Kanna, I wish i would have been next to you during this time. Nevertheless let me atleast try
to be with you whatever way i can and impart what i want to.
At the outset let me once again reiterate what i feel you are. You are a wonderful son, and a
fantastic friend of mine. Above all a fabulous person who is intelligent, looks at things from a
different angel and highly creative.
Now i understand one more thing, you not only have a goal in life but have both long term
and a short term goal. The most interesting is we both share the same dream of owning and
running a restaurant or why to dream less let us run a chain of restaurants. I make money and
you try to bring in the expertise to run the restaurant. See how easy it when we work as a
team.
Now let’s talk about the hotel as an industry.
Hotels are amongst the most visible and important aspects of a country's infrastructure which
is very diverse and global. This Industry is inextricably linked to the tourism industry which
in turn has fuelled the growth of hotel industry. In recent years the government has taken
several steps to boost travel and tourism, which have benefited the hotel industry. Factors like
rapid industrial progress, liberalization of trade and opening up of economy will further lead
to revolutionary growth in this sector. The future scenario of this industry is expected that the
budget and mid-market hotel segment will witness huge growth and expansion while the
luxury segment will continue to perform extremely well over the next coming years.
The hotel industry is not as glamorous as it appears to be from the outside. There is a lot of
hard work involved in managing a successful hotel. And this is true even for the doorman who
ushers the guests in and the management makes sure that he is courteous and pleasant as he is
the first representative of the hotel that any guest is going to meet. There are instances where
even people in managerial positions have to roll up and pitch in case of shortage of
housekeeping staff. One cannot afford to remain complacent and expect the guest to return to
your hotel anyway. Each employee in this industry needs to realize that the guest is the `king'.
Making his stay enjoyable is our duty. Guest satisfaction alone guarantees successful
clientele. To achieve this personalization of services is a great tool.
Catering and Hotel industry plays a significance role in the overall economic growth of the
country. With the rapid industrial growth and promotion of tourism, the catering and hotel
sector is booming and offering job prospects. There are chains of hotels which operate
internationally providing scope of a career throughout the world. With the growth of hotel
industry propelled by foreign and domestic tourism and business travel, the demand for
well trained quality personnel too has grown impressively. The diversity of
experience in hotel management is greater than in any other profession. Hotel industry
involves combination of various skills like management, food and beverage service,
housekeeping, front office operation, sales and marketing, accounting. Today, the rise in
corporate activity as well as the wish to travel on holiday has made the hotel industry a very
competitive one.
Career
1
There is lot of lucrative and interesting openings various for the hotel management career.
They can be employed in a wide range of departments like
Operations.
Front office.
House keeping.
Food and Beverages.
Accounting.
Engineering/ Maintenance.
Sales and Security.
Hotel & Restaurant management
Airline Catering and Cabin Services
Club management
Cruise Ship Hotel Management
Hospital administration and catering
Hotel and Tourism Associations
Forest Lodges
Guest Houses
Institutional Management
Catering departments of railways, banks, armed forces, shipping companies etc.
Hotel and catering institutes
Chefs &Cooks.
Concierge and Banquets.
Event Managers.
Famous Personalities
Mohan Singh Oberoi
Mohan Singh Oberoi can be aptly termed as the father of the Indian hotel industry. Rai
Bahadur Mohan Singh Oberoi was among the first to recognize the potential of the tourism
industry, its ability to contribute to India’s economic growth and generate direct and indirect
employment. He worked tirelessly to put Indian hotel industry on global tourism map. M.S.
Oberoi was born on August 15, 1898, in the erstwhile undivided Punjab, now in Pakistan. He
did his early schooling in Rawalpindi and completed his graduation from Lahore. In 1922, to
escape the epidemic of Plague, he came to Shimla, and got a job of front desk clerk, at The
Cecil Hotel at a salary of Rs 50 per month. M.S. Oberoi was a quick learner and shouldered
many additional responsibilities along with the job of desk clerk. M. S. Oberoi’s diligence
prompted Mr. Clarke to request Mohan Singh Oberoi to assist him when he acquired Clarkes
Hotel. At the Clarkes Hotel, M.S. Oberoi gained first hand experience in all aspects of hotel
operations.
In 1934, M.S. Oberoi acquired The Clarkes Hotel from his mentor, by mortgaging his wife’s
jewelry and all his assets. In 1938, he signed a lease to takeover operations of the five hundred
rooms Grand Hotel in Calcutta, which was up for sale following a cholera epidemic. In 1943,
Rai Bahadur Mohan Singh Oberoi, acquired the controlling interest in the Associated Hotels
of India (AHI) which owned the Cecil, and Corstophans in Shimla, the Maidens and the
Imperial in Delhi, and a hotel each in Lahore, Murree, Rawalpindi and Peshawar. He thus
became the first Indian to run the largest and finest hotel chain. In 1959, The Oberoi Group
became the first group to start flight catering operations in India. In 1965, M.S. Oberoi opened
2
the first modern, five star international hotels in the country, The Oberoi Intercontinental, in
Delhi. In 1966 he established the prestigious Oberoi School of Hotel Management, recognized
by the International Hotel Association in Paris. In 1973, The Oberoi Group opened the 35
storey Oberoi Sheraton in Mumbai. Rai Bahadur M.S. Oberoi was the first to employ women
in the hospitality sector. Today, The Oberoi Group owns or manages 37 luxury and first class
international hotels in seven countries.
M.S. Oberoi was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 1962 and in 1972. He was also elected to the
Lok Sabha in 1968. M.S. Oberoi was recipient of many awards and honours. In 1943, he was
conferred the title of Rai Bahadur by the British Government. Other honors include admission
to the Hall of Fame by the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA); Man of The World by
the International Hotel Association (IHA) New York; named by Newsweek as one of the
"Elite Winners of 1978" and the PHDCCI Millennium award in 2000. M.S. Oberoi was
honored with Padma Bhushan in 2001.
