A group of five SHTM students – Miss Kwok Ching-man, Miss Julion Lam, Miss Wong Ho-yan, Mr Wong Wing-yin and Miss Macy Ng Mei-sze – took part in a Community Service Learning Project entitled "Discover Hong Kong, Discover Strength" in the summer of 2009 and won a Bronze Award in the Community Service Learning Awards for their outstanding contributions to community services during the 2008/09 academic year. The award was presented to the group by Professor Timothy Tong, PolyU President, at the Community Service Award presentation ceremony on 19 January 2010.

Three students from the SHTM Student Association – Miss Florence Yeung, Miss Yammy Poon Yim-mui and Mr Zelotes Lam Hein-ting – attended the Young Hotelier Summit (YHS) organised by the Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne, Switzerland, on 28-29 January 2010. The YHS provides students from leading hotel schools with the opportunity to exchange ideas and knowledge with their peers and the industry, and to create valuable lifetime contacts.

The consultancy project "Design and Development of a Diploma Programme in Hospitality Management for the Guilin Institute of Tourism" led by Mr Paul Penfold with the support of SHTM staff members was bestowed the Highest International Consultancy award in the Outstanding Professional Services and Innovations Awards 2009 organised by the PolyU Technology and Consultancy Company (PTec) on 29 January 2010.

Miss Josephy Yeung Chun-fa, a final year student in the BSc(Hons) in Hotel Management programme, received the "Most Outstanding PolyU Student" award at PolyU's Outstanding Student Awards presentation ceremony on 4 February 2010. The distinguished award was presented to Miss Yeung by Professor Timothy Tong, PolyU President. The Outstanding Student Awards are granted annually to full-time final-year students who excel in both academic and non-academic pursuits during their studies. Awardees are presented with prizes and their names are inscribed on a plaque on the PolyU campus.

Professor Rob Law received the Best Paper Award for his paper entitled "An Analysis of Search Engine Use for Travel Planning" at ENTER 2010: The 17th International Conference on Information Technology and Travel & Tourism held in Lugano, Switzerland, on 10-12 February 2010.