What Can I Do with Bachelor’s in Hospitality Management?

Before enter­ing col­lege, prospec­tive stu­dents may come across majors that may have not been pre­vi­ous­ly on their radar. For instance, stu­dents could be inter­est­ed in hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment as a career. Hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment teach­es the pro­fes­sion­al to over­see admin­is­tra­tive tasks with­in the tourism indus­try. Hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment degree hold­ers could choose to pur­sue a high-lev­el posi­tion at resorts, cruise lines, casi­nos, and hotels. 

Before enter­ing a col­lege pro­gram for hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment, you may won­der what to do with a hos­pi­tal­i­ty degree. Is a hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment degree worth it? Hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment degrees pre­pare stu­dents for all admin­is­tra­tive tasks need­ed to run a hotel. Hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment pro­fes­sion­als need to know the ins and outs of all areas with­in a resort. Dif­fer­ent ser­vices are nec­es­sary to keep a resort up and run­ning. Top rank­ing mangers at a hotel or resort are like­ly to be involved in con­firm­ing all depart­ments are in line with meet­ing cus­tomer demands. Degree in hos­pi­tal­i­ty jobs of the man­ag­er may include front desk, house­keep­ing, reser­va­tions, concierge, con­fer­ence space man­age­ment, event man­age­ment, guest ser­vices, and onsite activities.

Is Hospitality Management a Good Career?

When pon­der­ing hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment as a career, appli­cants should review the skills need­ed for the posi­tion. Soft skills need­ed include good com­mu­ni­ca­tor, excel­lent task man­ag­er, lead­er­ship qual­i­ties, peo­ple per­son, pays close atten­tion to detail, and supe­ri­or time man­age­ment. Tech­ni­cal skills are also an asset for those inter­est­ed in hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment as a career. For instance, when run­ning a hotel or resort, the man­ag­er may be involved with bud­get­ing and financ­ing. More­over, he or she may also be respon­si­ble for han­dling the hotel’s soft­ware pro­grams that book reservations.

Although asso­ciate-lev­el degrees for hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment are avail­able, col­leges do pro­vide bachelor’s degrees in the field. Bach­e­lor degrees are pref­er­en­tial since employ­ers con­firm the appli­cants have stud­ied the best prac­tices for run­ning hotels in-depth. Cur­rent hotel employ­ees may also be enrolled in bach­e­lor pro­grams for hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment as a way to qual­i­fy for pro­mo­tions. Due to the nature of the cours­es, many col­leges per­mit select or all hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment cours­es be com­plet­ed online.

Besides pur­su­ing a hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment career, pro­fes­sion­als often want to know what type of job titles are avail­able. After degree con­fer­ment, the fol­low­ing are job oppor­tu­ni­ties to con­sid­er after fin­ish­ing a hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment program:

• Hotel man­ag­er
• Resort man­ag­er
• Event coor­di­na­tor
• Tourism mar­ket­ing manager
• Cruise ship director

Salary is a strong con­sid­er­a­tion when ask­ing “Is a degree in hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment worth it?” It’s not unusu­al to want a pro­gram that promis­es a high return on invest­ment. Accord­ing to the Bureau of Labor Sta­tis­tics , lodg­ing man­agers make an aver­age of $53,390 per year. 

Course offer­ings vary from school to school. Hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment pro­grams are flex­i­ble with top­ics chang­ing based on indus­try trends. Some sub­jects the degree track may cov­er are hotel man­age­ment styles, guest sat­is­fac­tion, resort bud­get­ing, hos­pi­tal­i­ty mar­ket­ing, and rev­enue tracking.

Hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment is a spe­cial­ized field and not all col­leges offer bach­e­lor degrees with­in their uni­ver­si­ties. How­ev­er, since hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment as a career ful­fills a niche, job com­pe­ti­tion is less fierce.