M.S. Oberoi passed away on May 3, 2002 at the age of 103.
Mr Fritz Gubler
Fritz started his career in the hotel industry with a chef apprenticeship and his love for food
developed further during the two years he spent in London as chef. After returning back to his
home country Switzerland he completed his professional education at the famous Ecole
Hoteliere de Lausanne. For several years he worked for the uniquely Swiss hotel and
restaurant chain "Moevenpick" in various positions and significantly contributed to two hotel
openings and was responsible for the planning and operations of several restaurants. In 1975
he was selected to the planning and opening team for the Swiss Government financed Kenya
Utalii College in Nairobi. This college is still the leading hotel school in Africa. He was the
opening General Manager of the up market Leisure Lodge Club in Kenya and then managed
for over six years the hotels of the German based Severin Hotel Group in Mombasa. His
biggest challenge was to oversee final construction and opening of the huge Isis Hotel in
Luxor, Egypt. Construction was halted several times because of significant historical
discoveries and hotel operations had to be adapted to the local cultural habits.
In 1988 Fritz arrived in Sydney and introduced the "Swiss" style of hotel management
training by developing the Blue Mountains Hotel School.
The concept of the Blue Mountains Hotel School was then used to develop other hotel schools
worldwide which led to the formation of the ORION Hotel Schools.
Zodiac signs
If you are ready to take up this career which has a wide scope for employment then just check
out these sun signs which would best suit this industry.
Taurus
Cancer
Libra
Aquaris
Pisces
Aquarius
3
The ruler of Aquarius is Uranus. Its symbol represents water, a universal image which dates
back into prehistory. This will also be recognized in the Egyptian hieroglyph representing the
same.The association in Aquarius is that of the servant of humanity pouring out the water of
knowledge to quench the thirst of the world.
Personal Traits
Aquarians are interesting and attractive people. They can be shy, sensitive, gentle and patient
or enthusiastic and lively with a tendency to be exhibitionists. Both types are strong willed
and forceful in their own way. Very opinionated with strong convictions, they fight for what
they believe in. They will argue vehemently for what they believe to be true.
These are farsighted people and innovative. They are generally without prejudice and quite
tolerant of the point of view of others. They have an interesting side to their nature that allows
them to see a valid argument even when they disagree with it. They are quite objective folk
and never get waylaid by being too close to an issue or person.
Aquarius is truly a humane, human being. Known to be frank and outspoken, Aquarius makes
for a serious and genial companion. Refined and idealistic, romantic but practical, they are
personable and likable people.
Quick in mind and quick to respond, Aquarians love activity and are quite reasonable, though
difficult to get close to. They cherish and guard their independence, and are a strange mixture
of caring concern and cool detachment. They will go out of their way to help when needed,
but never get involved emotionally.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Positive Traits
Aquarians are usually intelligent, cool, clear, logical people. They have good imaginations
and are quite intuitive. Aquarius is drawn to and inspired by great causes.They are not limited
to their environment and disappointments don't deter them from their goals. They often adopt
a life style that goes against the trends, because the odd and unique fascinate them.
Whether the retiring or the outgoing Aquarian, both types appreciate opportunities to be
alone. They enjoy their own company and are recharged by this quiet time. Rarely content
being followers, they are more often society's trend setters. They do not take kindly to
interference by others, even if it is well intended. Most Aquarians appreciate beauty and
balance, possessing an excellent sense of aesthetics. This is often expressed by interests that
can span drama, music, art, and science.
Main postive traits: Progressive, independent, inventive, friendly, humaitarian, originality.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4
Negative Traits
Aquarians are an enigma. On one hand they are warm, kind, and outgoing, the sort to make
friends easily and willingly. On the other hand, they are quite aloof people, who do not
actively seek out relationships, and resent any infringement on their time or resources. They
are engaging, yet unreachable. They can be fascinating and dynamic, while lacking any real
warmth or endearing qualities.
Among the faults, which are typically Aquarian, are extreme eccentricity, and an
unwillingness to participate in any standard of protocol. When angered, they become
seriously rude, alternating between deafening silence and sudden outbursts of temper.
Main negative traits: Unemotional, aloof, tempermental, unpreditable, eccentric, fixed
opinions.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Profession
Aquarians work best in group projects, but must be recognized as having a leading role. They
make excellent researchers and admirable scientists, especially astronomers and natural
historians. They may lead the field in photography, computer technology, Radiography or
electronics .Aviation is also a natural vocation for Aquarians
In the arts and humanities, their progressive talents are expressed well in writing, particularly
poetry, and in broadcasting. In the theater, they make good character actors, and are natural
mimics. Possessing an affinity for rhythm and timing, many Aquarians make fine and
progressive musicians. In the service fields, they can be effective welfare workers or
educators.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Find Plants, Trees, Herbs for Zodiac Sign Aquarius
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Lucky Stone
Amethyst
A form of quartz, with a silicon dioxide composition is Amethyst. The majority of quartz
samples are clear, but amethyst derives it's beautiful purple appearance due to small amounts
of iron impurities in the crystal lattice.
5
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Advice for the Aquarians
In the midst of a crusade they can be so completely devoted, that they drive themselves to the
edge of complete exhaustion. This trait can be disheartening to those near and dear.
Quite capable of sustained anger and hard feelings, they should tune out the perceived
offender, and retreat to their own private world. If they overcame their sensitiveness and
developed their will power then there is no position in life that they coul;d not
attain.Aquarians ar likely to suffer from disorders of stomach and eyes.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Origins in Mythology
To fully appreciate the mythological significance of Aquarius, it is necessary to bear in mind
the importance of water to our ancestors. The very existence of the ancients depended upon
the supply of life sustaining moisture. During the month of Aquarius, the rains were on the
land, literally poured from the heavens. In many regions of the ancient world, this was seen as
the beginning the new year, a time of new life cycles. It is not hard to understand why some
images depict the figure of Aquarius as a water bearing angel or other divine being.
