YOUR CAREER IN HOTEL MANAGEMENT

how do you do I'm Dwight Robinson this is one of the first signs of hospitality today the times of hospitality have changed to neon and in the place of crude Inns we find luxurious hotels but the code of the innkeeper is still the maxim of the manager of a modern hotel feed the hungry give drink to the thirsty and shelter the shelterless that's the ultimate responsibility of one man the hotel manager and in a moment we are going to explore his challenging career first let's see where the hotel manager fits in on our chart in laying out the chart we included all professional business managers in this group and that's where we'll find the hotel manager here's the path through life the career that leads from high school to the position of hotel manager now let's write it in hotel managers career to explore this career let's look first at high school students who may want to follow this particular path in any high school group certain boys standout take this boy like a bonus is a hard thing to define but in his case it's more than his easy smile why does he get along well with the other students well they probably haven't thought much about it they just like him and that's enough for them he might be their natural choice to lead the student body because they know he has the confidence and the ability to do the job not an easy task for a boy but he handled himself well with a sort of self-possession that commands the respect of students and faculty alike in class he's what would probably be called a serious student and the teachers are impressed by his quick intelligence and enquiring mind problems interest him and every discovery is a spark that fires his imagination an unusual boy yes but he wears his talents with a sense of modesty and he's never so occupied with his own affairs that he can't take time to help others who may not be so quick as he to solve a problem High School Camera Club an activity attractive to students who find the technical aspects of photography a fascinating hobby this boy thinks his pictures are not quite as crisp as they should be and he's looking to see perhaps there's a smudge on the back of the lens the girl thinks the photography is an art she tries to make every picture she takes mean something to other people and here's a boy who looks at every print with a laboratory technicians i contrast tone range choice of printing paper is this the best print that can be made so each one has a special bent and in that way is more or less alone in the group and now another member of the club joins the group but he has something that interests all the others it's a very unusual and arresting example of photography known as solarization how was it shot how was it printed who made it what kind of photography is this with the mutual interest pulling the members together the meeting has become fun for everyone so we noticed that this boy's interests aroused the interest of other people he can talk the language of their different specialties his touch turns a routine meeting into something of an event this is a quality that makes him a natural leader he'll find it exceptionally valuable if someday in the future he becomes a hotel manager high school is a busy time but we do think past the next lab assignment and the junior prom we're pretty sure we'd like to go to college but we don't quite know how we're going to swing it still we're resourceful and we have an idea the student counselor we've come to him to ask about scholarships are they available yes there are scholarships to be awarded in engineering chemistry law what's this scholarships and hotel management we never thought of that one tell us about it as the councillor helps the boy trace his career from here to hear important facts serve as guideposts along the way we'll find that it's possible to work our way up through the ranks say from bellman to hotel manager but the going is often slow very slow today the trend is to hire college graduates for junior executive positions which may lead to hotel manager in fact four years of college is equivalent to 12 years on the job so we must face the fact college is the best step to hotel management the counselor outlines of course of high school study that we should follow if we decide on hotel management or any other kind of business management as a career the list includes required subjects for college entrance mathematics to give us the basic tool for figuring costs and planning expenditures English grammar punctuation spelling the construction of a business letter a foreign language required for college valuable of the hotel manager for the hotel business originated in Europe and he should be able to keep up with developments in the great hotels of France Italy and Austria a basic course in art to help us develop standards of good taste it dawns on us that people react to combinations of line and curve in ways that anyone who seeks to gratify the public's taste should know about here is line color arrangement and space we've tried to combine them all in a harmonious picture in good taste the teacher is quick to see the obvious mistakes in the beginners work but as a whole it's good quite good this boy may never become an artist but his work shows that he has a natural flair for harmonious design the model also shows a key talent that would help him succeed in a career such as Hotel Management for every Hotel reflects the managers good taste and his judgment as to what will appeal to the hotel's guests after we've completed the prescribed high school courses sat for the photographer in our cap and gown were eligible for college and perhaps that scholarship we've been working for but first there's a vacation in store for us some of us like to put our vacation time to good use and to some that means a summer job in a Resort Hotel hotel manager no not yet but we're learning the business learning something of the solid work that goes on behind the scenes and in no time at all we've advanced all the way up to the front office routine work hard work while others rest and relax but it's a job in a hotel and the money we earn will help pay our way in college next fall well summer vacation is over