‘The hospitality industry offers a great career.’ Really?

A fam­ily mem­ber in the last year of high school is ask­ing you for advice on careers.

Would you sug­gest a career in hospitality? 

Why? Why not?

Your cor­res­pond­ent put these simple ques­tions about a career in hos­pit­al­ity to “GT’s” diverse net­work of travel & tour­ism stake­hold­ers — “GT” Insight authors, “GT” Part­ners, and their invit­ees — and reques­ted writ­ten responses of no more than 300 words. 

Thanks to those who chose to par­ti­cip­ate. Their answers appear in the order received. 

Click/touch a name to go to their answer:

• Saverio F Ber­to­lu­cci — ‘Motiv­at­ing, chal­len­ging, and stressful’
• Greg Bak­un­zi — For those ‘pas­sion­ate about people and travel’
• Zohreh Khos­ravi — ‘Be ready for chal­len­ging, sweet, and errat­ic days’
• Willem Niemeijer — ‘Oppor­tun­it­ies for per­son­al and pro­fes­sion­al growth’
• Melanie Smith — ‘There will always be work in hospitality’
• Rieki Crins — ‘A hotel can be a cradle for development’
• Herb Hiller — ‘Cer­tainly not hos­pit­al­ity as tra­di­tion­ally taught’
• Andrew Chan — A career in hos­pit­al­ity? ‘100%!’
• Sham­iso Nyajeka — Chal­lenges, risks, and great rewards
• Domin­ic Standish — Depend­ing on where you live, hos­pit­al­ity is now attractive
• Edwin Magio — ‘Abso­lutely’, if …
• Anna Richardot — Hos­pit­al­ity is ‘incred­ibly eclectic’
• Jona­thon Day — ‘Join us. We need you’
• Ha Phan — We ‘sup­por­ted each oth­er and had a lot of fun’
• K Michael Hay­wood — From a start in hos­pit­al­ity ‘I have had an amaz­ing career’
• Frédéric Dimanche — Not for those seek­ing ‘com­fort­able’ jobs
• Sam­antha Lauver-Mari­on — Learn by doing: Try on your dreams

What AI ‘thinks’:

• Chat­G­PT — ‘Care­fully weigh the pros and cons’
• Bard [Exper­i­ment] — Word count fail … with a twist

More import­antly:

• What do you think?

Pre­vi­ous “GT” Insight Bites:

• Cruise ships: Bless­ing or blight?
• Tour­ist vs trav­el­ler: What’s the difference?
• The heads of fin­ance, oper­a­tions, and PR walk into their boss’s office … 
• Yes, Tour­ism Minister
• What are tourism’s biggest chal­lenges & threats over the next five years?
• ‘Tour­ism is built on the back­bone of white suprem­acy’. What do you think?
• Really, what’s the dif­fer­ence? ‘Sus­tain­able tour­ism’ vs ‘regen­er­at­ive tourism’
• Want a career in tour­ism? Import­ant things you should know
• Diverse per­spect­ives on travel & tour­ism and a fairer world
• Diverse per­spect­ives on eco­nom­ic degrowth and tourism
• Diverse per­spect­ives on vis­it­or dispersion

‘Motivating, challenging, and stressful’

Saverio Francesco Bertolucci, Administrative Assistant, Alcambarcelona, Spain

I believe the hos­pit­al­ity industry is mul­ti­fa­ceted; a blend of many dif­fer­ent dimen­sions which var­ies accord­ing to the loc­a­tion and the scale of the com­pany, the work­ing cul­ture, and the soci­ety sur­round­ing the workplace. 

From my per­son­al exper­i­ence, work­ing in the hos­pit­al­ity and leis­ure industry is motiv­at­ing, chal­len­ging, and stressful. 

Deal­ing with cus­tom­ers’ last-minute check-ins or try­ing to sat­is­fy their high expect­a­tions while car­ry­ing out your nor­mal daily duties is overwhelming. 

This situ­ation can­not be changed; in par­tic­u­lar in a post-pan­dem­ic peri­od where cus­tom­ers are eager to travel and want to enjoy their vaca­tion as a mat­ter of priority. 

Tasks sound and are, undoubtedly, over­whelm­ing to most. 

Nev­er­the­less, it is not so easy to climb the hier­archy based on the increas­ing level of com­pet­i­tion and expert­ise that is present nowadays.

The pos­it­ive side of work­ing in this sec­tor is that the more lan­guages you speak, the high­er the chances to travel and become a tourist/worker. But it means leav­ing your home, par­ents, and friends and it is not a simple decision for many young talents. 

In the cur­rent world, the right type of per­son to start along this path is one who can deal with a lot of pres­sure, be ambi­tious, care­ful, and down-to-earth, and main­tain a clear focus on his/her object­ives for the future. 

Only with a clear and spe­cif­ic mind­set can people go fur­ther and be successful. 

Things will not go smoothly and eas­ily all the time, but design­ing your own future helps gen­er­ate per­son­al growth and opportunities.

