Dr. Peter Ricci’s Calling from Hospitality that Built a Global Classroom
I first knew Dr. Peter Ricci long before we ever met in person.
In the spring of 2021, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, I signed up for an online hospitality management certification through Florida Atlantic University (FAU). The industry had stalled, and for many of us working in travel, so had our sense of direction. My CFO at the time, Christine Borrack, invited fellow employees to take this course together as a way for us to stay motivated as we were working from home.
Ricci, director of the Hospitality and Tourism Management program at Florida Atlantic University, led a 40-hour certification program, delivered through a series of video lessons focused on the business structure of hospitality organizations.
Hospitality professionals from around the world—many furloughed, many uncertain—signed up for this certification program, looking for a way to stay connected to an industry that had suddenly gone quiet.
Five years later, I sat down with Dr. Ricci to talk about his latest cruise and to reflect on that moment, when the industry paused and learning became a way for some to move forward again.
Seeing Case Studies Everywhere
Ricci had just returned from a recent sailing with a group of students from FAU’s College of Business. Aboard a Virgin Voyages ship, the trip was part of an optional experiential component designed to give students firsthand exposure to different cruise brands. On board, students examined different aspects of the cruise industry, including maritime operations, destination marketing, and sustainability.
For him, these sailings are more than trips. They are live case studies in how cruise lines design and deliver their product.
“We had a fantastic group of undergraduate and graduate students on board,” he said.
Ricci was impressed with Virgin’s level of complexity. “They have a pajama party the first night. Then a Scarlet Night where everybody wears red. There’s a DJ, a light show, everything on the pool deck with about 2,000 people. Every restaurant they have is similar to a small specialty venue on other cruise ships, but you don’t pay for it. They had a Korean barbecue, Mexican, Italian, Asian, and I liked it all.”
What stood out most, however, was something more subtle.
“You could tell the onboard crew. They’re super happy,” he said. “The service was good everywhere.”
It’s the kind of detail Ricci tends to notice. He looks at how the people behind the experience are doing, not just the experience itself. It is about understanding how each cruise line builds a distinct experience and helping students recognize those differences in real time.
Early Beginnings at Sea
Ricci was no stranger to cruising, having first sailed aboard the original Mardi Gras in the 1970s. But it was through his work with Landry & Kling, where he became deeply immersed in the industry.
“I was always doing programs,” he said. “I probably lived at sea the equivalent of a full year and a half.”
As a little refresher: Landry & Kling was among the first companies to focus on cruise ships as a platform for business meetings and incentive programs. Founders Josephine Kling and Joyce Landry are legends for their role in developing this niche with their company that launched in 1982. But in the 1990s, the idea of hosting corporate programs on ships was still far from mainstream.
“In those days, doing events and incentives on ships was less common,” Ricci said.
The ships themselves were not yet designed for it. Within that analog environment, Ricci was very hands on to coordinate and customize large groups and charters on ships.
“The theaters weren’t designed… there was no audiovisual on board to any great extent. There was no Wi-Fi. I would just make sure everything was going smoothly.”
Those experiences gave him a front-row view of both ship operations and the early evolution of cruise ships as platforms for corporate programs.
Mentors, Moments, and Missed Signals
Ricci’s path into hospitality began early.
“I started working at 14, I was a dishwasher,” he said. What stayed with him, though, was not just the work, but what he observed.
He worked two days a week, his father driving him back and forth.
“I had a manager named Lucy… she always treated him like a guest,” Ricci said, recalling how she would offer his father a drink while he waited. At the time, Ricci didn’t think much of it.
“I was a kid. I didn’t really pay attention to what was going on,” he said.
But his father did.
“One day, my dad said, ‘God, that lady Lucy always treats me like royalty… I’m just here waiting to pick you up,’” he said. Apparently, this was one of his earliest realizations about the keystone of hospitality.
From there, he moved into serving, working through high school under restaurant owner John Carlone, who would become an early mentor.
“He was just the most genuine ‘I want to serve others’ person that I was being mentored by, but didn’t realize it,” Ricci said.
The lessons were simple, but lasting.
“He was all about etiquette, always be on time, always do what you say you’re gonna do,” he said.
When Ricci graduated, Carlone offered him a full-time path in the business. At the time, Ricci did not see hospitality as a long-term career. He declined, set on going to college.
Still, the gesture stayed with him while Ricci headed to the University of Florida, planning to become a lawyer. (He was actually admitted to law school over four separate occasions, but hospitality kept calling him to stay.)
It would take years—and a series of experiences across the industry—before he recognized that the work he had started at 14 was, in fact, the foundation of his career.
Two Careers, One Path
Ricci’s path through hospitality was shaped as much by the classroom as it was by the field.
After Landry & Kling, Ricci returned to Florida. “I had a friend and colleague at the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau (GMCVB), who was Vice President of Incentive Sales and had an opening in Membership.”
