GetTogether #14: Partnerships with the Hospitality Industry

September 4, 2026

“What does it really take to build strong, lasting partnerships with the industry?”

That question led to our GetTogether #14, held on August 27, 2026, when 16 Partnership & Fundraising Managers, Officers, Administrators, and Directors from ASSET-H&C member schools came together to explore it.

Our speaker was Camille Mendoza, Corporate Communications and External Relations Officer at Punlaan School (Philippines) – a vocational-technical institution that offers scholarship programs for underprivileged young women. Specializing in hospitality and culinary arts since 1975, the school is known to pioneer the Dual Training System for vocational courses in the Philippines.

Punlaan's Approach to Industry Partnerships

A Five-Category Ecosystem

Camille opened with a simple interactive question: “What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘partner’?” Participants answered: trust, investment, working together, shared goals, etc... set the tone for her core message: a partnership is not a transaction, it’s an ecosystem of interdependent stakeholders, built on two things: mutual benefits and shared values.

Based on Punlaan’s experience, Camille outlined five categories of partners that a vocational school can cultivate:

Program implementers: Hotels and restaurants that host students for on-the-job training. Support goes beyond technical skills, into professional behavior and attitude.

Financial partners: Not limited to organizations. Individuals (business owners, loyal hotel guests) can become donors once they see the impact of a school’s graduates.

Service partners / “X-deals”: Non-monetary support with real value: a retired professional volunteering etiquette training, or a company donating raw ingredients instead of cash.

Advocates: Individuals or organizations who speak on the school’s behalf without formal affiliation. Example: “Friends of Punlaan,” an informal group started by a former student mentor.

Community champions: The most influential category. Alumni and their families, whose career journeys and testimonials are the most authentic success stories a school can offer.

Take-away: Map your existing partners against these five categories, and add your own where relevant. This surfaces relationships you may be under-using simply because they don’t involve funding.

The GROW Framework: A Roadmap for Building and Nurturing Partnerships

Punlaan uses GROW – Goal, Relate, Operate, Widen as a roadmap for starting and sustaining partnerships, built around the image of a growing plant.

Goal – Set your goal: Define your unique value proposition (the reason a partner should choose your school over another).

Relate – Connect: Invest in branding: visual identity, and a story tailored to each type of partner.

Operate – Maintain the partnership: Build a culture of transparency document every agreement, formal or informal.

Widen – Expand: Broaden its scope once then relationship is stable.

For Pulaan, consistency is what makes partnerships last: stay in touch with everyone who has ever helped, whether the contribution was small or large.

Takeaway:

Mindset shift: stay open to all possibilities to maximize the value of partnerships for the school; partnerships are for mutual benefit and shared value.

GROWing with partners: partnership is a process, and like any relationship, it must be nurtured and cared.

Challenges & Good Practices Across the Network

Representatives from across the network discussed common challenges when working with government and international donor partners:

Rigid schedules and standards that are difficult to negotiate.

Identifying the right decision-maker.

Lack of adaptive mechanisms for diverse contexts of project implementation.

Good practices shared by member schools:

Approaching new opportunities step by step ( e.g. start with student internships at a hotel before reaching its corporate foundation).

Building trustwith one partner to open doors to others.

Shifting from reactive to proactive risk management, sourcing new opportunities.

Intergrating AI for communication and opportunity-scouting (a topic the network wants to go in for in future sessions).

Key Takeaways for Member Schools

Widen your definition of “partner”. Funding is one of five categories, don’t overlook service, advocacy, and community relationships.
Lead with a clear value proposition. Know what makes your school the right choice before you approach a partner.
Tailor your pitch. Industry, government, and individual donors are motivated by different things, package your story accordingly.
Document everything. Transparency, even for informal agreements, protects the relationship and builds trust.
Invest in “Donor Care.” Recognition and gratitude, big or small, are what keep partners coming back.
Don’t wait for a relationship to end. Keep widening your partner base across all categories as ongoing risk management.

“When we look at partnerships, we don’t see it as transactional relationships, but rather nurturing relationships.” said Camille.

Rather than a motto, this message strongly implies of how seriously ASSET-H&C member schools are investing in their long-term and meaningful partnerships with the hospitality industry.

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The GetTogether series is an initiative by ASSET-H&C to foster peer learning and exchange among its members. It creates spaces where school staff can share experiences, challenges, and innovative practices across borders.

Join the Movement:

If this recap sparks your interest, or if you seek to integrate similar practices in your institution, don’t hesitate to reach out or join our future Get Togethers. Together, we can achieve more and pave the way for a sustainable future.

Contact for further details or resources: coordination@assethc.org

“Together, we go further!”