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For those ‘passionate about people and travel’

Greg Bakunzi, Founder, Red Rocks Initiative for Sustainable Development & Red Rocks Rwanda

Of course, I would sug­gest a career in hos­pit­al­ity since it is the third largest sec­tor in the world. And it is grow­ing and expanding.

This is the only sec­tor that offers such a wide range of career options. While one works in the hos­pit­al­ity industry, one can gain exper­i­ence in accounts, admin­is­tra­tion, inform­a­tion sys­tems, human resource man­age­ment, and pub­lic rela­tions etc. 

Hos­pit­al­ity is vast and diverse, encom­passing a range of sec­tors, includ­ing hotels, res­taur­ants, food ser­vice, event plan­ning, travel, and tour­ism. Hotels are primary employ­ers but you can get jobs in res­taur­ants, cafes, air­line oper­a­tions, etc. 

As you are aware, hos­pit­al­ity is the art of receiv­ing and enter­tain­ing guests. Hos­pit­al­ity could be a good career for those who are really pas­sion­ate about people and travel. 

Over­all, the hos­pit­al­ity industry offers a wide range of oppor­tun­it­ies for indi­vidu­als who are pas­sion­ate about provid­ing excel­lent cus­tom­er ser­vice and cre­at­ing mem­or­able exper­i­ences for guests. 

I would sug­gest hos­pit­al­ity as a good career option.

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‘Be ready for challenging, sweet, and erratic days in hospitality’

Zohreh Khosravi, content strategist, Iran

I am glad that you chose to ask me. 

If you are con­sid­er­ing a career in hos­pit­al­ity, you should be aware of the numer­ous oppor­tun­it­ies avail­able to you. 

You can begin your career as a reser­va­tions clerk or recep­tion­ist and advance to the pos­i­tion of front office man­ager. You can start in a res­taur­ant or kit­chen and advance to F&B man­ager or exec­ut­ive chef. You can begin as a bell-boy and move into event plan­ning. You can be a house­keep­er and rise to GM.

If you are inter­ested in tech­nic­al and cre­at­ive affairs, there will be lots of oppor­tun­it­ies too. For example, if you are into advert­ising, you can become a hos­pit­al­ity mar­ket­ing expert. 

See, there are a lot of jobs in the hos­pit­al­ity sec­tor, each requir­ing dif­fer­ent skills and each offer­ing oppor­tun­it­ies for advancement.

For a head start, con­sider a col­lege to acquire spe­cif­ic skills, or earn a bach­el­or’s degree in hospitality. 

Do remem­ber one thing: The sec­tor can be volat­ile. Nat­ur­al dis­asters, war, and domest­ic crises can all have an impact on the hos­pit­al­ity industry loc­ally. Inter­na­tion­al events like COVID-19 can affect the industry globally. 

Noth­ing in this industry is long-term, so you ought to be con­stantly ready to adapt.

In any case, I believe it’s won­der­ful to have a job that includes inter­act­ing with people; espe­cially because people tend to be in a bet­ter mood, smile more, and are more kind when they travel. 

Nat­ur­ally, there is one cru­cial point to keep in mind: People have high expect­a­tions when they travel, which makes sense since they paid to have fun. 

Be ready for chal­len­ging, sweet, and errat­ic days in hospitality.

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‘Opportunities for personal and professional growth’

Willem Niemeijer, CEO, YAANA Ventures

A career in hos­pit­al­ity can be an excel­lent choice for someone in the last year of high school. The hos­pit­al­ity industry is vibrant and dynam­ic, offer­ing a wide range of oppor­tun­it­ies for per­son­al and pro­fes­sion­al growth.

I dropped out of high school because I was more inspired by com­merce. While I still encour­age any­one to pur­sue a uni­ver­sity degree, if they can, I believe that early pro­ductiv­ity in the ‘real eco­nomy’ can lead to equally good outcomes. 

Here are a few reas­ons why embark­ing on a career in hos­pit­al­ity might be worth con­sid­er­a­tion after leav­ing high school: 

Diverse career paths: The hos­pit­al­ity industry encom­passes vari­ous sec­tors, provid­ing count­less career paths and niches to explore, and allow­ing you to find your passion.

Trans­fer­able skills: A career in hos­pit­al­ity equips indi­vidu­als with valu­able skills that are highly sought after in oth­er fields; skills such as com­mu­nic­a­tion, prob­lem-solv­ing, team­work, cus­tom­er ser­vice, and adaptability.

Glob­al oppor­tun­it­ies: The hos­pit­al­ity industry is inher­ently glob­al, offer­ing the chance to work and travel around the world. Inter­na­tion­al expos­ure enhances career pro­spects and builds networks.

My own exper­i­ence: I left my home coun­try, the Neth­er­lands, in my early 20s to fol­low a job offer in the travel industry in Thai­l­and. This gave me a unique oppor­tun­ity to immerse myself in a dif­fer­ent cul­ture and devel­op a glob­al perspective. 

