The hospitality industry thrives on diversity and service excellence, yet students with diverse abilities continue

to face barriers in accessing fair internship opportunities. These challenges include limited accessibility,

inadequate supervisory support, and industry misconceptions, resulting in unequal participation and under-

reflective learning, and accessibility tools such as screen readers and voice-to-text support. Data was gathered

and analysed for ten (10) students with disabilities (PWD), including visual, hearing, cognitive and mobility,

undergoing the hospitality program to evaluate the HIIS usability, accessibility, and confidence levels. The

findings show that the system is improving access to equitable internships, enhancing students' confidence, and

supporting universities in coordinating placements more effectively. HIIS also enhances industry awareness of

inclusivity practices and has the potential to scale industries, ensuring long-term impact and sustainability.

Human connection, excellent service, and diversity are the three pillars upon which the crucial criteria in

hospitality industry. In this ever-changing landscape, internships play a crucial role in connecting students'

diverse abilities continue to encounter significant barriers in securing an internship, including accessibility

challenges, limited support systems, and prevailing industry misconceptions about their capabilities.

Furthermore, internship programmes benefit students by providing real workplace experience that builds self-

esteem, confidence, and independence and improves social interaction and work behaviour.

Globally, there is a growing emphasis on inclusive education and workforce integration, aligned with the

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly Goal 4 (Quality Education) and Goal 8

(Decent Work and Economic Growth), to achieve global development by 2030 (United Nations, 2015).

Nevertheless, in many hospitality education systems, placement processes remain fragmented and are not

tailored to meet the needs of students requiring special accommodations. This study introduces the

Hospitality Inclusive Internship System (HIIS) as a practical, innovative solution to bridge the gap. HIIS acts

(PWD), especially in the hospitality industry (Yusoff, Majid, Ramli, Anuar & Ahmad Shariff, 2023); with

diverse abilities, such as those requiring physical, hearing, vision, learning, speech, or mental support. These

students face multiple barriers, including inaccessible workplace facilities, limited communication tools,

inadequate supervisory guidance, and insufficient awareness among industry partners. Such challenges result

in unequal access to opportunities, reduced confidence, and underrepresentation of differently-abled students

in hospitality careers.

Although the hospitality industry promotes diversity and service excellence, there remains a lack of a

structured, systematic, and inclusive platform to guarantee equitable internship placements for all students.

Awang et al. (2020), noted that efforts to accommodate the needs of PWDs across various environments- such

as educational institutions, public transportation, national parks, shopping malls, hotels, the tourism industry,

2. To promote equal opportunities for PWDs in hospitality internships through accessible and inclusive

3. To empower students and strengthen collaboration by using digital tools that enhance reflection,

The HIIS development began with gathered data from ten (10) students with disability profiles. HIIS was

developed on the Google Sites platform since it is both accessible and cost-effective. This process included 1)

identifying the needs of PWD hospitality students, 2) mapping inclusivity practices of employers, 3) designing

features such as accessibility ratings, internship matching, and mentor support, and 4) conducting a user

survey. Feedback was collected via survey and analysed descriptively to evaluate usability, accessibility, and

requirements; and the Industry Partner Module, which enables hospitality organisations to post internship

Matching and Verification feature automatically aligns students with suitable roles based on their profiles,

subject to final approval by designated supervisors. The system also incorporates a digital reporting function,

allowing students to document weekly progress and personal reflections, thereby promoting continuous

learning and self-assessment. Complementing this is a robust mentoring and monitoring system, through which

supervisors and mentors can provide structured feedback, monitor performance, and uphold inclusive

practices. To make it easier for everyone to use, the platform includes tools like screen reader support, voice-

The HIIS is projected to deliver impactful outcomes across educational and industry domains by promoting

institutional reputation and student satisfaction (Soffi & Mohamad, 2021). Industry partners gain structured

hiring guidelines, increased awareness of inclusivity, and enhanced employer branding, reinforcing the

importance of competency-based frameworks in hospitality workforce development (Quintela et al., 2024).

These outcomes collectively demonstrate that inclusive systems not only support diverse learners but also

enrich workforce diversity and service excellence within the hospitality sector.

From a commercialisation standpoint, HIIS has strong potential as a scalable digital solution. Through a

licensing model, institutions offering hospitality, tourism, or culinary programmes can use HIIS to efficiently

manage internships. Industry partnerships allow hotels, restaurants, and tourism companies to showcase

inclusive values and attract talent via the platform. Additionally, HIIS offers customisation services to

accommodate varying institutional and national accessibility standards, with potential expansion into related

effective. Functionality scored 88%, indicating that features and efficiency are generally strong. Ease of

navigation (90%) suggests the system is user-friendly and easy to navigate. Overall, HIIS performs very well

across criteria with only minor refinements needed to further optimize user experience.

The HIIS introduces a suite of innovative features that distinguish it from conventional internship management

platforms, positioning it as a transformative solution within the hospitality and service sectors. At its core, it is

an inclusivity-centred design purposefully developed to accommodate students with diverse abilities and

ensure equitable access to internship opportunities. HIIS uses a matching system that combines student