How to Choose a Hospitality Management Degree

Hundreds of institutions teach hospitality management, and the degrees look similar on the surface. Their titles, lengths, fees, teaching languages and legal standing differ a great deal. This guide gives you an order in which to make decisions, so that the list shrinks for good reasons rather than because of a well-designed brochure. It is written by the Hospitality Management Degrees editorial team and does not recommend any particular institution.

1. Decide the level first

Your starting point decides the level, not the other way around.

• Associate degree. A short-cycle qualification of about two years, mostly in the United States. Check whether credits transfer into a bachelor's degree at the institution you would move to.
• Bachelor's degree. The usual route for school leavers. See bachelor's degrees.
• Master's degree or MBA. For graduates, and sometimes for people with industry experience. See master's degrees and hospitality MBA programs.
• Doctorate. A research or professional qualification. See doctoral programs.

The guides on bachelor's vs master's and MBA vs specialized master's explain how to choose between neighbouring levels.

2. Check what the subject label really means

"Hospitality management", "hotel management", "international hospitality management" and "hospitality and tourism management" are overlapping labels, not standard categories. Read the module list rather than the title. Our subject pages group degrees by the official title or named specialization, and the guide on hospitality vs hotel management explains the typical differences.

3. Find out where you study, who teaches and who awards the degree

Some programs are taught at one campus and awarded by a partner university, or taught by a college and validated by another institution. Each program page on this site shows the campus, the teaching provider and the awarding institution. Whether a program differs by campus is shown too. Read awarding institutions and teaching partners before you apply to a program with more than one name on it.

4. Confirm recognition for the thing that matters

Recognition has several separate meanings: recognition of the institution, authority to confer the degree, accreditation of a particular program, and membership of an association. They are not interchangeable and none of them transfers automatically from one campus, partner or country to another. See recognition explained. If you plan to use the degree in another country, ask the national information centre for academic recognition there; the ENIC-NARIC networks list them.

5. Look at the delivery format honestly

On-campus, hybrid and online are different products, and study intensity (full-time or part-time) is a separate question. An online degree can still require campus visits, on-site exams or an in-person placement. See online vs on-campus and the online degrees comparison.

6. Compare fees on the same basis

A price per semester is not a price per degree, and tuition is not the cost of living. Compare only like with like, in the original currency, and add mandatory extras. The guide on understanding fees shows how. Funding options are in scholarships.

7. Check the language

Only programs whose official pages say they are taught entirely in English are labelled English-taught here. If English is not your first language, check the English-language requirement for admission as well. See English-taught programs.

8. Ask about practical experience

Many hospitality degrees include an internship or placement, others do not. Whether it is required, paid, arranged by the institution or found by you differs, and a placement is not a promise of a job. See internships and industry placements.

9. Check the country and immigration position

If you are studying outside your country of citizenship, the destination decides what you need. Rules change, and only the official immigration authority can tell you what applies to you. Our destinations guide points to official starting places. We do not provide immigration advice and no listing implies that a visa will be granted.

A short checklist

• [ ] I know which level I am eligible for and why.
• [ ] I have read the module list, not only the title.
• [ ] I know the campus, the teaching provider and the awarding institution.
• [ ] I have checked recognition for the institution that confers the degree and for the campus.
• [ ] I know whether any campus visit, exam or placement is compulsory.
• [ ] I have compared fees on the same basis and counted mandatory extras.
• [ ] I have checked language requirements.
• [ ] I have checked the immigration position with the official authority.
• [ ] I have used compare to put two to four shortlisted programs side by side.

Where to start on this site

Use Find programs to filter by destination, level, subject, language and delivery, browse destinations, or read the methodology to see how facts are verified. When a fact matters to your decision, open the institution's own page, which we link, and confirm it there before you pay anything.