Room for cre­ativ­ity: Hos­pit­al­ity val­ues cre­ativ­ity and innov­a­tion. This can be par­tic­u­larly appeal­ing to indi­vidu­als with artist­ic inclin­a­tions or a pas­sion for deliv­er­ing excep­tion­al experiences.

A career in hos­pit­al­ity also comes with chal­lenges. The industry is fast-paced, demand­ing, and often requires work­ing irreg­u­lar hours. A strong work eth­ic and the abil­ity to handle high-pres­sure situ­ations are essential. 

The glob­al hos­pit­al­ity industry has faced unpre­ced­en­ted chal­lenges dur­ing the ill-advised lock­downs. Now that we have almost com­pletely recovered, the future looks bright again!

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‘There will always be work in hospitality’

Melanie Smith, Associate Professor / Programme Leader, Budapest Metropolitan University, Hungary

The most obvi­ous post-COV­ID response would be to urge cau­tion to young relatives. 

Clearly, the hos­pit­al­ity sec­tor suffered quite extens­ively dur­ing the pan­dem­ic, which left gaps in the job mar­ket as employ­ees found oth­er jobs. 

How­ever, hos­pit­al­ity makes such an import­ant eco­nom­ic con­tri­bu­tion glob­ally and has pre­vi­ously proven to be resi­li­ent in the face of oth­er crises (e.g. ter­ror­ism or conflict). 

It is also rel­at­ively com­mon to lament the low salar­ies and the poten­tial lack of high-level pos­i­tions, espe­cially for uni­ver­sity gradu­ates. There are oppor­tun­it­ies to work one’s way up, but it takes patience and time!

On the oth­er hand, one of the most glam­or­ous careers could be said to be in the hotel sec­tor with oppor­tun­it­ies to travel the world while work­ing in lux­ury facil­it­ies. How­ever, hotel man­age­ment work is not always fam­ily-friendly as it involves mov­ing prop­er­ties and even coun­tries on a reg­u­lar basis. 

Sim­il­arly appeal­ing could be cruise ship work, which enables (young) people to travel and work while sav­ing money. 

Air­lines are also excit­ing for those who want to travel regularly. 

How­ever, the hours are rather anti-social in hotels, on ships, and with air­lines. The same is true of res­taur­ant work which involves long hours for low pay and very few breaks. 

Poten­tial employ­ees should be aware of this. 

High­er level pos­i­tions in tour­ism can be hard to come by, even though there is a need for qual­i­fied policy-makers, plan­ners, and des­tin­a­tion managers. 

Con­sultancy work is excit­ing but it can be hard to make the right con­tacts. Work­ing for a big com­pany like KPMG is per­haps the best way to start, but it is competitive. 

Over­all, there will always be work in hos­pit­al­ity. It can be excit­ing, soci­able, and enter­tain­ing, but it might also be mundane and low paid.

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‘A hotel can be a cradle for development’

Rieki Crins, Founder of the Learning Exchange Foundation, Netherlands & Founder, the Bongde Institute of Hospitality and Tourism, Bhutan

Hos­pit­al­ity is the second-largest job cre­at­or glob­ally, after agriculture.

Although it is such an import­ant sec­tor it is often over­looked by so-called ‘impact investors’ who sup­port sus­tain­able eco­nom­ic activ­it­ies in fron­ti­er markets.

A hotel can be a cradle for devel­op­ment in a com­munity. As well as provid­ing staff, the host com­munity can offer so many goods and ser­vices both with­in the hotel and out in the destination. 

I have seen many good examples of this in my 30 years of trav­el­ling. And I have wit­nessed this with my hotel school in Bhutan. 

How­ever, there is a huge need to improve the inter­na­tion­al hos­pit­al­ity sec­tor; so much oppor­tun­ity that is overlooked. 

Even Thai­l­and, for example, a coun­try that wel­comes mil­lions of tour­ists every year, has many hotels and res­taur­ants that are badly man­aged. There are big gaps in qual­ity between 5‑star and 3‑star and guesthouses. 

Inter­na­tion­al hotel chains often have their own trained staff, but the dis­ad­vant­age of this is that they have no con­nec­tion with the host cul­ture. Even busi­ness trav­el­lers like to get a sense of where they are when they check into their hotel rooms. To set up a ser­vice that respects and cel­eb­rates the cul­ture of the place is a big plus.

So, would I sug­gest a career in hospitality?

Yes, par­tic­u­larly if you can make it to a school like the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne or Hotelschool The Hag­ue; pres­ti­gi­ous insti­tu­tions that can provide a qual­ity edu­ca­tion in hos­pit­al­ity and more. But, of course, they are not obtain­able for everybody. 

Afford­able high-qual­ity hos­pit­al­ity schools are in big demand. Young people can learn skills that are life-chan­ging and which can be used bey­ond hospitality. 

