This is how studying at the toughest hotel management school in the world works

Lausanne Their parents pay tuition fees of up to 40,000 francs a year – but for the students at the École hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL), their training begins with less than glamorous tasks. For weeks, the young men and women do the cleaning work in the dormitories on campus. They work in the kitchen for one of the business school canteens – or they wait tables in the “Berceau des Sens”, the only restaurant in the world to be awarded a Michelin star where students work.

EHL is the most prestigious hospitality school in the world. For more than 125 years, hotelier dynasties from all over the world have been sending their offspring to training on Lake Geneva. And the “Année préparatoire” – the preparatory year – has always been the biggest hurdle in the training for many students. The sometimes physically demanding work is intended to prepare the students for a management position in the top hotel industry.