Women gaining leadership ground in hospitality industry

In less than a decade, the rise of Airbnb, hotel mega-mergers, and micro-boutique hotels have disrupted the hospitality industry.

Part of the reason, the sharing economy has soared - Brookings estimates it will be a $335 billion market by 2025 - is that while technology has made it easier to book travel or a place to stay, many people are looking for human connection that’s often lacking on their devices. As paradigms shift, hoteliers and developers are reinventing themselves and embracing new models to compete with upstarts like Airbnb.

A hotel can no longer be just a place to sleep. To resonate with leisure guests and business travellers, hospitality spaces must offer unique, immersive experiences. Brands have an opportunity amidst the disruption. Through a curation of unique programming, design, architecture, technology, and entertainment, hospitality companies can foster loyalty in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

For many decades, women in the travel and hospitality industry in India occupied the frontline positions such as receptionists, telephone operators, air hostesses, travel assistants, and public relations personnel. But this is changing now, and women are increasingly occupying managerial level positions in the industry, along with which they are also setting up their own travel and hospitality enterprises. By the very nature of the job, a career in the hospitality industry stands out in respect to other professions. As per a study commissioned years ago, women accounted for almost 70 per cent of the workforce in the travel and tourism and hospitality sector in the world.

The hospitality industry has changed significantly over the past 60 years, particularly regarding women and gender equality. Along with the growth and globalization of the sector, opportunities for women to fill an active and rewarding role within the hospitality workplace have greatly increased around the world. While women are still fighting for equality at work in different areas, they have earned their place in hotels, catering, and tourism for quite some time now. In the overall economy, 46.1 per cent of employees are women, but in the hospitality sector, this figure has grown to 53.7 per cent. Whether it is sports, corporates or the service industry, the members of the fair sex have always needed to cross a path that is full of challenges and hurdles much different and sometimes harder than their male counterparts.

Attend any hospitality industry conference or event and it is notable how the majority of the attendees - many of whom hold top tier executive titles - are male rather than female. At the property level too, if during your stay, you request to speak to the general manager the chances are you will be greeted by a man rather than a woman.

The hospitality industry has been traditionally male dominated partly because of the culture and nature of the industry, where job opportunities are more versatile and require senior executives to be flexible with relocation options. For female hoteliers, they often face the dilemma of having to make a choice between family and career, and most of the time, the former always wins the power struggle.

It’s a fact that senior hotelier roles require a big commitment. Managing a hotel is not a 9-5 job and can be difficult to fit a personal life around the demands of the property and its staff - general managers especially are often referred to as being ‘married to the job’. This is hard for both sexes but particularly for women.

Female executives have to work hard to find that delicate balance between time spent with family, child care and work-related issues. This requires planning and sacrifices as hospitality is an extremely intense, time and energy consuming, fast-paced industry.

Breaking through the glass ceiling certainly isn’t unique to the hospitality industry and the good news is that there has been significant progress. Compared to twenty or thirty years ago, it is now much easier for women to obtain leadership roles and career opportunities are more plentiful. Technological advances have also helped.

In Asia, where the hospitality industry is expanding rapidly, this is particularly the case. New properties are opening up faster than general managers can be found and increasingly it is women that are securing some of the plum jobs.

It is becoming easier for women to get into more senior management roles as the hospitality industry has become keenly aware of women’s abilities to lead and there are examples for the younger female population which makes up more than 50 per cent of the workforce. Additionally, as the hospitality sector is growing at a rapid pace, the industry has to consider both male and female candidates equally for positions that traditionally have been dominated by men.