This is what I wit­nessed among stu­dents at my hotel school pro­ject in Bhutan. 

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‘Certainly not hospitality as traditionally taught’

Herb Hiller, Writer, The Climate Traveler, USA

Cer­tainly not hos­pit­al­ity as tra­di­tion­ally taught with its emphas­is on careers with hotels, cruise ships, or their hold­ing com­pan­ies, and its ground­ings in real estate and fin­ance but not yet cli­mate action.

Young adults, who may face unpre­ced­en­ted pres­sure to respond to cli­mate change, in fact enter into a world of end­less oppor­tun­ity that the best and bright­est already grasp as an oppor­tun­ity to redefine civilization.

Abso­lutely avoid chan­nel­ling by the main­stream, which will make you part of the prob­lem. Careers groun­ded in its undo­ing open the world.

The best way to learn requis­ite skills is not through expens­ive schools typ­ic­ally fun­ded by alumni bene­fact­ors grown wealthy from indus­tri­al-scale tour­ism, but through intern­ships in sus­tain­able travel busi­nesses and start-ups. And non­profits like the Cen­ter for Respons­ible Tour­ism (CREST) offer unpaid internships.

You only need some search­ing for chat rooms. Start with what you’re pas­sion­ate about. Then make the intern­ship that you want, happen.

When I was fresh from three years at law school where I excelled in admir­alty, I tracked down a Man­hat­tan proc­tor (law­yer) will­ing to provide an unpaid intern­ship. Com­puls­ory mil­it­ary ser­vice ended that before it started.

The past two years, a young friend of mine who lost her hear­ing as a child but excelled in her stud­ies drove a make-do van across Amer­ica to study forest bathing in all 50 states. She is now an expert.

This new gen­er­a­tion is the best con­nec­ted ever. It’s ingeni­ous about fund­ing its needs. You don’t have to be rich to embark.

Cli­mate change is imper­at­ive. The most aware found­a­tions, oth­er non­profits, and loc­al gov­ern­ments know that they have to fund people motiv­ated by cli­mate action.

Search. Read my blog, The Cli­mate Trav­el­er.

Don’t trip step­ping out the door on your way to save the planet.

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A career in hospitality? ‘100%!’

Andrew Chan, Founder & CEO, ACI HR Solutions

100%!  

As someone who star­ted in the travel & tour­ism sec­tor as a 17-year-old, I’ve now spent three dec­ades in an industry that has giv­en me exper­i­ences and friend­ships in spades. 

Con­cerns obvi­ously sur­round the deep and pro­trac­ted impact COVID-19 had on the entire industry over the last three years. 

How­ever, we must not for­get that this was likely a once in a gen­er­a­tion event that no one had a play­book for. Now we do, thus min­im­ising the impact future pan­dem­ics may have.

The hos­pit­al­ity industry still offers young gradu­ates won­der­ful oppor­tun­it­ies that oth­er sec­tors do not. Those who enter can con­fid­ently expect a long last­ing career. 

Oper­at­ing one of the largest recruit­ment firms ded­ic­ated solely to the travel, tour­ism, and hos­pit­al­ity space was undoubtedly tough dur­ing COVID-19. 

I was asked count­less times dur­ing the pan­dem­ic why I didn’t pivot the com­pany into oth­er indus­tries. My answer would always be the same: I simply wouldn’t have the same level of pas­sion oper­at­ing a search firm in any oth­er space but travel & tourism.

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Challenges, risks, and great rewards

Shamiso Nyajeka, Head of Tourism Management, Kirirom Institute of Technology, Cambodia

After a dec­ade in the travel and hos­pit­al­ity industry, I transitioned to aca­demia and was unsure what to expect. As it turns out, my exper­i­ence has been incred­ibly ful­filling, mainly because I con­stantly inter­act with enthu­si­ast­ic young people. 

In recent years, I have par­ti­cip­ated in open house events for high school stu­dents explor­ing career options in tour­ism and hos­pit­al­ity. My role is to provide inform­a­tion and guid­ance to help them make informed career decisions.

I usu­ally begin by ask­ing stu­dents to intro­duce them­selves and share their motives for con­sid­er­ing a career in hos­pit­al­ity. Each year, I receive insight­ful, yet sim­il­ar responses. 

Some are inspired by exclus­ive travel des­tin­a­tion images splashed across the inter­net and seek oppor­tun­it­ies to travel and meet people from all over the world. For oth­ers it’s the appeal of pre­par­ing and serving exot­ic food and bever­ages in high-end res­taur­ants. Still oth­ers have a pas­sion for mak­ing people happy and see hos­pit­al­ity as a per­fect way to do it.

Their eyes light up with excite­ment as they each share their stories. 

I even­tu­ally assure them that their pas­sion, coupled with the skills and know­ledge gained from their stud­ies, will improve their chances of land­ing a hos­pit­al­ity job. 

