Rhodric Allen who is studying Hospitality Management
My name is Rhodric Allen, I am 21, from Newbury in the UK. I am currently studying a BBA in Hospitality Management at Glion’s London campus. My course is 3.5 years long with two, six month placements. The first of which is taken after the first year and the second is taken at after 2 years. The course encompasses all aspects of the road into management, not only within the hospitality industry but across all industries. Areas of study include specific hospitality modules such as Food & Beverage and practical courses in the Kitchen and Housekeeping. We are also taught modules including HR, accounting and sales & marketing. All are highly transferable skills, no matter what career path you follow.
In my final years at school, with A-Levels in the sciences and math’s I never considered hospitality as a career path I would follow. However, whilst deciding on my gap year plans, I only had one thing I wanted to do for certain. A ski season in the French Alps as a chalet host ignited a passion which I have followed ever since. This drive followed, as I then went on to work as the shore based chef for Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, whilst they prepared for the Volvo Ocean Race in 2013/14 in the UK. These were my first experiences in the hospitality industry and laid the foundations in my new found passion.
This was the point I discovered Glion, on the eve of results day I withdrew my UCAS application, applied to Glion, and was accepted to study at Glion London. Since this point I have never looked back. I set out not knowing on what level I wish to achieve in the hospitality industry, this has changed fairly dramatically since. I now have the aim to be a General Manager by the age of 30. This gives me 7.5 years from finishing Glion at the start of 2018. This, I anticipate, will hope lead to an executive level position further down the line.
To reach this level, I have further broadened my experiences during my two internships and the practical based learning undertaken in the second semester. This learning consisted of kitchen and service, front of house and housekeeping modules. During my two internships, I spent my first as a senior waiter and supervisor at one of the top hotels outside of London, ‘Rudding Park’ in Harrogate, Yorkshire. My second has seen me take a revenue management position at Design Hotels in Berlin. I support the regional and global revenue mangers with a huge variety of tasks. This is also a fantastic time to be part of the company, as the majority shareholder is Starwood Hotels. With the acquisition of Starwood by Marriott, it makes me part of the largest hotel company in the world.
I was fortunate to find my first internship at a careers event hosted at Glion where over 30 companies/hotels came and had stalls promoting their businesses. Glion offers these large networking events twice a year, however individual companies come in almost every week to promote and host question and answer sessions to the students, many of these are not hospitality companies and include Bloomberg and Christies, seeing these companies coming to us shows us how valuable they see the students at Glion. At Glion almost all lecturers are current industry professionals as well as lecturers and mentors, with vast knowledge of current and relevant issues being faced in the hospitality industry. They are also able to use contacts to help us with projects or networking. Companies such as HOSCO and the Institute of Hospitality to name but a few.
Rhodric Allen, Hospitality Management