How to Become a Hotel Manager - Qualifications, Career Path

With a number of factors such as globalisation, growth in the travel and tourism sector, and changing customer expectations, the hospitality industry is rapidly expanding, with hotel management being one of the leading domains in it. Hotel management as a career brings novel opportunities to a professional to work in luxurious hotels and resorts, managing key hotel operations. As a career path, it offers you diverse domains to specialise in, ranging from culinary responsibilities (chef, food and beverage), financial management, marketing and sales, people-facing responsibilities (customer experience, customer relations), etc.

Given the vast scope and diversity of options available in this field, many students and aspirants are drawn to this career every year. To support your career journey and guide informed choices about it, we have broken down the details relating to a hotel management career here for you!

Why Choose a Career in Hotel Management?

Hospitality and hotel management is a vocational field that offers a number of diverse opportunities to professionals. In addition to being a well-developed industry in India, it also has many other advantages to offer, which might suit your career aspirations, and we have listed a few of those below for your reference.

• Expansion in the Hospitality Industry: The hospitality industry in India is one of the fastest-growing industries, and especially with the push for tourism and rise of international and national travel, it presents a high scope of booming career opportunities in near future itself.
• Diverse Career Pathways within the Field: Within the field of hotel management, a professional can explore multiple domains such as financial management, operations management, inventory management, front desk management, cuisine and beverage management and so on, allowing for diverse avenues to choose from.
• Opportunity for Global Exposure: Studying hotel management and pursuing a career in it can allow you to explore opportunities and roles internationally as well, especially with many hotel and hospitality chains operating cross-nationally and presenting opportunities abroad.
• Scope for People-Centric Work: Hotel management is a highly people-centric and customer-facing job role, and individuals who have a knack for service-roles and interacting with diverse individuals can feel fulfilled in roles of hotel management.
• Job Stability & Perks: Although this industry may experience some seasonal fluctuations, it overall presents stable career prospects alongside perks such as subsidized meals, travel discounts, accommodation benefits etc.

Explore the Role: Responsibilities of a Hotel Manager

A general hotel manager, also often simply called a ‘general manager’ has the responsibility of overseeing the overall smooth functioning of a hotel location, including the management of different domains starting from finances, revenue generation, customer experience, front desk management, food and beverages, housekeeping and so on. In this section, we have enlisted the core responsibilities that a hotel manager is required to look into.

Please note, these include the typical job responsibilities of a general hotel manager; for specialised roles within hotel management, the nature and perview of responsibilities is likely to vary.

Skill Set for Hotel Management

The skill sets is a crucial aspect to look into for any professional role, and in the case of a highly vocational domain like hotel management, a host of technical knowledge and effective soft skills become even more handy. Herein, we have elaborated upon the key technical knowledge areas and the soft skill areas that you must develop if you wish to venture into the field of hotel management.

Technical Skills to Succeed as a Hotel Manager

Since this domain requires you to perform a number of diverse responsibilities before you can specialise in one domain, it requires you to have competence in a number of areas related to the efficient operation of a hotel, such as financial management and budgeting, operations management, inventory management, proficiency with hospitality software and so on.

Further details of the same are provided below:

Key Skills	Specifications
Budgeting & Financial Management	Proficiency in creating budgets, manage the costs of the hotel unit, cutting unnecessary costs to maximise profit as well as preparing comprehensive financial reports documenting the same.
Operations Management	Knowledge and ability to oversee the daily hotel functions such as the front office management, housekeeping functions, food and beverage services, general maintenance, financial interactions and so on.
Hospitality Software	Being familiar and comfortable working with hospitality and property management software such as Opera, eZee, FrontDesk etc.
Inventory Management	Regularly tracking the inventory of materials in the hotel unit, maintaining stocks of materials, reducing shrinkage, managing timely procurement from vendors etc.
Event Management	Being able to efficiently handle the end-to-end management of events being organised in the hotel including aspects related to financial planning, operations, services, customer experience, general coordination and so on.
Compliance & Quality Assurance	Having sound knowledge of the safety, hygiene, industry regulations and standards alongside ensuring that they are complied with in the hotel.

Soft Skills to Succeed as a Hotel Manager

Being a people-centric and service-oriented role, having excellent soft skills is a must for roles in hotel management. In addition to interpersonal skills and competencies, a number of other behavioural skills like problem-solving ability, team management, time management etc., are important for hotel managers, and further details for the same are given below.

