I tend to agree with the article on the fact that look at the first 3 years as an extension of the course. Being a hotel management grad myself i can see the pain the youngsters face when they pay fees like 1.2 lakhs a year plus donations in some private college to secure their admission and end up getting jobs which barely covers their pocket money. It surely hurts the pride but the bailing out seems to have worked for most of my batchmates who today are very succesful professionals outside the industry but the learnings of the industry have thought them things which no MBA school could have thought them....being street smart. When you face customers who think they own the world and handle them in a very efficient manner it changes prespective. So hang on there and dont give up on the Indian Hospitality Industry...
I loved your article Rashmi. I myself am an Area Manager in a leading MNC, and I have to lead people far senior than me, all MBAs, albeit from lesser gifted institutes than mine, and at most times having a far larger market knowledge than me. Agreed, they are not expansive in thinking, but that could well be a product of them being conditioned to think that way.It takes a good amount of self confidence to prove to yourself that you are better than the rest and at the end of it, deserve that higher salary than the guy who has been roughing it out since the last 5 years.
Hospitality indistry is going through the major revamp right now because of the never ending Business available in the market to be tapped. Without doubt Hospitality industry is the most underpaid industry in world. 12 to 14 hrs shift are a norm rather then a exception.In india Hospitality industry is very much running on the understaffed manpower and the present Guest is Staff ratio is criminally short. each employess is expected to work for the 3 People's work 24/7.. The only respite is for the employess who are not in the Opearational departments like Sales & Marketing and Human resources who always present a very rosy picture infront of the world as they are not forced to work more then 9 Hrs.. Media is easily manipulated to show how wonderful this industry is. With a Normal Graduation in ypur kitty in todays world you can have a Job which can promise you at least Inr 8000-10000 as starting salary. But in Hospitality industry its minimalistic Inr2500-4000. As a hospitality professional with over 05 yrs experince in this Industry i would be the last one to recommend this to any potential employee.
I would like to thank rediff about bringing the true picture in front of everyone,what everyone thinks,is working in a 5 star hotel as glamorous and posh,get to meet celebrities,true!but behind that smiling face is lot of struggle ,even after doing hotel management from any respected organisation you have to start from the bottom,i.e as a waiter for f&b and as a trainee cook in kitchen,and after working for14-15 hrs 27 days a month all you get is a salary of 5000 or less.and only after years of struggle and hard work you reach some where and that too if you survive the crap that comes your way! The industry is getting flooded with hotel management graduates becauce no one tries to find the facts about the industry. So all you aspiring hoteliers join the industry only if you have the *alls
I think situation is far worse in the Taj. I slogged in the F & B service dept for 5 years without growth in either designation or salary.The salary raise we used to get annually were a "royal" 150 rs or 220 rs.Many of my colleagues quit Taj blue diamond pune, and joined either BPO"s or ventured out on their own or found better jobs. The irony is that while the low level to supervisory level staff got paid peanuts, the upper management such as departmental heads earned 10 times as much as the blue collar employee.
This is one of the best and truly eye opening article i have read. I am also a Hotel Management Graduate from IHM Gwalior,2000 pass out. I wanted to stick to hotel in spite of the low paid salaries,unlike my friends who joined BPO,S as their first job and within 1 Year of my career at The Oberois new delhi i came to know that this is not happeninng.Cruise Liners (Indus) at gurgaon said they want 12,000/= as the fee to be paid in advance for the jobs that they might get for me. So i had to join BPOs and i really loved it coz it is giving me the king of money that can enable me to support a family. Whats the use to stick to hotels and work for 18-20 Hrs a day and get 5,000 - 7,000 salary.As soon as i joined GE my debts were gone within 1 Year and when i joined Amex i was able to set up my house hold articles,tv ,ac,music system,computer,better house on rent and finally my own car. So looking at the graph i would say hotels dont give you the kind of money that you might be entitled for. Quit hotel and join any other industry and make your dreams come true
take the education industry for instance. as a part time faculty teaching in the hotel mgt institute of fame i was not given an appointment/offer letter. they kept saying it will be given soon. the toilets were far from clean and everything was dark, dirty and smelly. but the counselling office and administrative office was air conditioned and nicely done up. the white board in the classrooms were 12"X 12" and you hardly write a sentence there. besides markers had to be obtained after much pressuring the mgt and many time the students brought it for us. As i was a part time faculty i quitted after 4 days but said iwould not be paid as i had worked for a short period . can't the expoitation stop ? who do we approach under such circumstances?
The salary paid to nurses are varied from Rs 3000/month to Rs6000/month, where as doctors get Rs 300/touch, I mean doctor come to visit patient, will ask two questions, How are you? And did you eat something? and he will charged Rs 300 (in a good hospital in Bangalore) but when it come to nurse they will serve the patient 24hrs at the end of month they will get Rs 3000. How fair is this ?
