Many would argue that experience is the greatest teacher—especially when that experience is coupled with the input of seasoned industry professionals.
Dr. Karima Lanfranco, assistant professor at Lynn University’s College of Business and Management, couldn’t agree more.
“I always knew I wanted to go into the classroom setting and bridge the gap between industry experience and academia,” says Lanfranco, who worked in the hospitality industry for 15 years before earning a Ph.D. in hospitality management and joining Lynn faculty three years ago. She held a range of operations and management positions at independent and multinational hospitality companies, including Hyatt, Four Seasons, Hilton and more.
“One of my drivers is, ‘How can I best prepare students for real life outside of college? What kind of experiences can I give them while they’re still students?’”
Earlier this year, Dart, a global organization investing in real estate, hospitality, finance and entertainment, announced a collaboration with Lynn to enhance the syllabus of the Dart Hospitality Training Programme. Dr. Katrina Carter-Tellison, vice president for Academic Affairs at Lynn, and a native of the Cayman Islands helmed the university’s collaboration with Dart, which provides Caymanians—all of whom are 17 to 30 years of age—with three months of paid on-the-job training and exposure across a variety of roles in one of the main pillars of the Cayman Islands economy.
August 2023 marked the start of the program’s second edition and Lynn’s first time participating. “We want to bring as much content and solid academic preparation as possible to young Caymanians for their workplace training,” said Carter-Tellison. “Right now, we’re in the infancy of the collaboration, but we have a tremendous commitment to seeing these students develop in the hospitality field. We have an academic foundation and a Ph.D. in hospitality providing instructions to young Caymanians.” This key combination will help ensure students are adequately prepared for the workplace.
An inspired collaboration
On behalf of Lynn, Lanfranco is overseeing the program’s initial two-week, in-person training to enhance the syllabus, exposing participants to the industry and improving their understanding of positions in front and back-of-house operations. Some of the topics will include understanding the travel, tourism and hospitality industries; service excellence; and employability skills like professionalism and communication. After completing the curriculum, participants will begin formal on-the-job training across Dart’s portfolio of hotels, including Kimpton Seafire Resort + Spa; The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman; and Hampton by Hilton, Grand Cayman.
The program ultimately gives back to the Cayman Islands, enabling trainees to learn the skills necessary to obtain a career and contribute to their local workforce. Eight of the 12 students who completed the pilot program in 2022 subsequently secured jobs at Dart-owned hotels.
“Dart launched this program to facilitate a culture of collaboration between local Caymanians, the hospitality industry and accredited institutions. It fosters a sense of pride for working in hospitality in the islands and is an admirable commitment to developing and enriching the workforce,” said Lanfranco. “Not all of the participating students have a formal post-secondary education, so this is a cornerstone piece of their training. Participants leave this program with a strong foundation of concepts and theories, and not only grow to understand hospitality in the islands, but also how it plays a role in tourism on a global scale.”
Carter-Tellison supported Lanfranco and Walid AboShanab, coordinator of instructional design at Lynn, as they created the nearly 80-hour curriculum, which will bolster the exciting learning opportunities across Dart’s hotels.
“It took two months to assemble this course, equivalent to the instructional hours of six college credits. It’s about eight hours of instruction for 10 days,” said Lanfranco. “We’re not relying on anything from last year’s program—we’ve built this year’s curriculum from scratch. It’s truly been a passion project for me.”
The fundamentals
The first two weeks of the three-month program are broken into two employability training segments. Part one serves as an introduction to travel, tourism, and hospitality, from an overarching industry perspective down to a hotel-specific level.
“It’s a crash course—like Hospitality 101,” Lanfranco says. “Students will learn everything they need to know about the global industry, how it looks nationally, down to how it looks at the hotel level. We’ll cover organizational structure, departments, and the day-to-day operations.”
Part two will focus on employability skills, including interpersonal skills, time management, adaptability, reliability, teamwork, conflict resolution and more.
Lanfranco’s training will be taught via in-person classroom instruction and a personalized, never-before-seen digital course that will enhance all elements of the learning material, providing students with access to discussion boards, role-playing scenarios, case studies and more. Additionally, Dart will offer guest speakers, site tours and property visits to enhance Lanfranco’s curriculum.
“I really want to show these participants how fun and rewarding a career in hospitality can be. You essentially work where people choose to vacation—there’s a lot of pride in that,” says Lanfranco. “I’m excited to teach these students the skills they’ll need to provide service excellence and create a wonderful guest experience. They’ll become an important part of guests’ most memorable moments.”
Opening doors
This year’s program consists of 16 students. Each participant will be assigned a mentor and receive a minimum of 30 hours of paid work per week and full basic insurance coverage. Following Lanfranco’s two weeks of employability training, students undergo four weeks of rotation in various roles and six weeks of position-specific training in front desk/reception, food and beverage service and support, pool/beach/recreation attendant or back of house such as maintenance, and housekeeping,
Upon completion of the course, trainees receive a certificate recognizing course completion, a monetary bonus based on retainment and development and the opportunity for full-time employment for those who excelled in the course.
Lanfranco will be teaching at the Dart Hospitality Training Programme in the Cayman Islands from Aug. 7 through Aug. 18.
For more information on Lynn’s Hospitality Management program, visit lynn.edu/hospitality.
