Tampa hotel company’s USF deal aims to train hospitality’s next generation

Thursday, November 25, 2021

Randy Hassen’s first hotel job came 30 years ago, working for $4.50 an hour at a Days Inn in Athens, Ga. to help offset the cost of college.

The place was run by McKibbon Hospitality, a longtime hotel management company based in Tampa.

Little did Hassen know he’d never work anywhere else.

Hassen is now president of hotel management at McKibbon, which wants to give today’s college kids the same sort of boost he got back then.


McKibbon recently announced a partnership with the University of South Florida in which students at USF’s School of Hospitality and Tourism Management will engage in hands-on training at some of its 100-plus hotels across the country.
This includes the Courtyard by Marriott Tampa Downtown and the Kimpton Hotel Arras in Asheville, N.C.

The partnership comes as USF aims to expand its hospitality management program from its Sarasota-Manatee campus into St. Petersburg and Tampa, opening the doors to hotel careers for entirely new swaths of students.

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