Cairo, Egypt: The In-country Series for the Cornell University Hotel Manager Program will be held at Steigenberger Golf Resort El Gouna from May 17- May, 28, 2009.

Under the auspices of H.E Zoheir Garranah, Minister of Tourism, the Hotel Manager Program is part of an agreement signed between the Egyptian Tourism Federation (ETF) and Cornell University in September 2007.

Cornell University worked closely with H.E. Minster Garranah and the ETF to tailor the Hotel Manager Program – offering a unique opportunity for hotel managers and prospective management executives in 3- to 5-star hotels in Egypt, North Africa and the Middle East regions to acquire an internationally recognized certificate in hotel management.

Covering academic learning in Operations, Hotel Revenue Management and Food Beverage among other fields, the two-part program comprises of an online learning series where participants must successfully complete eight courses through eCornell, and the In-Country series taught in Egypt by Cornell University professors over a 10-day period. This is the first scheduled in-country series, with variety of hotel executives participating from various management positions. For two weeks, participants will attend 4 two-and-a-half day courses approaching key areas of the hospitality business:

Entitled “Hospitality Financial Management: Operations Decision-Making”, and taught by Professor Michael J. Flannery, the first course on the agenda aims at boosting hotel profitability through utilizing financial analysis tools. Professor Flannery has varied experience with many responsibilities including being a member of the Executive Education faculty at the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration and the Chair of the Department of Behavioral Sciences at Purdue University Calumet in Hammond, Indiana. He oversees the disciplines of Hospitality, Psychology, Sociology, Nutrition and Early Childhood Education and teaches Financial Management, Internal Controls and Cost Accounting.

The second course “Planning for Profits: Hotel Operations Decision Making and Analysis” concentrates on fundamental management tactics and means of applying them to the field through studying hotel financial, marketing and operational topics. Professor Robert E. Kastner explores all areas of this course through his expertise as teacher at Cornell University’s Professional Development Program, and Visiting Professor at the Institut de Management Hotelier International graduate program at CORNELL/ESSEC in France. Professor Kastner is known as a lecturer and producer of management development programs for the Hospitality Industry.

Providing expertise for the third course is Professor Stowe Shoemaker, who has won numerous awards for his research. In “Strategic Marketing for Hotels and Restaurants”, Professor Shoemaker will tackle different methods for handling marketing impediments in revenue, profit and client loyalty enhancement. In addition to being a member of the Executive Education faculty at Cornell’s School of Hotel Administration, Professor Shoemaker is also the Donald Hubbs Distinguished Professor at the University of Houston’s Conrad Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management. Being an expert in his field, he teaches Strategic Pricing for Hotels: Revenue Enhancement through Pricing, Customer Relationship and Frequency Management, and Strategic Marketing and Strategic Hospitality Management for Cornell University’s executive education programs.

Lectured by Associate Professor of Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration, Professor J. Bruce Tracey, the final course in the series “Leading and Motivating in the Real World” is an elemental tool in the management process. It will engage in topics like empowerment and independence, turning around negative attitudes and teamwork. Professor Tracey has received several awards, has published many articles and is professional affiliate to the Council on Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education, Academy of Management, Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology and the Society for Human Resources Management.

A certificate ceremony will take place at the Steigenberger Golf Resort on the evening of May 28, 2009, marking the end of the first In-Country series. Certificates will be awarded by H.E. Zoheir Garranah, Egypt’s Minister of Tourism; Mr. Ahmed El-Nahas, ETF Chairman; and Mr. Thomas J. Kline, Executive Director of Executive Education Cornell University School of Hotel Administration, to all management executives who attended and successfully completed the in-country series for the Hotel Manager Program.