections, contracts, servicing the sale, price negotiations, closing the sale, and the importance of follow-up in maintaining a high rate of returning guests. People with the skills to effectively sell hospitality products are in great demand, earning high salaries and working in an industry with great benefits and unlimited potential.

This course will teach you how to use the tools and techniques of selling in the hospitality industry, including prospecting for new business, openings, presenting the product, overcoming objections, closing the deal, and follow-up.

Hospitality 311 - Hospitality Marketing (3 units)
Today's dynamic and competitive hospitality industry is seeking people who have the latest marketing skills. This course provides a solid background in hospitality marketing and advertising. The students will learn how to produce effective marketing plans as well as sales and marketing materials. They will learn to target the most appropriate customer markets to increase sales and they will learn to recognize the most effective marketing strategies for the hospitality industry. Among the other topics covered are research and analysis, product development, public relations, promotion, publicity, marketing to the travel trade, pricing, and communications.

This course provides an overview of the marketing and advertising aspects of the hospitality industry, including such topics as marketing plans, networking, targeting appropriate markets, producing effective marketing materials and public relations.

Hospitality Accounting 315 (3 units)
One of the most challenging and satisfying careers in the hospitality industry is in accounting, and the employment opportunities for well trained people are extensive. In this course students will learn the accounting procedures that are specific to the industry such as front and back office practices, the functions of the night auditor, internal control and cash flow, the accounting cycle, inventories, adjusting accounts, information systems, accounts receivable and payable, and payroll. Also covered is the flow of financial information in the accounting cycle that results in the production of financial statements.

This course provides a basic knowledge of hotel and motel recordkeeping concepts and techniques. Among the topics are front office accounting procedures, night auditing, financial statements, expenses, and payroll as they apply to the hospitality industry.

Hospitality 320 – Hospitality Law (3 units)
For anyone considering a career in the Hospitality Industry, a thorough understanding of the duties, rights, and responsibilities of employers, employees and patrons is very important. Since laws covering the innkeeper-restaurateur are very different than most other businesses, this course not only covers the legal ramifications of dealing with patrons, it covers the relationship and responsibilities between employers and employees. The rapidly developing area of casino/resort law is also covered. By using a preventive approach, this course can keep the legal considerations of hotel and restaurant operations from becoming expensive problems.

You will learn the basic legal principles governing hospitality industry operations. The emphasis is on prevention of legal violations. Among the topics covered are rights, responsibilities, duties and potential liabilities involving both guests and employees.

Hospitality 325 –Guest Relations Management
Without guests the hospitality industry would not exist and the treatment of those guests is a very important aspect of the business. There are excellent career opportunities for people skilled in the proper treatment and management of guests and the guest experience. In this course students will learn the service principles of dealing with guests including meeting guest expectations, training the staff, motivation and empowerment, involving the guest, communicating, delivering the service, fixing service problems, the aspect of waiting for service, and the steps to service excellence.

This course will prepare you for dealing with hospitality industry guests and the guest experience in general. The topics covered include meeting guest expectations, service training, communications, delivering the service, fixing service problems, and achieving service excellence.

Hospitality 330 – Managing Hospitality Technology (3 units)
The internet is an emerging force in the hospitality industry and this course will give the student the knowledge necessary to compete effectively in the marketplace. In this course emphasis is placed on providing a thorough understanding of how e-marketing, e-commerce and online information will be one of the most important areas of the hospitality industry in the coming years. Among the topics covered are definitions of e-terms, e-commerce models, software and hardware needs, internet sales and marketing, business to consumer marketing, business to business marketing and online information distribution.

In this course you will learn about the growing use of computers and technology in the hospitality industry and the techniques used in e-commerce and information services. There are many exciting opportunities in this growing field and this course will help give you a competitive edge when making a career choice.

Hospitality 335 – Hospitality Human Resources Management (3 units)
In this new millennium employees in the hospitality industry have to be the best available. Developing skills in the field of human resources can open the door to a rewarding career as the person who helps find, train and keep those valuable employees. The latest insights into human resources management covered in this course include recruitment, conducting interviews, potential employee testing, job descriptions, training, evaluation, discipline, multiculturalism, labor relations, unions, team building, and benefits.

A person who can find, train and keep employees is highly sought-after in the hospitality industry and this course will teach the skills necessary for you to be that person. The topics include the role of the human resources manager, labor recruitment, interviewing, testing, training, employee retention, discipline and labor relations.

Hospitality 340 – Introduction to Professional Food Service
The food and beverage branch of the hospitality industry is an exciting and often over-looked area of career opportunities. This course will provide the student with a basic yet comprehensive introduction to foodservice operations and give them the foundation they need to make smart decisions in food and beverage operations. Students will learn the history and scope of the industry, food service operations, bar operations, budgeting, inventory control, and management techniques for efficient and effective resource utilization in the production and service of nutritious, safe, and high quality food.

This course will give you an introduction to the various components of the professional food service industry. Subjects include food service operations, food and beverage service, bar operations, inventory control and industry safety.

Hospitality 345 – Event Management and Planning
The future is bright for event managers equipped with the essential training and skills required to research, plan, schedule, organize, and market special events anywhere in the world. This course teaches the logistical know-how and the theoretical understanding needed to enter this rewarding field, with the essential knowledge they need to excel in this rapidly growing sector of the hospitality industry. Among the topics covered are event management, meeting planning, trade show and exposition operations, catering, and marketing for all types of special events.

In this course you will learn the basics of major event planning and management, including research, design, coordination of events, venue evaluation, trade show and meeting planning, and marketing for all types of special events.

Hospitality 350 - Training Design for Hospitality (3 units)
A well trained employee is the key to success in any business and in the hospitality industry the demand is growing every day. A person with the skills to train and design training for employees will find the career opportunities in this specialized area growing as well. From employee retention and satisfaction to efficiency and guest satisfaction, training of employees is critical in the hospitality and tourism industries. This course will take the student through every step of the training design process including needs assessment, planning considerations, coaching and counseling, interviewing techniques, questionnaire preparation, instructional design, role-playing, training objectives, test criteria, motivation, team building strategies, and communication skills.

In this course you will learn the basics of designing employee training programs for the hospitality industry, including training objectives, motivation, communication, coaching and team building, assessing needs, and the theories involved in creating successful training programs.

Travel 931 – Cooperative Education/Internship
In this course students will intern at a travel/hospitality-related business and also learn about career-building strategies. This course is a combination of classroom work and on-the-job training. After completing a certain amount of class work, and counseling with the instructor, you will be placed in a travel/hospitality professional setting closely aligned to your goals.

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