Accreditation for Hospitality Management Programs 

The best hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment schools obtain prop­er accred­i­ta­tion. For a col­lege to become accred­it­ed, both the school and hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment degree pro­gram must meet the accred­i­ta­tion board’s strin­gent require­ments. The board reviews the fol­low­ing before award­ing accred­i­ta­tion: pro­gram cur­ricu­lum, fac­ul­ty cre­den­tials, and over­all post-grad­u­a­tion out­comes. The best col­leges for hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment have been accred­it­ed as a way to con­firm indus­try stan­dards are main­tained. If the stu­dent requires finan­cial aid for a bach­e­lor pro­gram in hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment, region­al accred­i­ta­tion is a must. Keep in mind there are nation­al accred­i­ta­tion agen­cies for col­leges with hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment degree pro­grams. Nation­al accred­i­ta­tion may be accept­able for cer­tifi­cate pro­grams that the stu­dent takes in con­junc­tion with a bachelor’s degree in hos­pi­tal­i­ty management. 

Anoth­er thing to keep in mind is region­al accred­i­ta­tion  con­firms cred­its earned through the hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment pro­gram will more like­ly be accept­ed as trans­fer cred­its. This is an impor­tant con­sid­er­a­tion if the stu­dent plans to start earn­ing cred­its at a com­mu­ni­ty col­lege before head­ing to a four-year uni­ver­si­ty. The best hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment pro­grams are flex­i­ble with trans­fer cred­its. The schools may also choose to apply any hotel work expe­ri­ence the stu­dent has to his or her degree cred­its. With­in the Unit­ed States, all states are assigned a spe­cif­ic region­al accred­it­ing agency. For instance, the Mid­dle States Com­mis­sion on High­er Edu­ca­tion accred­its the best hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment schools locat­ed in north­east states such as New York, New Jer­sey, and Delaware.

The best hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment pro­grams are also accred­it­ed through indus­try-spe­cif­ic agen­cies. These gov­ern­ing bod­ies are sole­ly respon­si­ble for review­ing hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment degrees to con­firm legit­i­ma­cy. The fol­low­ing are the top orga­ni­za­tions that gov­ern the best hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment schools.

ACPHA: The ACPHA stands for the Accred­i­ta­tion Com­mis­sion for Pro­grams in Hos­pi­tal­i­ty Admin­is­tra­tion. To earn the organization’s seal of approval, the best col­leges for hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment must exceed edu­ca­tion­al stan­dards. The pro­grams with­in the field of hos­pi­tal­i­ty admin­is­tra­tion must have clear objec­tives and a for­mat that allows for these objec­tives to be achieved. The com­mis­sion is made up of hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment edu­ca­tors and indus­try pro­fes­sion­als. The orga­ni­za­tion accred­its both inter­na­tion­al and nation­al institutes.

CAHM: CAHM stands for the Com­mis­sion for Accred­i­ta­tion of Hos­pi­tal­i­ty Man­age­ment. Orig­i­nal­ly, the CAHM only eval­u­at­ed hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment degrees at the asso­ciate lev­el or above. How­ev­er, in 2008 the CAHM merged with the ACPHA to form one orga­ni­za­tion. Some associate’s pro­grams may still have CAHM accred­i­ta­tion, however. 

Types of Hospitality Management Degrees

Is hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment a good major? Hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment degrees are avail­able at four-year uni­ver­si­ties. Although two-year degrees in hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment are pro­vid­ed at com­mu­ni­ty col­leges, a bachelor’s degree expands the student’s knowl­edge base. Tra­di­tion­al pro­grams are avail­able for hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment degree seek­ers. How­ev­er, an online degree in hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment has become a pop­u­lar choice. Online hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment degrees pro­vide the oppor­tu­ni­ty to gain work expe­ri­ence while attend­ing cours­es. Years of expe­ri­ence are impor­tant in the field. Many resorts, casi­nos, hotels, and cruise lines hire appli­cants with a blend of tourism expe­ri­ence and degrees in hos­pi­tal­i­ty management. 

Many col­leges, both tra­di­tion­al and online, will have some type of hos­pi­tal­i­ty degree avail­able. Although hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment is the top choice in the indus­try, the degree may also be called hos­pi­tal­i­ty admin­is­tra­tion, tourism man­age­ment, or hotel man­age­ment. Cours­es with­in these pro­grams are usu­al­ly sim­i­lar. Degrees in hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment at the bach­e­lor-lev­el will require 120 cred­its for grad­u­a­tion. At a tra­di­tion­al uni­ver­si­ty, the cours­es may take four years of full-time study. How­ev­er, online hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment degrees often have an accel­er­at­ed track avail­able. An online hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment cer­tifi­cate and degree may only take one to two years of study to complete.

