TL;DR: BS Hospitality Management (BSHM) is a four-year degree governed by CHED Memorandum Order No. 62, series of 2017, which sets a 137-unit minimum curriculum (up to 152 units for schools offering a formal specialization) built around a shared Tourism and Hospitality Core, hotel- and food-service-focused Professional Courses, and a 600-hour, 6-unit practicum. There is no PRC board exam for BSHM. Many students stack TESDA NC II certificates (Cookery, Food and Beverage Services, Housekeeping) on top of the degree. Entry-level hotel and food service roles in the Philippines commonly start in the ₱17,000-₱25,000 monthly range, per Jobstreet's published salary data, with supervisory and cruise-line roles paying more.
BS Hospitality Management is one of the most enrolled programs in Philippine tourism and hospitality colleges, and one of the most misunderstood: many applicants can't say exactly what separates it from BS Tourism Management, or how much practicum time it actually requires. This guide walks through what BSHM covers under CHED's own curriculum policy, the real subject list and unit counts, the practicum requirement, what it costs, and what the job market looks like for graduates. For a side-by-side comparison, see our BS Tourism Management guide; for the broader landscape of college choices, see in-demand courses in the Philippines.
What Exactly Is BS Hospitality Management?
BSHM is a four-year bachelor's degree that trains students to run the operational and management side of hotels, resorts, restaurants, and events venues: front office, food and beverage service, housekeeping, and increasingly, applied hospitality technology. It sits under one CHED policy document shared with its sister program: CMO No. 62, series of 2017, "Policies, Standards and Guidelines for Bachelor of Science in Tourism Management and Bachelor of Science in Hospitality Management," adopted specifically, in the memorandum's own words, "for the purpose of offering the Bachelor of Science in Tourism Management and Bachelor of Science in Hospitality Management with the end view of keeping pace with the demands of local and global travel, tourism and hospitality environment to become globally competitive."
The order took effect starting School Year 2018-2019 and replaced the older CMO No. 30, series of 2006. Like most CHED program orders, it sets a minimum curriculum and lets individual schools add subjects, specializations, or extra units on top, provided they can show the required learning outcomes are still met.
Disclaimer: curriculum specifics and elective offerings vary by school within CHED's minimum framework. Always confirm the current curriculum and practicum placement process directly with your target school's hospitality department.
How Many Units Does BSHM Require?
CMO No. 62, s. 2017 prescribes a minimum of 137 units for BSHM (rising to 152 units for schools authorized to offer a named specialization track, such as Culinary Arts Management). The table below breaks down where those units go.
| Curriculum Component | Units | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| General Education (GE) Courses | 36 | Per CMO No. 20, s. 2013 |
| National Service Training Program (NSTP) | 6 | |
| Physical Education (PE) courses | 8 | |
| Common Business and Management Courses | 6 | Operations Management (TQM), Strategic Management |
| Tourism and Hospitality Core | 30 | Shared with BSTM |
| Hospitality Professional Courses | 30 | BSHM-specific |
| Professional Electives | 15 | School selects from a CHED-suggested list or offers its own |
| Practicum | 6 | Minimum 600 hours |
| Total (minimum) | 137 | 152 units for HEIs offering a formal specialization |
The 36 units of General Education follow CHED's standard GE Core list under CMO No. 20, s. 2013 (Understanding the Self, Purposive Communication, Mathematics in the Modern World, and similar subjects common to most bachelor's degrees), so BSHM's specialization really shows up in the Tourism and Hospitality Core and Professional Courses layers.
What Subjects Are in the Tourism and Hospitality Core?
The 30-unit Tourism and Hospitality Core is shared word-for-word between BSHM and BSTM students, since CHED designed it as the common foundation both tracks build on before splitting into hotel-focused or travel-focused professional courses. Confirmed subjects from the order include Philippine Culture and Tourism Geography, Risk Management as Applied to Safety, Security and Sanitation, Legal Aspects in Tourism and Hospitality, and Tourism and Hospitality Marketing, among other shared subjects covering ethics and the Tourism Professional landscape.
This shared core is why BSHM and BSTM graduates often understand each other's side of the industry even though they specialize differently, and why some schools let students switch tracks relatively late without losing many credits.
What Are BSHM's Hospitality Professional Courses?
The 30-unit Hospitality Professional Courses block is where BSHM diverges from BSTM. Confirmed subjects from CMO No. 62 include Fundamentals in Food Service Operations, Fundamentals in Lodging Operations, and Applied Business Tools and Technologies, plus courses covering hospitality industry conferences and events (MICE), and two Foreign Language subjects (which must be in the same language across both terms). Schools then round this out with their own professional electives, drawn from a CHED-suggested list or their own catalog, worth 15 units.
Many BSHM programs also run kitchen-based subjects (culinary fundamentals, bread and pastry, bar and beverage service) as part of their professional electives or lab-heavy General Education substitutes, though the exact lab subject list is set by each school rather than fixed nationally by CHED.
How Much Practicum Does BSHM Require?
