Career Opportunity

Hotels are amongst the most visible and important aspects of a country's infrastructure. Hotel industry is a closely linked one to the tourism industry. A number of factors like promotion of tourism and rapid industrial progress have given a boost to hoteliering. The recent liberalisation of trade and opening up of economy will further lead to revolutionary growth in this sector.

With increasing globalisation, career opportunities in this field are not only limited within the country but there are chains of hotels which operate internationally providing scope of a career abroad. It is a glamorous profession which has a bright future. With the growth of hotel industry propelled by foreign and domestic tourism and business travel, the demand for well trained quality personnel too has grown impressively.

The diversity of experience in hotel management is greater than in any other profession. Hotel industry involves combination of various skills like management, food and beverage service, housekeeping, front office operation, sales and marketing, accounting. Today, the rise in corporate activity (leading to greater number of business trips) as well as the wish to travel on holiday has made the hotel industry a very competitive one.

Career Options

Lots of lucrative and interesting openings are there for hotel management graduates in various fields like:

• Hotel & Restaurant management
• Airline Catering and Cabin Services
• Club management
• Cruise Ship Hotel Management
• Hospital administration and catering
• Hotel and Tourism Associations
• Forest Lodges
• Guest Houses
• Institutional Management (supervising canteens in college, Schools, in factories, company guest houses etc.)
• Catering departments of railways, banks, armed forces, shipping companies etc.
• Hotel and catering institutes
• Self employment

Job profile

There are several departments within the hotel each requiring qualified professionals. The main departments in a hotel are

Administration and Management

This department is responsible for overall management of the hotel's activities. A 24-hour round-the-clock job, responsibilities of this department include

• Front office
• Housekeeping
• Accounting
• Sales and marketing
• Supervision of personnel department
• Supervision of catering department

Job titles include Hotel Manager, Assistant Manager and Management Trainee.

Catering

Responsibilities of this department include

• Selection & preparation of menu items
• Procurement of food and other supplies
• Pricing
• Training of staff
• Buying of furniture, cutlery etc

Job titles include Food and Beverage Manager, Assistant Manager, Restaurant Manager, Banquet Manager, Executive Chef (Chef de Cuisine), Sous Chef, Chef de Partis, Pantry Supervisor, Stewards, Cooks and Helpers.

Front Office

The front office is responsible for

• Room reservations
• Providing travel information
• Handling complaints
• Ticketing services

Job titles in this department include Receptionist, Information Officer, Reservation Personnel, Telephone Operator, Front Office Manager, Lobby and Reservation Manager and Trainees.

Housekeeping

The responsibility of this department is to ensure that the entire hotel (ie. rooms, lobby, restaurant, dining hall etc) is maintained impeccably.

Job titles include Executive Housekeeper, Assistant Housekeeper, Housekeeping Executive, Matron and Interior Decorator.

Accounts

This department handles the finances of the hotel.
Job titles in this department include Chief Accountant (usually CAs are hired for this post), Accountant, Auditor, Cashier and Accounting Clerks.

Sales and Marketing

Hotels organise special events like theme parties, food festivals and business meetings. The sales and marketing division promotes and advertises such events. They are also in charge of PR for the hotel.

Job titles include Sales/ Marketing Executive, Public Relations Officer and Recreation/Leisure Personnel

Engineering

At any point of time, a large amount of equipment is bought, maintained and repaired in a hotel. The responsibility for purchase and maintenance lies with the engineering department.

Job titles include Chief Engineer, Junior Engineer and Trainees.

Personnel

Training of fresh recruits and in-service personnel is the primary function of the personnel department.

Job titles include HRD Officer, Trainer, Personnel Manager and Trainees.

Forecasting Department

As the nomenclature suggests, this department does research on trends in the hotel industry, ascertains its profitability, business growth and future prospec

Job titles include Investment Analyst, Finance Officer and Market Researcher.

Essential Attributes

To be a part of the hospitality industry, one must possess the following personal attributes

Excellent interpersonal skills

• Team player
• Courteous
• Tactful
• Physical fitness
• Ability to be on one's feet for several hours in a day