ShikshaTopQuestions-Hospitality & Travel

Tourism is a booming industry offering many job opportunities in the sector.
As this is an upcoming sector hence there are certain mandate skills required to excel in the field:
Customer dealing- The art of understanding the customer requirements, needs and expectation is a key to building a rapport with the customer.
Knowledge of the geography of said area- This goes a long way in giving the best experience to the customers keeping their requirements in mind.
Additional language- This makes an advantage to foreign tourists as communication is a key to being able to deliver the requirements.
Technical knowledge of travel process- Right from ticket booking, package booking, experience packages, fooding areas, etc. will help improve the travel experience.
Problem solving- One needs to be very decisive and spontaneous to handle any problem/concern as and it occurs.
These skills are learnt through experience and also taught in many personality development subjects in T&T course. However, the actual application basis the situation one faces will ensure better learning.

Entrepreneurship is an exciting step for any individual as well as a huge risk that one can take for a career. Hospitality is one sector that has ample entrepreneurship opportunities as this is a people management sector. Customer service allows you to change the approach of the services that you provide to your guests in a manner that you fill best. The many option of entrepreneurship depend on the experience that you would have had in the industry as that give you the basic understanding of the functionality of the department. Some good options could be:
Related to food services- Restaurants / Food chains / Food outlets / Franchises, all these will give you the option to excel in the field of food production introduce your own recipe or menu. Although this does require investment but if done well the benefits are great.
Travel management- Travel facilities such as ticket booking, hotel packages, leisure packages, etc. These are all the various facilities that can be provided in this business.
Catering facility- The knowledge of food production can initiate a business of catering. This can be at a small scale that involves even tiffin services or large scale that offers marriage and event catering.
These can prove to be very good initiatives for the people aspiring for entrepreneurship. One just needs to be careful in analyzing the investment and the returns that you plan to make so that you do not face any losses.

Yes, softwares are involved as once a booking is done the same needs to be updated with all concerned departments immediately to avoid confusion hence a software is required.
List of software involved in ticketing/reservations are:
-Galileo CRS
-Amadeus
-Sabre
-Worlspan, etc.
The various version of these software keep developing based on the company and any additional features that are introduced.
The best training institutes for these software would definitely be the IATA authorized centers as these certification from there are globally accepted.
Few top institutes that provide equally good training for the same are:
Kuoni Academy
TMI Academy of Travel & Tourism
Thomas Cook
Skylark Institute of Travel
You can pursue different level of course, with varied duration and also option for the campus placements and assistance provided.

The IIHM eCHAT for the IIHM centers across the country is a national exam.
It is a little different than other exam as it is computerized base exam that has multiple choice questions.
There is no special eligibility criteria apart from being 12th pass with 50% pass marks and English as a main subject.
There is no negative marking hence one can relax and attempt as many questions as you wish and time allows you.
The number of question are 60 to be completed in 45 mins and as it is computerized one must practice a lot of question papers to be able to attempt maximum questions.
Focus on the easy scoring sections such as English (practice grammar, true false and fill the blanks type of questions, general knowledge (the current affairs and newspapers will be a great source to score well in these sections), other sections will require specific concept application based preparation.

The course is a full time 4 year program of BHM. This institute is affiliated to Bangalore University and AICTE. It also holds a NAAC accreditation.
The admissions are open for children of Army personnel with at least ten years of service.
The age limit is to be 22 maximum at the time of application.
The exam is a 3 hour exam that involves questions related to:
English
General knowledge
Basics of Hotel and tourism management
Logical and reasoning departments
Numerical ability
The preparation strategy is quite simple as the approach of the exam is to attempt the max. no of questions However one needs to be careful as there is negative marking involved.
Go through as many sample and mock papers as this will help to understand the best approach to follow and the important topics to focus on for preparation
Prepare on basis of a timetable this way you will be able to dedicate on all sections equally and that way you'll be able to score maximum marks.
Remain clam during preparation and focus on the pattern of the exam. Understanding of the pattern followed will help build confidence to attempt the question.