Cours­es with­in hos­pi­tal­i­ty admin­is­tra­tion focus on the oper­a­tions of hotels, resorts, and cruise ships. Exam­ple cours­es with­in a hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment major are Foun­da­tions of Hotel Man­age­ment, Cus­tomer Ser­vice Prin­ci­ples, Tourism Deliv­ery Sys­tems, Rev­enue Man­age­ment, Tourism Mar­ket­ing Tech­niques, and Reser­va­tions Sys­tems. For any type of bach­e­lor degree pro­gram, the uni­ver­si­ty will require gen­er­al edu­ca­tion cours­es too. A total of 120 cred­its is the min­i­mum need­ed to grad­u­ate with a bach­e­lor degree from an accred­it­ed col­lege. Admis­sions require­ments depend on the school. In the major­i­ty of cas­es, a col­lege will look for can­di­dates with a 2.75 GPA and a high school diplo­ma. The col­lege may also ask for SAT scores to be con­sid­ered for the bach­e­lor degree pro­gram. Pro­fes­sion­als already in the hos­pi­tal­i­ty indus­try may want to include work expe­ri­ence in their appli­ca­tions for the degree track.

Spe­cial­iza­tions are avail­able with­in the field of hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment. Any type of spe­cial­iza­tion increas­es the val­ue of the degree. Typ­i­cal­ly, spe­cial­iza­tions are not dual degree pro­grams, but instead pro­vide cer­tifi­cates in hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment. The fol­low­ing are typ­i­cal cer­tifi­cates in tourism and hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment earned through a select­ed specialization:

• Gam­ing man­age­ment-This type of spe­cial­iza­tion is for those in hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment that want to work for a casi­no. The hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment online cer­tifi­cate for gam­ing oper­a­tions would review gam­bling reg­u­la­tions and cash flow poli­cies with­in a casino.
• Event coor­di­na­tor-Event coor­di­na­tors are respon­si­ble for man­ag­ing any type of meet­ings and con­fer­ences held at a resort. The event coor­di­na­tor will work with ven­dors to plan a suc­cess­ful event.
• Restau­rant admin­is­tra­tion-For this spe­cial­iza­tion, the hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment cer­tifi­cate asserts that the pro­fes­sion­al is trained wo work as a restau­rant or bar man­ag­er. Food safe­ty and alco­hol reg­u­la­tions would be two key top­ics cov­ered in this type of cer­tifi­cate in tourism and hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment program.
• Hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment con­sul­tant-For this pro­gram, the degree seek­er is inter­est­ed in con­sul­tant work. The con­sul­tant assists tourist com­pa­nies with launch­ing or improv­ing operations. 

Online hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment degrees are stan­dard in the indus­try. Flex­i­ble sched­ul­ing options per­mit the pro­fes­sion­al to take cours­es in his or her free time. Since hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment is a pro­fes­sion with­in the tourism indus­try, remote learn­ing is espe­cial­ly impor­tant. Degree seek­ers can con­tin­ue to work for a hotel or resort while tak­ing online cours­es to lever­age their posi­tions. Many online hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment degrees allow the indi­vid­ual to set the pace. If work com­mit­ments are min­i­mal, the stu­dent may be able to earn the bachelor’s degree in three years or less.

Part-time sched­ules for hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment degree pro­grams may require he or she attends at least two cours­es per semes­ter. Semes­ters for online degrees are often accel­er­at­ed and may only last eight weeks. The pace is quick with course loads chal­leng­ing. Online degrees are no longer less val­ued than tra­di­tion­al degrees. Most employ­ers don’t dis­tin­guish between an online and tra­di­tion­al hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment, but instead focus on cours­es tak­en with­in the accred­it­ed program.

Online degrees in hos­pi­tal­i­ty admin­is­tra­tion have the same cur­ricu­lum as tra­di­tion­al bach­e­lor pro­grams that take place on cam­pus. Core cours­es may include class­es that study busi­ness prin­ci­ples. Finance, mar­ket­ing, and eco­nom­ics are all impor­tant top­ics with­in the field of hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment. In fact, instead of offer­ing hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment as a major, select col­leges have hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment as a spe­cial­iza­tion for those pur­su­ing a Bach­e­lor of Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion. Hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment bach­e­lor degree hold­ers may choose to even­tu­al­ly earn an MBA.

