It�s available exclusively to AAHOA members and it�s free of charge.

�There are certification programs for hotel administrators, food and beverages directors, room division executives, and lodging managers,� said Bakulesh �Buggsi� Patel, AAHOA Chairman and CEO of Buggsi Hospitality which operates 16 hotel properties in the Pacific Northwest. 

�Missing was certification as a competent, professional owner and operator,� explained Patel. �Now thanks to AAHOA�s C.H.O. program, it�s missing no longer.�

To earn the C.H.O. designation, a hotel owner must attend eight full-day seminars over a two year period�four about managing a hotel and four about operating a business. The sessions about hotel management will cover such subjects as front office and reservations, human resources, housekeeping, laundry, maintenance, engineering, and the laws of innkeeping.

The sessions about operating a business will cover such subjects as sales and marketing, leadership, and technology.

Candidates must take a comprehensive written exam and score a grade of at least 75%. To maintain the C.H.O. accreditation, owners will have to take certain refresher courses every five years.

�This isn�t just a paper exercise,� emphasizes Professor Tarun Kapoor of California State Polytechnic Institute in Pomona, who heads the AAHOA Institute of Management (AIM) which is administering the C.H.O. program and who was instrumental in developing the program.

�Within five years, we expect this accreditation will be as important to the hotel industry as a CPA is for accountants or passing the bar exam is for attorneys,� added Kapoor.

AAHOA is holding the first �Front Office and Housekeeping� sessions on June 21 and 22 in Atlanta, on June 28 and 29 in Chicago, on August 16 and 17 in Dallas, and October 12 and 13 in San Francisco. 

The first �Human Resources and Law� sessions will be held on September 11 and 12 in Chicago, October 16 and 17 in Atlanta, November 6 and 7 in San Francisco, and November 13 and 14 in Dallas.

AAHOA has more than 7,000 members who together own about 18,000 properties with one million rooms and one million employees.