How­ever, enthu­si­asm and know­ledge are not suf­fi­cient to thrive in this industry. One needs a will­ing­ness to learn, patience, and a thick skin to handle neg­at­ive feed­back and tight deadlines. 

While the industry has its own chal­lenges — from long hours and dif­fi­cult cus­tom­ers to poten­tial crises like a pan­dem­ic — the rewards are great. You will have the oppor­tun­ity to meet amaz­ing people, cre­ate memor­ies, and enjoy the perks and growth. 

So, if you are up for the chal­lenge and will­ing to take on the risks, a career in hos­pit­al­ity may be the per­fect path for you.

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Depending on where you live, hospitality is now attractive

Dominic Standish, Lecturer, University of Iowa, USA; author based in Veneto, Italy

If I had been asked wheth­er I would recom­mend this sec­tor to a high school stu­dent ten years ago, I would have been hes­it­ant. It was then renowned for low wages, long hours, and pre­cari­ous con­tracts. This is still the situ­ation for many hos­pit­al­ity jobs.

Yet the world has sig­ni­fic­antly changed over the last dec­ade. In many parts of Europe, the key prob­lems facing young people who now want to find a job and leave home are the high costs of rent, energy, trans­port, and some­times loc­al taxes. 

If they can find high paid jobs that enable them to cov­er these costs and live well, that is great. But even gradu­ates are find­ing it dif­fi­cult to get jobs that pay suf­fi­ciently to achieve this.

Some jobs in the hos­pit­al­ity sec­tor offer path­ways that can enable youth to address these challenges. 

For example, there are many dif­fer­ent jobs in hotels and on cruise ships that include accom­mod­a­tion, no bills, and often free food. The salar­ies may not be high, but these days if your basic liv­ing costs are met, that counts for more than previously.

Moreover, some­times assist­ance for trans­port­a­tion to exot­ic loc­a­tions is included. For young people who suffered lock­downs for COVID-19, this can provide oppor­tun­it­ies to travel to these des­tin­a­tions, social­ise with inter­na­tion­al people, devel­op lan­guages, and learn about dif­fer­ent cultures.

I know two young people who have recently got jobs related to hos­pit­al­ity in Sardin­ia and Greece and will be liv­ing in hotels. They are both very excited.

There is a pleth­ora of job vacan­cies in hos­pit­al­ity, includ­ing some with hotel accom­mod­a­tion, in Venice and the Ven­eto region where I live. Why not apply?

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‘Absolutely’, if …

Edwin Magio, Community Enterprise Development Manager, Ecotourism Kenya

Cur­rently there are sev­er­al chal­lenges asso­ci­ated with the hos­pit­al­ity profession. 

These chal­lenges include lower pay, job insec­ur­ity, unfa­vour­able work­ing con­di­tions, and long work­ing hours. 

The most obvi­ous con­sequences of those chal­lenges are high­er levels of job dis­sat­is­fac­tion and high staff turnover, which explains why many young people are con­sid­er­ing pur­su­ing careers in oth­er sectors.

How­ever, I think it all depends on where you are working. 

If you can work in a hos­pit­al­ity estab­lish­ment where there is good pay and con­di­tions with con­veni­ent work­ing hours — a per­man­ent and full-time job that provides fair salar­ies and bene­fits and enforces rel­ev­ant labour reg­u­la­tions — then a career in hos­pit­al­ity is an incred­ibly won­der­ful profession. 

So would I advise a young per­son to con­sider a job in the hos­pit­al­ity industry? 

Abso­lutely! 

How­ever, due to chal­lenges I high­lighted earli­er, I am guess­ing most people wouldn’t sug­gest that young people pur­sue careers in hos­pit­al­ity. And that is extremely det­ri­ment­al to the industry’s success. 

The industry needs to recruit and retain people in order to grow

There­fore, I urge hos­pit­al­ity busi­nesses with neg­at­ive employ­ment policies to take action to pro­mote full and pro­duct­ive employ­ment and decent work. 

The ‘ILO guidelines on decent work and socially respons­ible tour­ism’ set out prin­ciples and a policy frame­work to guide action in order to achieve decent work and full and pro­duct­ive employ­ment in the sector. 

I am optim­ist­ic that young people will be inspired to pur­sue a career in hos­pit­al­ity if those policies are put into practice.

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Hospitality is ‘incredibly eclectic’

Anna Richardot, graduate student, SKEMA Business School, France

Hos­pit­al­ity is an incred­ibly eclect­ic sector. 

An intern­ship in a hotel allowed me to real­ise the diversity of jobs avail­able, which is a very pos­it­ive thing to me. One may organ­ise events, inter­act with cli­ents, or work behind the scenes in admin­is­tra­tion and accounts etc … 

If job diversity is of interest, then a career in hos­pit­al­ity is def­in­itely one to sug­gest because there will always be a pos­i­tion that fits a person’s interests.

