Hospitality Innovation Consultancy Project (HICP)

Why just imagine the future of hospitality? Let student consultants bring business solutions to your organisation with a client-centred approach.

The HICP Module

A unique feature of this programme is the Hospitality Innovation Consultancy Project. In this module students work as part of a consultancy team to develop innovative solutions to a strategic hospitality challenge provided by a client.

This module aims to teach students the skills they need to work with hospitality industry clients and how they can provide a solution or recommendations for problems in a systematic, methodologically consistent and justifiable way. The student teams use a design thinking approach, which puts an emphasis on designing solutions in close cooperation and co-creation with the client.

In the first semester in Maastricht, students draw up a design brief and design criteria for a solution. In the second semester in Dublin, students develop and evaluate solutions. The project is finalised in the third semester in Barcelona, where students validate the selected prototype(s) and work on developing a business and implementation plan. The consultancy teams are supported by academic advisers and relevant industry leaders from the three institutions. 

The Consultancy Project

Given the Master’s level of the programme, projects may address multiple aspects of a hospitality business challenge:

• The problem/opportunity has to do with guests, employees or other stakeholders. You do not need to be active in the hospitality sector, as long as hospitality is strategically important (like hospitality in a health care setting).
• The problem/opportunity is highly complex, i.e. it involves multiple stakeholders, developments at all levels, different relationship types etc. The project result should be a business case with a mid- to long-term strategic impact on your organisation and its stakeholders.
• The project contributes to one or more of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
• The problem/opportunity can be answered using a design thinking approach, academic resources and research.

The projects that students take on will typically feature some of the following
design thinking attributes:

• The problem is human-centred: deep understanding of the people involved.
• The problem needs framing: the students have a hunch about the problem/opportunity, but it needs to be explored, framed and agreed upon.
• There are many unknowns and data from the past is unlikely to help solve the problem or create the opportunity.
• There is little relevant available data to analyse.
• The problem has many connected, interdependent facets, making it hard to know where to start.
• The problem/opportunity is challenging and reflects current and emerging trends in the sector.
• The solution requires creative and innovative thinking.