BSHM students must complete a minimum of 600 practicum hours, worth 6 units, per CMO No. 62, s. 2017. The order allows schools to split this into two separate practicum offerings (for example, one hotel rotation and one food-service rotation) rather than a single continuous placement, and recommends, where feasible, that the practicum venue be accredited or otherwise recognized by the Department of Tourism.
Disclaimer: practicum hour requirements and placement processes can vary in implementation by school. Always confirm the current requirement and accredited-venue list with your target school's hospitality management department before enrolling.
What Does BSHM Tuition Cost?
Tuition for BSHM, like most Philippine college programs, depends heavily on school type. State universities and colleges (SUCs) charge little to nothing in tuition under the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act, while private schools' BSHM programs commonly run from roughly ₱25,000 to ₱60,000 or more per semester, with the higher end driven by training-kitchen and lab fees. Specialized hospitality colleges built around industry-grade training facilities charge substantially more: Enderun Colleges' undergraduate tuition, for instance, starts from around ₱300,000 per semester across all its programs, according to its own published fee schedule — see our Enderun tuition breakdown for the full picture. Always pull the current published rate from the specific school rather than relying on a roundup figure.
What TESDA NC Certifications Pair With BSHM?
Because hotels and cruise lines often screen for hands-on skill credentials on top of a diploma, many BSHM students stack TESDA National Certificates during or after their degree. Common pairings include:
- Cookery NC II
- Bread and Pastry Production NC II
- Food and Beverage Services NC II
- Housekeeping NC II
- Bartending NC II
- Front Office Services NC II
Some schools run TESDA competency assessments directly on campus as part of their lab subjects (a practice tied to CHED's encouragement of "ladderized" curriculum design that bridges TESDA TVET qualifications with the college curriculum); others require students to test separately at an accredited TESDA assessment center. See our TESDA NC levels explained guide for what each certificate level actually signals to employers.
What Jobs Can a BSHM Graduate Get?
BSHM graduates typically start in front office, food and beverage service, housekeeping, or entry-level events coordination roles at hotels, resorts, and restaurants, then move into supervisory and department-head positions with experience. A separate, well-established career track is cruise ship employment, where Philippine crew make up a large share of front-of-house, culinary, and housekeeping staff on international cruise lines — a path many BSHM programs actively prepare students for through cruise-specific electives or partner recruitment agencies.
According to Jobstreet Philippines' published salary data, common entry points include:
| Role | Typical Monthly Salary Range |
|---|---|
| Front Desk Officer / Receptionist | ₱17,000-₱20,000 |
| Front Desk Receptionist | ₱18,000-₱22,000 |
| Front Office Supervisor | ₱19,000-₱24,000 |
| Front Office Manager | ₱30,000-₱40,000 |
Disclaimer: salary figures are Jobstreet's published market ranges as of their most recent update, not guaranteed pay for any individual graduate. Actual offers vary by employer, city, hotel category, and experience. For broader context, the Philippine Statistics Authority's Labor Force Survey for April 2024 recorded managers earning an average of ₱1,400 per day across all industries — a useful ceiling reference for where a hospitality career can lead with enough seniority, though it isn't hospitality-specific.
Is BSHM Right for You?
Before committing to BSHM, weigh these questions:
- Do you enjoy service-facing, hands-on work? BSHM leans heavily on practical training (kitchens, front desk simulations, housekeeping labs) rather than classroom theory. If you'd rather analyze markets than run a shift, BS Tourism Management or a business degree may fit better.
- Are you open to shift work and weekend/holiday schedules? Hospitality operations run around the clock; entry-level roles rarely offer standard office hours.
- Is a cruise-line or overseas career part of your plan? If so, ask your target school directly about its cruise-line placement partnerships and TESDA NC II offerings before enrolling, since these vary significantly by institution.
- Have you checked the school's practicum placements? Since CHED sets only a 600-hour minimum and leaves venue selection to schools, ask specifically which hotels, resorts, or DOT-accredited venues the program partners with.
- What strand did you take in senior high? This curriculum is vertically aligned with the ABM strand; students from other strands can still enroll but may need bridging courses. See our home economics strand guide for a related SHS pathway into hospitality.
Ready to find the right school? Browse schools or compare tuition and programs across hundreds of Philippine schools on SchoolFinderPH.
Sources
- CHED CMO No. 62, s. 2017 — Policies, Standards and Guidelines for BS Tourism Management and BS Hospitality Management (official PDF)
- Jobstreet Philippines — Front Office Supervisor Salary
- Jobstreet Philippines — Front Office Manager Salary
- Jobstreet Philippines — Front Desk Officer Salary
- Philippine Statistics Authority — Labor Force Survey, April 2024 (via GMA News)
- SchoolFinderPH — Enderun Colleges Tuition Fee
- SchoolFinderPH — BS Tourism Management Guide
- SchoolFinderPH — TESDA NC Levels Explained
- SchoolFinderPH — In-Demand Courses in the Philippines