Also, for someone that may be inter­ested in travel & tour­ism more broadly, the hos­pit­al­ity sec­tor is an incred­ible way to dis­cov­er a des­tin­a­tion, learn what kind of tour­ists it attracts, and bet­ter under­stand how des­tin­a­tion image and repu­ta­tion at home and abroad affects business.

More import­antly, the hos­pit­al­ity sec­tor is very inter­est­ing because of the diverse con­texts, cul­tures, and envir­on­ments in which it operates. 

A per­son work­ing in an inde­pend­ent hotel in a remote des­tin­a­tion and anoth­er work­ing for a big hotel brand in the city are both oper­at­ing in the hos­pit­al­ity sector. 

So, behind the word ‘hos­pit­al­ity’ is the poten­tial for so many dif­fer­ent per­son­al and pro­fes­sion­al exper­i­ences for any­one with an interest in the sector.

How­ever, if there were a reas­on for not recom­mend­ing the sec­tor it would be that hos­pit­al­ity is depend­ent on people’s free­dom to move. It is dir­ectly affected by restric­tions on move­ment and to lock­downs, which was the case dur­ing the COVID-19 period. 

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‘Join us. We need you’

Jonathon Day, Associate Professor | Graduate Program Director, White Lodging — J.W. Marriott, Jr. School of Hospitality and Tourism Management

Would I encour­age a young per­son to join the tour­ism and hos­pit­al­ity industry? 

Abso­lutely. 

How­ever, our industry is in danger of being defined by low-wage, low-skill jobs that are most com­mon in our ser­vice-ori­ented sec­tor. In many places, these jobs are dif­fi­cult and undervalued. 

Indeed, in many places, there are val­id argu­ments that tour­ism must work hard to provide “decent work” (SDG8). Ensur­ing that these roles have good con­di­tions and fair pay is key to the sus­tain­ab­il­ity of tour­ism. There is work to be done. 

But these aren’t the only jobs. The hos­pit­al­ity roles we see in our every­day lives are just the tip of the iceberg. 

I encour­age my stu­dents to explore the great range of career oppor­tun­it­ies in the tour­ism industry. There are incred­ible jobs that many do not real­ise are options:

• In DMOs, there are careers that allow people to con­trib­ute to the well-being of their des­tin­a­tion communities. 
• Tour oper­at­ors provide oppor­tun­it­ies for sales and oper­a­tions man­agers to travel the world.
• DMC pro­fes­sion­als cre­ate unique exper­i­ences based on the know­ledge they have of their destination. 
• Meet­ing plan­ners sup­port organ­isa­tions in achiev­ing their objectives.

These roles, and many oth­ers, cre­ate value and can be well-paid pos­i­tions on which careers — and lives — can be built. 

Of course, great careers require com­mit­ment. The industry is increas­ingly pro­fes­sion­al, and tomorrow’s lead­ers must lay the found­a­tions of their own success. 

I would coun­sel high school stu­dents to pre­pare to add value to the tour­ism sys­tem; gain new know­ledge and skills through edu­ca­tion and work exper­i­ence to ensure they can move into high­er-level roles. 

Tour­ism faces great chal­lenges, and we must attract the best and bright­est to help tour­ism evolve to meet them. 

So to that young gradu­ate, I would say: “Join us. We need you”. 

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We ‘supported each other and had a lot of fun’

Ha Phan, Partnership Officer, ASSET‑H&C, Vietnam

Let’s ask her/him first: “What do you think about hos­pit­al­ity?” Because it really depends on their char­ac­ter­ist­ics and perspectives. 

I will briefly share my jour­ney as it may help her/him have a real­ist­ic view. 

When start­ing my intern­ship, I worked for 12 hours per day, 5.5 days per week. I learned the basics: Clean glasses, fold nap­kins …  The first days are super harsh for fresh­ers, right? 

It seemed impossible to have fun at work when serving some demand­ing cus­tom­ers. But I learned a lot about cus­tom­er ser­vice; how to inter­act with people from dif­fer­ent back­grounds and with dif­fer­ent per­son­al­it­ies. New situ­ations always came to test my flex­ib­il­ity and problem-solving. 

Look­ing back, it was my most mem­or­able experience.

People who work in hos­pit­al­ity tend to be won­der­ful col­leagues. My team sup­por­ted each oth­er and had a lot of fun. 

Be ready to work hard dur­ing week­ends and hol­i­days. And then enjoy your vaca­tions when oth­ers are work­ing. No crowds. 

Hos­pit­al­ity evolves in response to new tech­no­logy. It tends to encour­age staff to learn new things; to cross-train in oth­er depart­ments. Take those opportunities. 

After five years of work­ing in oper­a­tions, I got the great oppor­tun­ity to work for ASSET‑H&C, a net­work of 13 voca­tion­al centres that sup­port the train­ing and pro­fes­sion­al integ­ra­tion of young people from socioeco­nom­ic­ally dis­ad­vant­aged backgrounds. 

I see our mem­bers provid­ing qual­ity hos­pit­al­ity and cater­ing train­ing that one can’t get from a university. 

