Swiss hotel management school fees for 2026 and 2027 intakes

Swiss hotel management school fees compared

The table reads each school's own fee schedule for its bachelor programme, as published on 23 September 2026. The schools do not quote the same year: César Ritz Colleges, the Culinary Arts Academy and HIM publish a 2026 schedule, SHMS a 2026/27 schedule, Les Roches its fees for 2026 starts, Glion for 2027 starts and EHL for the September 2027 and February 2028 intakes.

Totals also differ in what they contain. Where a school lists compulsory lines without adding them up, we give the sum and say so. The table runs from the lowest programme total to the highest; the order says nothing about quality.

Yearly subtotals are less useful than they look, because a year with an internship costs far less than a year on campus. At César Ritz Colleges the four years cost CHF 33,300, 54,600, 54,600 and 20,700; at EHL, international students pay CHF 39,838, 59,660, 35,049 and 49,328. Compare programme totals.

What a hospitality school fee schedule contains

Swiss hospitality schools split their fees into the same few lines, but they do not make the same lines compulsory. Read a schedule line by line before you compare totals.

• Tuition. Teaching, examinations and, at most schools, career and internship services. It is the largest line: CHF 83,700 of CHF 163,200 at César Ritz Colleges, CHF 164,800 of CHF 178,495 in academic fees at Les Roches.
• Infrastructure and services. A flat charge for running the campus, CHF 39,000 over the bachelor at César Ritz Colleges. Its fee page lists operating and administrative costs, student services, the airport welcome, the residence permit, Swiss residency taxes, VAT and health insurance during academic terms among what the fees include.
• Accommodation. Compulsory for new students at the Swiss Education Group schools, at Les Roches for the practical semester and the first two BSc semesters, and at Glion for three semesters. EHL encourages preparatory-year students to live on campus and prices housing separately, from CHF 5,850 per semester for a double room.
• Meals. Compulsory at every hospitality school in the table, as board or as a prepaid food and beverage credit: EHL charges CHF 11,863 over the programme, Glion CHF 16,100.
• Insurance and deposits. Les Roches (CHF 7,145) and Glion (CHF 6,800) put health and accident insurance in the compulsory total; EHL lists CHF 2,100 a year on top. Refundable deposits run from CHF 1,000 at Les Roches to CHF 5,000 at EHL.

Personal spending comes on top everywhere. Les Roches and Glion each estimate CHF 500 a month for out-of-pocket expenses, and EHL suggests budgeting CHF 150 a semester for study materials.

Fees school by school

Each entry links to the page or document the figures come from. Where a page contradicts itself, we say so.

EHL fees

EHL's fee document for the September 2027 and February 2028 intakes (version 1.9, January 2026) puts compulsory fees for international students at CHF 183,874 over four years, including CHF 11,863 of food and beverage credit. A double room in the preparatory year costs CHF 5,850 per semester, a single room for bachelor semesters 1 to 6 CHF 7,800 per semester; health insurance is CHF 2,100 a year and the deposit CHF 5,000. An optional semester in Singapore adds CHF 7,500.

Les Roches Switzerland fees

Les Roches publishes separate schedules for Crans-Montana, Marbella and Abu Dhabi, plus a lower one for Swiss residents. For international students starting in spring or autumn 2026 at Crans-Montana, tuition is CHF 32,960 per semester, charged for five semesters. With services and insurance the compulsory academic total is CHF 178,495, and compulsory board and a double room add CHF 42,320. The application fee is CHF 275.

Glion fees

Glion Institute of Higher Education already lists fees for spring and autumn 2027 starts in Switzerland. The experiential year begins at Glion, and the BSc semesters are taught in Bulle. Academic fees total CHF 190,100, of which CHF 176,500 is tuition; insurance, the food and beverage prepaid and a double superior room for three semesters, all marked compulsory, add CHF 41,800 (our sum of the school's lines).

SHMS fees

Swiss Hotel Management School quotes CHF 186,500 for its BA and ES Swiss Diploma in International Hospitality Management in the 2026/27 schedule: four semesters in Caux and Leysin, two paid internships, room and meals included. One summary line on the same page shows CHF 185,200, so ask admissions which figure applies. Graduates receive bachelor degrees from SHMS and the University of Derby.

César Ritz Colleges fees

César Ritz Colleges teaches on one campus, in Brig. Its 2026 schedule totals CHF 163,200 for either bachelor, Hospitality Business Management or Applied AI for Hospitality Business Management, with a single room and weekday lunch and dinner included. The next intakes for the Hospitality Business Management degree are January, July and October 2027.

