Hotel Managers of the Future – Well Equipped for Challenges Ahead

Matti Reuter, from Hamburg, Germany, who trained at the Clarion Hotel in Sligo was awarded ‘Graduate of the Year 2011’ for his academic achievements and his contribution to the hotel over the past three years.

Eighteen of Ireland’s newest trainee hotel managers have recently graduated as part of the Fáilte Ireland Trainee Manager Development Programme (TMDP). 

The programme has now been completely reviewed and validated as a three-year Bachelor of Arts Degree in Hotel Management and will be delivered in the Institute of Technology Tralee in February of this year, in partnership with approved hotels and the Irish Hotel Federation. 

Tralee Institute of Technology are currently taking applications for the new Degree level TMDP and hotels are encouraged to nominate Trainee Managers for the programme. 

Commenting at the ceremony, Sean O Malley, Manager Education Operations, Fáilte Ireland emphasised –

“The TMDP has reached an exciting new milestone in its 23 year history, having produced over 500 graduates, many of whom are in senior management positions in hotels nationally and internationally. We, in Fáilte Ireland, are confident that the skills of these eighteen TMDP graduates will make a valuable contribution to the industry, helping it sustain a truly professional and progressive workforce, comparable with the best in the world. 

The programme provides an ideal platform for people who want to kick start their career within tourism and is a recognised distance education route to training as a hotel manager.  Students complete three years of rigorous on-the-job training and academic studies in Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) whilst employed in a hotel. The programme is a collaboration between Fáilte Ireland, the Irish Hospitality Institute (IHI), the Irish Hotel Federation (IHF) and Galway Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT).