Hospitality management is a newly-coined term as compared to hotel management. Traditionally, hotel management colleges were filling up the requirements of the various hotel-related jobs, the reason being similarity in fundamental requirements such as communication, customer service and personality skills.
Following globalization, many middle class people had more disposable income, which resulted in rapid growth of the hospitality and tourism sector. As a result of this rapid growth, specialisation was required to manage multiple industries including cruise liners, airlines, hospitality consulting, event management, travel management and luxury retail.
Additionally, a whole gamut of internet-based services such as food service aggregators, online travel management companies and accommodations service platforms like Airbnb also evolved. To meet this evolving demand, hospitality management education began by incorporating management education along with the core traditional hotel management courses.
OPPORTUNITIES ABOUND
Today, there is a huge demand among youngsters to pursue hospitality management courses due to the wider coverage of industries and the multiple career options that come with these programmes. Many hospitality graduates come with an open mind to hospitality schools and, towards the end of the courses identify their passion for a particular field and focus their strengths to excel in their area of interest.
Pursuing a career in hospitality management requires certain skill sets, which include both hard and soft skills. Hard skills empower the students with skills for specific jobs in the industry, and enable them with the technical knowhow of performing the role in the industry. On the other hand, soft skills go beyond the job and role one plays in the industry, and equip a student with interpersonal and introspective skills, which come with experience and improve over time.
The hospitality industry has a wide-ranging category of fields within the service industry. Career opportunities are truly boundless across reputed hotel chains, travel and tourism airline industry, retail industry, luxury segments, cruise liners, meeting and event planning, theme parks, and food service industry. In the food service industry, career progression could take place beginning from a restaurant manager and working up to an entrepreneur.
The food & beverage sector embraces restaurants, catering, food trucks, bakeries, fine wines and spirits, and more, as the industry continues to transform. Luxury hospitality and tourism also present distinctive career paths for professionals who specialise in building the finest guest experiences. These career paths vary extensively from guest-facing situations in the service areas, to back-end marketing and sales, finance roles, human resource management and work for various hospitality companies.
GREENER PASTURES
Hospitality management also opens the gates to the MICE sector and some ancillary industries, such as spas, and wellness and sports activities. The hospitality arena has developed into a multifaceted industry – several multinational companies, banks, IT firms, institutions, food chains, as well as hospitals and companies that have cafeteria facilities, also absorb hospitality professionals. The hospitality industry offers a diverse range of experiences, ample prospects for advancement and fast track careers towards managerial levels, with the potential to set up independent entrepreneurial ventures.
It is a fact that there is a misperception when it comes to identification of the differences in hotel management and hospitality management by aspiring students. The best guideline for aspirants is to comprehend that the qualities required for hotel management and hospitality management, more or less, remain the same.
However, many students desire to be directly involved with hotel operations i.e. managing a hotel, or more broadly, any lodging and boarding establishments such as bed and breakfasts, resorts, etc. There is an impetus in the growth of hotels and hotel chains, which propels the requirement of operation staff in its core departments like front office, housekeeping, food production, and F&B services.
On the other hand, hospitality management is all about people and it is independent of any particular industry. Many IT companies, MNCs, hospitals, and organisations from a wide variety of industries employ hospitality management professionals to coordinate events, meetings, and guest relations.
The hospitality industry relates to all the sectors that deal with customer satisfaction and focus on meeting leisurely needs of clients. Hospitality management professionals are in charge of the strategic management not only of hotels, tourist spots, and catering establishments, but also companies that concentrate on customer experience that goes beyond hotels, including luxury brands, events, retail, etc.
