Certified Hotel Administrator (CHA) is the highest certification from the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute.

To be eligible, individuals must fall into one of the following categories:

1. General Manager, owner/operator in a lodging hospitality company, or corporate executive at a lodging hospitality company responsible for the operation of two or more properties. A corporate executive is defined as "individual, employed by a firm responsible for the operation of two or more properties, who serves as a regional or corporate director of operations, or has ultimate corporate responsibility for rooms, marketing, accounting and finance, food and beverage, human resources, or engineering."^[1]
2. Assistant General Manager or Director of Operations/Rooms Division (after successfully completing the Certified Rooms Division Executive certification)

According to the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute, the CHA exam consists of 200 multiple-choice questions that must be answered within a four-hour time period.^[2] All test questions are designed to test the candidate's mastery of various competencies derived from six key areas of knowledge in combination with on-the-job hospitality work experience. The key areas of testing are:

1. Financial management
2. Sales and marketing
3. Leadership management
4. Human resources management
5. Rooms management
6. Food and beverage management