Key Skills	Specifications
Team Management	Managing the various teams in the hotel to ensure smooth cross-functional coordination and management of daily hotel operations.
Effective Communication	Being proficient in written and especially oral communication, listening attentively to customers and articulating own thoughts clearly yet politely.
Customer Centricity	Having a customer-focused mindset with the aim of enhancing their experience, meeting their needs and attending to their complaints to ensure genuine resolution.
Problem-solving Skills	Having skills of problem-solving so as to manage expected and unforeseen challenges effectively when they arise.
Time Management	Efficiently handling multiple tasks, departments and schedules for events, especially during peak hours and seasons.

Career Analysis: Scope of Hotel Management

Herein, we have broken down the career of hotel management in terms of its industrial scope and perks. Taking a look at the career opportunities under the umbrella of hotel management alongside the scope of compensation and growth trajectory, you can explore the role and evaluate its suitability for you.

Career Opportunities in Hotel Management

Hotel management is a broad career domain that has a number of specialisations and niches that one can explore. These career subdomains are quite diverse and can meet the different interests of people. For instance, those with a financial aptitude can look for financial and revenue management opportunities. Those with culinary interests can look into cooking and beverage management roles and similarly for areas related to operations, customer relations, and so on. Enlisted below are a few of the prime roles within the field of hotel management that one can explore after completing their formal education in this field.

Career Option	Average Salary (Per Annum)
Front Office Manager	INR 3 LPA
Food & Beverage Manager	INR 6.07 LPA
Housekeeping Manager	INR 4.5 LPA
Finance Manager	INR 5 LPA
Sales & Marketing Manager	INR 14.9 LPA
General Manager	INR 17 LPA
Guest Relations Manager	INR 5 LPA
Revenue Manager	INR 10 LPA

There are a number of international and national chains of hotels and hospitality firms that hire hotel managers as well as specialists in a number of roles in their organisations. Some of the top recruiters for hotel management enthusiasts have been illustrated below for reference.

Career Growth Trajectory of Hotel Management

Understanding the expected growth trajectory for a role is important to know its future scope for you in terms of financial gain and career escalation. In the case of hotel management, not only is the industry experiencing a development and increase in demand, it is also one of the already well-established careers in India. As a result, roles like general manager and hotel manager provide lucratively high salaries from the beginning years of the profession itself. Entry level roles in other subdomains/specialisations of hotel management also offer decent packages at the entry level, followed by which it grows further with further years of experience. An overall projected trajectory of growth for the role of a hotel manager is provided below.

Please note, the graph presented below is based on current industry statistics and projections and is liable to variations with time.

Years of Experience in Hotel Management	Approximate Compensation Offered
Freshers (0-1 Years)	INR 9 LPA
Early Career (1-4 Years)	INR 9.76 LPA
Mid-Career (5-9 Years)	INR 10 LPA
Late Career (10-19 Years)	INR 20 LPA

Career Navigator: How to Become a Hotel Manager?

The field of hotel management is open to students and aspirants from all educational backgrounds, and to pursue professional roles in the domain, one must attain at least UG level of formal education in the specialisation of their choice. After completing high school education (from any stream and a recognised board), one can appear in national level entrance exams like the CUET, NCHMCT JEE etc. and seek admission in top hotel management institutes or colleges in India. Typically recognised degrees include those like BHM, B.Sc in Hotel Management, B.Sc in Hospitality & Hotel Management etc.

After completing UG education, you can either start garnering professional experiences through internships or look for opportunities to further upskill through PG degrees, diplomas and certificates. The career pathway for becoming a hotel manager has been outlined below for your reference.

Key information about the renowned courses in hotel management that you can consider taking up at the UG and PG levels are enlisted below with details about the full course fee.

Hotel Management Courses	Approximate Course Fee
Bachelor in Hotel Management (BHM)	INR 5,00,000
B.Sc in Hospitality & Hotel Management	INR 3,50,000
Diploma in Hotel Management	INR 1000 – INR 3,00,000
Bachelor of Hotel Management & Catering Technology	INR 5,00,000
Master in Hotel Management (MHM)	INR 3,50,000
Diploma in Hospitality Management	INR 1,00,000
PG Diploma in Hotel Management	INR 2,00,000

There are both private and public institutes and universities in India which offer UG, PG and executive courses in hotel management in India. Some of the most eminent higher educational institutions of India that offer courses in hotel management have been enlisted below for your reference.

Conclusion

The career domain of hotel management can bring in exposure to a professional which allows them to grow their hands-on skills in running and then managing the operations of a hotel unit successfully. This career is apt for individuals with effective people skills and a knack for hospitality. Combining the opportunity to hone operational skills with the chance to get exposure in luxurious hotel chains, this role can be fit for those looking to earn lucratively along with getting a chance to work in a customer-focused domain.