The region of the night sky in which Aquarius resides is populated by water signs. In
Babylonia, this region of the zodiac was known as the Sea.To the Greeks, Aquarius was
associated with Ganymede, the son of Tros, king of Phrygia. The god Zeus, so admired the
boy's beauty that, disguised as an eagle, he abducted him to serve as cup bearer on mount
Olympus. It was this desire to possess the young prince which inspired Zeus to cast his image
eternally in the night sky.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Famous Aquarians
François Rabelais (February 10, 1491)
French Humorist Author
Sir Francis Bacon (February 1, 1561)
English Scientific Philosopher
Christopher Marlowe(February 6, 1564)
English Poet, Playwright
Emanuel Swedenborg (February 8, 1688)
Swedish Scientist, Philosopher, Theologian
6
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (January 27, 1756)
Austrian Composer
Robert Burns (January 25, 1759)
Scottish Poet
Lord Byron (January 22, 1788)
English Poet
Henry W. Longfellow (February 7, 1807)
American Poet
Charles Darwin (February 12, 1809)
English Naturalist Author
Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809)
American President
Charles Dickens (February 7, 1812)
English Novelist: Great Expectations, Oliver Twist
John Ruskin (February 8, 1819)
English Author, Art Critic
Jules Verne (February 8, 1828)
French Science Fiction Novelist
Edouard Manet (January 23, 1832)
French Painter
Lewis Carroll (January 27, 1832)
English Author
Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847)
American Inventor
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882)
American President
Charles Lindbergh (February 4, 1902)
American Aviator, First to cross the Atlantic Ocean
Christian Dior (January 21, 1905)
French Fashion Designer
Ronald Reagan (February 6, 1911)
American President
Toni Morrison (February 18, 1931)
American Nobel Author
Oprah Winfrey (January 29, 1954)
American Talk show Hostess, Actress
Bridget Fonda (January 27, 1964)
American Actress
Hotel Industry - Eligibility
Eligibility
7
The academic qualifications required for this
discipline vary with different countries and
universities. There are many institutes which
offer graduate and post graduate courses in
hotel management. Apart from this there are
also diploma courses offered for this program.
Course areas include food processing, Food
and beverages service, Accommodation
operation or front office, hotel accountancy,
Business communication, French language,
hotel engineering, computer, nutrition and
food service, Hotel laws, Principles of
management, sales and marketing
management, Human resource management.
Apart from academic qualifications one should
have excellent communication and
interpersonal skills, polite and respectful to the
guests, have patience to deal guest criticism
even when know you are right, willing to work
hard even at odd hours and yet be cheerful.
8
Institution: Brigham Young University-Hawaii Campus
Courses:
Hotel Industry
Address: Assistant Dean for Admissions and Records, Brigham Young University-Hawaii Campus, Laie, Oahu, HI
96762-1294
City: (city Not Available)
Country: (Country Not Available)
Phoneno: (Phoneno Not Available)
Website
www.byuh.edu
Institution: Ashland University
Courses:
Hotel Industry
Address: Vice President of Enrollment Management, Ashland University, Ashland, OH 44805-3702
City: (city Not Available)
Country: USA
Phoneno: (Phoneno Not Available)
Website
www.ashland.edu
Institution: Becker College -Worcester Campus
Courses:
Hotel Industry
Address: Dean of Admissions, Becker College-Worcester Campus, 61 SeverStreet, Worcester, MA01615-0071
City: (city Not Available)
Country: (Country Not Available)
Phoneno: (Phoneno Not Available)
Website (Website Address Not Available)
Institution: Becker College-Leicester Campus
Courses:
Hotel Industry
Address: Dean of Admissions,Becker College -Leicester Campus,61 Server Street, Worcester, MA-01615
City: (city Not Available)
Country: USA
Phoneno: (Phoneno Not Available)
Website
www.becker.edu
Institution: University of Nevada
Courses:
Hotel Industry
Address: William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration 4505 Maryland Parkway Las Vegas, NV 89154-6013
City: Las Vegas
Country: United States
Phoneno: 702-895-3161
Website
www.hotel.unlv.edu
9
Institution: University of Houston
Courses:
Hotel Industry
Address: 229 C. N. Hilton Hotel & College Houston, Texas 77204-3028
City: Houston
Country: United States
Phoneno: +1 713-741-2447
Website
www.hrm.uh.edu
Institution: Cornell University School of Hotel Administration
Courses:
Hotel Industry
Address: Ithaca, New York, USA
City: New York
Country: United States
Phoneno: 607.255.9393
Website
www.hotelschool.cornell.edu
Institution: Les Roches International School Hotel Management
Courses:
Hotel Industry
Address: CH- 3975 BlucheCrans - Montana Switzerland
City: Montana
Country: Switzerland
Phoneno: 41 027 485 96 00
Website
www.lesroches.edu
Institution: AIM –Academy International Management
Courses:
Hotel Industry
Address: 31, Quai de Grenelle 75015 Paris France
City: Paris
Country: France
Phoneno: (33) 01 45 75 65 75
Website
www.academy.fr
Institution: International Hotel & Tourism Industry Management School
Courses:
Hotel Industry
Address: 79 Soi Ramkhamhaeng 50, Hoamark, Bangkapi, Bangkok 10240 Thailand
City: Bangkok
Country: Thailand
Phoneno: + 66 (0) 27320170-3 ,(02)732 1491-4
Website
www.i-tim.ac.th
10
Projects, Careers and Resistances in Hotels
Nathalie Bosse, Christine Guégnard**
The hotel industry is a sector with many unique and specific characteristics. It remains the archetype
of low-wage sector, famous for the weakness of its negotiations in favour of employees, legendary for
its diluted application of collective agreement or labour rules in France. However it offers a wide
variety of positions and careers for young people and workers without any qualifications. A long way
from explanations by the insufficient number of trained workers, or by any real lack of interest in hotel
trades, there are recurring tensions affecting the sector (Viney, 2003) specific of the human resources
management and the job quality (precarity, flexible working hours, low wages, physically demanding
work, etc.). In addition to these pressures, there are a number of time constraints resulting from the
working organization (part-time contract, non-standard hours, working at week-ends…) and
employees’ personal and family commitments outside the hotels. The accounts of employees’ daily
work reveal how is played the waltz of social times and the imperfect chords of work and family
(Guégnard, 2004). Though the sector is reputedly mixed, women tend to occupy low-qualified
positions, and half of them work on a part-time basis (Beauvois, 2003). The hotel industry rhythms
appear as a hindrance to staff loyalty and female careers development.
