I think he has a good chance if he intends to pursue a post graduate level of course in Hospitality Sector. If he intends to do so, additionally scores decent in IELTS, GIC, 1year fee & most importantly drafts a solid LETTER OF EXPLANATION mentioning why he left engineering & went for hospitality management (I mean what motivated him to make the transition, what are his career objectives in this field, why purse a post graduate level of program in Canada, why that particular college).
If he does all this & since you are saying he’s maintaining good grades during his undergraduate degree, so I reckon his profile can be converted into a strong profile with meticulous explanations for the same.
Also, my opinion is: if he is not having gap after his undergraduate degree, also choosing a higher level of course related to the same field (hospitality) can very well over power the past gap. But of course, I will again emphasise on the fact that a very solid Letter Of Explanation will be required, mainly to convey his passion for hospitality & convince the Visa Officer that he will not give up on this since this is what he wants to do for the rest of his life (maybe he left engineering because he realised he was unable to remain competent, etc but then later when he went for hospitality course, he has successfully completed the course with flying colours, he can also talk about his childhood inclinations towards the field in order to convince the Visa Officer that he is damn serious towards this choice)