Meet the Instructor: Kate Varini

The Meet the Instructor series introduces you to AIHM’s dedicated hospitality management faculty. Learn more about their areas of expertise, their passion for teaching and their life outside the classroom.

Whether you’re a current AIHM student, an industry professional curious about how AIHM trains the next generation of hospitality leaders, or a potential student interested in the benefits of a hotel school education, the Meet the Instructor series is your chance to get to know more about the individuals inspiring our students’ success.

Discover the newest addition to AIHM’s faculty, Kate Varini, below.

Kate Varini, Academic Programme Leader and Lecturer

Kate Varini brings her deep expertise in hospitality training and passionate teaching style to Bangkok after a long track-record of inspiring hospitality students as a professor at some of the best hotel schools in Europe.

In terms of pedagogy, she’s a champion of blended learning and integrating the team entrepreneurship methodology. She helps students develop both the soft and hard skills required to succeed in an evolving business environment.

Kate joins AIHM after an impressive academic journey. While teaching at Oxford Brookes University in the United Kingdom she developed and ran the Master of Revenue Management, a programme designed for senior Revenue Managers. In fact, revenue management is one of her key academic and industry specialisations. She’s an active researcher in the development of tools and processes to drive revenue and demand. Sharing her expertise with others, she’s delivered numerous revenue management seminars for leading hotel chains as well as globally recognised universities.

While serving as a Senior Lecturer and Researcher at the École Hôtelière de Lausanne, she became the school’s Director of eLearning. At the University of Applied Science HES-SO Valais Wallis in Switzerland, Kate developed the Certificate of Advanced Studies in Demand Management for Leaders in Service Industries. In recognition of her contribution to students, the highly ranked IE Business School in Madrid awarded her a certificate of teaching excellence. Other schools where she has taught as a resident or visiting professor include Les Roches, Vatel, and, most recently, the Haute École Spécialisée de Suisse Occidentale.

Now as Academic Programme Leader at AIHM, Kate has taken up a valued role ensuring our continuing superior academic quality and rigour. We’re excited to have her with us, imparting her expertise to our students and inspiring them on to success.

Get to know more about Kate Varini in her own words below.

Q&A with Kate Varini

Why do you teach?

I love interacting with adult learners and find that the more I teach, the more I know. Teaching is a great way to really know a subject like the back of your hand. Because of this, I also like to encourage students to support each other in different areas of their learning and thus understand a topic more deeply.

In particular, I teach to:

1. Equip students with the tools/skills/knowledge that they need to succeed
2. Interact with different generations to exchange ideas and views regarding the best way to approach hotel management, considering the contemporary commercial environment
3. Facilitate the development of skills and knowledge related to the optimisation of products and services offered in the field of hospitality

What would your students be surprised to find out about you?

When I was 18, I participated in the International Salon Culinaire in London. I won a silver medal for my “Tranche aux Fruits”. My mentor was a famous French chocolatier, Jean Hubert.

I am also the founder of Africa Team Academy Rwanda Ltd. This is a social enterprise where the first priority is positive impact. The head office is in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, and is also a bed and breakfast facility sold on booking.com. This small business generates direct value for four Rwandan families.

Give us 4 adjectives you would use to describe yourself.

• Committed
• Consistent
• Passionate
• Entrepreneurial

How would you describe your teaching style? How did you develop or arrive at this style?

I am passionate about encouraging students to succeed by becoming independent learners. Students learn in a variety of ways, so I prefer to use a variety of teaching approaches and related assessments. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, and different students will perform better or worse depending on their preferred learning style.

What inspires you?

Seeing how students evolve and grow during and after their university studies.

What are your must-have smartphone apps?

• Wise and Revolut
• Chrome
• WhatsApp
• Google Maps

If you could pass on any wisdom to your students, what would you share?

If I could go back to my college years, I would have at least 8 hours sleep each night so that I might take best advantage of the learning opportunities. A good social life is important, but I would balance this out more with the time dedicated to learning (and sleeping).  When I was at college, I also had a few part-time catering jobs. On the one hand, this helped me gain a good amount of experience. On the other hand, I was too tired to study. So that would need to be balanced out too.

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