The majority of hotel jobs are service occupations comprising about 65 percent of all workers in the hotel industry.
Most of these are in the housekeeping type of work and include maids, cleaners, janitors and could also include waiters / waitresses, bartenders, food counter workers and various other dining room and kitchen workers. Included here as well are baggage porters, bellhops, gaming service workers and ground maintenance personnel. Hosts / hostesses, bartender helpers, dining room / cafeteria attendants, food preparation workers, doorkeepers, recreation and fitness workers and camp counselors are also considered service occupations.
Administrative support or office occupations account for about 19 percent of hotel careers. This includes desk clerks, bookkeepers, accounting clerks and switchboard operators.
Management occupations direct and coordinate the activities of the front office, dining room, kitchen and other departments. In smaller establishments, management personnel also perform front office administrative tasks. In bigger establishments, there are managers for different phases of hotel operations such as food and beverage managers, room managers, events managers, sales managers, human resource directors, public relations managers, heads of hotel security and executive housekeepers. Sometimes the responsibilities are combined into one position.
Aside from the above three main classifications of hotel careers there are various other job categories in hotels like general maintenance and repair workers, computer or information technology specialists, security, healthcare and fitness workers and parking attendants.
What educational path do you take for hotel careers?
Large hotel operations employ people who have a wide range of skills and experience. Most entry level positions require little or no previous experience or training since basic tasks can be learned easily. Managerial and department head positions require an appropriate formal training and years of experience in the hospitality industry. All positions in the hotel industry are customer service oriented and almost all workers undergo some on the job training supervised by more experienced employees so that new employees can at least be acclimated to the unique characteristics of the area where the hotel is situated, such as in intercontinental hotel careers.
What is the pay range for hotel careers?
Wages for hotel careers are generally lower than the average for all other industries. In 2008, the average earnings for non-supervisory personnel in hotels was about $400 per week compared to about $600 average for all other workers in the private sector. Some workers in the hotel industry earn the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour as of July 2009, but this varies according to state.
Some service workers derive their income from a combination of their regular hourly wage and customer tips. In restaurants, waiters / waitresses derive a good part of their earnings from tips that depend on menu prices and volume of customers served. Employers usually provide free meals and uniforms. Generally, workers with the highest skills have the higher wages, while workers who receive tips have lower wages.
In some establishments, managers are given bonuses ranging up to 50 percent of their regular salary depending on the sales volume of the establishment. They could also have free lodging, meals, laundry, parking or other services. There are even companies that offer tuition reimbursements, profit-sharing and other benefits.
What is the long term job outlook of hotel careers?
Through 2018, the hotel industry is expected to grow by about 5 percent. The industry also employs large numbers of young part-time workers who do not stay in this line of work for very long, resulting in high amount of job turnover.
What are the job prospects in hotel careers?
Most hotels opening in the next decade are limited service hotels, but most job openings arise from full service hotels like convention centers, casinos and resort hotels because they employ the widest range and largest number of workers. Limited service hotels do not have restaurants or other amenities, so the types of employment they offer have a narrow range.
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