HIM Business School fees

HIM Business School in Montreux charges CHF 129,400 for its three-year BBA on the 2026 schedule, CHF 43,400 of it in the first year, including a double room and meals; the programme includes three internships. The BBA is awarded by Northwood University (US); from October 2026 HIM adds its own Swiss Federal Diploma in Business Administration, which it describes as pending recognition.

Culinary Arts Academy Switzerland fees

The Culinary Arts Academy Switzerland teaches at Le Bouveret and in Brig. Its 2026 fee page lists four levels, each with a room, meals and infrastructure included and no school fees during internships:

• Professional Swiss Diploma in Culinary Arts or in Pastry Arts: CHF 40,000 for two terms and one internship at Le Bouveret.
• Swiss Diploma in Culinary Arts or in Pastry Arts: CHF 42,400, of which CHF 24,800 is tuition.
• Bachelor of Arts in Culinary Arts, or in Pastry, Bakery and Chocolate Arts: CHF 175,300 over three years with two internships; year 1 costs CHF 73,900, year 2 CHF 50,200 and year 3 CHF 51,200.
• Master of Arts in Culinary Business Management: CHF 49,000 for one year, including a six-month internship.

The Culinary Arts bachelor leads to two awards, a Bachelor of International Business in Culinary Arts from the Academy and a BA (Honours) in Culinary Arts from the University of Derby, and its third year is taught in Brig. The master leads to a Master of Arts in Culinary Business Management from the University of Derby and a Master of International Business in Culinary Business Management from the Academy. Intakes for the Culinary Arts bachelor remain open for October 2026, then January, April, July and October 2027.

Internships: what they pay and what they cost

Internships are built into every hospitality bachelor in the table: two at César Ritz Colleges, EHL, Les Roches, SHMS and the Culinary Arts Academy, three at HIM and Glion. The Swiss Education Group schools charge no school fees during internship periods, and the Les Roches and Glion schedules show no tuition for internship semesters.

Internship pay in the Swiss hospitality industry has a binding floor. Article 11 of the national collective labour agreement for the hospitality industry (L-GAV) gives students doing an internship as part of their studies at least CHF 2,390 gross a month if their school qualifies: a hotel school within a programme recognised under the Swiss Vocational and Professional Education and Training Act, a cantonally recognised university of applied sciences, a foreign institution recognised by a Swiss industry organisation and the L-GAV supervisory commission and holding a valid cooperation agreement, or a hotel school that commission recognises. The Federal Council declared this minimum generally binding on 31 March 2026, in force from 1 May 2026 to 31 December 2027.

The L-GAV text adds that deductions from an intern's pay in favour of the school are not allowed, and the control office's commentary on the same page lists the recognised schools, all seven hospitality schools in this guide among them. Health insurance continues during internships: the Swiss Education Group schools can deduct CHF 170 a month for it from the student's deposit.

Although internships are generally paid by the employer, the remuneration received cannot be expected to finance studies at Les Roches.

Les Roches, Fees and other expenses, Crans-Montana, programmes starting in 2026

How long a hospitality bachelor takes in Switzerland

At César Ritz Colleges, Les Roches, SHMS and the Culinary Arts Academy the bachelor itself carries 180 ECTS credits, but the schools package it differently, and the length decides how many semesters you pay for.

• EHL: four years including the preparatory year, with a six-month operations internship and a six-month administration internship.
• Les Roches: a one-year preparatory experiential year, then a three-year BSc of 180 ECTS with two internships.
• Glion: one experiential year plus a three-year BSc, with internships in three semesters.
• César Ritz Colleges: four years, ten academic terms and two internships, 180 ECTS.
• SHMS: three years, four semesters of study and two internships, 180 ECTS.
• Culinary Arts Academy: three years including two internships, 180 ECTS.
• HIM Business School: three years with three internships, 1.5 years of the programme in work placements.

A programme of the same length can still cost very different amounts: HIM's three years come to CHF 129,400, SHMS's three years to CHF 186,500.

Master's and MBA fees at hospitality schools

The postgraduate programmes in the table last from one year to three semesters and include fewer semesters of board and lodging. Glion's 2027 master's fees are in a separate document on its fee page and are not in this table; EHL's master's fees were not part of this comparison.

Business school fees in Geneva and Lausanne

The four business schools on our list work differently from the hotel schools. The two that publish fees, IFM and IMSG, quote tuition only, with no housing or board.

