The short answer to the question “Can I study hospitality management online?” is yes – you can! Hospitality is an exciting and varied industry that involves working in hotels, motels, condos, resorts, lodging or entertainment venues, whilst roles in hospitality management are specifically suited to individuals who thrive in facilitating a warm, welcoming experience for guests.
If you are the kind of individual who excels in a position of power and responsibility, who is organised, focused and driven to provide great customer service, then studying hospitality management could be ideal for you.
What’s more, there are a range of related hospitality courses online that can help you to develop a wide breadth of skills and knowledge, all from the comfort of your own home. But before we delve too deeply into that, let’s first clarify the roles and responsibilities involved in hospitality management and the kind of career doors this can open for you.
The roles and responsibilities in hospitality management
We’ve already briefly touched upon what hospitality management involves, but here we’re going to explore further the actual roles and responsibilities you may undertake when assuming this position.
Typically, hospitality management means the control of customer or guest experience at your facility. You may be responsible for multiple elements of this experience – directing and managing the sales and marketing team, for example, alongside managing any front of house and housekeeping staff.
In addition to working in facilities like hotels or motels, you will also have the potential to assume a management role in entertainment-based venues or in retail or food venues too. Wherever you work, one element remains the same: enabling a fantastic standard of hospitality and service. You will be responsible for creating and sustaining a great customer experience, in whatever capacity that requires, from start to finish.
Daily activities could involve administrative tasks, such as updating and monitoring finances, in addition to the monitoring of staff performance and even making new hires. And whilst top-quality customer service is indeed a primary responsibility of hospitality management, as we’ve just mentioned, ensuring your venue efficiently operates within budget is also a key role too.
Depending on where you assume a role in hospitality or tourism – whether it is in a hotel or entertainment venue like a casino, your personal responsibilities may likewise vary. For instance, if working in a hotel you will be more involved in the management of catering, conference or event planning and hosting, in addition to front of house systems and operations. Whereas if working in a casino you may equally be more heavily involved in promotional and marketing activity, alongside facility management. As you can see, depending on your strengths or areas of interest, one type of hospitality environment may appeal to you above another.
In essence, as a hospitality manager you will be overseeing a lot of moving parts – ensuring they are all running smoothly, effectively and to the company’s high standards.
How to study hospitality management online
Now that we’ve covered what roles and responsibilities are involved in hospitality management, you may now feel more confident in pursuing this subject of study.
Studying hospitality courses online is an easy, affordable and accessible way to take your first step into this dynamic world – without the stress or financial burden of applying for a college course or jumping straight into pursuing a diploma or degree.
Don’t forget – there are many areas of hospitality management you can choose to specialise in too. Take for example our range of lifestyle courses; here we cover everything from running a Bed & Breakfast Business to Wedding Planning & Event Management to Ecotourism. Whereas our small business, admin & reception courses cover topics such as Project Management & Leadership, Professional Communication and Small Trade Administration & Bookkeeping.
All of these short courses come with a certificate of completion and can help to add to your experience, knowledge and expertise of the hospitality industry. Most appealingly, they can also be completed at your own pace and in your own chosen environment, with manageable weekly payments spreading out course expenses to affordable bitesize costs. All that’s needed is a laptop and working internet connection, and you have a wealth of education at your fingertips.
So whether you are just starting out in hospitality and would like to develop your skills – in order to make yourself more attractive to potential employers – or you are already established in this industry but would like to enhance your expertise even further…there’s a variety of online courses, suitable to your specific needs or interests
Having decided what hospitality courses online best suit your personal and professional goals, your next question may be what specific careers will be opened up to you.
It’s important to note that some positions will require a certain number of years of experience in hospitality or more advanced qualifications such as a Bachelor’s degree. But what online courses can provide you with is the foundational knowledge to build upon, or even confirm to you whether this is – indeed – an industry in which you want to establish a long-term career.
Please note that whilst below we offer an overview of some typical job titles in hospitality management and their associated salaries, these details may vary depending on whether you are seeking a role in the city or countryside, and subject to factors such as inflation or your own level of qualification.
Hotel General Manager
Salary: $49k – $92k
Responsibilities:
- Supervise running of the hotel
- Hiring, training and managing staff
- Managing maintenance and arranging repairs
- Maintaining bookkeeping: processing payments, keeping invoices up to date, operating within quarterly and annual budgets
- Resolving guest complaints
Restaurant Manager
Salary: $46k – $70k
Responsibilities:
- The efficient running of daily operations at restaurant or eating venue
- Hiring, training and scheduling staff shifts
- Managing service standard and food output quality
- Making purchases, reconciling daily sales, processing restaurant receipts
- Handling customer complaints and processing refunds
- Working behind-the-scenes in an administrative capacity & occasionally supporting floor staff
Event Manager
Salary: $51k – $90k
Responsibilities:
- Create, brainstorm, plan, arrange and execute large scale events – such as parties, conferences or entertainment events
- Working closely with a client to align the event with the tone and purpose of a specified event – creating and fulfilling event within budget
- Sourcing, hiring and communicating with outsourced staff – catering, music, entertainment, decorating, venue owners
- Negotiating with contractors and vendors
- Meeting and managing deadlines under pressure, maintaining organisation of multiple moving parts
- Researching and completing any necessary insurance paperwork
- Organising promotion and marketing of events – coordinating invites and RSVP tracking
Is hospitality management for you?
Now that you understand what hospitality management is, how you can begin your hospitality management online studies, and also what kind of career prospects these studies can open for you, the question remains…
Is hospitality management for you?
The type of professional who will thrive in this industry demonstrates the following attributes:
- Confident and calm
- Good at communication
- Has an eye for detail
- Can juggle multiple responsibilities
- Enjoys interacting with others
- Handles pressure well
- Can deal with disgruntled or upset customers
- Warm, friendly and approachable
- Good with numbers and budgeting
- Able to network and establish lucrative partnerships
- Good with technology and digital systems
- Innovative and original thinker
- Motivated and energised
- Decisive
If this sounds like you, or you believe you have the ability to cultivate these attributes within yourself with further experience, then a career in hospitality management can certainly be a perfect fit for you.
As we’ve mentioned before, hospitality management online courses are the ideal entry point into this industry, helping to equip you with a range of highly-transferable skills. Whilst the world has experienced some turbulence with the recent global pandemic, and the hospitality industry was one impacted most drastically, IBISWorld does report that “The market size, measured by revenue, of the Hotels and Resorts industry is $5.3bn in 2021.”
Statistics do indicate that this industry still offers a wealth of financial rewards and professional growth opportunities. And as global travel resumes and tourism once again increases, you can feel confident that hospitality in Australia will once again recover and thrive in 2022 and beyond.
So if you’re excited and motivated to begin your online studies today, then make sure to have a look at our courses to discover your ideal certificate of study. And just think…this could be the first step you take to securing the job of your dreams!