Career Paths of Hospitality Management Student

Introduction

Hospitality industry is one of the biggest service industries in the world with millions of
people employed in its many fields. It is also one of the fastest growing industries. Thus, it is
likely to remain a major employer for the foreseeable future and a major source of revenues for
many countries. This paper focuses on two major hospitality industries – lodging and, food and
beverages.

Management careers in the lodging industry

General manager

A general manager oversees all lodging operations to ensure that they run smoothly and
efficiently. To this end, the manager coordinates the activities of various departments such as
house keeping, office administration, and marketing and sales (Riley 2018).

Service manager

The managers are responsible for ensuring that customers receive the highest quality of
services possible. They make sure that occupants of booked rooms are well attended to and their
needs taken care of. If there are events that the facility is planning to host they make sure that the
set up is to the desired standards before the event begins (Riley 2018).

Finance manager

These managers handle finances of the organization such as discounts and cash flow.
They make sure that all money flowing into and out of the organization’s accounts is recorded
appropriately and accurately. They are the ones that prepare financial statements that let the

lodging facility determine whether it is making profits or losses (Riley 2018). The documents
they prepare, therefore, play a very important role in the company’s decision-making.

Management Careers in Food and Beverages industry

General manager

General managers in a food and beverages company perform many roles that are similar
to those of general manager of a lodging company. For instance, they oversee operations of other
departments to make sure that their activities are being undertaken in an appropriate manner.
Additionally, the study industry trends and make the required changes to make sure that the
organization is able to compete effectively with its rivals not just in the present time but also in
future (Riley 2018).

Sales and marketing manager

No matter how good the services of a food and beverages company are, it will not be able
to attract many customers if the company and its services are not known. The sales and
marketing manager is in charge of advertising the company and its services so that they are
known as much as possible in their target market. The managers also make sure that the
company develops and maintains a positive image (Riley 2018).

Similarities and differences of general management positions in the two industries

In both lodging and food and beverages industries, the general manager oversees the
operations and activities of multiple departments and employees of those departments. They

make sure that the departments are operating in a manner that helps the organization achieve its
goals and, therefore, becomes successful.

Holders of both general management positions share many personal attributes. For
instance, they are usually effective communicators because they often give directives to their
juniors and talk to customers. They also have to be highly organized because of the many tasks
that they have to attend to each day (Riley 2018). Without effective personal organization and
time management skills, they are likely to leave many tasks unattended to which may lead to
poor services for customers. Apart from personal organization, they are people who are good at
motivating employees. Whether it is in lodging or food and beverages industry, workers often
have to work hard and long. It is hard for them to work in this manner day in day out without
proper motivation from the general manager. In short, general managers of both food and
beverages and lodging usually possess superb leadership and management skills.

The main difference between a general manager in lodging industry and a general
manager in foods and beverages industry in the number of departments and employees that each
handles. For a business of the same size in terms of revenue, a general manager in food and
beverages industry handles more departments and employees than one of lodging industry (Riley
2018).

Growth analysis of lodging and food and beverages industries

With the exception of the period following the global economic crisis of 2008, growth in
the lodging and food and beverages industry has generally been positive (Ionel 2016). There are
many factors for this continuous growth. One of them is growing wages of many workers in both
the developing and developed countries. With higher wages, workers can afford to spend money

on vacations and eat out more. Population increase has also contributed to continuing growth of
the industries (Ionel 2018).

In the USA, demand for lodging facilities has been increasing at an average rate of 2%
per annum for the past five years (Ionel 2018). Recent positive economic growth has certainly
contributed to this impressive growth rate. However, with the economic growth expected to slow
down by 2022, growth in the lodging as well as food and beverages industries is likely to slow
down as well. However, that slow down will be short because the economic downturn is likely to
be relatively mild and short too (Ionel 2016).

The biggest threat to employment growth in lodging and food and beverages industries in
the next ten years is unlikely to come from the economy but from technology. There are fears
that increasing application of artificial intelligence and robots in these two industries will lead to
massive job losses in the next few years. However, it should be noted that as robot use in lodging
and food and beverages industries is going to increase, there is likely to be renewed demand for
human-based services but at higher prices (Ionel 2018). Additionally, increasing wealth of
countries such as China and India is going to lead to more demand for lodging and food and
beverages services (Ionel 2018).

Human resource best practices for lodging and food and beverages industries

Like other organizations, lodging and food and beverages companies are as good as their
employees. Employees are particularly important to these industries because their primary
business is selling services. When their services are poor they cannot retain customers. It is,
therefore, important for them to employ and retain the most effective and efficient employees.

Here is a look at three human resource practices that may help lodging and food and beverages
companies to recruit and retain top performing employees.

Selective hiring

Selective hiring ensures that a business organization gets to hire exceptional employees
who are likely to add the most value to the business organization. To get such employees it is
important for widen the focus beyond academic qualifications to other assessments such as
personality assessments, IQ tests, peer tests, and interviews (Burke & Hughes 2018). These
assessments help the employer to examine the candidate’s level of commitment to the
organization, trainability, and ability to perform the tasks that they will be assigned (Burke &
Hughes 2018).

Fair compensation that is performance-based

Employees need to earn enough to take care of themselves and their families. One of the
ways of retaining high performing employees is to provide them with salary and benefits that are
above the industry’s average. Additionally, employers should provide them with other
performance-based benefits to ensure that they keep performing at high levels (Burke & Hughes
2018).

Provide employment security

Demand in the hospitality industry is not stable. However, this does not mean that
businesses in hospitality industry fire employees when demand is low and again seek them when
demand rises. Employees want to work for an organization that guarantees stability of their jobs.

Even if such an organization does not pay them well, they are likely to remain there because of
job security (Burke & Hughes 2018).

Sources

1. Michael Riley. 2018. Managing People in the Hospitality Industry. Routledge.
2. Marian Ionel. 2016. “Hospitality industry.” Ovidius University Annals: Economic
   Sciences Series.
3. Ronald Burke and Julia Christensen Hughes, eds. 2018. Handbook of human resource
   management in the tourism and hospitality industries. Edward Elgar Publishing.