Certifications/Licenses for Hospitality Management

Earn­ing a cer­ti­fi­ca­tion in hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment is extreme­ly impor­tant in the field. Hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment cer­tifi­cate pro­grams give the pro­fes­sion­al a chance to receive spe­cial­ized train­ing on key top­ics. In fact, once hired, employ­ers often expect employ­ees to con­tin­ue tak­ing hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­grams. The cer­ti­fi­ca­tion in hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment cours­es focus less on broad top­ics and instead hone in on a spe­cif­ic facet. For instance, hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment cer­ti­fi­ca­tion online could be offered on a new soft­ware pro­gram being used by tourism pro­fes­sion­als. The fol­low­ing are the top hos­pi­tal­i­ty Man­age­ment cer­ti­fi­ca­tion programs:

Cer­ti­fied Hotel Admin­is­tra­tor: The CHA pro­gram cov­ers how to be a leader with­in a hotel set­ting. The cer­ti­fi­ca­tion is specif­i­cal­ly for pro­fes­sion­als already at the exec­u­tive lev­el with­in the hos­pi­tal­i­ty indus­try. Only man­agers and assis­tant man­agers with two years of hotel expe­ri­ence can apply to take the CHA exam­i­na­tion and become cer­ti­fied by the agency.

Cer­ti­fied Hos­pi­tal­i­ty Edu­ca­tor: With the CHE , the indi­vid­ual is cer­ti­fied to teach hos­pi­tal­i­ty cours­es and pro­grams. The cer­ti­fied edu­ca­tor will learn how to use inno­v­a­tive tech­niques when stu­dents strug­gle to grasp key con­cepts. Bach­e­lor degree hold­ers who cur­rent­ly teach post-sec­ondary hos­pi­tal­i­ty cours­es are eli­gi­ble for the CHE program.

Cer­ti­fied Hos­pi­tal­i­ty Train­er: The CHT is con­sid­ered the top cer­ti­fi­ca­tion open to those in the field of train­ing hos­pi­tal­i­ty exec­u­tives. To qual­i­fy for the cer­ti­fi­ca­tion course and exam­i­na­tion, a min­i­mum of one-year cor­po­rate train­ing expe­ri­ence is needed.

Des­ti­na­tion Man­age­ment Cer­ti­fied Pro­fes­sion­al: This pro­gram is intend­ed to cer­ti­fy man­agers who have demon­strat­ed best prac­tices with­in their careers. Des­ti­na­tion man­age­ment com­pe­ten­cies are con­firmed through a mul­ti­ple-choice exam­i­na­tion. A min­i­mum of three years of des­ti­na­tion man­age­ment expe­ri­ence is need­ed to qual­i­fy for certification.

Dig­i­tal Event Strate­gist: The DES is the per­fect cer­ti­fi­ca­tion for hos­pi­tal­i­ty exec­u­tives inter­est­ed in dig­i­tal strate­gies for event spaces. The course focus­es on plan­ning events that boost engage­ment through dig­i­tal tech­nolo­gies. No pri­or expe­ri­ence is need­ed to enroll in the DES course. Cer­ti­fi­ca­tion is good for two years through the program. 

Licen­sure is not required to work in most posi­tions with­in hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment. How­ev­er, cer­tain career tracks may require licen­sure. For instance, some states require that bar man­agers obtain a spe­cial license. For instance, Wash­ing­ton DC has ABC license require­ments for all bar man­agers. The ABC man­ag­er license is good for three years and cer­ti­fies that the hold­er is legal­ly able to serve alco­holic bev­er­ages. Before a license is giv­en, the bar man­ag­er must com­plete a series of cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­grams. The cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­grams cov­er food and bev­er­age han­dling reg­u­la­tions and alco­hol aware­ness topics. 

Careers in the Hospitality Industry: What Can You Do with a Degree in Hospitality?

