Careers in Hospitality Management

Careers in hospitality management can be both exciting and challenging. Hospitality management is a growing industry with a variety of positions. Hotel and tourism management degrees are the most common when it comes to hospitality management. Individuals looking towards becoming part of the tourism and hospitality industries may find it suitable to pursue associate degrees, bachelor or even postgraduate qualification in hotel and customer management. Customer services degrees can also be suitable when it comes to hospitality roles, as they are focused around people and catering to individual needs.

Customer services and hospitality management

When seeking a career in hospitality management, apart from the obvious hotel or tourism management courses and degree programs, students can also seek degrees in customer relations and customer services. These are suitable as they cover the basic topics associated with keeping customers happy and satisfied, a trait that is essential in the hospitality management field as well. Customer service degrees are centered on customer-dealing practices. Students are exposed to areas such as:

• Greeting and customer orientation
• Listening and communication skills
• Interpersonal skills and situation handling
• Problem solving

These are some of the common courses that are taught to students in different institutes. While course material may vary from one program to another, the core focus of such courses is customer satisfaction

Hotel and tourism management is also a part of the hospitality industry. There are a number of institutes that offer different degrees, certificates, and diploma courses in hotel management and tourism management. Hospitality and customer services are at the core of hotel management and tourism management degree programs. When it comes to hotel management students, are taught a number of administration-based courses such as:

• Resource planning
• Customer services
• Interpersonal skills and communication skills
• Cost effectiveness
• Housekeeping best practices
• Food substances, kitchen and safety best practices
• Customer satisfaction and orientation

Under tourism management degree programs, students may be able to take the following general courses:

• Customer comfort
• Travel and ticketing requirements
• Visa processing
• Board and lodging best practices
• Safe travel and lodging best practices
• First aid and emergency medical care
• Medical and travel insurance
• Emergency response and natural disasters
• National and international laws and regulations
• Cost management and customer welfare

When it comes to careers in hospitality management, students who successfully complete degrees in this field may become eligible for various supervisory and non-supervisory roles. Positions such as customer services representatives, hotel manager and tourist agents are also to be found in this sector. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that in July 2014, individuals working in hospitality roles earned $13.86 per hour on average. It was also seen that in the same month, individuals in nonsupervisory roles earned an average of $ 12.06 per hour.