Swiss Professional Degree
Continuing Education
The Swiss Professional Degree in Hotel & Gastronomy is a comprehensive program to prepare you to become a successful Hotel or Restaurant Manager.
The next intakes are: January 22, 2024, August 05, 2024, January 20, 2025.
Practical approach:
Our program emphasizes hands-on training and real-life practical experience, enabling you to develop the essential skills required in the industry.
Industry-Relevant curriculum:
We have established strong collaborations with leading hotels and restaurants, and our curriculum is naturally designed to align with the latest trends of the industry.
The Lab Hotel:
We have our own 65-room hotel on campus! You will have the chance to practice being a hotel manager in a real-life environment right at school.
Cool, modern learning spaces:
Our school has a unique vibe, with its colorful facilities that reflect the laid-back style of modern hotel concepts. The friendly atmosphere will enhance your learning experience.
Recognized diploma:
The Swiss Professional Diploma in Hotel and Restaurant Management offered by our school is recognized by the Swiss Confederation and highly regarded in the industry. Our graduates are highly sought-after.
Choose your format: Our degree is available both in full-time and part-time formats. You can choose to fully focus on your studies before entering the workplace, or work while studying.
Advanced Federal Diploma of Higher Education in Hospitality Management
(Dipl. Hoteliere-Gastronomin/Hotelier-Gastronom HF)
3 Years, including 1 year of work experience.
Thun, Canton Bern, Switzerland
Full-time (3.5 year part-time program also available)
The program lasts 3 years. The first semester focuses on kitchen, restaurant and rooms division. The 2nd, 4th and 6th semester are cover the areas of gastronomy and hotel business, economics and law as well as language and communication. Internships take place in semesters 3 and 5. They are completed in different departments of a hotel or restaurant business, depending on the previous education.
Students with the relevant EFZ diploma can be exempted from the Kitchen, Catering or the Rooms Division module
Introductory week (module hours: 40)
- Insight into the entrepreneurial world
- Exchanges and links between theory and practice
- Work with first and second device
- Basic attitudes in study and professional life
Kitchen (Module hours: 280)
- Trends and guest needs
- Infrastructure in the production premises
- Food safety, HACCP
- Basic knowledge of purchasing organization, production and supply planning
- Cooking methods, culinary & presentation
- Dietetics, food knowledge, sustainability
Restaurant Service (Module hours: 220)
- Organization, service types, service procedures
- Guest groups / types
- Guest service / communication
- Service rules and techniques
- Working at the guest table
- Basic knowledge of wine, coffee incl. service rules
Rooms Division (Module hours: 350)
- Housekeeping
- Front Office, Guest Relation and Service
- Night operations
Training Coaching (Module Hours: 10)
- Learning comprehension, learning strategies, learning biography
- Work techniques, self-reflection
- Time management
- Development competence, group dynamics
- Personal development
My Business (module hours: 150)
- Principles and contexts of business management
- Human resources
- Productivity and profitability
- Introduction legal studies
- Economic basics
- Management tasks at a glance
Market4you (Module hours: 140)
- Environmental analysis & trends / demand analysis
- Techniques and instruments of strategic analysis
- Offer definition in the hospitality sector
- Introduction to marketing and distribution
- Basics of marketing concepts
- Marketing communication
Service to the guest (module hours: 170)
- Introduction to the structure and organization of a hospitality company
- Rooms division
- F&B management
- Other business areas (including processes, MICE, catering, events, etc.)
- Internal & external communication
- Concept analyses, structural and process organizations
Procurement and management (module hours: 110)
- Procurement and purchasing policy
- Principles and developments in purchasing
- Purchasing and procurement as a process
- Purchasing planning and organization
- Goods storage and management
Fundamentals of accounting (Module hours: 80)
- Double-entry bookkeeping
Transfer module (project week) (Module hours: 40)
- Project management
- Preparation of documentation, scientific work
Training coaching (module hours: 10)
- Emotional competencies, empathy, perspectives
- Self-perception and perception of others
- impact competence
- Communication in conversation
- Personal conflict, emotion and stress management
French I (Module hours: 120)
- Language skills in service, restaurant & hotel business
- Language skills for management
Digital Applications and Technologies I (Module hours: 80)
- Digital trends and developments
- Digital applications to support processes
- Individual consolidation of digital applications and technologies
Hospitality area can be chosen based on past education and personal preferences
If in Switzerland, monthly gross salary CHF 2,303 (as of 01.01.2023).
Semester 3 or semester 5 internship (one of the two) can be completed abroad.
Hotels and restaurants can publish their internship positions free of charge on our job exchange.
Please contact us at info(at)hfthun.ch.
