Director of Food and Beverage looking to pivot into CRE
Hey Guys-

As director of food and beverage for a lodge and having a great deal of experience in hospitality, I am looking to pivot away from food and bev and operations and into the CRE side of hospitality and hotels. I'd love to be in acquisitions / development / project management or something in the realm.

I'm thinking a graduate degree will help me make this pivot. Specifically, Cornell's hotel school (mostly for their network) as Masters of Management in Hospitality with a Real estate minor (1 year) or their full Masters of Real Estate program (2 years).

I am also weighing this with other options i.e. an MBA, or MSRE from somewhere in the region I want to tap into (california) ...

What do you all think? What about a part time MBA program? online classes? Skip the degree all together? What are other options of breaking into this side of hospitality?

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edit: 28 y/o undergrad BA environmental studies, not much quantitative coursework but am taking HBS CoRe online to display quantitative abilities in future applications 
[{"id": "iguuums", "text": "You will probably need a degree to pivot to any of those unless you want to do maybe hotel asset management but that will require financial skills. Id do a top mba or high tiered mred and do a bunch of internships. Had a friend who did something similar", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "igvfd3y", "text": "Asset management would be your easiest path into the real estate side from ops and yoy could probably do this without the grad degree. Maybe work toward applying for the grad degree while also looking for asset management roles and see if you can transition?\n\nCornell mmh program (18 months) is highly specialized and you have to be very diligent during your time there to make it worth while. Check out former class jobs stats\u2026the average grad is not doing much better than an undergrad though some really make it work. The RE program is more rigorous for sure but you won\u2019t have as much hospitality in your coursework and the \u201cstory\u201d you sell to employers might be trickier to sell. Both programs average age is mid to late 20s so also something to consider if you are older. Consider the price too - if you have to take out the full tuition in loans I\u2019m not sure it\u2019s worth it since the right job after is not guaranteed. \n\nI\u2019m not sure about an MBA", "replies": [{"id": "igynfax", "text": "If Im going to a graduate program I am planning on being very diligent, and am looking at Cornells mmh mostly for its network.  Im 28 and would most likely be taking out loans. Apart from the MMH, the RE program at Cornell I believe has options for financing the degree as far as Teaching assistantships, fellowships, etc, but you are right it is not hospitality focused, but that could actually be a benefit . \n\nEmployment rates for MMH are good but you are right it is a low average  salary. However, their MRE program has a stellar avg salary out of graduation. Which is a good sign if im pursuing a MMH with the minor in RE\n\nThanks for the input", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "igxqkvw", "text": "Ex hotel rooms manager of 10 years here. Transitioned out of hotel opps to a development analyst via a 1 year real estate MS from DU.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]