Les Roches Marbella High School of Hotel Management has been training future hotel managers and personnel focused on the luxury sector for years. With students from 91 countries, the center stands out for its international character and its methodology, based on learning internal operations and practicing business reality. Its director, Carlos Díez de la Lastra, explains what the success of the Marbella campus is based on.
– What is the Les Roches School of Hotel Management?
–Les Roches Marbella is a school that trains managers for the sector of the Hospitality and luxury companies and we train specialized managers in business management where customer service is the main added value, such as hotels, tourist companies, banks, technology companies or luxury companies.
– What degrees does it offer?
-The school has a title BBA in Global Hotel Management and Tourism Companies for three-and-a-half-year college students, a Master in Marketing Management for Luxury Tourism and another in International Hotel Management, in addition to a postgraduate diploma in Hospitality management.
–What is the profile of the school’s students?
–The profile of the student body is eminently international. In the campus of Spain -Marbella- we have more d80% of international students from more than 91 countries currently. We are a school of Swiss origin and we have campuses in Switzerland, Spain and China.
–It highlights the international character of the Marbella campus …
–Yes, we have a special attraction because it is a very attractive country at the level of studies and highly recognized worldwide, but ESpain, the Costa del Sol and Marbella for luxury tourism are unique enclaves and we get tI encourage through 91 nationalities that come to be trained in both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees.
– What rankings guarantee the prestige of Les Roches?
-The ‘QS World University Rankings’, which lists the best universities in the world and is the one that defines Harvard as one of the best in Business. Inside of the sector of HospitalityWe are among the three best in the world.
– What measures have been applied to prevent the coronavirus?
-We have some thermal cameras at campus entrances that force everyone to pass temperature controls, nanotherapy systems with virus control in common areas, the obligation of a mask and all the restrictions that the Government requires. We have also forced the students to come and leave the campus with virus control tests and now we are with a vaccination project.
– What is the teaching method that is implemented?
–The concept is very basic, but not very easy to apply. So the first two semesters are with us doing all the positions, practicing the work and understanding the functions of all those professionals who are going to direct and learn sommelier, cooking or house keeping. When they finish that process, they leave a semester to a hotel anywhere in the world of a great brand to do the internship. They come back and we show them the internal operations of the Hospitality and when they finish that practice they will consolidate the knowledge to a hotel company. When they return, they are already doing the last two semesters of the business school, which is the business, human resources, marketing and all the most strategic part.
–What configuration does the campus have to carry out the practices ‘in situ’?
-It is a small town with 1,200 enrolled It has a hotel inside the campus and another outside, four different restaurants with qualities so that the student can practice all the models that are in luxury hotels. And then it has a part of classrooms with many technological advances and a lot of practice rooms where hotel rooms, receptions, innovation or technology areas are replicated. It’s a hybrid between a luxury resort and a university campus.
– How inserted is the Les Roches school?
–Complete. Instead of degree of insertion, we speak of the number of options students have when they go out. As an example, in the semester prior to Covid-19 we were talking about five offers per student on average.
– What type of companies demand students from the campus?
–The companies hoteleras and tourist are the main and all the major chains in the world that work in the five-star and luxury sector contract with us. And then they hire all those companies in which customer service is differentiation as Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Four Season, Qatar Airways, Apple or some banks. The common denominator of the companies that hire us is that customer service is key, which are usually products with a high price and a profile premium customer.