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Hospitality Degree Doesn’t Prepare You for the Real World

 Shortly after completing my Hospitality Management degree I scored an internship at the corporate office of one of the world’s biggest hotel brands. I was so excited! A job after graduation, an office job, and in a new exciting city. As I began my internship, I began learning about hospitality industry.


My degree studies

It would be unfair to say that I didn’t learn anything about the hospitality industry during my 3-year Bachelor in Hospitality Management degree. My degree taught me how to put together a basic P&L for a restaurant, how revenue management at a hotel works in theory, and work experience taught me how to work with different people. I gained crucial skills and knowledge, that is true. But I didn’t know what I didn’t know.

What I learned when I started working

Within the first few weeks of starting my internship, I felt like I learned more about the way the whole industry works and how different stakeholders work together than I did in my 3-years at university. I thought for a while that it was the fault of my university and the way my curriculum as set up. As I continued meeting people in the field and meeting fresh graduates joining the ranks and realised that it wasn’t just my university - it was everyone.

Needless to say, the learning curve was steep in the beginning! I learned all about the OTAs, the different operating and management structures of hotels, hotels brands, brand standards, guest experience etc. All of these are crucial principles of the hospitality industry that were left out of my Bachelor Hospitality Management degree. These principles define the whole industry and guide the relationship between stakeholders that run the hospitality industry. Stakeholders such as owners, management companies, corporate offices of brands, OTAs, etc.

Why I created the Savvy Hotelier

So that you and many other hard-working and ambitious Hospitality Management graduates do not have to go through the same learning curve and have it hinder career development, I set out to tell you all I know.

Savvy Hotelier educates passionate and ambitious Hospitality Management students about the global hospitality industry in bite sized chunks. These canapés are principles, concepts, processes and tools that are behind the day to day running and strategic development of the industry.

Knowledge is power, the more you know the better decisions you will make. Make your degree so much more valuable. Don’t be another Hospitality Management Graduate without a path in the world. I want to make sure that you have a competitive advantage from now on. Start your career today, not after graduation!

Let me know what field in hospitality you want to focus on when you graduate!

Photo by Brendan Church on Unsplash

Photo by Green Chameleon on Unsplash

Photo by Jaime Lopes on Unsplash

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