These questions will be addressed with the use of qualitative data based on individual interviews of
workers in Formule 1 and Etap Hôtel. These budget hotel chains (0 stars), which are owned by Accor,
include more than 500 hotels throughout France, with two different types of management. Some
establishments are only managed in the independent mode trough management mandate, most often
given to a couple, while others are under the salaried form paid directly by the Accor group. However
since 2003, salaried employment is proposed to managers and the standard structure of one hotel is
now made of one director, one direction assistant and several employees . When such an offer was
made to couples in the Accor group, was the function of director given to the man or the woman?
At the time the Iredu-Céreq1 carried out this research, Formule 1 and Etap Hôtel have just launched a
development project to promote gender equality supported by a programme of the European Social
Fund and aiming to further the development of employees’ careers and to provide female workers with
the same prospects as their male colleagues (Bosse, Guégnard, 2005). Statistics always illustrate the
scarcity of the women in power, responsibility and decision positions. This scarcity results at the same
time from flows, stereotyped representations, history, promotion practices and organization of the
world of work, unequally shared responsibilities in the family (Marry, 2004; Laufer, 2004). Women
access to higher hierarchical functions appears limited as an invisible and transparent “glass ceiling”,
so-called by the American and Anglo-Saxon authors. In order to illustrate these barriers, Québécois
suggest the image of a “sticky floor”, other French authors propose “the reversed pyramid”, “the lead
sky” (Marry, 2004) or “the edelweiss picking” (Meynaud, 1988).
Some women are able to secure managerial positions in the sector in spite of the fact that these
companies are marked by a masculine domination (Bourdieu 1998). Two thirds of hotel employees

Céreq-LEPII (Laboratoire d’économie de la production et de l’intégration internationale), Université PierreMendès-France, BP 47, 38040 Grenoble cedex 9. Mail : nathalie.bosse@upmf-grenoble.fr
** IREDU/CNRS (Institut de Recherche sur l’Education, Sociologie et Economie de l’Education), Université de
Bourgogne, Esplanade Erasme, BP26513, 21065 Dijon Cedex. Mail: christine.guegnard@u-bourgogne.fr.
1
Institute of Research on Sociology and Economics of Education - Centre for Research on Education, Training
and Employment.
11
and 38% of managers in Formule 1 and Etap Hôtel are women (compared to 20% of female company
directors in France according to Insee). These cases incite to wonder about career ladders within hotel
chains. Are the assets and the obstacles combined in the same way for men and for women? This
communication will analyse a large number of testimonies from employees and managers about their
jobs, their working conditions and their plans or strategies for the future facing the new management
practices. First the positive and motivating aspects will be studied in the light of a mosaic of stories,
seventy-seven individual interviews, playing the melodious tune of the hotel world, followed by the
laments listing the tension points of real working, the time constraints entailed by their job. Then, part
2 will focus on employees' typical career path: What are the various forms of support and resistance
which women are liable to encounter in the hospitality industry, in order to skating on the 'glace
ceiling'?
Seventy seven persons were interviewed between June and September 2005 in nearly
fifty Formule 1 and Etap Hôtel branches throughout France. The interviewees
included 37 employees (29 women and 8 men), 16 assistants (12 women and 4 men),
17 managers (8 women and 9 men), 5 male regional directors and 2 female former
regional managers.
As within the sector as a whole, the workers tend to be relatively young, with an
average age of 32: the youngest employee is 19 and the oldest has just turned 53.
Note that there is a high number of qualified employees interviewed, especially
assistants and managers: only two have no qualifications. The proportion of
employees with no diploma (20%) is the same as the proportion of employees with
higher education qualifications. The near totality of workers hold permanent
positions.
The main limitation of this methodological approach is that statistically the
population is both non-exhaustive and non-representative. The observations made by
the interviewees are printed in ‘italics’.
1 – Views on working conditions
Most of the interviewees claim they enjoy working in the services job. Be they employees, managers,
assistants, they all speak of a trade that requires multi-skills, the content or degree of which varies
according to the specific internal organization of the hotel they work for. In some hotels, duties rang
from room cleaning to welcoming guests. One interviewee comments: ‘We have a lot of people who
are highly versatility employees, who clean the rooms, deal with the showers and toilets, and work at
reception and serve breakfast’. In other hotels, the staff is shared between room-cleaning and
reception: welcoming new guests, taking reservations, serving breakfast, cleaning the cafeteria, as well
as frequently or occasionally helping the housekeepers, the list of tasks specified by receptionists is
often long. Assistants are also entrusted with a number of duties inherent to their position, organizing
work schedules, managing the payment of salaries, etc. And while directors tend to emphasize the
importance of their managerial role, they also work at reception and carry out the same functions as
their employees. One director remarks: ‘A manager often has to serve breakfast, work at reception,
mop the floor, but also has to deal with the accounts and a lot of issues in human resources... So
there’s a wide range of things we’re required to do’.
