In this article, we have mentioned a few of the top hospitality industry certificates that can help hospitality professionals climb the ladders of success within the industry.
The hospitality industry, along with a couple of other domains, tops the charts of leading service fields in today’s world. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has halted the super show and has led to a huge job competition for the top hospitality posts.
These hospitality certifications will ensure that you take a leap towards a more successful career.

Whether you are a working professional, a freelancer or someone looking for a job, these certificates would add new fire to your prospects.
So, How do hospitality certifications or hotel management certificates help in the career growth of hoteliers?
- The simple answer is that it helps you in enhancing your knowledge.
- These are some of the best hospitality industry certificate programmes to expand your horizon and your hospitality network.
- Needless to mention these hotel management certifications add colour to your resume and personality.
- These certifications help you shine during your job interview and at work.
- They further help in getting your dream hospitality job by enhancing your LinkedIn profile.
Certified hospitality administrator, hotel revenue manager, and food service manager are some of the many career paths you can choose from, post these certifications.
To answer the question further, let’s take a few examples of the popular certifications from the hotel industry and the hospitality and travel industry.
1. Best Hospitality Certifications from AHLEI
You will find numerous institutes providing online certificate courses allowing you to learn and develop hospitality management skills.
Just googling hospitality certification would deliver for you a humongous list.
We would recommend beginning your search with one of the most recognised names in the hospitality industry which is the American Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute (AHLEI).
All the courses and certifications offered by them are of high quality, recognised globally and are priced moderately.
Some of the training materials and courses are even free.
Certified hospitality administrator or Certified Hotel Administrator (CHA) is one of the best examples of hospitality certificate courses.
Let’s discuss this along with a few others in a little detail.
Certified Hotel Administrator (CHA)
This is among the most prestigious of the lot.
Eligible are those currently working as a General Manager/Assistant General Manager or equivalent.
This hospitality certificate Course is run and managed by AHLEI and Application can be through the CHA application pdf form.
The key areas that are tested in this certificate course are:
- Leadership and management of leaders
- Management of Finances
- Sales and Marketing
- Managing Food and Beverages
- Managing rooms and convention
- Human Resource Management
These are tailored certifications for hospitality managers along with a few similar ones like the snapshot from the website suggests. Have a look!

Certified Hospitality Supervisor
This is for those who are in a supervisory role and planning to advance quickly to the managerial role.
This is an opportunity for supervisors managing a team of more than 2 people to get into the elite supervisory club.
- Certified Hospitality Trainer
- Certified Hospitality Technology Professional
All these courses are managed and run by AHLEI.
More information on hotel industry certificate courses and hospitality certificates can be found on the official course page of AHLEI.
There are a lot of certificate programmes and short courses that can be carried out for free.
The below screengrab from AHLEI displays a few of these.
There are many more options on the website to help you in getting certified for career and learning benefits.

