Hospitality, Restaurant and Leisure Management - HRL

The manager of a profit center in the Hospitality, Catering, and Leisure (HRL) sector is responsible for managing and administering the department under their responsibility (accommodation, catering, and sales) in a sustainable and responsible manner.

To meet career development needs, the Master's degree is structured around four branches of activity in the sector, not just one specialization.

1- Hotel branch: accommodation in business cities and tourist areas

The Master's degree trains future hotel managers who will work primarily in business or tourist accommodation concepts representative of the French landscape. These future professionals are prepared to manage in environments undergoing strong transition where the ability to understand economic, managerial and environmental changes is a key element in the sustainability of these companies.

Agility, responsibility, innovation, sustainability and the ability to lead teams through change are the talents we intend to develop in our work-study students in the hotel industry.

Work-study students and graduates are in management positions in independent, affiliated or chain hotels in the main brands and categories present in the territory: Ibis, Novotel, Mercure, Campanile, Best Western, Holiday Inn, the Ascott Group, ... but also the Four Season Hotel in Courchevel, Le Martinez in Cannes, Le Refuge de Solaise in Courchevel (Paris Society group). They have also integrated concepts such as OKKO Hotel, Mi-Hotel, the Olympic Games Organizing Committee. Finally, we find them at Club Méditerranée, Adagio (Apart Hotel); Yelloh Village (camping sector).

2- Catering Branch: hotel, commercial, collective catering and catering activities

The Master's degree trains future restaurant managers who will work in the world of commercial catering, primarily table service, hotel catering, institutional catering, or the catering and banqueting sector. This branch also leads to entrepreneurial projects.

Work-study students and graduates are employed by the Georges Blanc group, Ninkasi, the Paris Society group (Coco Paris), La Grande Epicerie de Paris, Traiteur Pignol, Traiteur La Boucle Lyon, Le Traiteur C-Gastronomie, Budha Bar, and in rapidly growing restaurant/brasserie concepts.

Careers are also underway in institutional catering groups: Médirest and Délisaveurs (Group Compass), Api Restauration, etc.

3- Leisure Branch: from indoor to outdoor... knowing how to entertain is a profession!

The iaelyon Master's in Leisure Management is one of the few programs in France to meet the needs of a growing sector, a driving force for the revitalization of territories and rich in a diversity of activities.

This sector encompasses several major types of structures, each with its specificities:

Leisure and theme parks (outdoor and resorts)

Amusement parks, theme parks, resorts integrating accommodation and catering: these emblematic structures attract millions of visitors each year.

Examples: Disneyland Paris, Europa-Park, Compagnie des Alpes…

Indoor leisure parks

The offer has grown significantly in recent years, with innovative concepts 100% indoor:

Escape games, laser games, climbing walls, virtual reality centers, bowling alleys, trampoline parks, educational fun centers… These formats allow for year-round operation and appeal to a wide family audience.

Nature leisure, culture and well-being

This field brings together a multitude of facilities more rooted in nature or heritage:

• Animal parks and safaris
• Museums and immersive cultural venues
• Wine cities, climate museums, wine tourism
• Sports and wellness facilities: gyms, fitness centers, aquatic areas, etc.

A sector in search of versatile profiles

iaelyon trains versatile managers, capable of leading both teams and profit centers, while mastering the specificities of support functions such as hotels and restaurants, essential in the leisure world. All this is supervised by professors and field speakers, themselves operators of existing structures.

4- “Support functions” branch of the sector

Since the start of the 2022 academic year, the Master's degree has been open to careers in so-called "support" functions in the Hospitality, Catering and Leisure sector. For example, work-study placements have been carried out or are underway in consulting structures specializing in RM and online distribution/reservation, within the financial departments of hotel group headquarters, within HR departments, within Digital Content Tools Marketing Departments; with publishers of marketing and management software for professionals in the accommodation (hotels, tourist residences and campsites), catering and wellness sectors (spas, thalassotherapy centers and thermal activities).

The advantages of the training:

• Training ranked in the national Top 10 of the best Masters in Hospitality Management , Eduniversal 2025,
• and 3rd in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes ranking of the best Masters in Tourism and Hospitality Management
• Lessons delivered in the form of seminars, case studies, business games
• 40 weeks in the company each year
• Social entrepreneurship projects linked to city life