1.1 - The melody of the job
Several employees claim that variety is one of the main attractions of working in a hotel. Some
describe functioning in the sector as a good ‘training school’, and enjoy being constantly on the move,
pointing out that ‘there are always lots to do’ and ‘if you don’t like versatility, you won’t enjoy
working in a hotel’. Versatility is perceived as a source of personal growth, a means of progressing,
such as when it enables a housekeeper to work at reception, or when an assistant is entrusted with a
range of administrative duties. Above all, it is the relational dimension of the job that tends to be
emphasized, or what one worker refers to as ‘contact with customers’. The relations forge with
‘regular customers’ are often perceived in gratifying terms. For example one employee declares: ‘I
can’t help beaming when I see customers’. Team work and the quality of management are also
12
identified as significantly appealing factors. Some of the employees say they have good relations with
their superiors, and appreciate having a manager who know how to ‘listen’, who is ‘available’, and
‘who looks after their staff’, thereby fostering ‘good relations’ among employees. In such instances
employees speak of a ‘pleasant’ or ‘family’ atmosphere that encourages ‘mutual support’.
‘A different quality of life’
Nearly half of all the directors interviewed have originally been independent managers. Becoming
salaried means that their personal and professional life has improved. For the most part, this has a
positive impact on their working conditions. The decision to become waged within the Accor group is
primarily motivated by a desire for a more balanced compromise between work and family.
Independent directors and their partners live day and night in the hotel they manage, and so their
private and professional life tends to merge. In fact, they are constantly on call, which results in
fatigue and stress; they are often disturbed at night, cannot get away, etc. These difficulties are
compounded if they have children. Some managers are keen not to raise their family in a hotel. A
home beyond the confines of the hotel, or what some interviewees term a ‘proper home’, is perceived
as helping to make a ‘break’ from work and to regain a healthy private and social life; thus: ‘My
quality of life has improved... you have to make choices at some point’.
Being salaried also means that some couples are no longer forced to work together, and thus ‘enjoy a
degree of autonomy’ or are ‘professionally independent’. One female director observes: ‘To start with
we don’t work together any more. We both have our own jobs, and we take responsibility for our own
careers’. Managers also tend to stress the many advantages of belonging to a large company, such as
the greater means at their disposal, which help to improve staff management, and the provision of
continuing training and career development opportunities: ‘Now we really work as a group’. As for the
employees, they tend to emphasize the better working conditions, compliant with legislation,
adherence to the Labour code, thirty-nine hour working week, publics holidays, bonuses, sickness and
pension schemes or the Accor card. Furthermore, the work schedule provided in advance also helps
them to balance their professional and personal life.
–
‘Before I had no job contract, I didn’t work a fixed number of hours per week or per month... Now
I have a fixed and stable work schedule’, as one female confirms.
–
One housekeeper remarks: ‘I’m given my work schedule at least two weeks in advance. Now it’s
pinned up, it’s better that way. Before I didn’t dare say anything… With the managers there
wasn’t any schedule, there was nothing. I didn’t dare say anything and so... I became stressed’.
1.2 - Ritornello and laments
The tensions felt by workers appear to be connected to several factors: the challenges of a versatile and
physically demanding job, issues of job insecurity, lack of communication with the managerial
hierarchy and/or within shift teams, frequent part-time work, and finally levels of pay.
‘Being versatile isn’t easy at all’
Versatility is not always experienced positively by employees because of the sheer range of tasks they
are often required to carry out. This is liable to cause stress and fatigue, which are only amplified if
one of the employees is off work. It is also sometimes perceived as devaluing. One employee
considers she could be asked to do anything; another feels he is hardly presentable to welcome a guest
if he is busy cleaning a bedroom, commenting: ‘Being versatile at work means you become a jack of
all trades’; ‘You feel dirty when you have to welcome a new guest’. The main complaint from
employees and managers alike is the amount of time spent cleaning rooms, the 'dirty work', viewed as
physically tiring; interviewees who spend much of their time cleaning rooms often complain of back
problems. Some directors consider their work is sometimes too ‘practical-oriented’, and that it is too
remote from what they perceive to be a manager’s real job: ‘here we’re just good supervisors, rather
than actual managers’.
‘From the best to the worst customers’
Interviewees often raise the issue of ‘difficult customers’. Employees learn to deal more or less
effectively with verbal aggression and excessive behaviour, on the part of some young customers
13
especially, particularly at week-ends. In some hotels there are genuine security issues, especially in
those located in and around large cities. While they admits they are able to contain some situations,
several workers tell of the acts of violence against them or as witness and emphasize the fear they
sometimes feel, especially when they are required to work alone, particularly in the evenings or at
night. A female receptionist comments: ‘Some days when you get to work, you don’t feel very safe
because in winter, it gets dark earlier, and you’re on your own in the hotel... we had several assaults
here last winter’. Furthermore, working in a hotel where customers are predominantly male implies a
number of specific issues for women such as ‘confronting men’s looks’, and having to respond to their
sometimes insistent overtures, with the more or less explicit fear of sexual assault. As a female
assistant remarks: ‘Once I was actually afraid I was going to be forced to get involved in group sex in
one of the bedrooms... ’ . One female receptionist adds: ‘Formule 1 is really a men’s hotel. I’m all on
my own in the evenings, between eight o’clock and ten o’clock. It’s not easy for a woman, anyway I’m
sure you get the picture...’.
