| By James Liu | Lux Education Partners | 26 September 2026 |
HIM Business School, formerly Hotel Institute Montreux, offers a three-year business bachelor’s with finance, marketing, management and hospitality management pathways—and three paid internships. I have visited HIM. As a business owner in Europe, I value its combination of business learning with communication, service and professional behaviour: understanding customers and working effectively with colleagues matter every day in a company.
HIM ranks eighth in QS 2026 Hospitality & Leisure Management. This is a subject ranking, not a general business-school ranking.
Four undergraduate directions
| Pathway | Areas of study | Interests it can develop |
|---|---|---|
| Finance | Portfolios and capital markets | Company finances and investment decisions |
| Marketing | Luxury brands, digital marketing and e-commerce | Customers, products and commercial communication |
| Management | People, operations and leadership | How organisations work and solve problems |
| Hospitality management | Events, food and beverage, revenue and resorts | Hotels and service businesses |
Students first share foundations in business mathematics, accounting, economics, marketing, cross-cultural communication and customer experience before specialising. This leaves room to explore while still requiring serious work with numbers and analysis.
Make three internships tell a story of progress
Each internship lasts four to six months. I want to see the student learn from the first placement, address weaknesses in the next, and build credible experience for a target role by the third. Repeating similar tasks and deliberately developing a range of useful experience can produce very different CVs.
Degrees and diplomas
The BBA is awarded by Northwood University in the United States. Approval of the Swiss ES higher professional diploma route is planned for October 2026. LEP will confirm its status and applicability with the school for the relevant intake.
Applied AI in Customer Experience: a year across several locations
The Master in Applied AI in Customer Experience focuses on using data and AI to understand users, improve services and develop products.
| Stage | Location or format | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| January–March | Online | User experience and business AI foundations |
| April–May | Macau | Data, quantitative methods, algorithms and applications |
| June–September | Montreux, Switzerland | AI products, ethics, intellectual property and customer experience |
| October–December | Online project | Integrated final project |
This is not a full year spent studying in Switzerland. The locations matter for a student’s residence plans and intended use of the award. An additional César Ritz MSc in Leadership is also an option; its admission, assessment and fees are separate matters to confirm, rather than assuming two awards are included in the basic fee.
My view: business needs both human and technical abilities
Technology can help analyse customers and improve processes. A company still needs people who understand why customers buy, why they return and how trust is earned. That intersection is what interests me in this programme, particularly for someone with business or service experience seeking practical technology skills. I recommend it by looking at the work a student wants to do, not simply because its title includes AI.
Budget
The 2027 undergraduate budget is CHF 131,800, including scheduled on-campus board and associated services. Allow separately for the CHF 2,000 deposit and expenses during uncovered holidays and internships.
The AI master’s budget is approximately CHF 38,000. Fees may vary slightly; the amount confirmed by the school for your application takes precedence.
Plan the three years with LEP
LEP works directly with HIM, supports applications and scholarship discussions, and checks the course and award for the student’s intake. Our European business relationships add another perspective: what employers need, which experiences are worth building and where a suitable graduate might be introduced.
We open our networks to partner families and make graduate job recommendations a core part of our work. Alongside school careers services, this helps connect study with an employment direction before graduation. We can compare HIM with IMI and César Ritz against the student’s interests, family budget and future study or work plans.