A Career in Hospitality Management

Hospitality Management

The teenager working in a fast food restaurant, the concierge at a five star hotel, and the CEO of Disneyworld all work in the hospitality industry. Hospitality is a major subset of the tourism industry. Together they make up the largest industry worldwide. For many countries tourism and hospitality are the largest contributors to their gross domestic product. The field of hospitality encompasses food and beverage services, lodging, gaming, entertainment, business and leisure travel, and related services.

Related Services
Meeting & convention planning, event planning, trade show & exhibit management, catering, foreign language translation services, international currency exchange services, national, state, and local tourism bureau services.

Professional Careers in Hospitality Management

A cross-section of management level jobs in the hospitality industry include:

Foodservice management, airline sales marketing and research, cruise line sales, operations and marketing, hotel sales marketing, and operations, destination management, club and institutional management, gaming, and event management. Under these umbrellas are literally hundreds of areas requiring management expertise and training in hospitality and tourism management.

Many other supervisory and management jobs exist that are directly related to positions mentioned above, but are too numerous to mention here. The industry is so dynamic that both the functions and titles change rapidly, to meet the needs of improved technology and tomorrow’s environment.

Preparing for a Career In Hospitality Management

The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people who “travel to and stay in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes not related to the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited”. They have also projected a continued 4% growth worldwide for the foreseeable future. Hospitality fits under the umbrella of tourism and courses of study are designed to prepare students for both industries simultaneously.

Typical Courses of Study in Tourism & Hospitality Management at Colleges & Universities in the U.S.A.

Many community and vocational colleges offer certificate and associate degree programs with more of a hands-on approach to specific disciplines in tourism and hospitality management, but they lack the broad base of management training. Bachelor’s degree programs and higher offer the greatest room for growth and transfer of management skills within the industry.

Bachelor’s Degree Programs

A bachelor’s degree in hospitality management will provide you with the skills appropriate for a broad range of disciplines within the field of hospitality and tourism. The typical curriculum will focus on selected courses from the following areas:

• Travel and tourism management
• Convention and Meeting Planning / Event Planning
• Hotel Management
• Club Management
• Destination Management
• Casino & Gaming management
• Foodservice Management / Culinary Specialization
• Purchasing , Food, Beverage and Labor Cost & Control
• Leisure and Recreation Studies

Master’s Degree Programs

Depending on the institution, many Master’s level programs in tourism and hospitality management assume that the student has an undergraduate academic background or practical experience in the industry. Where this may be lacking one or two undergraduate courses are usually recommended for the student to complete in order to begin the graduate program of study. Usually Master’s and Doctoral level programs cover broader topic areas such as:

• Tourism Development
• Hospitality Management
• Hotel Restaurant & Institutional Management
• Recreation and Leisure Studies

Questions One Should Ask When Choosing a School

Typical questions to ask an Admissions officer would include the following:

• What are the student-to-faculty ratios?
• How diverse is your faculty?
• What are typical class sizes?
• How many courses do undergraduate faculty teach annually?
• What percentage of classes are taught by adjunct faculty?
• How small must a class be before it is cancelled by administration?

The Office of Institutional Research can answer these questions. Also, larger and well known names in colleges may mean more resources are available in general for the student body. However, smaller colleges are usually able to afford a more personalized and enriching experience to foreign students who may not get lost in the larger more competitive establishments.

Editorial is provided by Dr. Godfrey Pratt and Dr. Annette George, Baltimore International College.