USF’s M3 Center uses technology to connect scholars and the hospitality industry

When the coronavirus pandemic shut down international travel, a University of South Florida business school turned to technology to continue its visiting scholar program.

The M3 Center for Hospitality Technology and Innovation used specialized software and other online technologies, such as Zoom, to connect graduate students and faculty members with scholars from Turkey, Pakistan and Arizona.

Dr. Cihan Cobanoglu, professor and director of the M3 Center at the Muma College of Business on the Sarasota-Manatee campus, said it is more important than ever to attract global and national talent.

“We wanted to create a program that would be a magnet,” he said. “We will bring the brightest minds here and create a platform for them so they can conduct research or teach.”

Before the pandemic, USF was attracting four to six visiting scholars each year to the M3 Center. This year, with travel restrictions, Cobanoglu has recruited three virtual visiting scholars:

• Seden Dogan is an assistant professor of tourism at Ondokuz Mayis University in Samsun, Turkey. She performs research on emerging technology, including robotics and drones, publishes research and serves on several thesis committees to help grad students.
• Rab-Nawaz Lodhi, associate professor of management at the University of Central Punjab in Lahore, Pakistan, is a recent graduate of USF’s master’s program. He is assisting several graduate students in research and is serving as a guest editor for M3 Center’s online journal.
• Ken Edwards of Tristar Hotels in Arizona is helping the M3 Center establish a certificate program in hotel management and is creating online classroom materials to help students at USF and other colleges.

While challenges exist connecting scholars who live in different time zones, the program has been an important resource for a school that focuses on the hard-hit hospitality and tourism industry.

Job losses internationally in hospital and leisure have been staggering. In the U.S., 3.2 million were lost and the sector has an unemployment rate more than double the national, average, according to Hospitality.net.

In January, 15.9% of workers in the leisure and hospitality sector remained jobless, more than any other industry, the Wall Street Journal reported.

“We are a mirror of the industry because hospitality schools are applied fields,” Cobanoglu said. “Obviously, our students started to have a little bit of a hard time finding jobs initially. Now, as we get used to living with the pandemic and also as the vaccination is becoming more widely available, the jobs are coming back.” 

To address the immediate impact, the M3 Center offered a free online certificate program to those who needed to upgrade skills.

Cobanoglu told his dean that he was expecting 100 people to sign up for the seven-week online certificate program, but it ended up attracting 5,700 people. Enrollees ended up networking and sharing job leads.

“It is really an amazing success not only because people found hope and some knowledge, but also it really helped serve as a networking event for our participants,” said Cobanoglu, who estimated that over 4,000 people have completed the program. “People found jobs throughout this certificate program. We had some unintended consequences in a positive way.”

The M3 Center plans to build on that success by continuing the program for free and developing additional certificate programs. In 2013, John McKibbon III, the chief executive officer of a prominent hotel group and software company, funded the creation of the M3 Center for Hospitality Technology and Innovation through his foundation.

“This is a service,” Cobanoglu said. “That’s why this gift from Mr. McKibbon was so good and it has a huge impact on our industry.”

Real-life research

Safety and guest confidence will be a key factor when travel resumes. One survey conducted by the M3 Center focused on mask wearing. A survey of 1,800 Americans indicated hotels and restaurants should enforce mask wearing for their service employees.

Guests became anxious when they saw a service person without a mask, and perceived higher quality of service when masks were worn. Also, white masks was rated the highest, followed by a colorful and a black mask. Clear masks were rated the lowest.

“Results show that customers perceive higher service quality in a restaurant or hotel if employees wear masks, regardless of the color or type of mask,” the survey noted.

As the sector starts to rebound from the pandemic, Cobanoglu said providing travelers choices will continue to be more important, such as offering mobile check-ins for hotels and also in-person clerks. 

“You can’t force them to have masks. You can’t force them to go to the restaurant or not go to the restaurant,” he said. “In the future, we are always going to offer options. Give them the option to choose how they want to do what they want to do.

Overall, Cobanoglue said he was confident that the industry will see pent-up demand once more people are vaccinated and the CDC changes its recommendations on leisure travel.

“I believe it is going to come back,” he said. “Maybe it will take another year to come back to the pre-pandemic period, but I’m really hopeful that it’s going to be all right again.”

Florida’s economy relies heavily on tourism. The number of visitors declined 60.3% in the second quarter of 2020 compared with the prior year but recovered to a 35.4% decline in the third quarter, according an overview in December by the Florida Legislature Office of Economic and Demographic Research. Driving vacations were projected to recover first, and followed by business travel, domestic air travel, and international travel, in that order.

Meanwhile, the M3 Center will continue to harness the creativity of its international visiting scholars and faculty members to assist the tourism and hospitality sector. The cost efficiencies of taking the program virtual cannot be ignored, the M3 Center’s director said. 

“The benefits are so outweighing the challenges, the cost. It’s a no-brainer,” Cobanoglue said. “We will definitely continue this program so we continue to attract more great brains to our center that will help our national industry.”

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