and we've had an opportunity to work and be a part of a fascinating business if we like it and aspire eventually to the position of hotel manager the next step in our career will carry us into college together with other first-year students in many different courses we study English Composition sociology psychology and the humanities studies that will enable us better to understand the people we deal with and the worlds they live in we're given an introduction to the world of business in our first Business Administration studies while across the campus we spend hours in lecture and laboratory in science courses such as bacteriology and chemistry we even find ourselves taking a course in home economics where along with the hall max students we learn some of the basic law of food preparation the problem for today happens to be make a small low-calorie salad total cost not over 20 cents to some of the women students this may seem like second nature but to those of us who have never cooked a thing in our lives it's a first step toward developing a sense of the preparation of meals so important to the hotel manager now we show what we can do with this problem well we've been told that color is one key to appetizing appearance so will first cover pear halves with brightly colored food extract and let's stand overnight we'll base our salad on a lettuce cup then add some cottage cheese because it's on the list to flow calorie foods color contrast shows up as we place the pear slice on the white cottage cheese next some cream cheese and we're beginning to wonder where to stop surely there's room for some chopped nuts and finally we top it off with a maraschino cherry well it's pretty fair for a first attempt some people would like it and some might not but what we're beginning to discover is how much we have to learn about the art of cookery before we can talk to hotel chefs in their own language in our first course in hotel administration itself we learn about the role the innkeeper's played in the story of mankind we're told that ins dotted the highways of the Roman Empire we read the house rules of an Old English in guests must remove their boots before going to bed no more than six to a bed organ-grinder's must sleep in this table we see the first real hotels growing up in France elaborate ends built in the 1700s around King Louie's court at Versailles we read of the ends which sprang up along the stagecoach routes on this continent and we learn how each community's hotels represent the city and its people in welcoming the traveler extending cheerful accommodations good food all the things that add up to hospitality as we come to the end of our first year we reach a point of decision we've had an introduction to the hotel business and now we decide whether to take a general course in Business Administration or specialize our studies at a school that offers a course in hotel administration if we move into such a school we'll spend less time on general College requirements and more of it devoted to the specific problems of our chosen field for example there's a lot to learn about managing the money involved in running a hotel we begin with the counting to which we are introduced to sophomores trial balance due Friday means working until all the columns balance to the penny almost isn't good enough 13 cents off it might as well be a thousand dollars or a hundred thousand if it doesn't balance it doesn't balance well back over it again somewhere there's an error or a combination of errors the total 13 cents and it must be found by Friday all this worked for 13 cents no for as we work we are learning the form and meaning of bookkeeping and accounting methods learning how the figures can help management and how management affects the figures we continue our studies of monetary management in hotel accounting then the study of statistics and finally business finance in our speech courses we not only learn something of the art of listening a problem that can assume serious proportions at times but we learn to make our own speaking more effective now we've all met the man at the front desk but now we stand in for him finding out what makes him tick and we also study the layout of a good front office and it's procedure laboratory courses on proper handling of meats find us learning at first hand one of the trades or activities we may be called upon to manage equally practical is our work in the study of quantity foods our laboratory is one of the college kitchens here the problem of feeding large groups of people within the confines of a budget is the same as in every big restaurant and hotel dining room in the world as we move on into the third and fourth years in college were occupied with business law hotel accounting labor economics statistics finance personnel administration and promotion matters which are a vital concern to the hotel manager and he can learn them in college faster and at less cost to himself and others than by trial and error in the school of hard knocks however we keep our classroom work in closed practical relationship to actual conditions in the field we do this through summer vacation jobs part-time jobs during the school year itself and through extensive field trips as juniors and seniors for instance the hotel executive tomorrow must know how to manage the men and materials involved in feeding large groups of people hence our courses require that we visit outstanding restaurants as students at the business we cast a near professional eye on the menu we look around noting the degree of efficiency and imagination employed in planning and decorating the dining room on a college field problem we may be assigned to assist a chef or a catering manager and to plan all the details of a sizeable banquet no classroom exercise this has to be right well he who hesitates is lost so here goes where students yes but the caterer knows our work on this problem will be graded not by the book but by the reactions of the people who attend the banquet our college chorus an administrative housekeeping comes alive as we visit the housekeeping department of a great hotel here in the linen room we see how hundreds of uniforms sheets and many other