Guest house | Live your Dream and Open a Guest House

Live your dream and open a guest house

The University of Cape Town Department of Construction Economics and Management, in partnership with specialist online training company GetSmarter, is pleased to announce the fourth presentation of the extremely popular UCT Guest House Management course. The 10-week part-time course, which has seen almost 500 students in just three presentations, will take place over September and October 2010 and will be conducted entirely through Internet-based distance learning.

GetSmarter has trained over 2000 students in the past year – all of them online – and is fast developing a reputation for creating industry benchmark courses in a variety of fields. The company’s unique Internet-based tuition model pushes the boundaries of distance learning in the country. With 7 courses in progress and over 900 students currently learning through GetSmarter, the company is firmly positioned as a market leader in this field.

The course convener, Corine van Dyk, is a legend in the hospitality industry. Aside from running her own successful guest house for the past 13 years, she chairs a number of industry organisations and was even a trainer for the South African Tourism Institute. She has distilled her extensive knowledge into the rich, detailed content of the 10-week course, and is available throughout to guide and assist the students.

The UCT Guest House Management course is intended both for current owners and managers of guest houses, bed & breakfasts, boutique hotels and backpackers, and also for those who aspire to start their own establishments. Those currently involved in the industry can gain new insights into the latest trends and practices, while aspirant guest house managers can learn essential and comprehensive practical, legal and insider skills.

The UCT Guest House Management course is the only online course of its kind in South Africa. GetSmarter’s advanced and user-friendly learning model provides students with a personal and professional educational experience. The course takes students through every stage of starting and running a guest house – from the legal requirements and initial planning to marketing and day-to-day activities. Each of the 10 modules includes course notes, discussion forums where students can interact with Corine and one another, an interactive quiz, as well as video lectures to make the course material more engaging.

The material is constantly being updated to take account of the latest trends, legal requirements and real-world factors – for example, previous presentations of the course focused specifically on opportunities arising from the FIFA World Cup 2010. UCT Guest House Management has become the benchmark course in the industry, with nearly 500 students taught since June 2009.

Past students have been impressed by the professional presentation of the course material and the responsiveness of the course convener and coordinator. Many have called the content invaluable, detailed and extremely useful for future reference. Some have said that the UCT Guest House Management course has enabled them to follow their dreams of starting their own guest house. The fact that referrals have spread rapidly by word of mouth is a testament to the quality of the course.

The course is due to start on 13th of September 2010, and registrations close on 3rd of September 2010. Please click here for more information or contact Deborah on deborah@getsmarter.co.za.