“Students can go from a cookery class with a top French craftsman to a lecture taught by a Yale professor,” Fresnel explained.

Up against competition from Cornell in the United States or Hong Kong Polytechnic, the challenge for the school is to get its students into the top hotels sprouting up across China or India.

“We are not the only ones in the game,” said Fresnel.

Such prospects come at a hefty price, with a four-year course costing some 178,000 Swiss francs (147,000 euros, $191,000), in part offset by scholarships.

The school’s 1,800 students — an international body with 90 different nationalities among them — had to face stiff selection for their place.

At lunchtime, the canteen rings with conversations in French, English, Italian or Chinese.

Eddy Eskenazi, 22, a Swiss national of Turkish descent, knows exactly what he wants for the future.

“To find the concept for tomorrow’s hotel,” said the young man, neatly dressed in suit and tie. His best friend, an alumnus of the school, now works for a Geneva bank.

For these days the EHL’s graduates are just as likely to find themselves working in finance or the luxury industry as in a hotel.

“They don’t become traders, but they are highly sought-after for hospitality positions inside banks,” explained Fresnel.

“Their mix of project management skills, their general ease and interpersonal skills and public speaking ability, means you’ll find them in the family office at the Rothschild group,” managing assets for wealthy private clients.

The Michelin-starred French chef Stephane Raimbault recently stopped by the EHL, on the sidelines of a nearby chef’s congress, with his two children who are both trained there.

Stephanie, 22, has just joined the Four Seasons luxury hotel chain, while Charles, 25, is working for the US consumer goods giant Procter&Gamble.