‘I’d like to work full-time’
Nearly 45% of all the interviewees work part-time, especially cleaning staff (as opposed to 0% of
managers and assistants). Managers agree that housekeeping is very physical and tiring: short-term
contracts often help to reduce the number of rooms and to prevent employees from growing tired of
difficult and repetitive tasks, and to maintain a high level of motivation. But what these contracts
primarily offer is a greater degree of flexibility in the organization. While a few employees, especially
mothers and students, actually chose to work part-time, the majority of part-time workers do not
choose and are faced with significant financial difficulties. For instance, one woman holds two jobs,
saying: ‘I get up at four in the morning. I work as a cleaner three hours a day at a chemist’s’. Many
employees hope eventually to secure full-time contracts or to find a job elsewhere, so that they can
leave this ‘mini job’. A cleaning woman explains: ‘I’ve been working part-time now for three years.
They always tell me they can’t give me a full-time contract instead. Come next September, if things
still haven’t changed, I’m going to start looking for another job’.
‘It’s badly paid’
Two thirds of employees feel they are badly paid for the amount of work they are required to do, for
having to work non-standard working hours (at week-ends, in the evenings, on public holidays, or at
night) or for the possible risks in their jobs. As one cleaning woman points out: ‘We’re actually multitaskers, so I was expecting to be paid more’. Their salaries are based on the minimum wage, in 2005
around 1 000 euros per month after deductions, with an occasional night bonus that varies between 45
and 75 euros per month according to the number of hours worked. However, assistants receive a bonus
for every room let, and they hold different views about their wages. One male assistant complains: ‘As
the manager’s assistant, and considering the amount of duties I’m given, I don’t think I’m paid
enough’. By contrast, a female assistant says: ‘It is OK, I can’t complain. It’s... At the moment I get...
this month I got a raise so I’ll tell you exactly how much I earn... 1 450 euros before deductions, that’s
my fixed salary, plus 10 cents per room let per day. So per month it works out at roughly 1 400 euros
after deductions’.
In fact salaries tend to be low, especially if employees work part-time, which can put families in a
precarious position. As one cleaning woman observes: ‘We don’t earn enough... That’s why there’s
trouble between us, in our couple... Financially, we need a raise...’. Furthermore, having their children
looked after at unusual hours entail significant costs for these employees, especially for those living on
their own. One such employee comments: ‘When you’re a single parent, it’s fair to say... you have a
lot of expenses, what with the babysitter, and school...’.
As for managers, their wages are fixed at 2 000 euros before deductions irrespective of the size of the
hotel, plus a bonus for every room let (between 30 and 35 cents) and a profit-sharing bonus based on
results. The half of the managers feel they are sufficiently well paid, though they tend to emphasize
differences from one hotel to the next, as well as the fact that they are the least well paid directors
within the Accor group as a whole.
–
One male director observes: ‘I feel I earn a decent salary. Of course... having worked at Ibis, I can
14
–
tell you salaries here are lower. It would be a good idea to balance things out a bit’.
One female director comments: ‘When you compare ours to other hotels within the group, we earn
less. But... there are far more of us. I mean there are far more of us out there’.
‘There’s not much communication’
Several employees underline the lack of contact with their hierarchy. On occasion this has an impact
on team cohesion: 'There's a very poor standard of communication within the group’. Other workers
explain they sometimes have difficult and even conflict relations with their superiors. Some employees
also indicate that they have very little contact with their colleagues, limited to when shifts begin and
end: ‘in fact here we work alone’. This is especially true of night receptionists: ‘contact here is
extremely limited, we only see each other in passing’. Some employees highlight the ‘tensions’ or
‘small clashes’ amongst staff, as well as ‘issues of communication’... In particular, a few assistants
explain they are occasionally confronted with ‘jealous’ colleagues who have seen them progress
within the Accor company. Overwork and physically demanding chores have an impact on the overall
atmosphere at work: ‘In the summer the need for personnel wasn’t well thought out. So we were
overworked, which caused much tension and fatigue, and employees tended to call in sick...’. Finally,
the issue of staff turn-over is also evoked: ‘People don’t stay here long, especially young people.
There’s a lot of turn-over, lots of change in the teams’.
1.3 – The imperfect chords of work and family
The rhythm of hotel work has an impact on employees’ private, social and family spheres. Several
persons explain that the job entails a number of inherent pressures, commenting: ‘Sometimes you have
to be prepared to make sacrifices’; ‘working in the hotel industry is a matter of choice’. But depending
on their personal situation, harmonizing and playing for time prove to be more or less difficult.
‘I don’t have enough time for a real life outside work’
Nearly half of the workers claim they find too difficult to play the imperfect chords of work and
family. Broadly speaking, employees emphasize the complexity of pursuing a hobby or activity
outside work and of socialising with their friends. The lack of time, unusual work schedules and
fatigue are the most frequently identified factors. One female assistant comments: ‘That’s why I don’t
have time to do any sport or anything else outside work. First of all we don’t have fixed working
hours, they change every week, and rest days are never the same... And we don’t exactly work
conventional hours’. Meanwhile a male receptionist explains: ‘I used to be involved in clubs, whereas
now... the little time I do have for rest, I make the most of it, I just stay in with my children, and that’s
it’.
The flexibility required by manager positions has a negative impact on relationships and family life.
This is a cause of frustration for employees’ partners, and also for the employees themselves at not
being able to spend more time with their family or a feeling of guilt at having to disrupt their
children’s sleeping patterns, etc. A female assistant describes: ‘I get in late from work in the evenings.
I was away every week-end and... Especially given that he works standard office hours, and has every
week-end off. In fact he’s often criticized me for that... It’s pretty tense right now at home (...). Even
my daughter asks me sometimes... she asks me not to be away for too long (...). I wake my daughter up
at half past five in the morning to take her to the babysitter’s. So it’s really tough... And for me it’s
really hard to have to wake up my child, even she... because on some days, she wants to sleep in. The
babysitter lives five minutes away so I’m fortunate in that respect, I’ve found someone who lives just
five minutes down the road. When I finish work at ten in the evening, same thing, I wake her up again’.
