Fifty-one Auburn University undergraduate students and six graduate students have achieved a perfect pass rate in the exam for Certification in Hotel Industry Analytics in February.
This exam is a part of the Strategic Hospitality Management course offered at Auburn.
Students said this accomplishment would not have been possible without Professor Baker Mahmoud Ayoun, who received his certification to give this exam three years ago, when it was first offered.
He was one of the professors to be invited the by Smith Travel Research in Nashville, Tennessee to learn about the exam.
Ayoun said part of the reason he wanted to go was because this was such an important company for the hospitality industry.
“Nobody knew exactly what it was,” Ayoun said. “They were talking about some new certification, and some of us realized that there was a need for it. It was from (Smith Travel Research) and everybody knows that company. It’s the biggest company in our field, so we assumed if it comes from them, then it would be a leader in certification.”
This certification exam consists of 50 multiple-choice questions and at least 70 points are required for the students to pass the exam. According to Ayoun, the exam has been offered for three years in his Hotel Industry Analytics class, but was only made mandatory last year.
Ayoun said he decided to make it mandatory because he believed it would benefit his students in the professional world.
“We saw other benefits other than the actual knowledge,” Ayoun said. “One was we used it as an assessment tool for our program because it’s an objective exam testing the knowledge of our students. So we thought if our students can do well, then that means we are preparing them well for the industry. We saw it as a benefit, which is why we were encouraged to mandate it for the courses.”
James Kennedy, senior in hotel and restaurant management as well as one of the students to achieve a perfect pass rate on the exam, said this certification is sure to help the students in the future.
“I think having the certification gives us a competitive advantage when we’re seeking employment,” Kennedy said. “It’s something you can bring up in resumes, like I’ve been asked about it before when I was interviewing for different companies.”
Ayoun said, last year was the first year the exam as mandatory, the students did very well on the exam and that the improvements made over time has helped this new class of students all pass the exam.
“Last year was not bad, it was fantastic,” Ayoun said. “It was in the low 90s. This year the improvements in the course have helped the students to pass. Another thing that I think helped a lot was that we linked the student’s performance on this certification to their grade in the class. If they do well on the certification, it means they will probably do well in the class. One-third of the grade in this class is based on their performance on this exam, which gives them a push to take it more seriously.”
There are four areas of this exam: hotel industry foundations, property level benchmarking, hotel math fundamentals and hotel industry performance reports.
In each of these categories, the Auburn students scored higher than all of the other universities’ students who took this exam.
According to Martin O’Neill, professor and department head of the nutrition and hospitality management, Ayoun is very dedicated to ensuring that his students succeed.
“He spends a lot of time on the curriculum and then additional time off the curriculum with each of the students to make sure that they are adequately prepared for the exam,” O’Neill said.
O’Neill also said Ayoun has played an instrumental role in making his students successful and guaranteeing these amazing test scores.
“I’m sort of the person in the administrative role,” O’Neill said. “In terms of opening the door on the opportunity, it’s really up to the faculty, and he has been a tremendous asset in doing that and really distinguishing the groups that have gone through the program.”
Kennedy said Ayoun prepared them very well for the test and provided many materials that ensured their success.
“Our teacher, Dr. Ayoun, is a baller, and he did an amazing job of getting us ready,” Kennedy said. “It was really just paying attention to him in class and reviewing the notes. He also gave out a practice test that helped everyone a lot.”
Ayoun incorporated preparation for the exam more so this year than in previous years.
He said he believes practicing the material many times was what made a big impact in the students’ scores this year.
Part of the material refinement was including more exercises from the company itself.
“We offered these extra exercises and separate formats for students to practice,” Ayoun said. “They also offer a practice exam to simulate the actual exam, but can be taken by the students prior to the exam.”
Ayoun said he was surprised about the perfect pass rate due to the large size of the group that took it and because it had never happened before in one of his classes.
“When I got the results, I looked at the results more than once to make sure that they were accurate,” Ayoun said. “It just confirmed the high quality of Auburn students.”
Kennedy said he was not confidant he would pass, and he believes Ayoun was the main reason the class did so well.
“I think we owe it all to him.” Kennedy said. “I can’t say enough good things about him.”
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