Frequently Asked Questions
How do you define Hospitality?
Hospitality is fundamentally about human interaction and cultivating meaningful experiences people value. It’s a deliberate business strategy designed to bolster bottom line performance by making sure all internal and external constituents feel seen, heard, and appreciated.
Hospitality is rooted in hotels, restaurants, travel, and tourism. These are the foundational pillars of a multibillion-dollar industry. The principle of hospitality – making people feel seen, heard, and valued by understanding who they are and their needs – holds utility within any organization wanting to build lasting relationships with internal and external audiences.
At Boston University’s School of Hospitality, we believe people can concept, engineer, and implement experiences that are innovative by making them meaningful and memorable to their targeted internal and external audiences. We call this Experience Innovation. It is the deliberate use of human interaction to meet strategic objectives and optimize stakeholder value.
Human interaction, through the lens of Experience Innovation, includes employee-to-employee, employee-to-customer and customer-to-customer engagement and communication. Creating consistent and purposeful experiences that matter to these audiences is critical.
Email us at shaideas@bu.edu, if you aren’t sure your idea qualifies, and we’ll be happy to help.
Who is eligible to enter the competition?
Please read the following information carefully. SHA reserves the right to verify any submitted information for accuracy to address any circumstances in which the following rules are not followed, and to disqualify any entry.
- Teams must have at least one current BU degree-seeking student or a BU Class of 2024 alumni who is a co-founder, plays a key management role in the venture, and will take part as one of the main presenters in each competing round.
- Teams may include non-BU members if the previous requirement is met.
- The application should be submitted by the BU student or Class of 2024 alumni who is the founder or co-founder of the venture and will act as the primary team contact during the competition.
- A team can consist of one up to a maximum of 5 members. We strongly recommend at least two members, as research shows teams have a greater likelihood of success than solo ventures.
- All members must be in good academic standing with a minimum GPA of 2.5.
- Teams are not required to have an operating venture or a full business plan to apply; any team with a great idea that is hospitality-related can apply.
- Applicants must commit to being available to attend and participate in the Semi-finals, Finals, and SHA Leadership event.
Participant Expectations
This is a multi-round competition with many moving parts and logistics, including locations, dates and time, materials that may need to be emailed/collected in advance, etc. You are expected to be responsive to communications that will generally be sent by email. If you don’t respond to an email within 48 hours, we may assume that you are not participating in the next stage of the competition.
Do I retain ownership of my idea and venture?
Yes, each team retains the intellectual property rights to its ideas or concept and retains complete ownership of its venture.
Contestants are however responsible for all confidentiality, copyright, trademark, and patent issues. Protection of sensitive materials such as intellectual property, copyright, patents, or confidentiality is the sole responsibility of contestants in the competition. Boston University and all related parties assume no liability and shall have no liability or obligation.
We would like to highlight that all presentations in the Finals will be made in front of a live audience. These presentations may also be recorded and be made available on the School of Hospitality Administration’s website and various social media channels. All teams are therefore required to ensure that they do not disclose confidential information in their slides or in their verbal presentations.
Additional questions?
Please contact us here to reach us with any further questions.