The Hospitality Asset Managers Association (HAMA) has begun accepting submissions for the 20th Annual HAMA Student Case Competition.
As part of the competition, students from more than 60 participating undergraduate and graduate programs nationwide have been given a management company change scenario to analyze and formulate a recommendation to improve the business. Working with a HAMA member and their respective university professors, student teams will be required to prepare a comprehensive financial analysis and recommend a solution and executive summary for a board review. The case study is modeled after a real-life scenario HAMA members have dealt with in their role as an owner’s representative.
HAMA has partnered with HotStats—a financial benchmarking resource for hotels—and Lodging Analytics Research & Consulting to provide critical reports identical to what HAMA members uses on an ongoing basis to student participants. Twenty industry executives serving on the HAMA education committee will evaluate submissions based on the quality of the presentation.
Next Generation
“Each year, the Education Committee looks forward to the unique solutions that the next generation of hotel asset managers bring to the table, surprising us with their creativity and intelligence,” Adam Tegge, HAMA education committee chair, said in a statement. “The class of 2025 undoubtedly will apply their own experiences to these issues in ways that will show all of us new directions we hadn’t considered previously. This competition continues to demonstrate that the future of hotel asset management is in good hands.”
Historically, the annual competition has dealt with general topics and challenges facing operators and ownership of hospitality related assets. However, HAMA sought feedback from several university professors and updated the format to be more applicable to situations these future students will be confronted with upon graduation. This year’s participants include universities such as University of Denver; University of Texas Rio Grande Valley; Boston University; Florida International University; Michigan State University; Columbia University; Morgan State University; Howard University; NYU; and Penn State University.
Schools and universities will select their finalists by Jan. 15, 2026, with graduates and undergraduates being reviewed separately. The two winning teams each will receive a $5,000 prize and an invitation to the spring 2026 HAMA spring conference in Washington D.C. Travel and lodging will be covered by HAMA.