Christa Augsburger, Director, SHL Schweizerische Hotelfachschule Luzern

The purpose of our fine founders was to enable young people to start careers

at that time in a very new industry, which was modern tourism. People say that the cradle of modern tourism was here in Switzerland. The British started to travel for leisure, which was something totally new, and they were fascinated by the landscape, lakes and mountains here. If you have a look at Lucerne, the city would look totally different if there wasn’t tourism.

They wanted to have an educational program for young people to enable them to pursue careers in this new industry. The purpose hasn’t changed in over 100 years. Still, we are here in Lucerne to enable young, passionate people to enter into this fascinating industry and to enable them to have a career in the national and international hospitality industry.

That’s where we stand right now with our two programs. We have the German program, which we have had for more than 100 years. In 2019, we started the English Bachelor in Hospitality Management program because we realized that more and more international students found our teaching fascinating, with a strong focus on industry practice.

We’re happy we have more and more training in the industry itself, not only the two programs. We also offer training and consultancy for governments abroad, luxury brands that have a strong interest in hospitality skills and older industries. That’s where we stand in 2024.

One key to our success is that we never left our focus on practical education. We have at least two internships within the industry: one in gastronomy, food and beverage, and the other in the rooms division. Most of the students also do some management training before they finish their last year.

We have a strong relationship with the industry. It’s not the case that you first study and then start to work. We have careers and studies in parallel. Once they’ve graduated, they’re already in a middle management position. That strong alliance with the industry, the strong focus on how we teach, that it’s not only an academic and theoretical way but really focused on skills, are probably the keys to the success of our students and our Institute.

The first year is all about food and beverage. They are here for 20 weeks, which are divided into 10 weeks of kitchen and production and 10 weeks of restaurant service skills. Then, in the second half of the second semester, they go into their first internship, which can be here or abroad.

It’s very interesting that they find internship positions everywhere. We have more open internship positions than we actually have students at school. The first year is all about food and beverage, while the second year is all about rooms division.

They are here for their third semester to learn everything about the front office, rooms division and revenue management. Then, they do their second internship, mostly at the front office anywhere in the world. Later, they come back for their first management year, which is here at school after the third year.

Some students take a break and go on a management internship for half a year or one year. Other students go straight through to their last year, which is all about international business management and global leadership within the hospitality industry. It’s a four-year program.

Some of the students even prefer to have more practical experience and do a management internship. It’s very flexible. Sometimes, students find very interesting positions during their internship, and they stay longer. They just say, “Hey, instead of half a year, I’d like to do my internship for one year. I can gain more experience, which is good for my CV.” They can actually choose how fast they want to complete the program, which is at least four years long.

We have a strong training program in customer experience and hospitality skills. One of our major customers is Mercedes Benz, which trains all its staff in customer service skills. Especially for luxury brands, it’s not only about the product; it’s about the service.

Mercedes Benz realized that the product alone often doesn’t make the difference between two luxury brands. However, if you have the people around the product who can sell it or who can find out the real needs of the customer, they have an advantage over another product. This is true of luxury brands like private hospitals and banks. We have many banks that train their staff in hospitality skills. These are the typical customers of our training programs.

In the consulting sector, we have a lot of governments and NGOs that want to build the same kind of education system in their countries. We have been working on a project in Cambodia for more than six years. We had a program in Myanmar. We now have projects in Africa. One is in Rwanda, and one is in Zimbabwe. We have a lot of projects in the pipeline in Arabic countries like Oman and Saudi Arabia. They invest a lot in tourism. They realize they can build the nicest hotel, but if they do not have the skills within the hotels, they will not have a heart and soul. It will not be the same. They realized that, and they ended up at SHL because we focus very much on social and personal skills, not only on the technical skills of the F&B and rooms division. That’s where we are with our consulting and training programs.

We have different tools for interacting with the industry and hotels. We have our career days, which are kind of a fair we organize here at school. We empty all our classrooms and build up a fair where all the hotels can install the equipment and show their jobs.

It’s not only an event for recruiting. I always tell the students they have to use our career days to connect with the industry. Networking is very important. All the hotel chains are here. We have small national hotels, big brands and international brands.

They not only show their jobs but also their philosophy, concepts, and ways of hospitality. These are very important days that we have four times a year. We have our career days here at school to interact with hotels, students, managers and HR directors from Switzerland and all over the world. It’s a platform where all the hotels can upload their open positions for our students.

The third tool is our alumni community. For example, I had a student who absolutely wanted to go to Polynesia. Then, I remembered that we had a student who was actually opening a hotel there, and I connected them. She finally ended up in Polynesia. She’s now working there on different islands. She’s even in a position where she can switch from island to island. Networking is very important in communities. Since our alumni are spread all over the world, we often connect with them and enable our students to do very interesting internships abroad.

Our institution stands for hands-on skills. I think it’s known, especially in Switzerland but increasingly internationally, that our students are not only brain-trained but also have hands-on skills. They know how hotels function. They have a lot of work experience until they graduate, which is something other institutions do not have. I think that’s probably the bone of our strength.

The other one is what we always call the SHL attitude. We somehow manage to train our students to have a professional attitude so they know how to work and interact with customers. Nurturing the SHL attitude is also part of our mission. We would like to form hospitality personalities who fit in our industry and who know how to deal with customer needs. I think this SHL attitude is a very important strength.

My most important message is really to show young people how fascinating our industry is

and how many opportunities they have if they enter this industry. Working in a hotel is working normally in a beautiful location. Hotels normally don’t stand somewhere at the end of the world where you have a lot of industry around. No, they are in the middle of a beautiful city or landscape. The hotel itself normally is a beautiful building.

Once you enter the industry, the career steps come quickly compared to banking or finance, where you have to be there for years to step up the career ladder. If you’re passionate, open and ready to work for customers, you have so many opportunities to

build a great career.

So, my message is to encourage more young people to enter the hospitality industry because it’s a beautiful world with many opportunities. That would help to address the lack of skills and the lack of young professionals worldwide.

To the industry itself, please handle these young talents with care. Try to show them how beautiful the industry is and not exploit them. Show them that it’s a great industry and that you have great jobs here. The industry should really work on creating a few more attractive jobs, not just one task for three or four months. No, show them different and challenging tasks because the younger generations are ready for challenges.

I think Switzerland, especially Lucerne, is a great location to study hospitality because we are really in the middle of tourism. The landscape is beautiful. If young people would like to study hospitality, Switzerland, especially Lucerne, would be a good opportunity. It’s a good place.