Many people get very confused when the time to choose a career comes. The question “What am I going to do for the rest of my life?” can be a puzzle hard to solve. For some it might come naturally, but for others it is a real challenge. After working in different areas (law practice, oil & gas, headhunting companies) I fell in love with hospitality. Today I would like to share my “why”. It is undeniable that Anguilla has a natural talent for hospitality not only for the beautiful beaches, but also for the bright and nice people that we find here. If you find yourself in doubt if you should pursue a career in the hotel industry, read this article and reflect about it. There are different reasons that make the hospitality sector so attractive and interesting. I am going to focus on some of them:
• It’s an adaptable, multicultural experience: Many hospitality companies have properties on every continent, so their employees can transfer internally to work abroad. Travel isn’t just a possibility – it is encouraged and facilitated. Hospitality is a true multi-cultural environment. Guests and staff come from all corners of the world and they bring along with them their own language, cultural background and ideas on how to efficiently work within the industry. I myself have had the opportunity to work in different countries: Brazil, Argentina, Trinidad and Tobago – and now I live this amazing experience in Anguilla. All these places and people had taught a lot – enriching my professional skills and my knowledge on other countries. I have learnt to communicate and work with different people from different backgrounds – as one big team. Along with the worldwide experiences that hospitality offers employees comes a wealth of possibility and endless new contacts with which to network.
• You have the chance to grow: The hospitality industry gives you the opportunity to build a long-lasting career and evolve professionally and as a person. It is an environment that promotes constant learning and development for employees. If you speak to a hotel manager, chances are you’ll hear he started in hospitality in an entry position and embraced opportunities to progress. A diverse set of skills is required for working in a hotel – ranging from soft-skills such as organisation, communicating or working in a team; to more technical competencies such as serving, revenue management, accounting and facilities management. In hospitality, you find teams willing to share their knowledge and experience and help to form new leaders. One of my first jobs was as a hostess of a hotel restaurant in my hometown. From there, to Learning and Development Manager, I had the opportunity to work with people who inspired and helped me to get the skills, exposure and experience necessary to grow in my career.
• Innovation and Creativity: Hospitality businesses focus on providing the very best in customer experience, with new ideas and concepts looking to inspire the new generation of travellers. Guests don’t come to a hotel looking just for a warm room, a tasteful meal, exquisite drinks or big events. What they want is an amazing experience. They want to create unforgettable moments. To offer that, the industry is continuously evolving to its highest extents promising to innovate more and more with each stay. Keeping up with current market trends is a crucial success factor. A good hospitality worker uses a lot of creativity to make sure a guest’s wants and needs are exceeded. The industry is constantly improving and creating new ways to positively impress guests. Can you imagine travelling for vacation in a hotel’s private jet, learn all about your destination during the flight, and have a concierge organise your activities and a chef to plan your culinary experience? That is a reality in the market. Besides that, talk to anyone in the industry and he or she tell you that days are never the same in hospitality. Getting away from the monotony of a rigid routine will help you become a flexible, open-minded thinker.
• Every job matters: As previously said, good hospitality companies focus on offering an amazing experience for their guests. In that scenario, everyone’s job contributes to reaching this goal. Whether you’re a concierge, a housekeeping attendant, a culinary chef working behind the scenes, or if you’re involved in management, your work impacts guest experience. All jobs are important. Every worker must understand that our business is about people. It’s not about widgets or spreadsheets; it’s about making people happy.
• Hospitality survives: Even though the sector has experienced several crises in the past 100 years, hospitality survives. As with any other industry, world events and new trends can impact our results, but I firmly believe that the demand for hospitality jobs will never run out as long as there are people and food in the world. Severe economic crisis, disruptive ideas such as Airbnb, and even a global pandemic, can hit hard the hospitality sector. But history has proven that in crisis mode we move swiftly to mitigate the impact on the business – and we always recover stronger than ever. It’s not going to be any different now.