Moreover, they equip stu­dents with life skills like com­mu­nic­a­tion, time man­age­ment, lead­er­ship, and languages. 

They are also up to date in teach­ing about envir­on­ment, gender, and digit­al skills. And extra­cur­ricular activ­it­ies encour­age stu­dents to take charge of their development. 

Under such cir­cum­stances, I would abso­lutely recom­mend a career in hospitality. 

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From a start in hospitality ‘I have had an amazing career’

K Michael Haywood, Professor Emeritus, University of Guelph, Canada

Really? Yes, really! 

Upon gradu­ation from high school I told my moth­er that I wanted to go into the hos­pit­al­ity industry. 

She was astoun­ded and tried to talk me out of it. She couldn’t fathom the options that would be avail­able to me. 

I did­n’t either, but 60 odd years later I have had an amaz­ing career work­ing in all sec­tors and in all sorts of capa­cit­ies: mana­geri­al, entre­pren­eur­i­al, con­sultancy, and professorial. 

Exper­i­ences and oppor­tun­it­ies that have allowed me to travel the world, appre­ci­ate its cul­tur­al idio­syn­crasies, and learn how hos­pit­al­ity can be the trans­form­ing power in busi­ness.

Inter­est­ingly, all of our chil­dren and grand­chil­dren groun­ded their work-lives and careers in typ­ic­al McJobs, though I nev­er encour­aged them to do so. 

While the know­ledge they gleaned set them all on sep­ar­ate careers paths — account­ancy, mar­ket­ing, fin­ance, arts, teach­ing, coach­ing — instinct told me that they had to find their ways; to determ­ine the col­ours of their para­chutes. 

Pri­or to dis­cuss­ing careers with any high school gradu­ate I would want to know more about their interests; the type of part-time jobs they have had and what they liked, dis­liked, and learned from each of them. This would help me determ­ine their work ethic. 

I have always been a strong pro­ponent for edu­ca­tion and would most def­in­itely like to know what they would like to study. Only then would I be in a pos­i­tion to dis­cuss a wide vari­ety of options related to what the hos­pit­al­ity industry offers, vari­ous types of career lad­ders, and how the industry makes room for everyone. 

As such, I always intro­duce stu­dents to industry pub­lic­a­tions, encour­age them to watch on-line videos, and read books by the industry lead­ers such as Con­rad Hilton, Isad­ore Sharp, and Anthony Bourdain.

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Not for those seeking ‘comfortable’ jobs

Frédéric Dimanche, Director, Ted Rogers School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada

The thought of start­ing a career in the hos­pit­al­ity sec­tor may make you dream! You may be think­ing about lux­ury hotels, travel, and fine dining. 

Well, it can be all that indeed, but you’d bet­ter go bey­ond this and under­stand what the essence of the hos­pit­al­ity sec­tor is. 

Let me first tell you that I would not recom­mend hos­pit­al­ity to someone who is look­ing for a ‘com­fort­able’ job, with set and pre­dict­able sched­ules, or one in which every day looks the same. 

Also, and most import­antly, you must enjoy work­ing with and for oth­ers (be soci­able) and being help­ful. If you don’t have the pas­sion to wel­come and to care for oth­ers, this sec­tor is not for you. 

A hos­pit­al­ity career is for people who are pas­sion­ate about oth­ers and who draw their energy from being with and serving people. Your sat­is­fac­tion will come from mak­ing people happy, be it in a cas­u­al res­taur­ant or in a lux­ury facility. 

Bey­ond those essen­tial ele­ments, you will find along your career the oppor­tun­ity to work in a diversity of dis­cip­lines, from oper­a­tions and ser­vice deliv­ery to sales and mar­ket­ing, from fin­ance and account­ing to asset man­age­ment and law, and from human resource man­age­ment to gen­er­al management.

If you have a pas­sion for people and ser­vice, this may be a very reward­ing career option for you.

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Learn by doing: Try on your dreams

Samantha Lauver-Marion, Head of Student Engagement, Asian Institute of Hospitality Management, Bangkok, Thailand

A career in hos­pit­al­ity allows young pro­fes­sion­als the oppor­tun­ity to learn fast and grow with­in a team while build­ing a vari­ety of skills along the way.

Those who con­sider the oppor­tun­it­ies that this industry has to offer typ­ic­ally have many dif­fer­ent dreams and may not know which one to focus on first.

Intern­ships, a fun­da­ment­al aspect of hos­pit­al­ity edu­ca­tion train­ing, provides an oppor­tun­ity to exper­i­ment with dif­fer­ent hos­pit­al­ity spe­cial­isa­tions, to devel­op in-depth know­ledge of vari­ous industry sec­tors, to begin build­ing their pro­fes­sion­al net­work, and to apply their classroom learn­ing in actu­al hotel scenarios. 

