For those deeply embedded in the hotel and property management industry, the title feels like a rhetorical question: What's not to love? As we approach 2020 with constantly changing guest expectations forcing Darwinian adaptation upon hotel executives, it seems like the right time to check-in with ourselves about why this is still the best workplace industry in the world.
Membership Has Its Privileges
The perks of hospitality still range from eating or drinking for free to "work" travel in sometimes exotic, far-flung reaches of the globe. If you're a foodie, where else are you expected to hang out professionally with executive chefs or wine and dine clients, colleagues, and guests?
Diversity as Default
No two days in the hotel business are the same. You never know who's going to show up. Guests from around the world have the opportunity to walk through your property's doors. You get a chance to work with staff that reflects the diversity of the world, if not life, from housekeepers to bookkeepers. And you aren't obligated to work in one location: You can work wherever you want.
Your Only Limit Is You
No other industry is accustomed to the natural changes of work and life like hospitality. You can see the results of your impact quickly and up close, with fewer layers of bureaucracy. Unlike most other industries, hospitality not only expects but encourages your rapid advancement up the ranks. If you take advantage of personal development opportunities to hone soft-skills like organization and working in a team to more technical ones like revenue and facilities management, this work is the ultimate business school.
Play with Amazing Technology
Due to increasing competition, seasonal volatility, and variable profit margins, hospitality is embracing digital innovation more than ever. With cloud-based Property Management System solutions making it easier for on-site property management, you can spend more time out of the office instead of behind a desk. More and more executives turn to all-in-one applications like Booking Ninjas for its online booking software and smart property management AI to analyze your data.
Because People Still Matter
At the end of the (work) day, hospitality is still an industry built on taking care of other people. We all need human contact, crave someone outside ourselves looking after us. It takes empathy and commitment to put someone else's needs ahead of your own – and do it with a smile. But the feeling you get when you can see you have made someone's day, helped solve a problem, or surprised a guest with a service or amenity, will last longer than a paycheck will – and affect more than just yourself.
Yes, the future is here, but it looks a lot like the past. Travel and tourism is the 21st century's fastest-growing industry. There's something deep in it. There's something sociological and physiological in taking care of a person's comfort, safety, and entertainment needs. Unless and until humanity changes the way we connect and relax, there will always be much to love about the hospitality business