Why Hotel Management?

Why Hotel Management?

What is Hospitality Industry?

Before I talk about Hotel Management let me first demystify Hospitality Industry.

The Hospitality industry covers a wide range of organizations offering Food Service & Accommodation. Sectors include Hotels / Resorts, Restaurants, Fast food outlets, Discotheques, Bars & Pubs, Banquet, Meeting & Events venues, Gaming, Entertainment & recreation, tourism services etc.

To get into this profession, apart from a minimum qualification of 3 year Diploma or a Degree after 10+2 from a reputed Institution, having the right attitude is most important. The individual must have an outgoing & pleasant personality, capacity for hard work and a liking for interacting with people. Also should be disciplined, committed & dedicated towards work.

With these essentials, an immediate employability is almost guaranteed.

Industry facts

According to reports published by Tourism Ministry, India needs 150,000 hotel rooms over the next three years, two-thirds of which would be rooms meant for 3-4 star category.

As per the reports by HVS Hospitality Services, there are around 40 International hotels, which are expected to be operational in the country in the next 3 years. These global chains are now entering the full range from 3 stars to 5 star hotels.

US-based MGM Mirage Hospitality, Amari from Thailand, Fairmont Raffles Hotels, Golden Tulip Hotels, Movenpick Hotels & Resorts, Corinthia Hotels group from Europe are among the chains that are set to come to India. Then there are Domestic chains like Taj, Oberoi’s, Sarovar group, Lemon tree, Citrus, Keys, The Lalit which have huge expansion plans.

Why Hotel Management?

It is a glamorous profession which has a bright future. With the growth of Hotel industry propelled by foreign & domestic tourism and business travel, the demand for well trained quality personnel too has grown impressively.

To be able to work in Hotel Industry after 10+2, a student must pursue a 3 or 4 year degree in Hotel Management from India or abroad. It is not essential to do a Post graduation in Hotel Management as Job offers at entry level are plenty to choose from.

Those who want to gain experience at an early stage of their career can “Earn while they Learn” by way of ODC’s – Outdoor Catering in 5 Star Hotels after classes from Year 1 itself. Most Institutes send students for 6 months “On the Job Training” exposure in Hotels & Restaurant as part of curriculum for which they earn monthly stipend.

The Hotel Management programs give equal importance to Theory & Practical. While it is important to focus on Theory it is essential to learn its application through Industry exposure during the program.

Career

With increasing globalisation, career opportunities in this field are not only limited within the country but there are chains of hotels which operate internationally providing scope of a career abroad.

The diversity of experience in Hotel management is greater than in any other profession. Hotel industry involves combination of various skills like Management, Food & Beverage service, Food Production, Housekeeping, Front office operation, Sales & Marketing.

As you graduate from a Hotel Management Institute, one can choose Careers in:-

· Hotel & Restaurant management

· Airline Catering & Cabin Services

· Club management

· Cruise Ship Management

· Hospital administration & catering

· 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 & catering Institutes

· Self employment

Salaries for entry-level employees in 5 star Hotels are at approximately Rs 15,000 a month, but increments could go up to Rs 1 lac in a year for deserving candidates. Apart from the salary, the front line employees also get a share of Gratuity in Cash commonly termed as Tips.

Hotel establishments also offer young employees with incentives, perks and lifestyle benefits free lunches, freebies like complementary stay for the family, picnics and free entries into well-known discotheques.

Those who are passionate about working in Hotels grow vertically from:-

Associate

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v

Executive

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v

Line Manager

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v

Assistant Head of Department

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v

Head of Department

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v

General Manager

With burgeoning growth of the Hotel Industry especially in B & C cities in India, one can grow to a position of General Manager in 12 to 14 years in a Mid – size Hotel. As a General Manager the perks are at par offered to any professional in any other Industry. Depending on the policy, some organizations provide Accommodation to the family of the General Manager within the Hotel with all the luxuries of a 5 star.

With 3-4 years of work experience, a lot of Chefs with expertise in Indian cuisine get Job offers from UK, Canada, Australia & Middle East. There are also a lot of opportunities available on International Cruise liner in F&B service as well as Kitchen. While on Cruise ship, one not only gets opportunity to Travel the world while in the Job but also save a decent amount of money as well.

While working in 5 star Hotels the job is alluring as you get to see Celebrities, Head of States while they stay at your Hotel on a vacation or on business appointment or attending to a Banquet like Wedding, Conference or Product launch.

You also get to interact with people from different Nationalities across the Globe & learn about their culture, eating habits & background. Such a chance is rare to find in any other profession.

Other Service Industries like BPO & Airlines also hire Hotel Management professionals at lucrative salaries. Basically, an education in Hotel Management inculcates in the students a very strong service orientation, which is highly valued by practically all employers in the service industry.

A Pragmatic Solution to India's Education Problem

The education problem of India has many facets, and all cannot be efectively covered in a short article so I am attempting to ofer a big picture perspective here.

