My personal interest in wanting to seek a career in the hospitality sector arose when I chanced to visit the Hotel ITC Maurya, known earlier as the Maurya Sheraton Hotel during the time when it was under construction. That was my first ever visit to a 5-Star hotel. Despite not being fully constructed, I was so awe-inspired by the kind of furniture being installed in the rooms, by the décor and lighting being set up, by the layout of the bathroom, carpets, upholstery and the choice of luxurious gadgets and the breath-taking view of the vast green ridge from the window, that I decided to make a career in hotels. It was, honestly speaking, sheer attraction by the glamour, appeal and the fascination of the hotel.
After completing my graduation in Honours in English from Delhi University, I casually applied for a job at the Maurya Sheraton and, by virtue of having gained fluency in French language from a parallel course at the Alliance française, my candidature was accepted for a vacancy at the Front Office.
After the initial weeks of induction and training, I was put up for duty at the front desk. My functions as a trainee receptionist were to answer guest queries, receiving and giving away room keys, answering phone calls, writing down guest messages, interacting with the Bell Desk, Housekeeping and Engineering departments. Though this job entailed 7 to 8 hours of continuous standing at the reception area, I enjoyed my work as it comprised of public dealing within and outside the hotel. After the passage of a couple of months, I was assigned night duties; that’s when I realized how demanding the hotel jobs actually were. The night duties were far busier as they entailed dealing with heavy international arrivals, allocating rooms to the tourist groups and airline crew members, updating guest information with the other departments, doing the groundwork for the next day’s arrivals, besides calculating segment-wise room sales and updating the occupancy data.
Hard work paid and, within no longer than 18 months, upon having appeared for an in-house selection process, I was successful in cracking the interview and being selected as a management trainee with the ITC Hotels, known earlier as WELCOMGROUP.
My first posting was within the sales department of the hotel, where, upon having more than accomplished my targets, I was posted at the Mughal Sheraton hotel as the sales manager, soon after which I was moved to the Northern Region sales and later upon as the vice principal of the No 1 hotel management college – the Welcomgroup Graduate School of Hotel Administration (WGSHA)
My message to the young budding hoteliers and the hospitality aspirants is that they should have patience and stick to one company for a longer period of time – and that is the real mantra of rising, progressing and shining in an organisation.
Now at the Vatel Hotel and Tourism Business School, under Sushant University Gurgaon, I can see that a lot has changed – a batter and a far stronger tinge of internationalization has come about, not only in the internships but also in permanent placements. Students are not only being trained overseas, they are also being picked up by international hotel chains, restaurants and other hospitality related establishments.
Kulmohan Singh