By that time, he had already earned his undergraduate degree in sociology and a master’s in recreation and tourism (not law) from the University of Florida. While studying, he also worked in destination marketing and hotel operations with brands including Marriott International and the InterContinental Hotels Group.
His combination of education and real-world experience would define the next phase of his career, at a time when formal hospitality education was still taking shape. Just months after starting his role at the GMCVB, Ricci got an unexpected call.
“The President [of Nova Southeastern University] was seeking someone with a master’s degree who could teaching a destination marketing course,” he said.
Ricci took that opportunity, beginning to teach while still working full-time at the CVB. He led two evening classes a week, stepping into rooms where students were older and more experienced than he was.
“I said, listen, I’m assuming all of you know a lot more than I do about business, but I’m the one that has the academics. So we’ll blend and we’ll become friends.”
Over time, the classroom became a practical extension of his work, much like his earlier experiences in restaurants and at sea. That experience shaped how he thinks about hospitality education more broadly. In his view, programs work best when they balance theory with real-world experience.
“To me, academic institutions should be split… half from industry, half from research. The students always gravitate to the industry people because they speak more basic English and not such academic-ese, but you learn from both.”
It also reframed something he had not fully understood earlier in his career, though he was not even 30.
“I never put money together with hospitality… most people don’t connect it.”
Today, that disconnect is more visible than ever. In earlier decades, it was possible to lead primarily through service and experience. Now, the role demands far more.
“In the ’80s and ’90s, it was easier… you weren’t as beat up about the numbers. Now… it’s extreme pressure.”
That shift has shaped how he prepares students entering the field.
“So if you come out of school without knowing spreadsheets and basic quantitative skills… you’re missing something. You still need the people skills… but you also need a basic business foundation.”
Born From Crisis: A Global Classroom
When the pandemic brought hospitality to a halt, Ricci began hearing from across the industry.
“They said, ‘Could you do some type of [online] class for us to keep our associates engaged?’”
“It just went viral… every day, we were adding countries,” he added.
Participants joined from 181 countries and all 50 U.S. states, turning the program into a truly global classroom. Throughout the pandemic, more than 77,000 people enrolled. The program became a way for people to stay connected to an industry that had suddenly stopped.
For Ricci, the response was deeply personal. He would come into the office once a week to stacks of letters from participants.
“I literally would have a mountain of mail,” he said. “And I read every letter.”
In total, more than 100,000 people have now taken part. The program, which began as a 40-hour version of Florida Atlantic University’s Executive Certificate in Hospitality & Tourism Management, has since been enhanced into a 35-hour curriculum, spanning key areas of the hospitality and tourism industry. The program now also includes Lean Six Sigma White Belt certification.
More than a year after taking the course, I met Dr. Ricci in person at an HSMAI South Florida event. By then, he already felt familiar—not just as a professor, but as someone who had helped my fellow hospitality professionals find their footing during a moment of global pause.
For me, personally, Ricci’s courses were not just refreshers. It was also a re-entry point—my first time back to school in decades. Perhaps Ricci’s program had been the first step that led me to my MBA two years later.
“What I really like post-pandemic is that more people are going for lifelong learning versus degrees,” he said.
Resistance and Relationships
Ricci doesn’t describe his path into hospitality as intentional. If anything, he describes it as something he resisted.
“I ignored Lucy… I ignored John Carlone… I wasn’t going to fight off going to law school,” he said. At the time, he didn’t see what others saw in him. “I didn’t want to hear advice… I was 20.”
Looking back, the signals were consistent. From early mentors to classroom experiences, the direction was there. But recognition came later.
“I came into hospitality at 24 after working in it for 10 years and never thinking this was going to be my job,” he said.
That path—indirect, uneven, and shaped by both instinct and resistance—ultimately became his advantage. Moving between operations and academia, Ricci built a perspective that reflects both how hospitality is delivered and how it is taught.
“The bumpiness is part of life,” he said. Over time, what began as a job revealed itself as something more.
“I always equated it to the kind of person who says hi… or holds the door for you… I think it is a calling.”
For Ricci, that realization didn’t come all at once. It showed up in moments—guests returning because of how they were treated, executives taking notice, students staying in touch long after class ended.
At the same time, he is clear about what that calling requires.
“It’s called emotional labor,” he said, describing the effort it takes to remain composed, empathetic, and responsive—even in difficult situations. “You can’t let one disgruntled guest ruin your life.”
And increasingly, he sees that instinct not as something that exists in isolation—but something shaped by the environment around it.
And this took me back to what Ricci said earlier about his latest cruise: “The onboard crew… they’re super happy.” It seems like a simple signal. Not just of individual attitudes, but perhaps of a system that allows people to do their jobs well.
And it raises a broader question: isn’t that true of any vocation?
That the difference isn’t just in the people—but also in whether they’re supported, empowered, and set up in a way that allows them to do their best work.
Dr. Peter Ricci will be speaking at the 20th Cornell University’s HR in Hospitality Conference at the Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood, Florida, and then at MPI South Florida’s Global Meetings Industry Day.
