Four Hospitality Industry Internship Experiences

Author Miranda Hasani '25 is a Sports, Entertainment, Event - Management major and works as a student assistant at JWU, contributing to JWU News.

Johnson & Wales University's College of Hospitality Management is home to some of the most professional and courteous students (I may be biased as a student in this college, but it’s true). 

Between our Providence Campus, Charlotte Campus and online opportunities, JWU has a great selection of customizable undergraduate programs for students interested in hospitality, including: 

• Hospitality Management with choices of specialization 
• Sports, Entertainment, Event – Management (SEEM) with choices of specialization Food & Beverage Industry Management 2+2 

Students can even add some interesting minors to their degree for further customization. You can check out all hospitality program offerings with the button below to learn more about each of them. 

Explore JWU’s Hospitality Programs 

Students in this college are always doing exciting things in and out of the classroom, including internships and Directed Experiential Education (DEE) courses which offer real-world experience and sometimes lead to future career opportunities. Many JWU alums cite these experiences as a key part of their success, and students completing these internships in real time already recognize how helpful it will be to their future goals. 

Meet Jazz, Emma, Abbey, and Zoe-Ann, some of our brightest students who have each spent this fall completing unique internships that span the hospitality industry from Disney to Beaches Turks & Caicos.  

JAZZ IBARRA ’24 

SEEM student Jazz Ibarra ’24 is currently a paid office intern at Fete Music Hall, a concert and event venue located in Providence, Rhode Island. They first learned about this internship at a trade show that was organized by fellow students during SEEM Week, the SEEM program’s annual week of student-produced events on campus. Fete Music Hall was tabling at the trade show to find an office intern and Jazz was the perfect candidate. 

Jazz started their internship in May and worked at the venue throughout the summer, eventually making it an official internship to earn credit towards the fall semester. Jazz will complete the internship at the end of December. 

They describe their role and responsibilities, over the summer and throughout this past semester. “During the summer, a lot of my responsibilities included turning all the paper documents, such as post-show reports and financial documents, into digital copies that could be more easily tracked,” Jazz shares. “Now, I also do a lot of ticketing, working the door and handling any other loose ends that need to be taken care of before or after a show.” 

Throughout the internship, Jazz has grown as an industry professional. “I've benefited by learning what it's like to work in a small venue. My dream is to open a small venue like that, so learning the ins and outs of what it takes to run a small venue that's very intimate is a big plus for me,” they say. But, Jazz has also added value to the venue in return. “All the documentation I turned into digital versions means that Fete can always access them, and I’ve utilized my connections to help fill staff requirements, whether it was finding a concert photographer for a performer or staff needed for loading and ticket taking,” they share. 

Many of Jazz’s courses at JWU prepared them for the role. In fact, Jazz and I took a Concert, Tour, and Music Production Management class together in the spring and were co-managers for “Not Your Dad’s Music Fest,” a music festival that we produced for the course. “That experience showed me what is needed to get all the working parts for a concert to be able to operate,” Jazz reflects. “Learning that on a small scale, I'm able to apply that on a similar scale now in my field. I'm interested in being a general manager of a venue. I’ve also learned a lot from my boss, Josh, who has been a great teacher for me.” 

As this internship comes to a close, Jazz has some big takeaways from their experience. “First off, everyone knows everybody. Second, being able to transition to different jobs —whether it be the bar manager, the ticket manager or the general manager — learning to be a jack of all trades is something that I'm going to take away from this.” 

EMMA DALEY ’25 

Providence Hospitality Management student Emma Daley ’25 is specializing in Sustainable Tourism. She’s currently a paid intern at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, serving as a resort concierge in the Disney College Program at Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside Resort. Her job consists of assisting with check-in, check-out, vacation planning, answering guest questions and more. She found this opportunity through Disney’s website and social media sites. 

“Working specifically for a company as large and influential as Disney has helped me develop strong business and networking skills,” Emma says. “I have also brought value to the job and company by creating memories for guests and building strong relationships with coworkers and peers.” 

A lot of the courses Emma has taken in the Hospitality Management program have come in handy during her internship. Classes like Introduction to the Hospitality Industry and Human Resources Management have bettered her understanding of the industry and how companies operate. In addition, one of her hospitality courses prepared her with instrumental information on industry’s technological systems. 