Intern­ships allow stu­dents to exper­i­ence the ‘real deal’ to see how prac­tic­al and aca­dem­ic les­sons relate to real-world con­texts. Each des­tin­a­tion and every hos­pit­al­ity enter­prise provides its own valu­able les­sons and possibilities. 

By gain­ing two dif­fer­ent per­spect­ives through their intern­ships, stu­dents could see a wider breadth of the industry and are also able to begin com­par­ing and con­trast­ing dif­fer­ent pro­fes­sion­al roles and envir­on­ments to find the right fit for their future.

Would I sug­gest a career in hospitality? 

Yes!

Will your career look dif­fer­ent and be designed accord­ing to your own per­son­al dreams and aspirations? 

Abso­lutely.

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‘Carefully weigh the pros and cons’

ChatGPT May 12 Version

When con­sid­er­ing a career in hos­pit­al­ity, it is import­ant to care­fully weigh the pros and cons. While the industry offers poten­tial for growth and advance­ment, it also comes with chal­lenges. Wheth­er or not to sug­gest a career in hos­pit­al­ity depends on the indi­vidu­al’s interests, skills, and long-term goals.

Hos­pit­al­ity provides diverse oppor­tun­it­ies in sec­tors like hotels, res­taur­ants, tour­ism, and event man­age­ment. This allows for spe­cial­isa­tion based on per­son­al interests. 

The industry also offers flex­ible work­ing hours, allow­ing indi­vidu­als to achieve work-life bal­ance. Moreover, work­ing in hos­pit­al­ity fosters strong inter­per­son­al and com­mu­nic­a­tion skills by inter­act­ing with people from dif­fer­ent backgrounds.

How­ever, there are chal­lenges to consider. 

Hos­pit­al­ity demands long hours, irreg­u­lar sched­ules, and high-pres­sure situ­ations. It requires adapt­ab­il­ity and resi­li­ence. Entry-level pos­i­tions often involve lower wages and on-the-job training.

It is essen­tial to assess per­son­al aptitude and pas­sion. If the fam­ily mem­ber enjoys work­ing with people, provid­ing ser­vice, and thrives in dynam­ic envir­on­ments, a career in hos­pit­al­ity may be a good fit. How­ever, if they prefer a struc­tured or sol­it­ary work envir­on­ment or have dif­fer­ent interests, oth­er paths may be more suitable.

In con­clu­sion, sug­gest­ing a career in hos­pit­al­ity depends on the indi­vidu­al’s char­ac­ter­ist­ics, interests, and goals. It can be excit­ing and ful­filling for those who embrace diversity and enjoy work­ing with people. 

How­ever, con­sid­er­ing the demands and chal­lenges is cru­cial. Explor­ing dif­fer­ent options, eval­u­at­ing strengths and aspir­a­tions, and seek­ing guid­ance can help make an informed decision about pur­su­ing a career in hospitality.

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Word count fail …

The ini­tial request to Google Bard was:

“Please write no more than 300 words on the following: 

“A fam­ily mem­ber in the last year of high school is ask­ing you for advice on careers. 

“Would you sug­gest a career in hospitality? 

“Why? Why not?” 

Bard respon­ded in a let­ter format, which was cute, but delivered much more than 300 words.

Repeated fol­low-ups included “Rewrite so that there are no more than 300 words” and “Strictly no more than 300 words” and others. 

Each time Bard delivered more copy than would be reas­on­able for me to edit to required length giv­en that there is no-one to approve my changes. 

All human “GT” guest authors have the oppor­tun­ity to pre­view, amend, and approve (or can­cel) their “GT” Insight or “GT” Insight Bite pri­or to publication. 

… with a twist

UPDATE: Before set­tling on the above, I tried one more time (with CAPS): “STRICTLY 300 words or few­er”. Bard spat this out:

Bard [Experiment]

Dear [fam­ily mem­ber­’s name],

I’m glad you’re think­ing about a career in hospitality. 

The industry is grow­ing, diverse, and glob­al, with oppor­tun­it­ies for everyone.

Of course, there are chal­lenges too. Hours can be long and work can be demand­ing. But if you’re will­ing to put in the effort, you can have a suc­cess­ful career in hospitality.

Here are some things to con­sider when think­ing about a career in hospitality:

• What are your interests? What do you enjoy doing?
• What are your skills? What are you good at?
• What are your goals? What do you want to achieve in your career?

I hope this inform­a­tion is help­ful. Please let me know if you have any oth­er questions.

Sin­cerely,
[Your name]

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What do you think? 

Share your own thoughts about the pros and cons of a career in hos­pit­al­ity in a com­ment below (you may need to refresh the page to see the com­ments section). 

Or write a “GT” Insight. The “Good Tour­ism” Blog wel­comes diversity of opin­ion and per­spect­ive about travel & tour­ism, because travel & tour­ism is everyone’s business.

“GT” is where free thought travels.

Fea­tured image (top of post): A career in hos­pit­al­ity might involve serving cock­tails in Wen­gen, Switzer­land. Image by Alev Takil (CC0) via Unsplash.

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