Hotels and restaurants pose some very specific management issues. They are a part of a very fast moving industry; they work very irregular hours; they operate on relatively small margins; their products and services are very short term. For these (and other) reasons, hospitality management is a set of skills separate from other industry management.

Although many people specialise within the boundaries of hospitality management, most managers work in all the different areas at some time in their careers. The normal areas of management are covered, including finance, information systems and human resources, but the operational side of hospitality management has it's own specialties; housekeeping, reception, food and beverage management, executive chef and building management. Most people who reach the top of the management echelons will have worked in all these areas at some point in their careers.

If you want to pursue a career in hospitality management, you really need to gain a qualification in the area. Most management trainee schemes expect you to have a degree in the subject area, and they will then give you a training period when you work in each department in turn in order to gain experience of the whole industry. You then work through the management levels, ending your career either as a hotel or establishment manager, or in the case of the larger hotel chains, in the company management.

This can be a good career, giving you chances to travel, to work in a whole variety of different places, and to progress your career through hard work. Making it to the top can take time, but you can have great fun on the way.