“I would say the aspect of my JWU education that prepared me the most for my internship was how hands-on the program and classes are,” Emma adds. “I’ve gained lots of knowledge that I’ve been able to apply to my internship from the various industry speakers, tours and volunteer experiences I have participated in. This has been helpful especially since I have been interning at Disney, which is a very large, complex and diverse company.”  

Emma has had an incredible semester in Florida so far and has gained key knowledge that she will use in her future career. 

“This internship has given me a lot of understanding about the areas of work I want to go into,” Emma says. “While I enjoy working in the hotel area of the industry, I know my real passion lies in the tourism side. My favorite part of my job is assisting guests with planning their trips and providing recommendations. I would consider working specifically in hotels post-graduation, but my main goal is to work in product development and marketing for tourism operators."

"The knowledge I’ve gained from my internship about hotel operations as well as the practical knowledge on building itineraries, dining plans, park tickets and more will be crucial building blocks for my career goal,” she concludes. 

ABBEY SPOLIDORO ’25 

Abbey Spolidoro ’25 is a SEEM student who is currently spending the fall semester as a paid event management intern at the Rhode Island Convention Center under the supervision of Casey Hoover, chief event manager.  

“I have been doing a little bit of everything in terms of running a show,” Abbey shares. “I've been assisting with the making of event scripts, full timetables, contacting the client, managing the show, opening doors on the day of a show, closing the event when it ends, being a runner, bringing out tables and chairs whenever necessary and providing the client with whatever they need.” 

Abbey was already working at the Convention Center in the Amica Mutual Pavilion in Guest Services. She landed the internship by using her connections and asking office staff about opportunities. “I was connected to event management people, who are also JWU grads in the event managers group, so I had a connection there,” she says. 

The internship got her into the field to get a vast amount of hands-on experience. “It's a totally different perspective from sitting in the classroom having someone tell you this is what you're going to experience,” Abbey notes. “You don't really think a lot of this stuff will happen until you actually experience it. And it's kind of nice to figure out how to solve problems and how to figure it all out while being on site. It’s like being in a job simulation.” 

Throughout the fall semester, she led many events at the Convention Center and was able to put her in-class education to use in the industry. “My risk management course has helped me in a lot of cases, especially for Comic Con, where we had a lot of interesting little security issues that I had to deal with,” she said. “I was remembering a lot of what Professor Pullano used to tell us, some of the things that you don't think will happen, will happen. You have to be prepared for all of it and have more plans in place in case something goes wrong.”  

One of Abbey's biggest takeaways has been that even though her interests started in working concerts, she has grown to like trade shows just as much because she has met a lot of incredible people from the organizational side and the attendee side. “I don't necessarily know if I'll end up working in the trade show and conference side of events, but I know I definitely want to be an event manager working at a venue — planning out all these things with the client way ahead of time, working with their budget, figuring out what they need and helping them see it through.” 

ZOE-ANN CLARKE ’26 

JWU online student Zoe-Ann Clarke ’26 is a Hospitality Management major who spent the fall semester interning at Beaches Turks & Caicos through the resort's college internship program. Aside from a beautiful location, the internship also offered a rotation between different departments each week to learn about every facet of the resort’s business.  

One of Zoe-Ann's rotations included housekeeping and, thanks to her Managing the Hotel Guest Experience course at JWU, she was able to use her gained knowledge of different room status terms, their meanings, and how to count the linens in the linen room to her advantage. She also worked in the front office as a concierge, and handled tasks in nearly every department, including entertainment, sales, cost control, dining, learning and development and human resources. 

The experience also helped her develop professional skills such as communicating effectively with guests and coworkers, having the patience to handle challenging situations, solving problems, and gaining new knowledge in using Microsoft Word and Excel. She also knows what she can bring to her future workplaces. “This internship helped me determine the type of leader I want to become,” she says, “I learned how to have patience and how to handle certain situations in a professional manner.” 

Zoe-Ann was able to solidify her dreams and learn all that she can to fulfill them through this experience. “I have always dreamed of owning my own hotel,” she shares. This is something I  truly want to accomplish in the future, and what I’ve learned during this internship will help me make it happen.” 

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