Dawnay Day Hotels has been lined up to run the UK's first fully commercial teaching hotel in Bournemouth.
The group, which owns the 18-strong Paramount hotel chain, beat off competition from Hilton to land the deal for the four-star, 200-bedroom site in Dorset.
"Our bespoke approach is why we won the contract," said a Dawnay Day spokesman. "The teaching hotel won't just be another property in our portfolio."
The £35m deal is expected to move into the planning stage within six to eight weeks, and building work will be finished by December 2007.
The school, which will be called the Paramount Oceanic, will open its doors to 60 students a year from spring 2008. The South-west Development Agency, which owns the land, has invested just under £3m.
Nigel Hemmington, head of the services management school at Bournemouth University, said: "Many hotel schools claim to be fully commercial but they're not. This venue will have to make an operating profit and provide a return to the investor."