Apaleo, the property management platform built to put hoteliers in control of their own technology and free them to focus on the guest, has announced a partnership with EHL Hospitality Business School, becoming the first official industry partner for the Human-Centered Digitalization specialisation within its Master's in Hospitality Management (MiHM).
Hospitality is automating fast, and the question the industry now faces is not whether to digitalise, but how to do it without losing the human connection guests come for. That question sits at the core of the specialisation, and it is one Apaleo has been answering in practice for years.
Through the partnership, Apaleo experts will join MiHM courses as guest speakers, and students will visit Apaleo for immersive, hands-on experiences with the technology behind more than 2,200 properties in over 30 countries. During the MiHM Concept Week, students will conceptualise new digital experiences and products inspired by Apaleo's current projects, and the company will propose real business research questions for capstone projects, giving students live cases to test their thinking against.
The collaboration is designed to expose students to the realities of building and scaling hospitality technology, from platform strategy and automation to the fast-emerging world of AI agents. By working alongside practitioners, students learn to judge technology by the standard that matters most in this industry: what it does for the guest, and for the people delivering the experience. It is a perspective they will carry into roles where digital decisions increasingly shape the business.
"Digital transformation succeeds or fails on how well it serves people, not on how advanced the technology is," said Prof. Alessandro Inversini, specialisation director at EHL Hospitality Business School. "Apaleo builds its platform on that same conviction. Our students will see human-centred digitalisation built, in real time, by a company that lives it every day."
"I sat in these classrooms myself, so this partnership means something personal," said Florian Montag, SVP Revenue at Apaleo and EHL alumnus. "Apaleo exists because we believe technology should empower hoteliers to achieve their goals and make life easier for their teams — giving them the freedom to innovate while everything works seamlessly in the background. Working with EHL lets us pass that thinking on to the next generation."
Starting with the upcoming academic cycle, the specialisation will feature Apaleo guest interventions, visits and applied projects.
