There is no one set path to becoming General Manager at a hotel, but it is the position that most people in the hospitality industry would have their sights on. Considerable work experience is essential to have a chance at becoming General Manager, but an educational qualification such as an MBA in Tourism And Hospitality can help you.

Every day a General Manager has to manage many departments and lead a team of staff, which means they have to possess great leadership skills. They must understand how to motivate and inspire employees,how to steady the ship in a crisis and how to handle customers, amongst other skills! Sure much of this can be learnt on the job, but an MBA gives you formal frameworks and methodologies that you can instantly apply in your job, which will stand you in good stead for that top job.

A hotel of course does not have an automatic stream of customers. A General Manager will be very aware what their hotel’s brand image is, how to market its message and differentiation and read the industry’s demand drivers. An MBA degree helps prepare you for this, with courses on integrated marketing communications and managing strategy and innovation.

The Victorian Institute of Technology offers probably the most affordable online MBA program in the country, at just $16,000 for domestic students. Students can study at their own pace. Students may be eligible for FEE-HELP, which may allow them to pay their fees later through their tax returns. So you’ll accelerate your career to General Manager without having to leave your job to go to on-campus classes, or accumulate a heap of unnecessary debt through overpriced MBA programs that are often in excess of $50,000. It helps if you have a Bachelors degree, but if you don’t then you are still eligible if you have 5 years of supervisory experience. You might be interested if you are currently an F&B manager, operations manager, HR manager, sales manager, rooms manager or chief concierge, for example.

General Managers may have climbed the rungs from any department within hospitality including food and beverages, rooms, operations, HR, sales, etc. Everyone has their own level of specialist knowledge though. Someone in sales might better understand financial statements and someone in HR better understand how to manage human capital, but it is difficult to have that well rounded knowledge needed to manage a hotel without an educational qualification to fill in the gaps. An MBA can enhance your knowledge base by giving you the well roundedness that you need… in areas such as finance, administration, managing people, IT project management and event management, just to mention a few.

Please reach out if you’re hungry to advance to General Manager with our MBA in Tourism And Hospitality.

For more information on VIT’s MBA, please visit our MBA course page HERE

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