I started with live case studies when teaching HOTL 285 Hospitality Business Planning in the Winter Semester of 2024. This is a capstone course for diploma students in their final semester. It is their opportunity to work with a live industry partner and to pull out all the stops of their learning spanning the entire four semesters. The course is run as a competition, and the top graded groups (two or three each time) will get to present to the client. The client then picks the winner.
The value of working with a live client cannot be overstated! It is a real case scenario that challenges students, earns them industry contacts, and results in several mentions in the Dean's Newsletter of the Longo Faculty of Business at Humber Polytechnic, LinkedIn mentions, and a certificate to add to their professional portfolio.
My next thought was - why stop at capstone courses? We can do those in marketing as well! The assignment in Marketing is to write a Marketing Plan. Why settle for a fictitious company scenario when a real company may be interested in the student perspective?
Below are some excerpts of student cases and what they entailed.
The value of working with a live client cannot be overstated! It is a real case scenario that challenges students, earns them industry contacts, and results in several mentions in the Dean's Newsletter of the Longo Faculty of Business at Humber Polytechnic, LinkedIn mentions, and a certificate to add to their professional portfolio.
My next thought was - why stop at capstone courses? We can do those in marketing as well! The assignment in Marketing is to write a Marketing Plan. Why settle for a fictitious company scenario when a real company may be interested in the student perspective?
Below are some excerpts of student cases and what they entailed.
In the Winter Semester of 2025, Hotel Jiquilillo and Hotel Los Zorros in Jiquilillo, Nicaragua, were our clients! Their ask was to prepare a staff-hiring/retention/training plan and to devise a marketing strategy to attract North American customers. The absence of tourists during COVID was preceded by a similar absence due to geopolitical turmoil in the country from 2018 to 2019.
In the Fall Semester of 2025, I applied the experiences from the capstone courses to my marketing course. In the marketing course, students must imagine a fictitious tourism company and write a marketing plan for it. Why not use a real-life client? A small start-up destination management company in Jiquilillo, Nicaragua, founded by a couple, Aislyn & Alvaro. The company was launched in the spring of 2025, and in September, my class began working on our ideas for Aislyn and Alvaro. Aislyn, accompanied by former Humber professor and now Nicaragua tourism advocate, Mary Lendway, presented the case to my students in the lecture theatre. The winning student group was offered a tour with Tuani Tours Nicaragua, in addition to their usual professional mentions!
In the Winter Semester of 2024, our industry partner Sodexo offered our students the opportunity to develop a plan to manage the company cafeteria and optimize service for Loblaw and Shoppers Drug Mart employees after the latter company moved into the office spaces at the aptly named President's Choice Circle-address headquarters.
The official presentations to the client look something like that! Whether the client is live in person, remote online, or both - we make it happen!
Also in 2024, Industry Partner Vince Enright offered the student a live case about a pub succession plan and business rescue. (Yes, Kristy Adams and I both dressed in red and black, and yes, a student and I had matching tattoos ... all unintentional!!!)
