It’s not easy to lead a team of over 20 staff members. It’s even harder when you’re still a college student who is not local and did not see yourself in an organisation’s top role.
But that’s just what Bhuiyan Md Sadman Rahman, a Bachelor of International Hospitality Management (BIHM) programme at Taylor’s University in Malaysia, had to do.
When his programme started the Hotel Takeover Project, the hospitality management student from Bangladesh never pegged himself as a leader. In fact, he thought he’d land the lowest-paid role.
“It’s a little bit of a funny story,” Sadman says. “To be honest, I wanted to be a security guard because I had no expectation of myself.”
But his teachers and mentors saw potential in him, especially after his performance in interviews. They probably saw something in him that he had yet to learn – though he soon will during the two-week takeover.
Hospitality management students with academics of School of Hospitality, Tourism and Events and the team at Hyatt Place Kuala Lumpur Bukit Jalil who participated in Hotel Takeover Project 2026. Source: Taylor’s University
Something textbooks cannot replicate for hospitality management students
The two-week training period before the takeover was, by Sadman’s account, eye-opening. Classroom learning, he says, gives students information. The hotel gave him something different entirely: experience.
“The textbook scenarios and real scenarios are totally different,” he says. “You cannot imagine the fire until the fire is already on your face.”
During training, he had to solve various live scenarios. From check-in delays to security, each issue required him to loop in the relevant department head and coordinate a response.
One incident stood out. A couple from Australia faced a 35-minute wait to check in. Sadman was tasked by the real hotel manager to find the root cause. His instinct was to go straight to housekeeping.
The room had been cleaned on time, it turned out, but the engineer had been called in for cracked walls, a malfunctioning remote, and damaged paintwork — three separate issues that collectively ate into the timeline.
Things unravelled but Sadman stayed calm and solved it.
Sadman is originally from Bangladesh, which is more than 3,500 km away from Malaysia. Source: Bhuiyan Md Sadman Rahman
Becoming the boss of friends and peers
Leading 22 fellow hospitality management students across departments is a different kind of leadership challenge from managing staff.
It’s arguably even harder when these are classmates and friends, people who are in the same boat as you.
Sadman’s team was also culturally diverse — students from China, Pakistan, Indonesia, Maldives, and beyond — which added another layer of complexity.
But he managed it all well, especially since he also knows what it’s like to be immersed in a different country and culture.
“Every culture has its own different viewpoints,” he says. “There were some obstacles, but communication was no problem. If they needed help, I was there. If I needed help, they were there. It was like a brotherhood scenario — everybody was helping each other.”
The interdepartmental nature of the role also reshaped his understanding of how hotels function. “If check-in was delayed, I had to talk with housekeeping. If there was a security issue, I had to go to security. If revenue was off, I had to go to the revenue manager. Everything is interrelated,” he says. “Any delay or issue in one department can affect the entire operation.”
Bhuiyan Md Sadman Rahman (third from left), Hotel Manager, and Siow Jia Ying (first from left), Revenue Manager, with the rest of the hospitality management students’ Hotel Takeover Project 2026 committee. Source: Taylor’s University
What jobs can hospitality management students get?
The Hotel Takeover Project sits within a wider strategy at Taylor’s University to close the gap between academic knowledge and industry readiness.
Dr Kandappan Balasubramanian, Head of the School of Hospitality, Tourism, and Events, has been clear about one thing: future hospitality leaders are not shaped in classrooms alone.
For David Leung, General Manager of Hyatt Place Kuala Lumpur Bukit Jalil — and himself a Taylor’s graduate — the partnership is a direct investment in the industry’s next generation. The takeover, he has noted, tests not just what hospitality management students know, but how they lead and solve problems when it matters.
Sadman is clear-eyed about what the experience gave him.
“If anyone goes into this industry with zero experience, they will be falling into a deep ocean,” he says. “It’s like someone throwing you into a swimming pool when you don’t know how to swim.”
As a Semester 5 hospitality management student, Sadman will soon begin an internship. Equipped with this experience as a hotel manager, he is confident and enthusiastic about continuing his career, come what may.
“I can communicate with other people with a smile,” he says. “There will be a fire. And I’ll be smiling and controlling the whole thing.”
