During his visit to Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne in May 2022 to guest lecture on the Master of Business Administration in Hospitality, Piers Schmidt was interviewed by Associate Professor of Strategic Management Demian Hodari, PhD for his ‘Managing Underperforming Properties’ course.
Designed for hospitality professionals, hotel owners, consultants, economists and any professional wishing to enter the hospitality industry to update their skills and learn about managing hotel properties going through underperforming cycles. The course syllabus examines performance shortfalls and crisis situations within the hospitality and tourism industry. It intends to analyse how organisations and people react to and cope with conditions of financial distress and performance shortfalls. Through the course, students discover theories and practices on corporate turnarounds and change management.
Dr Demian Hodari was previously a hotel general manager and the president of an independent hotel management and consulting company and has worked on four continents. In addition to teaching undergraduate and graduate level classes, Dr Hodari frequently provides consulting, executive education and strategic planning facilitation for international hotel companies, hotel owners, and individual properties.
He currently sits on the board of directors of several hotel companies. Dr Hodari regularly speaks at industry events and his research is published in the leading hospitality management journals. He has raised nearly 200,000 Swiss Francs in research funding from the private and public sectors and his research has been awarded prestiges prizes from numerous organisations. Dr Hodari holds a PhD from the University of Surrey, a Masters from Cornell University, and a B.A. from Georgetown University.
Since 2018, Professor Hodari and Piers have collaborated closely on the ‘Driving Hotel Performance’ module of the MBA in Hotel Management, which is delivered twice yearly during the ‘Meeting the Experts’ weeks that take place on campus in Lausanne.