Extremely prestigious CHRM course by AHLEI is another quality source to pursue this hotel industry certificate course.
Also, check the list of distance learning hospitality courses by AHLEI.
Hospitality Certificates add to the credibility of self-employed people within the hospitality and travel industry.
Once you have had a few years of experience, these certificates might put you in a separate league altogether.
2. Certificate in Hospitality Revenue Management (CHRM)
In 2020, the global revenue generated by the hospitality and travel industry was expected to reach an unofficial figure of $10 Trillion compared to $7.6 Trillion in 2016. However, the ongoing pandemic woes have wreaked havoc on the hospitality and tourism industry. Expect the industry to bounce back and achieve the target by 2023-2024.
These hotel industry certificates can shift you from masses to classes.
This program deals with managing the revenues of the corporation you’re associated with to further its profits.
Some of the basic things which you need to cater to as a revenue manager in a hotel are:
- The basic pricing
- Inventory management and control
- Establishing a market strategy,
- Strategy for gaining leads over other market competitors.
These days, we see numerous institutes organizing hospital management classes to provide hospitality certificates. Among these are some of the renowned institutes which host students from all over the world.
To make life easier for students, a lot of these colleges offer online hotel management certificates, so you can learn the basics of hotel administration from the comfort of your home and become a professional.
One such example is Cornell University which now provides a lot of short hospitality courses and online hospitality certificates.
For more information on the Certificate course in revenue management by Cornell, visit the official course page for revenue management.
3. Certificate in Hospitality Marketing
Are you a sales and marketing guy trying to get above that Sales Executive barrier?
You then need this push to be brighter than the bright candidates out there.
Marketing is the core of any business and industry. The same is the case with the hospitality industry.
By gaining certificates in hospitality marketing, you can learn the ways in which you can develop and maintain a long customer base.
The area of study requires you to plan and execute strategies with which you can attract the attention of potential customers.
There are a lot of short hospitality courses available through a lot of reputed institutions in the hospitality industry.
There are short executive certificate courses available as well like the 4-day mini MBA course provided by the London School of Business and Finance.
4. Certificate in Leadership for Hospitality Professionals
For those who are already linked with the hospitality industry, one way or the other, and want to grow in their strides, this certificate is ideal for them.
This certificate also widens the scope for you as a hospitality professional and opens up the globe.
By learning leadership skills, you can inspire others by leading from the front. A true leader ignites change and tries to bring the best out of everyone.
The Certificate in Leadership course helps you learn the following which is crucial in the hospitality industry.
- Decision-making, planning and development
- Employee coaching skills
- Motivational techniques
- Team building and management
- Communicating effectively to connect with the team
The course thus enables you to hold the reins of your corporation.
While there are a lot of courses available online, it is advisable to go for a short classroom course as it helps in interacting with the best leaders and managers of the industry.
Almost all business schools and best hospitality management schools provide short courses and certificate courses in leadership.
5. Certified Hotel asset manager (CHAM)
This is again for the elite group of hospitality professionals who have served the industry for numerous years.
These professionals are well-versed in almost all facets of the hospitality industry.
More information can be found about this hospitality certificate course on the course page of Hamaragroup.
There are a lot of other career options through these certificates which are discussed in this article in further detail. So, if this is something of your interest, read on.
There are multiple hospitality industry certificate courses similar to these which you can enrol on for fast-tracking your career.
Details of some of them are discussed in this article.
6. Certificate in Foodservice Management
In this particular program, you develop skills for the management of the food and beverage business of your corporation.
With state-of-the-art techniques, you’re required to enhance the quality of food services.
Menu planning, food receiving and storage, production, and control systems are some of the areas which you focus on in the food-service management course.
Cornell is again a safe bet in terms of pursuing a Certificate course in food service management but there is another option as provided by Houston health department Foodservice certification.
The quality measurement varies from country to country.
While the Certificate courses from Cornell and AHLEI are recognised globally, you might need to check the validity of the course in your country of occupation for certificate courses from other institutes.
7. Certificate in Hospitality Management
This is one of the many hospitality industry certificates which ensure that you fast-track your career.
This one is the certification in hospitality management, in which you need to learn about leadership and team management.
You would also be enriched with the basics of marketing and financial development in this short course.
This one is a basic course which hones your skills as a hospitality professional.
These can come in several variants.
There are a lot of free online courses in the hospitality stream which can be pursued in the comfort of your place and time.
8. Certificate in Media Marketing
This is something new but in the age of social media and technology, media marketing is a must.
One small certificate course in media marketing can make you an allrounder in the hospitality industry.
After all, knowing how to manage various media helps in current work and in finding jobs. Plus it adds value to your personal brand.
In today’s age, digital media has taken everything by storm.
With proper planning and execution, you can maintain an online presence which is of core importance for the growth of your hospitality organization.
With this category of hospitality industry certificates, you can learn media marketing skills.
These media marketing skills include channel management and Search Engine Marketing to help your brand build recognition among its potential customers and other players in the marketplace.
9. Certificate in Strategic Leadership for Hospitality Management
With the increasing competition in the hospitality market, it has become extremely important to develop and strategize your policies which make you a popular choice among your customers.
This hospitality certificate course deals with the development of a nimble approach towards your clients.
You would also learn to devise strategies which will produce change along with sustainability in the process.
The key tenets of this popular hospitality industry certificate course include:
- Learning about competitive advantages and profitability
- Formulation and implementation of the strategy
- Creating value for the organization
Various top schools provide this category of hospitality industry certificates both on-campus and online.
Of the many institutes, Cornell University is a renowned name which also offers various online hospitality certificate courses.
One such example is the School of Hospitality Administration, USA and you can find the details on the official webpage of SHA’s Strategic Leadership course.
With Cornell hospitality online certificates, you will not only learn the skills to become a professional hotel manager but emerge as a leader as well.
There are certain reasons which should push you to choose Cornell hospitality online courses over others in the market:
- It is an Old Name: Developed in 1865, they are one of the oldest names in the hospitality industry.
- Engaging Huge Numbers Every Year: At present, they are hosting more than 21,000 students from all over the world, who are entertained by more than 1600 faculty members.
10. Certificate in Restaurant Revenue Management
This is one of the hospitality industry certificates that can help to learn techniques to improve the efficiency and productivity of your restaurant business.
There are several proven Hotel and restaurant business growth tips which you are sure to find while pursuing this restaurant management certificate.
You learn and implement strategies to design multiple strategies for increasing the market value of your business.
This short hospitality certification includes the below key subjects.
- Basic principles of restaurant management
- Introduction to revenue management
- Seat utilisation
- Menu pricing strategies and actions
- Operational variability analysis
- Demand and supply strategies
- Understanding inventory management
- Devising market-led strategies
There are several providers of one of the popular hospitality industry certificates. A simple Google search with lead you to multiple high-quality providers like we have done in the snapshot below. No surprises if you find Cornell again at the top. They are indeed a high-quality hospitality certificate provider.

11. Certificate in Service Management
A certificate in service management helps you learn the basics of customer service management, hotel operation management, food control, tourism, and hospitality marketing.
It is a beginner-level course.
This course gives you basic information about the fields you will be handling as a professional hotel manager.
The course covers the basics of hospitality and tourism.
- Introduction to the Hospitality World
- Hospitality law basics
- Foodservice management
- Using technology in the hospitality industry
- Trends in the industry
- Leadership dynamics and leadership strategy basics
- Sales and Marketing in the Hospitality industry
12. Certificate of Arts in Tourism and Hospitality Management
The growth of the hotel business is mainly due to the growth of the tourism industry.
With the help of this course, you can learn about international tourism, event tourism management, resort management, and convention management.
This travel industry certification also helps you hone other skills regarding restaurant management.
This is predominantly for hospitality professionals who have majored in some other hospitality course and would like to have additional exposure to Tourism.
The course also is suitable for non-hospitality professionals who would like to work in the hospitality industry and tourism in the future.
Conclusion
Mentioned in this article were some of the many hospitality certificate courses.
With the help of these certifications, you can engage with the hospitality industry and develop a bright future.
Also, check our blog post on all about courses and colleges in Hotel Management for further details on the certificates, career options and more.
There are many other providers of these hospitality industry certificates.
While these hospitality certificate courses help big times in fast-tracking a career, it is equally important to have these from prestigious institutions. We wish you all the success!