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September 30, 2014

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Home » Supplement » Education

Hospitality studies can bring real opportunity

By Sonja Tatar | September 30, 2014, Tuesday | Print Edition

DECIDING on a field of higher education after gaokao (college entrance examination) can be somewhat overwhelming for students, as the different study options seem infinite and the choice is most likely to define their career path.

In Shanghai, with an economy focused on financial and investment markets, professional areas such as accounting and finance or law are popular choices with many students today, along with disciplines such as medical science and engineering. In recent years, however, new fields of employment have emerged with broad opportunities, in sectors such as logistics, high-tech, tourism and hotel management.

Yet how much do today’s graduates know about these new sectors and their roles, the education providers, the available programs as well as the wider career opportunities available?

In the hospitality and hotel management industry, job opportunities have expanded extensively in recent years and the trend is predicted to continue for at least another decade. Further, the scope of the hospitality sector is broadening beyond the traditional perception of hotel and restaurant management. Already today, hospitality includes many other areas of the customer-centric industries, such as the MICE business, spa, health and wellness management, luxury services and many others.

A common misconception about hospitality management as a field of study is that it is vocational training. Due to this perception, hospitality management has not been the first choice of study in past decades. So what is hospitality management then? What do graduates of hotel management schools do? What skill sets are they expected to acquire? Do they even need formal tertiary education?

Hotel management a complex field

Hotel management is equal to business management in areas such as manufacturing or trading, but it focuses on managing hotel properties, or hotel companies. There are traditional functions such as accounting, finance, human resources and marketing and sales, just as in any other business. These general business disciplines are fundamental to the successful management of a hotel.

Lately, we have even seen professional accounting and auditing firms entering this industry and establishing their own hospitality consultancy teams, much like the specialized hospitality consultancy companies already in place. These firms are expanding in this sector because of the growth of the hotel business at large. Property owners, developers and hotel management companies are looking to secure their share of the market and optimize their profit margins. The industry thus has a high demand for financial analysts, accountants, valuators and human resources specialists, among others.

The ideal stepping stone to get ahead in hospitality is an education in hotel management, which prepares students to successfully address an array of issues: What should be the HR planning, strategies, and training objectives for a hotel? How do you set a hotel room rate across regions and brands to maximize profitability? What are hotel property benchmarks employed by a property developer and operator?

This kind of knowledge and skills can hardly be obtained by attending a couple of training courses and gathering some months of work experience in a hotel. This is one of the aspects that sets apart specific hotel management programs from general business education.

In brief, there are two different types of hospitality education: One is more of a short vocational training delivered by small centers, while the other focuses on management training at a university level which prepares students for senior positions and exciting careers in hospitality.

The former is catered to those who are interested in joining the industry on an operational level and maybe later decide to pursue senior positions. Should they choose to do so, they would most likely need to study further, as today’s hotel business environment is fast-paced and becoming more and more complex, thusly requiring a more high-level skill set.

Those who already have better academic credentials and are interested in advancing to senior managerial positions would most likely pursue a degree program.

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