• IFM Business School, Geneva: for 2026/27 the BBA costs a first instalment of CHF 6,500 plus CHF 13,500 per semester in year 1, and CHF 6,500 plus CHF 14,500 per semester in years 2 and 3 (Information 2026-2027). Yearly flat fees of CHF 1,500 for the tablet and digital platform and CHF 580 for personal and professional development come on top. IFM does not offer housing.
• International Management School Geneva: the BBA, taught three days a week in a company and two in class, costs CHF 19,800 in years 1 and 2 and CHF 21,800 in year 3, plus CHF 480 a year and a CHF 2,500 major fee in year 3, according to its programme page. The page does not state the academic year, and the MBA page gives no fee.
• Business School Lausanne: its site publishes no bachelor, master or MBA fees. Since 2026 its bachelor has been delivered by Geneva Business School on the Geneva, Barcelona and Madrid campuses.
• Geneva Business School: its website blocked our automated checks on 23 September 2026, so we show no figures rather than old ones.

Living costs then fall to the student. IFM's own estimate for Geneva, excluding tuition, is CHF 900 to CHF 2,200 a month for accommodation, CHF 900 to CHF 1,600 for maintenance and food and CHF 90 to CHF 300 for insurance (IFM, international students).

Private hotel schools and public universities

Public universities charge far less. EPFL, the federal institute of technology in Lausanne, bills CHF 780 per semester, of which CHF 730 is tuition; since autumn 2025, foreign students who move to Switzerland to study pay CHF 2,240 (EPFL tuition fee and other fees). EPFL's fees include no housing or meals, and it tells students to plan about CHF 29,000 a year for living costs on top (EPFL, financing your studies).

EHL sits between the two models. Its degree is a Bachelor of Science (HES-SO), EHL is one of the conventioned schools of the University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland (HES-SO), and the HES-SO covers part of the tuition of eligible students. Swiss citizens and students eligible under the intercantonal A-HES agreement pay CHF 89,170 in compulsory fees, against CHF 183,874 for international students.

Accreditation is the other difference. According to SERI, the Federal Act of 30 September 2011 on the Funding and Coordination of the Higher Education Sector (HEdA) requires institutional accreditation for any institution that wants to call itself a university, a university of applied sciences or a university of teacher education, and the Swiss Accreditation Council decides. The swissuniversities list, read on 23 September 2026, includes César Ritz Colleges, Glion and Les Roches as university of applied sciences institutes and EHL among the HES-SO schools.

The other schools here, apart from Geneva Business School, which we could not check, cite university partners such as the University of Derby or Northwood University, or accreditations such as ACBSP, IACBE, EduQua or ATHEA, each on its own page. For permits, living costs and the wider choice, see our guide to studying in Switzerland as an international student.

Deposits, reductions for Swiss residents and visas

Before the first term, expect an application fee (CHF 150 at César Ritz Colleges, the Culinary Arts Academy and IFM, CHF 220 at EHL, CHF 275 at Les Roches and Glion, CHF 350 at IMSG), a deposit and a first payment. César Ritz Colleges and the Culinary Arts Academy ask for a CHF 3,000 confirmation fee within 30 days, credited to the first term. EHL asks for a non-refundable CHF 6,000 down payment within 15 days, and IFM wants international students to pay the whole academic year at least 60 days before it starts.

Swiss residents can pay much less. Five schools publish lower rates or scholarships for them:

• EHL: CHF 89,170 in compulsory fees for Swiss citizens and students eligible under the A-HES agreement, instead of CHF 183,874.
• Glion: 35% off bachelor and master tuition for new students who hold a Swiss passport or whose parent holds a Swiss passport or a B or C permit; the reduction applies to tuition only.
• Les Roches: CHF 17,000 tuition per semester (Swiss-resident schedule) instead of CHF 32,960 for programmes starting in 2026, for students with a Swiss passport or a B or C permit (not a B permit for study), or whose parent qualifies.
• César Ritz Colleges and the Culinary Arts Academy: scholarships for holders of a Swiss passport or a B or C permit, on request.

Visas are decided by the Swiss authorities, not by the schools. Students from outside the EU and EFTA should start with the State Secretariat for Migration's FAQ on entry, which explains the category D visa for stays of more than 90 days, and the permit section of our guide to studying in Switzerland.

Questions to settle before you compare offers

• Which intake and which fee year does the schedule cover? Several schools already quote 2027 starts.
• Which lines are compulsory, and for how many semesters is the room compulsory?
• Is health insurance in the total, and what does it cost during internships?
• How many internships, of what length, and does the school charge anything for those semesters?
• Who awards the degree: the school, a university partner such as Derby or Northwood, or both?
• Does a Swiss-resident rate or scholarship apply to the family?
• What is refunded if a visa is refused or the student withdraws?

We put the current published figures and options side by side for a family and suggest a shortlist with the reason for each; you can write to us. For programmes and campuses school by school, see our private universities overview.