“Why Would You Want to Work in Hospitality?”

If you clicked to read this blog, it probably means that you have been asked this question before by others, or maybe even you have asked it to yourself. 

I have—plenty of times. 

For some people, finding hospitality is like listening to a song on the radio that they’ve never heard before and ending up loving it. It finds you when you least expect it, and there's no going back once you have found it. 

Some people find hospitality as a summer job, an internship, or a quick way to pay the bills. Fast-forward a couple of years, and they’re still in the industry. Why? Because when you experience genuine hospitality, you can’t picture yourself doing anything else.

For others, it’s following a career path. (That’s my case.) I went to school for hospitality and was shocked to realize that everything I was studying was something that I would enjoy learning outside of school. The thing is, it almost didn’t feel like school. I learned about different cultures and forms of tourism. I had cooking and bartending classes where we would compete to see who made the best drink. But most of all, I was excited to know that working in hospitality meant connecting with people, no matter the subject. 

The common denominator in everything I learned was the importance of connecting with others and making them feel at home. 

It wasn’t until halfway through my education that I started to feel like I could see the world differently. And no, I’m not talking about some cliché where everything is butterflies and rainbows. I’m talking about learning to pay attention to the smallest things most people could overlook. I’m talking about seeing the world through kindness instead of anything else. 

Going to a hotel or a restaurant has never been the same since I started working in this industry. I think there’s always a “before and after” effect when you work in hospitality. It feels like putting on a pair of glasses that allow you to see everything in a different way. You understand how your room may take a little longer to be ready, or you become more patient with the staff when your food isn’t exactly what you ordered. 

You understand how people who work in hospitality are exactly just that: people. It takes a different type of person to want to dedicate their time to serving others and make sure they put a smile on people’s faces. And just like everyone else, we make mistakes. We might forget how you said you wanted your drink or brought you the wrong dish, but at the end of the day, we’re here to make sure you feel appreciated and seen.

That’s really what hospitality is all about: making people feel seen. I’ve always said that a hotel or a restaurant is just a building without the people in it, and when you work in hospitality, you understand what this means. 

So, to answer the question for this blog, I will always want to work in hospitality because it keeps me grounded. It’s where I feel the most connected to my purpose and those around me. 

I will always choose to work in hospitality because a tiny act of kindness can change someone’s day or life. 

I will always choose to work in hospitality because, at the end of the day, we get to be a part of people’s lives in the most ordinary and meaningful ways. 

I will always choose to work in hospitality because when you take a minute to look around you, you’ll see kindness in people who lead through service and wear their hearts on their sleeves. 

I will always choose to work in hospitality because it’s exactly where I’m meant to be.