Management Trainees in the Hotel Industry: What Do Managers Expect? Available to Purchase

The recruitment of quality management is an issue of paramount importance to the hotel industry in all major tourism destinations and the educational sector is the main provider of personnel with the appropriate competences. Ensuring a close match between the goals of educational programmes and the demands of industry is an ongoing issue in the hotel sector as it is in other industries. A comparison between the prioritised expectations of American and British general managers with respect to the competences that they require of graduate recruits shows that while major similarities are evident, significant differences also appear, especially in the greater priority given by British managers to competences in the legal/ regulatory domain, including hygiene, health and safety. The emphasis placed by both groups on traditional, customer and staff contact skills is noted in an age of increasing technological impact in the hotel industry. Conclusions, with respect to both cultural variation in hotel management and the nature of hospitality education programmes, are drawn.