Room for more
Nalini Ranjan

The hotel industry holds a very promising future in view of the boom in the travel and tourism sector, spurred by a number of factors. With the increase in both leisure and business travel, there is a need for additional hotels and restaurants.

Hoteliering is basically a service industry, so the career opportunities in this field are not confined to the country but also foreign shores, with leading hotel chains having a presence in many countries.

Anyone interested in joining the industry must keep a few important things in mind. The profession is suitable for people who have an interest in meeting, conversing and communicating pleasantly with new people, who possess a presentable personality, have the patience to listen to others, are enterprising enough to deal with awkward situations in an efficient and amicable manner and have the willingness to put in hard labour at odd hours.

The set up of a hotel consists of seven main departments – Front Office, Housekeeping, Food and Beverages, Accounting, Engineering and Security.

The Front Office is like a show window of a hotel because it is the first place where a guest arrives. It is important because it gives the proverbial ‘ first impression’. Important functions like receiving the guest, bookings, allocation of accommodation, book keeping, handling correspondence, preparing bills and keeping accounts of guest services are handled at the front office counters. The department is headed by front office managers or the executive (housekeeping), who supervises and coordinates the work. The others working in this area the assistant manager, lobby executive, front office supervisor, information assistant, receptionist, bell captain, bellboy, door man etc.

The work of keeping the hotel, the rooms, the bars, the restaurants etc. clean and making them presentable to the guests and ensuring various facilities and comfort to them is handled by this department. Those handling the department are the chief executive (housekeeping), floor supervisor, room attendants, linen supervisors, etc.

Basically, this department is divided into two sections – kitchen and the restaurant/ bar services. The functions performed by the department are – presentation of food, preparation and service of food and beverages involving the kitchen, bar and baker. The person in charge of the overall kitchen is known as chef de cuisine, while the person who is overall in charge of the dining hall is the maitre de hotel.

As a number of transactions, both cash and credit, in term of purchase of materials and availing of services and offering of services to the guests are involved, there is a finance or accounts department to look after all these functions. The department also compiles information required for budgeting, pricing of food and services, etc.

To provide security to the guests, and their belongings, and to the hotel itself are the main functions of this department. They have a distinct uniform. They work in shifts and look after assigned areas of the hotel premises.

To ensure regular and proper maintenance of the hotel building and various machines installed in its premises so that the hotel functions smoothly, an engineering or maintenance department is also attached to the hotel. Qualified engineers are appointed in this department. They are supported by necessary staff in the electrical and mechanical wings.

One can enter this field both through hotel management institutes and through direct entry. For direct entry, the vacancies are generally advertised in the newspapers and the minimum prescribed qualification is graduation with not less than 50 per cent marks. The recruited candidates are trained by the hotels themselves for a period of 1- 2 years. Apart from this, many government and private institutes are imparting three-year bachelor degree in hotel management and tourism to plus two students, two-year postgraduate degree equivalent to MBA in hospitality and one-year diploma in hotel management and tourism for graduates.

According to the Director (Training), LBIIHM, Delhi, Kamal Kumar, hotel management is no longer restricted to the hotel industry. Referred to as hospitality management in its new avatar, the course covers a wide spectrum of topics, including all aspects of hoteliering, operations, food and beverage production, front office and sales and marketing — accommodation for the entire hospitality industy. "At the management level, students are taught the basics of management — running a profitable business, finance management and revenue management.

The programme goes beyond plain studies and serves like a finishing school, with its stress on all-round personality development. While in the first year, students study every detail of hotel management, by the second year, they are expected to choose an area of specialisation, be it human resource, communication, strategic food and beverage management," he says.

On the completion of the course, trained graduates can join as assistant managers in any five-star hotel. Most of the recruitments take place on-campus and are followed by compulsory training. The good thing is that even catering firms and airlines are increasingly looking towards hotel and hospitality management graduates for recruitments.

Salaries vary, depending on which industry you join. From hotels to multinationals, they could range anywhere between Rs. 10,000 to 25,000 for starters, on a cost to company basis.

National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology, Delhi (www. nchmct. org)

LBIIHM, Delhi, (www.lbiihm.com)

Institute of Hotel Management, Aurangabad( www . iihm@ tajhotels.com)

Welcom Group Graduate school of Hotel Administration, Manipal

(www. manipal.edu)

Institute of Hotel Management, Bangalore

(www.ihmbangalore.com)

Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition, Mumbai (www. ihmctan.edu)

(The list is indicative)