Chaffey College offering courses in hospitality facilities management

The classes are meant to supplement an associate’s degree in hospitality because knowledge of hospitality alone is no longer enough, according to the professor in charge of the program. 

 

Chaffey College students who are pursuing an associate’s degree in hospitality management now have a chance to supplement their education.

Starting with the fall 2021 semester, Chaffey College is offering courses in hospitality facilities management, a non-degree program that will take three semesters to complete, said Daniel Bentum, professor of hospitality management.

Chaffey College is one of the first community colleges in California to offer such a program, said Bentum, who will oversee the curriculum after helping to get it approved.

Although not a requirement for getting an associate’s degree, a certificate in hospitality facilities management should improve a student’s chances of landing their first job and earning better pay.

“It’s an area of expertise that is needed because employees with training in managing restaurants, hotels, and tourism often do not have the expertise for maintaining building systems like air conditioning, electronics, lighting, and more,” Bentum said in a statement announcing the program.

“And people with expertise in facilities management who would like to run a restaurant or hotel need to know things like health codes and other requirements related to foodservice.”

The program has been certified by the International Facility Management Association, a nonprofit based in Houston that certifies facility managers, conducts research, and has members in 106 countries, according to the association’s website.

That certification gives the program credibility, Bentum said.

A broader background – one that included some knowledge of the buildings he was working in – probably would have helped him 20 years ago, when he was an assistant director of operations at the Ontario Convention Center.

Bentum was responsible for keeping things running smoothly, especially at night. That included maintaining the electrical equipment, overseeing the cleaning crew, and making sure the delivery docks were attended to, duties that he had to learn mostly on his own.

“In today’s world you need a lot more knowledge than you used to,” said Bentum, who earned an associate’s degree in hospitality management before taking the job with the convention center. “It’s a different workplace now. Employers don’t hire as many people as they used to, and they expect the people they do hire to do more.

“Among other things, it’s a way for them to save money.”

One event convinced Bentum that he needed to know more than hospitality management.

In January 2002, President George W. Bush spoke before 5,000 people at the convention center. Everything went smoothly, and Bentum recalls spending nearly 24 hours on-site, before, during, and after the event.

Few events will put a convention center staff to the test like an appearance by the president of the United States, but Bush’s appearance drove home what Bentum had already figured out, that does his job properly he had to know more than what he’d learned in the classroom.

“If all you knew was hospitality management, then your perspective was too narrow,” Bentum said. “We had to set up enough tables for 5,000 people. I really didn’t know how to do that, and most of our people didn’t know how to do that. We got it done, but it was difficult.”

Bentum experienced the same feeling he managed an Extended Stay Hotel in Ontario, his first job after graduating from Chaffey.

“In a job like that you have to do everything yourself,” Bentum said. “You have no marketing, no sales staff, no human resources department to fall back on. It’s all on you.”

Hospitality management presents a lot of opportunities for a long-term, well-paying career, said Vanessa Thomas, a former business professor at Chaffey College and one of the faculty members who helped get the facilities management program off the ground.

“It’s a demanding industry, and right now they don’t have enough people to fill all of the positions,” said Thomas, now the dean of applied technology, transportation, and culinary arts at San Bernardino Valley College. “Our job is to get the word out.”

Meanwhile, the biggest problem facing the U.S. hospitality industry continues to be COVID-19, a pandemic nearly one and a half years old.

The industry is trying to bring back some of the employees it had let go in the spring of 2020, according to Bob Rauch, president, and chief executive officer of RAR Hospitality in San Diego, owner and operator of more than 1,800 hotel rooms in the United States.

Half of all U.S. hotel rooms will likely remain empty this year, the American Hotel & Lodging Association predicted in its 2021 state of the industry report.

Hotels are projected to add 200,000 jobs in 2021, a good number but 500,000 jobs short of 2019, the year before the pandemic hit.

“We have to use caution to not overload our employees with extra responsibilities without rewarding them,” Rauch wrote last May in www.hospitalitynet.org, a trade publication.

“This might be a good time for bonus checks and raises for those who have worked hard for the entire pandemic. With many other industries offering better benefit packages and salaries, we need to compete with these industries and look to become more effective and efficient.”

Hourly pay in the hospitality industry ranges from $10 to $35 an hour, while salaried positions can start at $65,000 annually and ultimately reach six figures, said Micheal Krouse, president, and chief executive officer of the Greater Ontario Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Anyone who supplements their associate’s degree with a facilities management certificate would probably stand a better chance of landing a quality first job, Krouse said.

“It would definitely give you a leg up, and we would give it consideration if we were interviewing someone,” said Krouse, who is in charge of day-to-day operations at the Ontario Convention Center and Toyota Arena. “There’s no question that there’s a shortage of people in the industry with that kind of knowledge.”