Gone are the days when students of hotel management where considered the most disciplined lot. Uniformed college days , hardcore industrial training , more harder interview preparations to conquer the OCLD , Taj or Leela’s management training programme . Today’s students are a new lot with more knowledge on how to get the mobile to college classrooms when it is banned, they don’t want to train – happier if the training could also be done online!!! Never bothered of what is their aim, rather want to work in all field except in hotels after they complete the industrial exposure training.
Its time to take a realty stock of the work culture in the hotel industry, as of all the students who undergo training only about 30% want to go back to a hotel to work, this the scenario in a branded five star hotel and above. The complain is always about being worked more than 10 to 12 hours , no proper guidance , no exposure to all departments and of course no pay . If this is going to be the situation there is going to be time when we have nobody interested to work in the hotel . This in turn has affected students joining this course itself .
During the covid times many hotels boarded out their staff and eventually many of the staff found solace in other fields like construction, sales and retail . once the covid times were over none of this staff came back as this was a “moment of truth” that all other industry were more comfortable , more paying and still they had time for the family . Unlike earlier times the choice is more . Many of them started their own small ventures which also eventually proved better than the Hotel industry routine and culture .
The admissions in most of the hotel management colleges were less than 50% of the previous year . This year is seeming to be more dreaded . Even in small surveys , hotel management is never the choice of any students .Many world class hotels had to compromise on their standards this year to recruit students from the campus , else they could never fill their vacancies . This year has seen smart students getting more that 4 to 5 offers from hotels and many hotels had ensured that once they completed the recruitment they issued the offer letter immediately and requested students not to attend anymore interviews. Some hotels had conducted post recruitment counselling to ensure that students didn’t back out from the offers given .
It is time the HR and training managers roles become more significant. The time has come when we need to treat our trainees more respectfully, give them an opportunity to grow and most importantly respect that fact that work is not everything , they need time out and with family. Hotels should ensure that in departments like banquet , main kitchen etc. there should be enough trainees such that they work not more than 09 hours a day . Every trainee should be seen as a future employee and treat them with pride . Else the days are nearing where we might have to run five start hotels with untrained and unprofessional staff which is going to start of death knell for the Indian Hotel industry.