Most of the people working in the adventure tourism sector have some kind of qualification in tourism, outdoor sports, or management. By taking courses in adventure sports, one can become instructors or tour operators in specific adventure sports. As people get more adventurous to try out new destinations and recreation, there is a growing need for qualified adventure instructors. Opportunities in adventure tourism can be as a Tour Guide, Adventure Tour operator, Outdoor Education Officer, Safari Guide, Adventure Sports Trainer, Travel and Information Consultant, Diver, Adventure Sports Photographer, Wildlife Photographer and so on. They can find employment with tour companies, excursion agencies, holiday resorts, leisure camps, commercial recreation centres, sports centres and athletic clubs. One can even set up their own adventure sports center where they can offer services and impart training in their area of specialization. Job in adventure tourism sector does not have structured salaries. Salary varies depending on the location, career opportunity, responsibilities and whether the position is seasonal or full-time. In most cases adventure tourism jobs are seasonal. Hence one cannot expect fixed income throughout the year. However, in the beginning of this career, you can get salary ranges from Rs. 7,000-12,000 per month. Income from self-employment venture depends upon the nature and size of the operations, it can be more than those who work under someone.

Sous chefs are second-in-command in kitchens, reporting to the head chef, overseeing the preparation and cooking of food at restaurants, diners, and other operations where somebody can get a bite to eat. Sous chefs make sure that a kitchen is a well-oiled machine, preparing food, managing the kitchen staff to make sure food prepared quickly and as delicious as possible, and enforcing food safety standards.
Experience is the key. Most sous chefs start in other positions in the kitchen, from the dishwasher, cook, etc., and learn the skills they need on the job to move up. However, some will gain experience through training at a Hotel Management/ Catering school, with 2 and 4-year degrees are available. Sous chefs looking for more advanced training can get involved in apprenticeships through culinary schools and other organizations. These typically last two years.
Tasks performed by Sous Chef are:
1. Assist management of food preparation, planning, and production.
2. Substitute for the executive chef or line cooks when off-duty or during staff shortages.
3. Supervise kitchen staff.
Their pay is generally in the range of 1.5-2.5 LPA. They are generally full-time workers and act as chefs in master chef's absence.

If you are looking for a course in hotel management then IAM is a better option.
The training kitchens and bakery, the training restaurants, training front office and guest rooms are all modern and fully equipped to impart practical training of a high standard.
It has well-stocked libraries with international titles from all over the world.
The college has its own computer centres for the exclusive use of its students.
The students are given real-life exposure on the operation and management of commercial hotels while undergoing the course.
Students of the institute can avail the educational loan from a number of banks.
Companies like Oberoi Group of Hotels, Taj Group of Hotels, Hyatt Group of Hotels, Park Group of Hotels, Intercontinental Group of Hotels, Le Meridien Hotels and Grand Hyatt visits the campus.
Panache Academy, Ahmedabad is one of the leading Academy in the state of Gujarat for Aviation / Tourism / Hospitality. The Academy is designed to provide consistent, high-quality and appropriate academic advising, monitoring, mentoring, nurturing and coaching to ensure academic and personal success.
IAM is a better option among the two for hotel management course.

To become a housekeeper, you must have a degree or Diploma in Hotel Management, a degree is always preferred over a Diploma.
To get a degree in hotel management, you need to do hotel management course from a recognised university. Top IHMs always remain the first choice among students.
You can't directly become a housekeeper, in order to become a housekeeper you need to gain experience and climb up the ladder.
In the 3rd year of hotel management course, you can sit for the campus placements for housekeeping department. Most of the reputed companies like Taj, Oberoi, Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott, etc., hire fresh graduates for their management trainee and operations trainee program. Once you clear the programs you can become assistant manager and supervisor respectively.
And now from here you can climb up the ladder and become an executive housekeeper one day.
The executive housekeeper in a 5 Star hotel earns around 1.2 to 2 lakhs depending upon the property.
Thank you.
All the best.

In the context of a 5 Star hotel, if you want to become a front desk executive you must possess the following skills:
1) Excellent Communication skills, especially, spoken English.
2) A person who has a pleasant personality and is confident is always given preference.
3) If you aren't a hotel management graduate, you might not get the executive position initially as you don't know how to work on PMS, you can be given front office assistant and as you gain experience you will be promoted.
Starting salary of a front office assistant in a five star like Taj, Oberoi, Hyatt, Marriott, Hilton, etc., ranges from 14K per month to 20K per month.
Executives/Supervisors may get up to 30K per month.
Thank you.
All the best.