Cal State San Bernardino’s Palm Desert Campus is offering a certificate in hospitality management as part of its ongoing commitment to educate and train the workforce of the Coachella Valley’s hospitality industry.

The online program, offered with the instruction of faculty in hospitality and business management, will run from May 3-Oct. 29.

“Hospitality and tourism have enjoyed record growth in the past decade,” said Joe Tormey, director of the hospitality management program at the CSUSB Palm Desert Campus. “While the current pandemic has affected jobs and personal lives, it also presents a professional development opportunity to upskill in an industry that is poised to rebound.”

There are no prerequisites or degree required for the certificate, and the program can be completed in six months with six courses (four weeks per course). Also, the certificate program is CalJobs approved where eligible individuals may receive grant funding to cover all costs.

Courses prepare participants for the following certification exams: Food Protection Manager Certificate, required in California; Revenue Management; Certified Hotel Industry Analytics (CHIA); and the Google Analytics Certificate.

Courses include:              

  • Hospitality Operations, which provides an overview of hotels, restaurants, clubs and casinos. Management tasks, techniques, regulations and standard operating procedures will be reviewed. Students will also learn about the business of meetings and event planning; 
  • Human Resource Training and Development in the Virtual World, which teaches instructional technologies, motivation, morale and human behavior, various theories and strategies for managing human resources and productivity with examples of stress reduction and wellness practices in the workplace;
  • Sanitation, Safety and Hygiene Amid COVID-19, which reviews the impact to health, safety and financial stability of families and business. This course includes training of five key areas of the exam that includes basic food safety, personal hygiene, cross-contamination and allergens, time and temperature, and cleaning and sanitation with an emphasis on COVID-19 best practices;
  • Revenue Management in Hospitality, which teaches the process of achieving maximum profitability through the use of business intelligence relative to consumer behavior and growing revenues. This course provides an overview on the principles of pricing, market segments, timing and seasonality as well as supply and demand in the sectors of hotels, restaurants and airlines;
  • Customer Relationship Management (CRM), which involves understanding relationships between guests and employees, and the organizational processes. Students will learn about service culture, sales techniques, service gaps and strategies to manage customer service expectations and experiences; and
  • Digital Marketing Strategies, which introduces the foundations of marketing in a digital context. The subject provides a framework to help make decisions in an ever-changing digital marketing world, which includes basic sales techniques. This course includes an introduction to Google Analytics as it relates to social media and Google certifications exams.

Costs for the certificate program include: tuition of $3,995, which includes an iPad (or $3,695 without an iPad) and mandatory course materials at $475. Financing is available.

Zoom information sessions will be held on Jan. 21, Feb. 25 and March 25. Register online for the information sessions at the Hospitality Management Info Session webpage.

And visit the Hospitality Management Certificate website for more information about the program.

The CSUSB Palm Desert Campus offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees, a doctorate in educational leadership, and teaching credentials and certificates. With more than 1,600 students, it is the Coachella Valley’s four-year public university and plays a vital role in educating and training the region’s growing population.

For more information about the CSUSB Palm Desert Campus, contact Mike Singer in the Office of Strategic Communication at msinger@csusb.edu or (760) 341-2883, ext. 78107, or visit the campus website at www.csusb.edu/pdc.