What is Hospitality Management?

Hospitality management is the study of the Hospitality Industry. Hospitality management provides a focus on the management of hospitality operations including hotels, restaurants, cruise ships, amusement parks, destination marketing organizations, convention centers, country clubs, and other related industries. As a field of work, Hospitality Management refers to the management of hotels, restaurants, resorts, and any other institutions that are involved in the hospitality industry. It also relates to the people who opt for the hospitality sector as a career and pursue their studies in the same.

Sectors of the Hospitality Industry

There are broadly five facets of the Hospitality Industry:

1. Tourism Management :

Tourism is the temporary, short-term movement of people to destination outside the places where they normally live and work and their activities during the stay at each destination. It includes movements for all purposes. Tourism management is the profession of providing positive and successful experiences for such travelers and for the businesses that cater to them.

2. Hotel Management :

Hotel Management involves a combination of various skills like management, marketing, human resource development, financial management, interpersonal skills, dexterity, etc. Hotels are a major employment generator in the Hospitality industry. Work in the area of Hotel Management involves ensuring that all operations, including accommodation, food and drink, and other hotel services run smoothly.

3. Event Management:

Event Management is the management of events starting from conception to reporting and evaluation. Event planners execute all details related to a variety of meeting formats including seminars, conferences, trade shows, executive retreats, incentive programs, golf events, and other programs.

4. Convention Management:

Some industry experts consider conventions to be the fastest-growing segment of the tourism industry. Special events and conventions are being recognized as great income generators for a community. A Convention Planner is responsible for some of the most significant details of a convention, like securing an event location, but also for the smallest logistics, such as printing an event program. Convention Management and Planning involves coordinating with many different people, maintaining a tight budget, and effectively marketing yourself and the event that you are planning.

5. Resort Management :

A program that prepares individuals to plan, manage, and market comprehensive vacation facilities and services and related products. It includes instructions in hospitality administration, hotel/motel management, restaurant, and food services management, facilities planning, leisure studies, recreation administration, marketing, recreation equipment, and grounds operations and maintenance, business finance, insurance and taxation, event management, and guest services, personnel management, travel and logistics management, safety and health services, professional standards and ethics, and applications to specific vacation types and locations.

Classification of Hotels:

Since the Hotel Industry plays a major role in the hospitality sector let us classify the hotels on the basis of some major parameters.

On the basis of the service levels hotels can be classified as :
a) Budget: A budget hotel is one with limited amenities at a lower average price per night generally suitable for low-cost travel for backpackers and young people.
b) Luxury: Luxury refers to a combination of facilities and style and something which one doesn't normally experience at home. A luxury hotel is a hotel that is upscale and typically costs more than the average accommodation.
c) Suite: A suite in a hotel or other public accommodation, denotes a class of luxury accommodations, the key feature of which is multiple rooms. Suites offer multiple rooms, with more space and furniture than a standard hotel room. A suite will include a living or sitting room. Kitchen facilities are also added in many suites.

2. On the basis of the theme the hotels can be classified as :
a) Boutique: Small but exclusive property that caters to the affluent clientele with an exceptional level of service at premium prices. Typically boutique hotels are furnished in a themed, stylish, and/or aspirational manner. Boutique hotels also were known as Design hotels are often individual and focused on offering their services in a comfortable, intimate, and welcoming setting
b) Heritage: Heritage means that it is related to history. Heritage hotels are generally some old palaces, mansions, bungalows or some other historical places converted into hotels for guests.
c) Ecotel: Ecotel is a new concept in hospitality that claims to work for environment protection and preservation. They recycle things, ask customers to reuse towels, etc. All eco-certified hotels must pass a detailed inspection and satisfy stringent criteria designed by environmental experts.

3. On the basis of the Target Market, Hotels can be classified as :
a) Commercial: Commercial hotel is a hotel for transients that caters esp. to salesmen (as by providing rooms for the display of samples). These hotels are in business and downtown areas, which is where most of the business travelers stay, as well as those just passing through and need a place just for the night.
b) Resort: A resort hotel is typically in a vacation (resort) area, and caters mostly to vacationers, especially on beaches. A fashionable hotel in an area where many people go for recreation. Their goal is to provide every service their customer requires or desires on-site.
c) Convention: Convention hotel is a hotel that provides facilities and services geared to meet the needs of large group and association meetings and trade shows. Typically, these hotels have more than 500 guest rooms and contain substantial amounts of function and banquet space. It’s a hotel designed and catering to trade shows and corporate events with adequate conference and display facilities. 

While many features of all these types of hotels are overlapping, the classification has been done based on major parameters to provide a better understanding of different types of hotels.

Departments In Hospitality Industry

Let us understand the different departments that run the entire Hospitality Industry. These are the pillars on which the concept of Hospitality stands.

Housekeeping :

Housekeeping is more than just how to use a mop and broom. This department is responsible for cleaning and maintaining hotel premises which include public area, guest rooms, lobby, swimming pool area, etc. generally this department is not visible to the guest. It works for guest satisfaction working round the clock to keep the environment clean and hygiene. This department works to give a pleasant look at the hotel to the guest.

Front Desk :

A front office is the area of a business where clients and employees interact. It is the most important department in the hotel. The main function of this department is to give warm welcome to the guests. This is the first department where the guest comes in contact with. It generates the maximum revenue for the hotel as it sells room to the guests.
Food & Beverage: It is a department that serves food and beverage to the guest in a very attractive and pleasing manner, which creates a good impression on the guest. The food and beverage division is responsible for all of the dining rooms, restaurants - bars, bars, the galleys (kitchens), clean up, and provisions.

Engineering :

This department provides the day to day basic utility services, electricity, hot water, air-conditioning, and other services and is responsible for repair and maintenance of the equipment, furniture, and fixtures in the hotel.

Health/ sports/ recreation :

The main purpose and motive of this department are to provide health and recreation to the people. With the increasing need to concentrate on health issues, many hotels have come up with health gyms, spas, swimming pools, sports areas like billiards, golf, etc. The aim is to provide a healthy environment both to the guests and the employees.

Safety/ security :

The security of guests, employees, personal property, and the hotel itself is the foremost concern for the hotel. In the past, most security precautions concentrated on the prevention of theft from guests and the hotel. However, today such violent crimes as murder and rape have become a problem for some hotels. Unfortunately, crime rates in most major’s cities are rising. Hence today the security department also concentrates on these additional criminal activities too.

Although there are many more departments working backends to keep the hotels running, these are majorly the departments that cluster under the hospitality.