The testimonies given by young male managers suggest a life centred primarily around work: ‘I have
no personal life’. This is presented as a matter of personal choice. Besides their desire to advance
within the Accor group, these workers particularly emphasize the satisfaction and pleasure they derive
from their work. As bachelors and without children, they underline the importance of the relations
with their employees, and often liken their staff team to a ‘family’. But this central role given to work
is not always easy to cope with. Whereas one manager hopes his situation is only temporary, another
15
director reflects on the difficulty of building a stable relationship under such conditions, admits: ‘Of
course at the moment it’s easy because I have no personal life. Now is it because of my job that I have
no personal life or is it... it’s the same old problem. Of course, I need to be with someone who
understands that I work a 70 or 80 hour week. I haven’t always been able to find someone like that
so... But for the moment, I don’t feel particularly penalized by that. Although on some days it gets
pretty tough’.
‘It is impossible to find a nanny’
The mothers and fathers stress the difficulty of coping with work rhythms that are not compatible with
family life. Of the people interviewed, 60% have children. The parents speak of the difficulty of
finding a nanny late in the evening or early in the morning, as well as at week-ends and at night, or of
finding an arrangement when they are away on business trips or on continuing training courses: ‘It
requires so much organization, it’s a real headache’. The different kinds of babysitting and child
minding evoked underline the crucial role of grandparents. Some workers even move closer to the
grandparents to make the life of their children that much easier, or try multiple combinations: mothers
and fathers juggle with nannies, neighbours, friends, babysitters, etc. Therefore a solid family network
and family support are decisive factors in helping women to remain in the hospitality sector. A female
receptionist explains: ‘I just can’t seem to find a nanny. In the past I’ve been let down by several
nannies. It’s so difficult to find someone to look after my daughter when I’m at work. I take her to
friends, and sometimes I even have to take her to work if I really can’t sort anything else out. At weekends, I take her to a friend’s place in M., so I don’t see her for two days, it’s really tough, it’s really
eating up my life’.
‘When you are a woman, it is harder to balance job and family’
It is essentially female interviewees who tend to emphasize the relation, not to say the conflict,
between their career and their private life. The different status of men and women on the labour
market cannot be properly understood without taking account of their respective roles at home and the
unequal distribution of domestic and parental duties. Several researches underscore the persistence of
disparities in the management of work schedules. In couples where both partners work, men and
women make similar uses of their time, except in the case of housework and parenting. There is an
unequal distribution of domestic actions: women carry out nearly 60% of the full range of activities
that involve the children, and nearly 70% of the chores, whereas men have more leisure time. Several
women underline these differences, observing: ‘I have no time for myself as a woman, I just don’t’;
‘When you’re a woman, it’s harder to reconcile your work and your family commitments than it is for
a man. When you go away on a two-day training course for your job, you have to plan everything,
such as meals and so forth... So that everything runs smoothly while you’re away’; ‘I’m the one who’s
in charge of the family budget. School, the children, that’s me. Sometimes, it’s just too much,
sometimes I just get sick of it all’.
2 – Careers and resistances
Two major factors determine the appeal of trades in the hotel industry: on the one hand, an inclination
or taste for working in the service jobs, and on the other hand, easy access to jobs and good career
prospects in a dynamic sector without a specific training or relevant employment experience. This is
shown in the wide range of career profiles and the projects of workers in the hotels. The majority
believe they have solid prospects: promotion to a higher position within the Accor group or
management of one or two hotels, even though some workers see no real opportunities for
advancement in their current jobs. Admittedly, hotel chains offer promotion opportunities, but these
often entail a willingness to move and to be flexible. As such, a career in the hospitality is not always
compatible with the commitments of family life. Beyond these difficulties, the solutions devised
individually to balance family and work, as well as the strategies of negotiation within couples, often
serve to weaken women’s careers in the sector.
2.1 - Career prospects
16
Most of the people state they wish to pursue their current career within the sector, and many
employees declare they are keen to advance within the Accor group: ‘I’d like to stay at Formule 1 and
to further my career at Formule 1’. Managing their own hotel is one widely expressed ambition: ‘I see
myself becoming a manager’. Other workers plan to move to other Accor hotels or even to other
activities within the same group.
‘When you work for Accor, there are always opportunities’
The budget hotel chains are marked by relatively fast promotion prospects to managerial positions.
Young couples, sometimes starting out in the sector, are offered the possibility of becoming
independent directors and then salaried managers. Others move from one position to the next before
eventually supervising one or several hotels. The average age at which the people interviewed became
managers is thirty, and the majority are proud of the success they had achieved at such an early stage
in their career, such as these two female managers: ‘There was this possibility at Formule 1 to apply
as a couple and to manage a hotel together. I’m twenty-four, I applied with my husband. Our
application was successful’; ‘I’m twenty nine, I manage two hotels. I don’t think everyone gets that
kind of opportunity’. All the workers particularly appreciate the career prospects offered: ‘I didn’t
think things would move so quickly’, even though some emphasize the demands of the job, saying for
instance: ‘It requires a lot of personal commitment’ or ‘You have to stand out’. The male and female
directors show a real commitment to their trade: ‘It’s more than a job, it’s a passion’, and work is
evidently a significant aspect of their identity (Garner, Meda, 2006).
Furthermore, the various testimonies often present the standard kinds of recruitment practices used in
hotels. Training is not the sole determining factor for securing a first job in the sector. It is often the
hazards of the paths of applicants’ personal and professional development that tend to direct
individuals to the hospitality, sometimes leading them directly to managerial positions. However,
qualifications and hotel trainings are also recognized as the 'signals' by employers (Spence, 1973;
Arrow, 1973) and represent a definite advantage for applicants planning a career in the sector. In fact,
only one male manager and one female manager have no qualification, no diploma. Half of the
managers have a higher education qualification. Furthermore, a third of managers and half of
assistants have a qualification in hotel fields, as opposed to just a small minority of other employees
(15%).