So what can you do with a hos­pi­tal­i­ty degree? Careers with a hos­pi­tal­i­ty degree pro­vide the oppor­tu­ni­ty for the pro­fes­sion­al to help a hotel or resort run day-to-day oper­a­tions. Hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment jobs are nor­mal­ly found at hotels, but oth­er tourism sec­tors hire hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment degree hold­ers. With a degree in hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment jobs you can get are usu­al­ly not entry-lev­el posi­tions. Hos­pi­tal­i­ty major jobs are intend­ed for those look­ing to secure career paths at the exec­u­tive level.

So what does hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment do? Hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment degree jobs are open to those who also have some work expe­ri­ence. The hos­pi­tal­i­ty indus­try is broad and pro­fes­sion­als can lever­age their appli­ca­tions by show­cas­ing work expe­ri­ence at hotels, restau­rants, bars, and resorts. Work­ing in cus­tomer ser­vice and strong prob­lem-solv­ing and com­mu­ni­ca­tion skills are also ben­e­fi­cial when seek­ing out careers with a hos­pi­tal­i­ty degree. 

The top jobs you can get with a hos­pi­tal­i­ty degree include:

• Hotel man­ag­er
• Restau­rant manager
• Event coor­di­na­tor
• Tourism mar­ket­ing manager
• Cruise ship director
• Trav­el Agent
• Gen­er­al manager
• Oper­a­tions management
• Pub­lic relations
• Bev­er­age management
• Cater­ing manager
• Exec­u­tive chef

Hos­pi­tal­i­ty careers often require human resource man­age­ment and busi­ness man­age­ment skills. Hotel man­agers over­see the oper­a­tions of a sin­gle hotel or chain of hotels. The hotel man­ag­er may be involved with sched­ul­ing, billing, reser­va­tions, pay­roll, event plan­ning, spe­cial events, and more. The man­ag­er also han­dles any type of issues onsite too like guest complaints.

Restau­rant man­agers are in charge of oper­a­tions with­in a bar or restau­rant. Man­agers will be in charge of human resources tasks such as sched­ul­ing and pay­roll. The man­ag­er may also be asked to han­dle all hir­ing and fir­ing duties. Man­agers are often charged with review­ing inven­to­ry needs too to con­firm the loca­tion is well-stocked.

Event coor­di­na­tors can work on a free­lance basis or be hired by a resort or wed­ding venue. Event coor­di­na­tors are pro­vid­ed with a bud­get and must plan an appro­pri­ate event that falls with­in mon­e­tary con­straints. Event coor­di­na­tors han­dle con­tracts with ven­dors and logis­tics of any gath­er­ings held on the prop­er­ty. The coor­di­na­tor is expect­ed to man­age staffing needs too. For instance, the coor­di­na­tor will ensure the appro­pri­ate amount of wait staff is on hand dur­ing the event.

Tourism mar­ket­ing man­agers are respon­si­ble for adver­tis­ing any type of hos­pi­tal­i­ty busi­ness, from the hotel indus­try to real estate. The mar­ket­ing man­ag­er will be in charge of cre­at­ing and imple­ment­ing cam­paigns to increase brand aware­ness. Mar­ket­ing efforts can be both tra­di­tion­al and online. Tourism mar­ket­ing man­agers must also have the capac­i­ty to adver­tise a com­pa­ny with­in bud­get terms.

A cruise ship direc­tor is con­sid­ered the top exec­u­tive posi­tion with­in a cruise ship. The cruise direc­tor is in charge of all hos­pi­tal­i­ty tasks onboard. The cruise direc­tor needs to plan and exe­cute dif­fer­ent events as a way to increase guest sat­is­fac­tion. Pro­gram­ming is devel­oped by the cruise ship direc­tor with the goal of wide­spread appeal. 

If you want to know “what can I do with a degree in hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment,” the pre­ced­ing is just a sam­pling of hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment degree jobs. Exec­u­tive-lev­el posi­tions are avail­able with­in dif­fer­ent depart­ments of a resort or cruise line. For instance, those inter­est­ed in the busi­ness side of the hos­pi­tal­i­ty indus­try may head up a hotel’s finance depart­ment. Before going into a man­age­r­i­al posi­tion, the pro­fes­sion­al may also choose to work as a concierge for a hotel or cruise ship. Activ­i­ty direc­tors are anoth­er type of job that pre­pares the pro­fes­sion­al for a man­age­ment position.