Securing finances (Module hours: 90)
- Chart of accounts
- Value Added Tax
- Technology: Accounting software / New EZ- bills
- Payroll accounting
- Minimum wages
- Cash flow statement
- Cost accounting
- Utilization threshold
Our offer (Module hours: 180)
- Hospitality world
- Strategic decision areas and strategy options
- Introduction to the conception and design of hospitality offers
- Pricing and calculation of hospitality services
- Deepening of marketing instruments and marketing mix
- Communication / promotion of offers on different channels
- Controlling
Employee-oriented management (Module hours: 180)
- Employee-oriented basic logic
- Core tasks of personnel management
- Communication
- Company correspondence
- Practical application in the Lab Hotel or in in the context of a Pop Up
Transfer module (Module hours 120)
- Developing hotel and gastronomy concepts
- Create concepts for marketing the business and ensure their implementation
- Determine leadership and cooperation with employees
- Actively participate in recruiting and leadership
Training coaching (Module hours 10)
- Group skills
- Relationship competence
- Introduction to leadership coaching
English I (Module hours: 120)
- Language skills for kitchen, service, reception, housekeeping
- Language skills for human resources and management
French II (Module hours: 120)
- Language skills for cuisine, - service, reception, housekeeping
- Language skills for guest relations, human resources, management
- General language structure
Digital Applications and Technologies II (Module hours: 80)
- Observation of trends and developments
- Digital applications and technologies in the back office area
- Digital applications and technologies in communication
- Individual deepening in digital applications and technologies
Hospitality area can be chosen based on past education and personal preferences
If in Switzerland, monthly gross salary CHF 2,303 (as of 01.01.2023).
Semester 3 or semester 5 internship (one of the two) can be completed abroad.
Organizational and human resources development (module hours: 130)
- Developing awareness and attitude in HR
- Employee policy as a basis
- Trends and visions: Use of current models
- Motivation, satisfaction, intercultural competences from the employer's point of view
- Different types of conversations
- Employee administration
Key factors of company management (module hours: 200)
- Corporate models
- Change management, innovation management
- Quality Management
- Financial feasibility
- Business plan "live”
- Work with business simulation
- Corporate law, inheritance law
Financial planning (module hours: 130)
- Balance sheet and performance analysis
- Liquidity planning
- Sole proprietorship, joint stock company
- Investment appraisal, financing
- Reorganization
- Budget, budget process
- Company valuation with capitalized earnings method
- Financial feasibility
Facility management (module hours 80)
- Alignment of infrastructures with strategy
- Operational organization: space organization, space relations, guest routes,
merchandise routes, work processes, capacities, type of operation
- Catering trade planning
- Architectural brief/operational organization project assessment
- Evaluation and procurement of facilities and infrastructures
- Value preservation
Transfer module (module hours 80)
- Develop hotel and catering concepts, derive offers.
- Determine and implement leadership and collaboration with staff.
- Carry out financial planning of the operation, ensure achievement
- Plan and monitor management of infrastructure
Training coaching (module hours: 10)
- Leadership coaching
- Respect others in development, engage and motivate
- Accompany change processes
- Role flexibility
- Conflict management and facilitation
English II (Module hours: 120)
- Language skills for kitchen, service, reception, housekeeping
- Language skills for human resources and management, sustainability
Diploma thesis (module hours: 150)
- According to individual agreement
The next intakes are: January 22, 2024, 05 August 2024, January 20, 2025.
January 22, 2024 intake:
August 5, 2024 intake:
One of your 2 internships can be done internationally. Discover some of the internship locations of our students.
We have a cooperation agreement in Kathmandu, Nepal, with the Global Academy of Tourism and Hospitality Education (GATE). Selected Hotelfachschule Thun students and staff can travel to Nepal twice a year to work on international projects with students from GATE.
Are you an employer looking to hire our students?
Gisela Pogrielz-Krebs
Program Advisor
Do you have questions about the program or the school?
Get in touch with me! I will be happy to help.
Students who do not live in Switzerland must pay the cantonal HFSV contributions.
Please contact us for details.
Single rooms of various sizes (prices from CHF 650 to CHF 750 per month, including weekly cleaning) are available for students.
This also includes access to the lounge and the modern communal kitchen with dishwasher and lockable refrigerator compartments.
Depending on availability, parking spaces can be rented at a price of CHF 496 per semester.
Matthias Möri
Étudiant du diplôme Hôtelier-Restaurateur ES
"En tant qu'étudiant de l'école hôtelière de Thoune, j'ai été impressionné par l'enseignement proche de la pratique et la possibilité d'appliquer mes connaissances dans des domaines hôteliers réels. Ces trois années d'expérience ont été très inspirantes et instructives pour moi et m'aideront toujours dans mes projets futurs".
After successful completion of the HF program, students can continue their studies and earn the EHL Bachelor's degree, ranked world’s #1 in three additional full-time semesters.
2 Semesters at EHL Campus Passugg
Final Semester at EHL Campus Lausanne
Fill out the form to get your brochure for the Swiss Professional Degree in Hotel & Gastronomy - Full-Time (in German).
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