Latin American Hospitality Students Benefit from Real –World Tech Partnership

Tourism and hospitality students of Duoc UC in Chile, a private non-profit college, have the opportunity to learn about technology that can support their future careers running a hotel, thanks to the college’s partnership with SiteMinder.

Duoc UC was founded fifty years ago to provide free education to students from lower socio-economic backgrounds. As a professional institute, the college aims to go beyond providing students with technical skills and abilities. Its mission is to train students professionally, so they can be successful in the workplace and committed to the development of society. Duoc UC has 17 campuses for almost 100,000 students.

As part of their education, a group of third-year students recently learnt from SiteMinder about the various technologies available to run a hotel business more efficiently – and Duoc UC’s professor says the course is likely to run again later this year.

“Working with SiteMinder has helped us to better understand not only the importance of technology for the hotel sector, but also the need for companies like SiteMinder, which are willing to teach and collaborate with future hoteliers. The world of hotel management, bookings and distribution is becoming increasingly complex and it is our responsibility to ensure that our students receive the best and most practical education to help them prepare for the future. The initiative has been a resounding success and it is something we would like to repeat as part of the 2018 curriculum,” says Professor Miguel Weinstein at Duoc UC.

According to Professor Weinstein, a key learning for the students was the positive impact technology can have in ‘globalizing’ a hotel and how it can contribute to attracting the multitude of tourists that travel the world.

SiteMinder has established a solid footprint in Chile since formally entering the market in 2017. Last May, SiteMinder announced it had secured RQ Grupo Hotelero – a provider of apartments and suites in the main financial districts of Santiago – as its 26,000th hotel customer, and the company has since partnered with the Latin American region’s largest online travel agencies, including Despegar, Best Day and PriceTravel.