Karine Nazaryan
Hospitality Professional
channeled towards making a profit, which is
the main purpose of business in the first place;
however, in hotels the products are not limited
to events, meals, rooms or drinks – they extend
to service and there is always a way to improve
services and our service-industry skills.
Finally, the reason why I love hospitality so
much is simple: it’s fun – as in enjoyable. All
the dynamics, all the shifting with different
responsibilities and the feeling you have when
you start training and end up in a managing
position, it’s more than satisfactory at the
end of the day. And it does not stop with the
customer-facing part of the hotel, you have the
opportunity to meet and socialize with people
representing a wide range of nationalities, in an
even wider range of places all around the world.
In conclusion, the hotel industry is a pretty
interesting and pleasant domain to get involved
in. Like any other job, it has its ups and downs,
and that’s the great part of it: there is always a
place for innovation and there will always be
innovators.
At this moment you are the director of Vostan
Restaurant. What difference can you mention
between managing the hotel’s restaurant
and an individual restaurant in general?
he economy of hotels and restaurants is
intimately tied to the tourism industry, to
business travel, and to conventions. In many
countries, the tourism industry is a major part of
the overall economy. The primary function of a
restaurant is to provide food and drink to people
outside the home. Types of restaurants include
restaurants (which are often costly) with dining
rooms and extensive serving staffs; smaller,
“family-style” restaurants and cafes which
often service the local community; “diners”, or
restaurants where serving short-order meals
at counters is the major feature; fast food
restaurants, where people line up at counters
T
to place their orders and where meals
are available in a few minutes, often
for taking out to eat elsewhere; and
cafeterias, where people go through
serving lines and make their selections
from a variety of already prepared
foods, which are usually displayed
in cases. Many restaurants have a
separate bar or lounge areas, where
alcoholic beverages are served, and
many larger restaurants have special
banquet rooms for groups of people.
Street vendors serving food from carts and
stalls are common in most countries, often as
part of the informal sector of the economy.
The primary function of a hotel is to provide
lodging for guests. Types of hotels range from
basic overnight facilities, such as inns and
motels that cater to business travelers and
tourists, to elaborate luxury complexes, such as
resorts, spas, and convention hotels. Many hotels
offer auxiliary services such as restaurants, bars,
laundries, health and fitness clubs, beauty
salons, barber shops, business centers, and gift
shops.
Restaurants and hotels can be individually
or family-owned and operated, owned by
partnerships or owned by large corporate
entities. Many corporations do not actually own
individual restaurants or hotels in the chain but
rather grant a franchise of a name and style to
local owners.
The restaurant workforce can include chefs and
other kitchen staff, waiters and head waiters,
table busing staff, bartenders, a cashier, and
coatroom personnel. Larger restaurants have
staffs which can be highly specialized in their
job functions.
The workforce in large hotel restaurants typically
will include less workforce than a restaurant
can have. Most hotel jobs are “blue collar” and
require minimal language and literacy skills.
Women and immigrant workers comprise
the bulk of the workforce in most hotels in
developed countries today. In developing
countries, hotels tend to be staffed by local
residents. Because hotel occupancy levels tend
to be seasonal, there is usually a small group of
full-time employees with a sizeable number of
part-time and seasonal workers. Salaries tend
to be in the middle to low-income range. As
a result of these factors, employee turnover is
relatively high.