Hotel Management : Job Prospects & Career Options

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Job Prospects

Lots of lucrative and interesting openings are there for hotel management graduates in various fields like:

• Hotel & Restaurant management
• Airline Catering and Cabin Services
• Club management
• Cruise Ship Hotel Management
• Hospital administration and catering
• Hotel and Tourism Associations
• Forest Lodges
• Guest Houses
• Institutional Management (supervising canteens in college, schools, in factories, company guest houses etc.)
• Catering departments of railways, banks, armed forces, shipping companies etc.
• Hotel and catering institutes
• Self employment

Career options

A hotel consists main departments such as Operations, Front office, House keeping, Food and Beverages, Accounting, Engineering/ Maintenance, Sales and Security. Each department has a number of positions that one can opt for.

General Operations
General manager who is the main in charge, is the coordinator and administrator, responsible for staff management, financial control, provision of services, quality control and customer care. Depending on the size of the hotel, general managers could have assistant managers to supplement their work.

Front Office
It is the centre of all activities. Important functions of receiving the guests, making room reservations, handling correspondence and preparing bills and keeping accounts of the guest services are handled at the front office. The department is headed by Front office manager or Executive House-keeper who supervises and co-ordinates the work. Then there are Assistant Manager, Lobby executive, front office supervisor, information assistant, receptionist, bell captain, bell boy, doorman etc. to perform their assigned roles.

House Keeping
The work of keeping the hotel, the rooms, the bars, the restaurants etc. clean and making it presentable to the guests and ensuring facilities and comfort to them is handled by this department. Those handling this department are Chief executive house keeper, floor supervisor, room attendants, linen supervisors, Maids etc.

Food and Beverages Department
This department is the hub of the hotel industry and is responsible for all the food that is prepared and served in the hotel. The main functions performed by the department are- presentation, preparation and service of food and beverages involving kitchen, bar and baker. Overall in charge of kitchen is known as Chef de Cuisine,the in charge of section is called Chef de Partis and the one who supervises and coordinates the work of Chef de partis is known as Sous-Chef. One who cooks food is known as Cook, the person in overall charge of dining hall is called Maitre de hotel, Captain in charge of part of dining hall is known as Chef de Range, one who serves food is Demi Chef de Range or Steward. Then there is the restaurant hostess who makes the guests comfortable and deal with any complaints by the guests. Those serving drinks are bartenders.

Accounting Department
This department deals with both cash and credit transactions, i.e all the financial transactions like purchase of materials, offering of services to the guests etc. This department also compiles information required for budgeting, pricing of food and services and so on. Professionals like cash, cost and works accountants are given higher positions in the department. Chief cashier, cash clerk/bill clerk are the positions handled in this department.

Sales & Marketing
This department keeps in touch with travel agents and tour operators as well as other potential corporate clients in order to sell hotel facilities. Advertising and Public Relations is also normally handled by this department.

Engineering / Maintenance Department
Qualified engineers are appointed for the maintenance of the building and various machines involved in the premises. They are assisted by necessary staff in the electrical and mechanical departments. Mechanical Engineers, Electrical Engineer, Plumbers, carpenters etc are employed by this department.

Then there is the Security department which provides security to the guest and their belongings and employs security Officers/ guards for this purpose. Retires Army personnel are preferred by this department.