Hotel Management refers to professional management techniques used in the hospitality sector. These can include hotel administration, accounts, marketing, housekeeping, front office or front of house, food and beverages management, catering and maintenance.  Hotel management involves combination of various skills like management, marketing, human resource development, financial management, inter personal skills, dexterity etc. Hotels are a major employment generator in tourism industry. Work in are of Hotel management involves ensuring that all operations, including accommodation, food and drink and other hotel services run smoothly. The main responsibilities of this department include: Supervision, Co-ordination and Administration of all other departments as well as overall financial control. Hospitality industry is now a successful industry and will be the world’s largest. As the industry is developing, one can find the young generation coming up spontaneously in this industry. Various Hospitality courses not only provide you the profitable option of getting prestigious jobs in different sectors of the industry but also give the students a gateway to a prestigious career and a lot money yielding. There are plentiful job opportunities to Hotel Management Students.

Successful Students will have the opportunity to pursue their career in management, supervisory and operation level in Front Office, Food and Beverage service, food Production, Housekeeping and Marketing and sales etc. For Hotel Management students have future not only in Hotels but also in the services sector like Call Centre, Airline Shipping, and Cruise Lines. They can venture into PR and corporate communications that have just emerged in the hospitality industry. The Hospitality Industry is in constant lookout for people who are smart, communicative, Hard working, having right attitude, right aptitude, a passion for job and a good temperament should definitely opt for this career.

Hotel Management can include Hotel & Restaurant management, cruise ship management, Hospital Administration, Catering, Hotel and tourism Association , Airline Catering, Hotel and Tourism Association, Cabin services, club Management, Forest Lodges etc. Hospitality management is a career path that involves many different disciplines, including marketing, finance, revenue management, foodservice, supervision and customer service.

There are plentiful job avenues for hotel management graduates in numerous fields. They can join various hotels & restaurants flourishing in the country. Students from reputed institutes of hotel management can be easily absorbed in catering services of railways, airlines, banks, defense sectors. Several clubs, hotels, hospitals and tourism associations also require the services of professional hotel managers. Besides, industrial canteens and other institutional canteens & other institutional canteens of colleges, schools, factories & company guest houses recruit candidates from hotel management institutes. Those, who have pursued postgraduate studies in hotel management, can explore excess of teaching jobs available in esteemed hotel management institutions. Self – employment opportunities are always open to hotel management graduates.

• OPPORTUNITIES FOR HOSPITALITY GRADUATES

1. Management Trainee in Hotel and allied Industry
2. Guest / Customer Relation Executive in Hotel and Other Service Sectors
3. Kitchen Management / Housekeeping Management Trainee in Hotels
4. Executive multi skilled in Fast Food Chains
5. Hospitals and Institutional Catering Executives
6. Marketing or Sales Executive in Hotel

• Career Options for Hotel Management Students:

After graduating from Hotel Management colleagues there is a wide range of career option available for all the students:

1. HOTELS: One can get placement in different categories of hotels ranging from Indian chain of five star properties such as Taj, Oberoi, to an international chain like Hyatt etc. One can get job in different department i.e. Front office, House Keeping, Food and Beverage Service and food Production according to their skill and Knowledge and their interest.

Starting Salary: The initial joining can be at entry level with salary of around 10-15per month or as an Management Trainee with 20K as an stipend after the training is done they can work as a managers with handsome amount of salary. If they join as entry level, they have to start from initial stage with basic salary and within a year or so (according to the work performance) the employee may get promoted to supervisory level with an increment in their salary. Secondly, one of can make their career in ancillaries like chain of restaurants for e.g. : Pizza Hut, KFC, Mc Donald’s, etc.

1. AIRLINE INDUSTRY: Airline Industry is also a good option for the hotel management students. One can join as an Air Hostess and Flight Stewards. Some of them can also join as ground Staff or a Public Relationship Officers. There is a training program for employees. The salary offered is around 25K for domestic airlines and 50K for international airlines. Cruise lines attract the students with greater package that can be upto 70K according to the experience they have.

1. RETAIL SECTOR: Retail Sector has a wide range open for hotel management graduates. It includes PVR, Malls, and Back Office Jobs, Joining as receptionist in corporate offices, Hospitals and BPO industry.
2. TEACHING: Teaching can also be option; they may join one of the IHMs or private colleges after approx 1 year of experience depending upon their academic performance. Initially they may join as assistant lecturer and within 2years of teaching experience they are eligible for lecturer post. There salary structure is 10K in the starting and reaches up to 30K, however it varies from organization to organization.
3. ENTREPRENEUR: Another option is opening own restaurants or working as consultants for building up hotels or restaurants. They can also have their special decoration for themed parties as contract services.
4. RESTAURTNAT MANAGER: Restaurant managers oversee the general operations and perform administrative duties for stand alone restaurants or those housed in hotels, casinos or other establishments. They seek to provide a high quality dining experience for guests in terms of menu options, price, presentation and speed, while coordinate work schedules, set budgets, maintain financial records, order food and monitor the workflow of serves and kitchen staff.
5. CABIN CREW: Cabin Services is meant for the people who like to become an Airhostess and Care in the Air. Many young people opt for cabin crew as a full-fledged career prospects because of the high salaries, exciting experience of flying and interacting with different kinds of people on the board and visiting several countries. This profession requires lot of hard work, commitment, smartness and total dedication. The job entails performing safety and service duties which ensure that air travelers are flying in a safe environment. Life is varied when you work as cabin crew.
6. Catering: is the business of providing food services at a distant site or a site such as a hotel, pub or other location.
7. Front Office: is a business term that refers to a company’s departments that come in contact with clients, including the marketing, sales and service departments. In hotel industry, the front office welcomes guests to the accommodation section, meeting and greeting them, allocating check in and out of rooms, passing on messages to customers and settling the accounts.
8. Chefs: A chef is a professional cook. The Term chef is used to describe the head cook.  Chefs and cooks create recipes and prepare meals, while food preparation workers assist with routine tasks such as cutting vegetables and preparing meat. The nature of the chef’s work depends on the type of establishment. Short-order cooks often work in fast food establishments and prepare a more limited selection of foods.

Mr. Hemant Kumar Kochar

The author is the Director of Madhuban Academy of Hospitality Administration and Research (MAHAR), Dehradun one of the premier institutes in the country, offering comprehensive courses on Hospitality Administration backed up by live wire training in-house in five star luxury hotels. He can be reached at [email protected]