This version of the course guide is provisional until the period for editing the new course guides ends.

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Hotel Management Innovation

Code: 104961 ECTS Credits: 6
2025/2026
Degree Type Year
Tourism OT 4

Contact

Name:
Isaac Lozano Alfaro
Email:
isaac.lozano.alfaro@uab.cat

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites


Objectives and Contextualisation

The main objective of this course is to prepare students with an innovative mindset to apply it in the hotel industry using successful business models, innovation theory, and process digitalization.

The main issues addressed at the course:

  • Learn and identify innovative opportunities in Hospitality industry.
  • Know the most relevant trends in hospitality industry
  • Identify new consumer needs and detect organizational changes
  • Implement digitalization and IT strategies to contribute to business performance
  • Application of AI technology in managing and creating guest experience in the hotel industry

Competences

  • Behave ethically and adapt to different intercultural contexts.
  • Behave responsibly towards the environment.
  • Critically interpret the context in which the tourism sector operates, from different perspectives deriving from theory, ideology and good practice.
  • Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the basic principles of tourism in all its dimensions and areas.
  • Demonstrate knowledge of the functioning and evolution of different tourism models in order to choose the most suitable one and apply it in the current environment.
  • Develop a capacity for independent learning.
  • Display a customer service orientation.
  • Have a business vision, pinpoint the customer's needs and pre-empt possible changes in the environment.
  • Identify the legal framework governing tourism activities and the entities that conduct them.
  • Innovate in tourism: both in planning and commercialisation and in the management of organisations.
  • Manage human resources in tourism organisations.
  • Plan and manage activities on the basis of quality and sustainability.
  • Plan, organise and coordinate a work team, creating synergies and showing empathy.
  • Propose creative alternative solutions to problems arising in the field of tourism management, planning, businesses and products.
  • Show initiative and an entrepreneurial approach to business creation and management in the tourism sector.
  • Take decisions in situations of uncertainty, taking into account potential consequences of these decisions in the short, medium and long term.
  • Use communication techniques at all levels.
  • Work in a team.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Apply public and private law to the new tourism products and activities.
  2. Apply the different management and planning tools that help to drive the development of the tourism sector.
  3. Argue in favour of good practice and the newest trends and approaches in the face of the challenges posed by tourism development.
  4. Behave ethically and adapt to different intercultural contexts.
  5. Behave responsibly towards the environment.
  6. Develop a capacity for independent learning.
  7. Display a customer service orientation.
  8. Extrapolate from studies and presentations of real cases in the tourism sector.
  9. Have a business vision, pinpoint the customer's needs and pre-empt possible changes in the environment.
  10. Identify the latest trends and best practice, in order to innovate in planning, management and commercialisation in tourism entities, products and organisations.
  11. Identify the sources of new trends in the tourism sector.
  12. Keep pace with the latest outstanding initiatives, projects and businesses in tourism as inspiration for maintaining an entrepreneurial spirit.
  13. Manage human resources in tourism organisations.
  14. Plan and manage activities on the basis of quality and sustainability.
  15. Plan, organise and coordinate a work team, creating synergies and showing empathy.
  16. Take decisions in situations of uncertainty, taking into account potential consequences of these decisions in the short, medium and long term.
  17. Use communication techniques at all levels.
  18. Work in a team.

Content

INTRODUCTION

 

  • Introduction to the concept of creativity
  • Introduction to innovation and analysis of opportunities
  • Types of innovation:
    • Products and services
    • Process
    • The business model

INNOVATION IN THE HOTEL INDUSTRY

  • Competitiveness of the destination based on the IT strategy
  • The impact of new generations on product development
  • Destination Innovation, trends and new markets
  • Sharing economy in the tourist accommodation industry

 

HOTELS AND THE CHALLENGES OF INNOVATION

 

TECHNOLOGY

 

  • The development of technology and the future of hospitality
  • Use of ICTs for the personalization of hotel products and services

 

SALES

 

  • Online sales and marketing
  • Personalization vs Standardization
  • Innovative hotel design and travel trends
  • Social media and virtual communities
  • Big Data: Data analysis for better decision making in the hotel industry
  • Using AI to optimize sales and create customer experiences
  • Evolution of hotel chains in recent years. New paradigm: separation of property and exploitation. The future business model of hospitality brands

HR

  • New organization charts and management processes
  • Team leadership in the 21st century
  • Use of HR Software.

Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Lectures 18 0.72 1, 3, 8, 11, 10
Presentation of projects 30 1.2 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 12, 8, 11, 10, 17, 15, 16, 9, 18
Type: Supervised      
Tutoring 24 0.96 6, 14, 15, 16
Type: Autonomous      
Presentation of projects 20 0.8 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 12, 8, 13, 11, 10, 17, 14, 15, 16, 9, 18
Study 20 0.8 1, 2, 3, 6, 12, 11, 10, 17, 16, 7, 9

  • Classes are taught in English
  • Expository and participatory classes of the concepts and contents of the subject.
  • Theoretical-practical classes in which the contents are worked on in the form of projects and activities.
  • Problem solving and practical cases in group with final presentation.
  • Cooperative learning and individual learning for the development and presentation of work. It includes the work directed by the teacher and the hours of study by the student.
  • Tutorials: individual or group to solve doubts or work on specific concepts.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
A) Class assignments 10 18 0.72 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 12, 8, 11, 10, 17, 16, 7, 9, 18
B) Group Project 1 15 7 0.28 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 12, 8, 13, 11, 10, 17, 14, 15, 16, 7, 9, 18
C) Group Project 2 15 7 0.28 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 12, 8, 13, 11, 10, 17, 14, 15, 16, 7, 9, 18
D) Individdual Assignment: Report 20 4 0.16 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 12, 8, 13, 11, 10, 17, 14, 15, 16, 7, 9
E) Recap Exam 40 2 0.08 2, 3, 6, 12, 8, 13, 10, 15

A. CONTINUING EVALUATION

  • The assessment system consists of practical assignment / projects and  exams.
  • Projects must be submitted in the time and manner stipulated by the subject teacher.
  • Failure to comply with the strictness of the projects, in due time and form, will score as Not presented and the right to continue with the continuous evaluation will be lost.
  • The grade for the subject will be NOT EVALUABLE when the student does not attend to all the assessment activities and/or does not attend the final exam.
  • Projects and the exam must have a minimum score of 4 each to be able to weigh between them.

B. SINGLE ASSESSMENT.

  • Preparation of 4 reports with a total weight of 50% that must be presented in a timely manner. All must be passed with a minimum of 5. In addition, a final exam will be taken with a weight of 50% in the grade that will be carried out according to the instructions in this guide.
  • On the day and time established, according to the academic calendar, to the Official Programming of the EUTDH Center, the single evaluation tests or evaluation tests of the continuous evaluation will be carried out for students who have not satisfactorily passed the continuous evaluation and those who have followed opted for the single assessment.
  • The grade for the subject will be NOT EVALUABLE when the student does not attend to all the assessment activities and/or does not attend the final exam.
  • The professor will inform in a timely manner the format, duration, and location of the assessments.
  • No date changes will be accepted without the express approval of the study coordinator.

C. RE-ASSESSMENT

  • "Recovery of the subject by single evaluation will be the same as that of the rest of the students and in order to present themselves for the re-evaluation it will be necessary that they have obtained at least a 3.5 in all the evidence of which the single assessment states".
  • The maximum grade for this re-evaluation will not exceed 5 as a final grade.
  • The professor will inform in a timely manner the format, duration, and location of the exam.
  • No date changes will be accepted without the express approval of the study coordinator.

Bibliography

  • Apunts i altres materials del Campus Virtual
  • Moliner, J. P., Azorín, J. F. M., Guilló, J. J. T., Ortega, E. M. P., & Gamero, M. D. L. (2019). Sostenibilidad, calidad, innovación y ventaja competitiva en el sector hotelero: un estudio de caso. REVISTA INTERNACIONAL DE TURISMO, EMPRESA Y TERRITORIO, 3(1).
  • Rodríguez Antón, J.A, Alonso Almedia, M.ª del Mar (2014), Organización y dirección de empresas hoteleras, Ed: Sintesis
  • Fernández Casado, A (2014). Manual práctico de dirección de hoteles, marketing y ventas online del siglo XXI
  • Dzhandzhugazova, E. A., Blinova, E. A., Orlova, L. N., & Romanova, M. M. (2016). Innovations in hospitality industry. International Journal of Environmental and Science Education, 11(17), 10387-10400.
  • Nieves, J., & Quintana, A. (2018). Human resource practices and innovation in the hotel industry: The mediating role of human capital. Tourism and Hospitality Research, 18(1), 72-83.
  • Richard, B. (2017). Hotel chains: survival strategies for a dynamic future. Journal of Tourism Futures.
  • Kansakar, P., Munir, A., & Shabani, N. (2019). Technology in the hospitality industry: Prospects and challenges. IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine, 8(3), 60-65
  • Larry Keeley,Ten Types of Innovation: The Discipline of Building Breakthroughs, 2013
  • Matt Ridley (2021)  Innovation Works: An illuminating journey through historical innovation and invention. ED Fourth Estate

Software

 


Groups and Languages

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(TE) Theory 1 English first semester morning-mixed
(TE) Theory 2 English first semester morning-mixed