Salary for Hospitality Professionals

Salaries in hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment are depen­dent on the posi­tion secured upon grad­u­a­tion. Salary in hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment can vary dra­mat­i­cal­ly based on fac­tors like geog­ra­phy. As an exam­ple, a man­ag­er at a New York City hotel will have a much high­er salary than those posi­tioned at a small rur­al oper­a­tion. Along with a com­pet­i­tive hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment salary, indus­try pro­fes­sion­als have sub­stan­tial perks. For instance, cruise ship direc­tors are pro­vid­ed with the oppor­tu­ni­ty to trav­el around the world to exot­ic loca­tions. Hotel and air­fare dis­counts are also stan­dard perks giv­en to man­agers with­in the field. Hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment jobs salary pack­ages will also typ­i­cal­ly include ben­e­fits such as health insur­ance, retire­ment plans, and life insur­ance poli­cies. Job seek­ers should review any ben­e­fits and perks along with the base hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment salary before accept­ing positions. 

Lodg­ing man­agers typ­i­cal­ly make an aver­age of $53,390 per year. Hotel man­agers are need­ed year-round and can have sched­ules around the clock since hotels are open 24/7. Hotel man­agers can find numer­ous posi­tions in high­ly pop­u­lat­ed areas or places that are con­sid­ered tourist des­ti­na­tions. In the Unit­ed States, most jobs for hotel man­agers are found in Cal­i­for­nia, Flori­da, and Texas. Top-pay­ing states for hotel man­agers are the Dis­trict of Colum­bia with an annu­al aver­age of $116,600 and Hawaii with an aver­age mean wage of $100,600. Top pay­ing hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment salaries are found in the fol­low­ing cities: Hon­olu­lu, San Fran­cis­co, Reno, and New York.

Casi­no hosts make slight­ly more than lodg­ing man­agers. Casi­no hosts use strate­gies to attract and keep high-pro­file gam­blers. On aver­age, a casi­no host will make more than $55,000 per year. Best pay­ing cities for casi­no hosts include Reno, Las Vegas, and Atlantic City.

Event coor­di­na­tors have the capac­i­ty to make a com­pet­i­tive salary in the hos­pi­tal­i­ty indus­try. Coor­di­na­tors man­age large-scale events and are paid to make sure every­thing runs smooth­ly dur­ing the gath­er­ings. Event plan­ners make more than $50,000 per year, accord­ing to data col­lect­ed by the Bureau of Labor Sta­tis­tics .

Pro­fes­sion­al expe­ri­ence will have a strong impact on hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment salary fig­ures. Large hotel cor­po­ra­tions will seek out expe­ri­enced man­agers to remain com­pet­i­tive with­in the indus­try. Salary pack­ages for larg­er oper­a­tions will typ­i­cal­ly be sub­stan­tial­ly more than a bou­tique hotel.

Professional Organizations in Hospitality and Tourism Management

Pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tions are very impor­tant to work­ers in the hos­pi­tal­i­ty field. Hos­pi­tal­i­ty trends change at a dra­mat­ic pace. Top trav­el locales one year may go out of favor the next. Also, tech­no­log­i­cal advance­ments affect cur­rent accom­mo­da­tions. Join­ing a pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tion allows the hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­ag­er stay in tune with their guests’ wants and needs. Anoth­er ben­e­fit of join­ing a pro­fes­sion­al soci­ety is that the man­ag­er gains access to net­work­ing events. By meet­ing oth­ers in the field, new career oppor­tu­ni­ties may open up. Also, pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tions usu­al­ly spon­sor cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­grams. These cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­grams ver­i­fy expe­ri­ence in the field. Hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment degree hold­ers should con­sid­er the fol­low­ing orga­ni­za­tions upon degree conferment. 

Amer­i­can Hotel and Lodg­ing Association

Cor­po­rate Event Mar­ket­ing Association

Hos­pi­tal­i­ty Sales and Mar­ket­ing Asso­ci­a­tion International

U.S. Trav­el Association

Relat­ed Rankings: 

15 Best Online Bach­e­lor’s in Hos­pi­tal­i­ty Management

10 Fastest Online Bach­e­lor’s in Hos­pi­tal­i­ty Management

10 Most Afford­able Bach­e­lor’s in Hos­pi­tal­i­ty Management