Management Careers in the Lodging Industry
The lodging industry in the hospitality field is one of the sectors that offer vast career opportunities for students aspiring to work as managers. Management in the lodging industry involves overseeing motels, resorts, hotels, and any other facility that provides lodging services. Managers in this industry are tasked with overseeing the daily operations of the properties which they are responsible for. Management careers in this industry can involve being a revenue manager, general manager, convention service manager, or front-office manager. All these management positions are often tasked with overseeing employee relations, budgets, marketing, customer relations, and sales. Convention service managers in the industry are tasked with the coordination of inter-departmental meetings, events, and conventions.
A front-office manager has the duty of overseeing the assigning of rooms, reservations, and coordination of the front-office hotel staff. They are tasked with resolving any problems or complaints that may arise with the guests, carry out special requests and ensure courtesy towards the guests is adhered to throughout their stay, and in some instances, adjust bills. On the other hand, a revenue manager has the duty of overseeing the financial aspects of lodge management through the provision of discounts, monitoring reservations, and room sales, giving occupancy projections, and conducting cash-flow and accounting evaluations of the lodging facilities.
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Management Careers in the Food and Beverage Industry
The food and beverage industry is a wide sector that offers significant career opportunities for those aspiring to work in the management positions. Managers in this field are primarily tasked with overseeing everything from casinos to restaurants which usually involves an eye to superior customer service. Most food and beverage management careers take place in restaurant settings and may comprise catering companies, general restaurants, and fast food joints. However, research indicates that many of the managers in this industry are actually the owners. A management career in the food and beverage industry involves being a general manager. General Manager within this industry is tasked with overseeing the overall operations within the on-location site which may include human resources, financial tracking, and ordering food and supplies, inventory and customer service. General Managers have a duty to ensure that all the standards set by the company comply with the set specifications. Consequently, they often spend much of their time evaluating and training employees to attain top quality customer services and also may be tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that employees maintain discipline and peace among themselves at all times.
To attain the position of a general manager, one requires an experienced educational background. Most individuals who want to work in management positions need to have at least a four-year bachelor’s degree in hospitality management, culinary arts or restaurant management. However, on rare occasions are masters-level degrees required and can only be needed if one intends to work in larger established names in the lodging industry.
Differences between the General Management Positions in the lodging, and Food and Beverage Industries
In my opinion, the General Management positions in both the lodging and food and beverage industry are several commonalities. Both are tasked with marketing, purchasing supplies, recruiting staff and developing the business they oversee. However, general managers in the lodging industry tend to oversee several duties and more employees compared to general managers in the food and beverage industry. This is because, at times, the lodging industry accommodates more individuals that need to be monitored daily. However, the general manager position in the lodging and food and beverage industry may hold the same task of monitoring employees only in areas such as theme parks and cruise ships.
More importantly, the two industry positions differ when it comes to the amount of salary that they earn. A General Manager within the lodging industry earns a net salary of between $75000 and $103000 a year with an average salary of $88500. On the other hand, a general manager in the food and beverage industry earns a net salary ranging between $55000 and $79500 with an average salary of approximately $68000. This disparity in their earnings majorly occurs as a result of the differences in the responsibilities that each general manager in the two industries holds.
Employment Growth Patterns
During the 2008 recession period, the food and beverage industry experienced various challenges resulting in the collapse of several businesses. However, recently, the two industries have been improving significantly in terms of employment rates. The growth in employment is as a result of increased demand for the products and services of these industries following the recession period. For instance, in 2014 the spike in the economy resulted in the bookings of more rooms for conferences, business travels, leisure travels, a factor that generated more revenue for the two industries. These changes have led to an increased demand for more staff to keep up with the increased demand for product and services. Over the next ten years, it is forecasted that employment will continue to grow significantly as a result of the opportunities created from the increased demand of services and products from both the food and beverage and the lodging industry.
Human Resource Practices
The recruitment and retention of talented employees in both the lodging and food and beverage industry are one of the most important factors in the hospitality industry. The type of management employees that these two industry recruits are crucial in determining the type of customer services that a customer within the industry will receive. Boella and Gross-Turner (2013) state that even though, the recruitment practices within the two industries might differ in some aspects, the principles that they use must adhere to the objectives of the business. The hiring process is done using the human resource department but retention is dependent on the two company’s human resource practices.
The Lodging Industry
It has been noted that the turnover rates within the lodging industry are alarming since most staff stay in the industry depending on the treatment they receive from management. One of the human resource practices that can be adopted within the industry during the hiring process and the retainment of employee talent is the use of word-of-mouth and social recruiting to ensure that the best talent is found (Boella, & Goss-Turner, 2013). Undeniably, most human resource managers often find it easier to identify hospitable characters best suited for the lodging industry in a social environment as opposed to a high-pressure environment involving interviews. Consequently, the human resource management can align the individual roles of the staff with their corporate strategy. This practice allows employees to feel a greater sense of ownership and thus will be more willing to improve their capability at performing their duties and retaining their positions. Additionally, the lodging industry can adopt the use of internal talent pools to motivate employees to remain within the organization (Boella, & Goss-Turner, 2013). Research indicates that any companies that develop talents and consequently trains their staff to ensure they can take any promotion roles to help employees to improve their confidence in their positions. Such companies often record lower turnover rates.
The Food and Beverage Industry
Studies have noted that the food and beverage industry is one of the industries that record the highest turnover rates in comparison to other industries in the hospitality sector. This is because most of the managerial positions in this industry entail overseeing lots of duties although the managers are not provided with conducive environments to work in. Human resource departments within this industry can adopt the practice of identifying definite information silos to prevent miscommunication personnel and customers. Developing information silos ensures that proper management levels are maintained and consequently improves talent’s performance of managers. Additionally, since every food and beverage establishment has a defined vision, mission, and purpose, the development of concrete customer service values improves the overall customer experience thus reducing the workload of management (Boella, & Goss-Turner, 2013). More importantly, the retainment of talented managers can best be done through empowerment strategies to ensure that employees are highly motivated, and can be done through the offering of additional courses and bonuses.
References
Boella, M., & Goss-Turner, S. (2013). Human resource management in the hospitality industry: a guide to best practice: an introductory guide. Routledge, Abingdon, United Kingdom.
Hospiatlity Careers. (2009, June 30). Career Paths of a Hospitality Management Student. Retrieved from Hospitality Careers: https://www.hcareers.com/article/career-advice/career-paths-of-a-hospitality-management-student
Stanford, C. (2013, 19 July). A Day in the Life of David Lindahl, General Manager of Daily Diner Frogtown. Retrieved from Eater: https://twincities.eater.com/2013/7/19/6399397/a-day-in-the-life-of-david-lindahl-general-manager-of-daily-diner
Wang, Y.-F. (2012). Constructing career competency model of hospitality industry employees for career success. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 25 (7), 994-1016.