items are checked in and out every day we see how an x-ray machine helps the housekeeping staff find items that need mending we learn that among his or her other duties the executive housekeeper of the large hotel manages the hotel laundry one of the largest in the city as well as a large upholstery shop where worn and damaged furniture is made as good as new we learned that they were right and wrong ways to vacuum hallways to make beds and that a hotel's reputation can be no better than its housekeeping thus as college students we get an overall picture of the people and services that make up the operations of a great hotel we meet and work with chief engineers who are responsible for all the maze of machinery it takes to keep a large hotel warm and comfortable to provide radio and television entertainment for the guests and to keep woodwork and repair these are specialized tasks will not be doing ourselves but a students of Hotel administration we learn who does do them and how costs and results may be controlled our College field trips cover the small hotel in the small town to where we learn that justice in the largest cities the hotel is an essential part of its own community as well as a home for the weary traveler here we see a manager who serves as mail clerk telephone operator information clerk room clerk bellman elevator operator motor hotels are a growing part of the business as students we may be invited to take over the operation of a nearby motel while the proprietors take a vacation there's little time to reflect on theories of hospitality and guest management relations the problems are more immediate answer the phone take a message for the guests in number 14 the people in 3 have checked out so straighten up number 3 make it fresh and inviting for the weary travelers who we hope will occupy it tonight repair the door hinge in unit 6 rush back to the office to check a delivery make sure everything is accounted for grab a bite when you can there's lots more to do and the vacancy sign should begin to bring in the guests any time now oh there's the buzzer I'm sure you'll find this very comfortable if there's anything I can do for you just let me know another car excuse yourself quickly and greet the new arrivals sign them in send this one on his way show these to their cabins answer the phone clean up picks up pick up but don't give up this is precisely why the owners need that vacation and why you're here it's a seven-day-a-week occupation and the hours can be quite irregular that buzzer can call at any time and when you answer the call you are the host the innkeeper who through the ages has given up his own rest to give rest to the traveler to shelter the shelterless meanwhile our academic core move ahead as seniors we take a course in hotel planning and architecture we learn that designing a hotel begins with its function not with its exterior appearance but when these functions are given their due space arranged for comfort economy and efficiency the exterior design will take its form from the solution of these problems here we have reached one of the highlights and in a sense a climax to all we have studied in our college career after this concentrated 4-year program of work study and observation our College course has been completed we have a diploma that reads Bachelor of Arts in hotel administration a quite unusual college degree it represents background and experience that can be applied to restaurant management hospital administration private club management hotel and restaurant supply work or other related fields but we've decided to follow the path that leads toward the position of hotel manager our diploma proof on parchment of four years of study in our chosen career next step a job the beginnings are humble but the opportunities are many we've made our choice we've decided to go to work in a city hotel first job perhaps key clerk not much of a challenge but with our background and training we soon move up to desk clerk that's a responsible job here in the front office we give the first impression of the hotel's hospitality the standard of its service we gradually develop a talent for handling guests some were often impatient excitable perhaps unreasonable in their demands we're tired too but we do our best to serve we learned to pay an infinite amount of attention to details by glancing at a given number on a key tag we can tell instantly where the room is its approximate size and exposure whether it's a single or double room and what the rate is we're learning to remember names too it's important after we've learned to deal with people we may be given the responsibility of handling money we take over the night order this job the swing shift in debits and credits profit and loss our next step might be up to floor captain combination host and head waiter we see to it that well prepared and well served meals appear on the table with the ease of a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat and so it goes as years of experience give meaning to textbook lessons we move on up through the echelon of command and finally to our new office it isn't a dream this time the sign is on the door but we must still produce what we did yesterday earned us our position what we do today and tomorrow we'll keep it the hours are long and the demands are great but the rewards are satisfying we enjoy the respect of our employees the patronage of our guests we have a unique standing in the business world and in the community and we are part of a trade that seems destined to grow and prosper as population and travel increase but there's still one greater moment in our career it comes when others in the profession review our record and ask us to plan to build to manage a luxurious new hotel now comes the real test of our ability to manage men money and materials we start from scratch working with architects Builders decorators press agents hiring the staff the problem seemed endless but at last the hotel is ready the first guests arrive and we're in business we've directed the building of a new hotel and now we bring it to life with the timeless quality of hospitality this is the crowning achievement in a hotel managers career