<p>Hey~ i'm thinking of going into Hospitality Management and already got accepted to cal poly pomona's program, I heard it was ranked up there along with Cornell and UNLV, like number 2 someone said, but im not sure can someoe confirm this with a legit source?</p>
<p>Also, anyone attending the Collins Hospitality Management school at pomona, could you tell me if you think the education there is great, above average, or not recommended. Also, if you know the job placement percentage or repuatation from pomona would be great also!</p>
<p>and to other people, Do you know the average salary of a hotel manager, let's say at Hilton, Hyatt, and those well known ones. And, how long it takes to get up there. Does having a college degree on hotel management benefit me in becoming a hotel manager or could i have done the same without college and with only lots of experience? And, after getting a college degree on hotel mgmt. what do you usually have to go through to become a hotel manager? (i.e. experience, how many years of it, and how long it will take on average to become a hotel manager)</p>
<p>I GREATLY APPRECIATE IT IF ANYONE COULD ANSWER ALL IF NOT SOME OF MY QUESTIONS!
thanks~</p>
<p>Samp-
Work in a hotel if you can. Many, many, many upper level managers at the big companies you speak of come up through the ranks. While it CAN be helpful, if for no other reason than the companies come looking there, to have a degree in HMM, it is NOT necessary. My advice from personal experience is to get a General Business Degree [preferably in Management] from a strong liberal arts school and get lower level work experience from a nearby hotel. Then, expect to start as an assistant department manager and work work work your way up the ladder. No one starts out as a Resident or GM out of school.</p>
<p>Typically I'd even go so far as to say you can expect to earn 20-30% less as starting salary than most of your fellow business grads entering the work force, but if you pay your dues, work hard, stick with it and you LOVE the industry-lifestyle you will catch up quickly [that being 3-5 years]. My experience: Upon graduation I had two job offers: 1 Sales Rep in Medical Supply Sales with a TOP company [all my friends were jealous-in a good way] with a great base+commission and a company car; 2-With a MAJOR hotel corp as an ASSISTANT housekeeping manager at 30% less than the other offer's BASE, no car, no commission. I took the hotel offer [what can I say? I LOVE the industry]. Finished my training in half the usual time, got my first choice of location assignment and got a 15% increase after six months, another 30% increase after another six months and had a variety of GM's wanting me to move to their property. For a variety of personal reasons, I moved on to independent hotels and ultimately my own business [not in the hotel industry], but MANY of my friends have stayed with the major hotel corp and done VERY well position-wise and salary-wise.</p>
<p>You also need to be realistic about just what a career in hotel management means sacrifice-wise. You work nights, weekends, holidays---forever. It really is your life. When I was young and single, I ate all three meals at the hotel, and often came in on my day off because that was where my friends were. There were staff bowling and softball teams, and while the company officially had a "no fishing off the company dock" policy, it was pretty much a joke because if you DIDN'T date someone from the hotel, you pretty much didn't date. Early on I asked an inappropriate question of my boss after he explained the company policy, when I asked, "But I thought someone told me that you met your wife when she was a housekeeper and you were the Director of Services???" LOL!!! Wish I'd had a camera...</p>
<p>Bottomline, go for it. It is a CRAZY and exhausting career, but still a ton of fun. Also, check out University Of WI-Stout if you are dead-set on hotel management.</p>
<p>Sorry about the lengthy post...can you tell this is one of my favorite subjects???</p>
<p>One more thing...you'll have great stories to tell the children. Most people would NEVER believe half of what really goes on in a hotel. My kids always say, "tell us some more hotel stories!"</p>
<p>thanks believersmom that was a lot of good info!
i'm so excited to go into this field, although the hours of work seems like a drawback, i think like you said, i'd enjoy the work.</p>