The following statistics (for 2008) tell a story:

K-12 enrolment: 37% (132M of the 361M school age children

currently enrolled)

Tertiary education Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER): 11% (21%

in BRIC countries)

Employability of Graduates: 20 % (80 % considered unft for

the workplace)

The benefts of having an educated and skilled population are obvious – not only will it help India’s own development; it will also allow India to beneft from its much younger Demographic profle relative to the world. This need seems to have been understood by the government of India and it has set itself the goal of achieving a GER of 15% by 2012. The focus of this article is not on the intent, but the path chosen by the government to achieve this goal.

The National Knowledge Commission was appointed by the Prime Minister of India, specifcally to propose a solution to this problem. The commission, led by Mr. Sam Pitroda, has suggested, in summary, that the government spend a lot more money to create numerous new institutions, improve the current institutions, and fundamentally change regulation and governance. While the NKC has made some excellent recommendations, it seems uncomfortable with the idea of for-proft education in any segment.

In its report the NKC acknowledges that of the 1700 management schools in India (as of 2007), more than 1000 came into being after 2000, as a result of “entrepreneurial initiative”. Strangely, every single one of these “entrepreneurial” entities is set up as a non-proft.

Broadly in line with the NKC recommendations, the government has announced that it will spend INR 850B (Approx. USD 17 B) in 2007 - 2012 to achieve this goal - 5 times the amount for the previous 5 year period. This money will be spent on new institutions including 30 central universities, 8 IITs, 10 National Institutes of Technology (NIT), 20 Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIITs), three Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs) seven Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and two Schools of Planning and Architecture(SPA)

“Allowing private enterprise to participate aggressively and openly improves quality, often drops prices, and addresses different segments more effectively thus improving penetration (read enrolment).”

In simple words, the Government plans to do it all largely on its own, with its own money, and by deploying its own manpower. Private participation is expected to be in non-proft / PPP models, essentially of a “non-commercial” nature. Unfortunately, the government’s track record has been quite dismal when it comes to operating educational institutions. Most of the Higher Education system of India is in a shambles, with the IITs and IIMs being visible because they are exceptions, and even these are often embroiled in political controversy.

This is a critical point of time for India, and the decisions taken now will set India up for its success or failure in this century. It is important that the government face the realities of its own abilities, and also look

globally to see how similar challenges have been met elsewhere. Also, I believe we need to fnally get rid of our “License Raj” hang-ups about education being on a higher moral plane, and therefore necessarily non-proft.

The underlying philosophy when thinking about the education industry needs to be not too different from any other industry. The government needs to create strong regulatory bodies. Then the force of private enterprise should be unleashed to address this problem. Over almost 20 years of liberalization, we have repeatedly heard how “this industry is diferent” – be it power or healthcare, and have eventually agreed that it actually was not that diferent, and that allowing private enterprise to participate aggressively and openly improves quality, often drops prices, and addresses diferent segments more efectively thus improving penetration (read enrolment).

Sure, in countries such as the UK and the US, while they do have a strong private sector in education but that was not the force behind increases in the GER. That is because they had the one luxury India does not have – time. To illustrate my point, I would like to quote the example of Brazil – a good example also because it is certainly comparable to India. Brazil also needed to see drastic increases in its GER, but it was practically static from 1991 – 1996. However, enrolments went from 1.9 Million in 1997 to 4.7 million by 2006 – a 150% increase in 10 years. What Brazil did was simply the following:

1. Create a transparent, but rigorous regulatory system. (Similar to the IRAHE proposed by the NKC). The focus was on the academic standards and the learning, not on structural aspects.

2. Encourage private participation in higher-education. They were open to people making a proft, as long as they deliver quality and meet the regulatory norms.

3. Create incentives for the private players to focus on the social and developmental needs of the country as well. For example, in 2004 Brazil ofered a tax break to the private institutions which set aside 10-20 % of their spots for low income students, provided scholarships etc.

I think the simplicity, elegance, and efectiveness of the Brazilian system is something India should learn from.

The government reduces its role instead of increasing it. The money saved in this manner can be utilized to channel and guide the entrepreneurial forces in the right direction (such as funding the tax cuts mentioned in point 3 above), and on creating a strong , transparent and independent regulatory framework. Most importantly, it legitimizes the role of private players, so that the stronger, cleaner and more professional players also participate.

I do not for a moment propose that pure capitalism will lead to equitable growth in such a sector, and believe that the government has an important role to play – especially in the K-12 segment. However, the government needs to choose its battles, and use the private sector as a useful force in its plan for the future. That will unleash vast amounts of capital, intellect, and create the kind of capacity required, and will do so efciently. With the current system, the government not only prevents open private participation, but also attracts private money and intent of the worst kind. With a few exceptions such as the Tata institutions, most private players in India blatantly make money while claiming to be charitable institutions. The education sector is the biggest spender in the print media in the country today. Full page ads for “charitable institutions” scream across the newspapers and all this communication is delivered to the doorsteps of the powers that be every day, and yet we seem to be comfortable in our delusion of education in India actually being non-proft.

I think it is time to take a close look at the facts on the ground as they are today, for the government to recognize its own strengths and weaknesses, and also to realize the power of entrepreneurship. In the telecom sector India added 15 million new subscribers in January 2009. Such numbers are possible because the government allowed private participation while regulating the industry closely. If we could do a fraction of that number in higher education, it will change India’s future.