The ART of Hospitality

Restaurants, hotels, and other forms of tourism end up being a lot of people’s first jobs. For some it is merely a way to make enough cash to pay for college, stash away in a savings account, or maybe a way to afford that trip to Europe that’s been on a bucket list. Then for a select few we’ve made it a career of serving others and crafting experiences at the expense of our own sanity. But we love it.

Hospitality is often referred to as a way to take care of others. But wrapped inside this one word exudes a multitude of both soft and hard skills that doesn’t get mentioned enough. Active Listening, Initiative, and Creativity immediately come to mind for the soft traits and things like Budgeting/Forecasting, Marketing/Sales, and Systems experience for the more concrete. For all recruiters thinking about hiring a person from this industry that may not have your industry experience, do it. If you hire right, not only will you get to see a combo of those skills listed above but there’s so much more.

Soft Skills

As we dive into the “Art of Hospitality” it’s important to mention one word: adaptability. If you don’t have it, then your time will either be short in this industry or you’ll be bald by the time you hit 25. You need to 86 your most popular entree because the protein you use wasn’t dropped off in the last shipment by the vendor? Think on your feet. You work for an airport property and the flight that got cancelled put your hotel from 30% occupancy and now has you oversold on 10 rooms? Think on your feet. During COVID the neighboring city shut the sports venues down and now there are 10 different tournaments this weekend that want to use your fields? Grab your sunscreen and set up the snack stands because you have hungry parents and kids to feed. All of these are real situations I’ve personally witnessed and aren’t out of the ordinary. One of the biggest trends in hiring at this moment is people are beginning to learn the hard skills can be taught. But what has become hard to find are people who are willing to think outside of the box, work hard, and be the person with the solution not the problem. Quick exercise… go grab your nearest friend who works in hospitality and ask them how recent one of their workdays went beyond 8 hours or about a tough interaction with a client/customer. Chances are they won’t even get outside of the same month or possibly week you’re currently in and give an example.

Hard Skills

The industry gets a terrible rap for being able to develop soft skills effectively while the “hard skills” are something left to be desired. In my opinion, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Day in and day out I use multiple applications like Excel, other Office applications, Canva, various CRM systems, and more to sell hotel rooms and meeting space. If you’re fortunate enough to work your way into management, not only do you become best friends with Excel when calculating your monthly projections but chances are the entity you work for has their own proprietary CRM or PMS systems. For whatever reason, the companies who developed some of these systems made them hard to understand. We often task different team members to not only effectively check-in guests or multitask them to check availability while simultaneously having the most stimulating conversation of that customer’s life for a good Yelp review but, you must also smile through the whole thing. I’m convinced the brain’s elasticity is stretched to the limits working in a hotel or restaurant.?

?Personally in my career I’ve been lucky enough to land myself in the world of hotel sales. It’s allowed me to explore the more analytical and strategic part of my left side brain through spreadsheets and data while still using the right side to produce eye-catching promotions and to create experiences that are so memorable during the proposal process that it convinces clients to spend $100,000+ for their meetings and conferences. I wouldn’t trade it for anything else at the moment. For some hospitality is just a pit stop on a long stretch of road they’re driving on that is their career. For others we find a home that feels comfortable, turn on into the driveway, and turn off the ignition.. Maybe even if just for a bit. But there is one thing that remains constant and that is the porch light of the hospitality house is always on. That’s the art of it.

*** Love what you’re seeing? Send this to a friend who may need some positive encouragement and stay tuned for more articles. Every Wednesday. ***