‘I don’t know how it works’
Career prospects are more obscure for some workers. The lack of any transparent criteria determining
promotion often causes a degree of uncertainty about the positions which such employees can hope to
secure: ‘it’s a little bit vague’. While a small number of interviewees consider they are well-informed
about these matters, many employees feel they lack information. For example, one female assistant
comments: ‘I’d like to move up the ladder. I think everybody does. But how you go about it, now that’s
another matter...’. Others stay in the same position for several years and hope to gain promotion by
demonstrating their abilities and by remaining patient. One female versatile employee says: ‘I don’t
think it’s easy but it’s definitely possible... given a bit of time’. Although they apply for promotions,
some workers consider they have no prospects in view. For instance, a cleaning woman observes: ‘I’ve
asked for a promotion... perhaps not at reception but elsewhere in the hotel. I’ve asked the manager
(who’s a woman), I’ve asked the assistant manager, but for the moment they don’t really know’.
Furthermore, continuing training appears to be focused primarily on managers and assistants.
Nonetheless, a few employees benefit from some ‘on the job’ training, enabling housekeepers in
particular to work at reception. In such cases, promotion is a response to a genuine interest in the job
and to a need for a broader range of duties that are physically less demanding than cleaning. However,
the salary and status of these workers remain the same.
In addition for these female employees, part-time work often restricts access to higher-level positions,
and a switch to full-time work is their only prospect. The lack of qualifications and age are also
sometimes perceived to be insurmountable barriers. One employee says: ‘I don’t have a
baccalaureate, I can’t reasonably ask for a better job than other employees’, while a cleaning woman
17
comments: ‘The manager has suggested I work at reception, to learn. But at my age... I don’t really
want to any more’. The hotel industry frequently operates as a transition sector for young workers who
have yet to decide about the specific career they wish to pursue.
‘Leaving everything behind and rebuilding from scratch’
Another constraint that employees speak of is the issue of geographical mobility. One male assistant
observes: ‘I already own a house here, my parents live in the area, I have a family. If you want to get a
promotion, you have to be prepared to move to another area (...) It’s not just a question of money, you
also have to consider everything you build around your job. Taking a managerial position means
leaving everything behind and rebuilding your life from scratch’. In this respect, there are significant
differences between the position of men and women. While several women claim they are prepared to
move, there are also more women who state they are reluctant to do so because of their partner’s
career, their children and their established social networks: ‘We’d like to be able to move, but if your
husband has a stable job, and you have a family... I mean for a man it’s a lot easier, they’re told
there’s a vacancy somewhere, and he says 'OK darling pack your bags, we’re moving'. A woman tends
to be much more reluctant to move’.
2.2 - Women’s paths strewn with traps
There appear to be similarities in the prevailing perceptions and attitudes towards promotion expressed
by men and women, with one significant exception. Women tend to speak of more constraints than
men and there is a feeling that climbing the promotional ladder while maintaining a healthy family life
is a greater challenge for women. Traditional cultural models of managers play also apart in shaping
specific representations of the role of women within companies.
Within the Etap Hôtel and Formule 1 chains, women hold 38% of the total number of managerial jobs,
whereas two thirds of employees and assistants are women. A number of previous researches (Laufer,
Fouquet, 2001) have already identified several factors that lead to the exclusion of women from ‘the
ultimate circle’ (Meynaud, 1988): a process of exclusion operated by male managers, self-selection or
self-censorship, and even resignation of some less confident or more modest women, an effect of
balancing their private and professional life, a degree of geographical mobility, etc. All of these factors
are illustrated in the various accounts gathered in the course of this research. The decision to pursue a
career in the hospitality sector and building a home and family life require choices, as well as a high
degree of organization and negotiations within couples that often tend to prejudice women’s prospects.
‘If you are a man in the Accor group, it is a lot easier to climb the ladder’
Despite the fact that several women hold manager positions, the hotel industry remains heavily
marked by a male power culture and by established representations of masculine domination. Man
remains the dominant referent in material and symbolic terms (Bourdieu 1998). The image of the
manager is for a long time associated with a dominant masculine, competitive model. Isolation is
perceived as a risk factor and even a cause of potential failure, and women often experience significant
tensions to adapt to a male environment, as some female managers suggest: ‘I really felt I wasn’t
welcome, I felt there was a sexist atmosphere at work and there were a lot of sexist comments’;
‘Unfortunately I had to work with a first-rate sexist (...) And I can tell you I suffered’; ‘The group
manager I worked for really didn’t like me being pregnant (...) In his view, if you work in a hotel, you
should be committed 100% to your job, and just forget about being a mother’. Age is also experienced
differently by men and women; one female manager comments: ‘You have to be careful because when
you get to forty... you’re too old or just not with it any more’. One female versatile employee says:
‘Hotel managers are all young executives... that’s it. Young men, thirty or thirty-five maximum. I’m a
woman and I’m forty five, almost forty six so... I asked if I wasn’t a bit... I’m not that old but still’.
As such, the selection process that determines if workers are able to ‘climb the ladder’ is distinctly
biased. People in high-level positions tend to promote employees that have a similar profile to theirs,
and the predominance of men in managerial positions at Formule 1 and Etap Hôtel means that male
applications tend to be more successful. Directors play a crucial role in promoting the employees they
manage. The process involves identifying key skills, and managers tend to operate as coaches or
18
teachers. Some employees applying for promotion speak of support, whereas others emphasize
barriers to promotion. One female receptionist comments: ‘I started working at reception in September
2003, in fact the entire team started at the same time. Then one employee left and was replaced by
another employee called Romain. A few months later there were several vacancies for assistant jobs.
Romain got offered a job. It was really hard for me. Because I felt I deserved the job, that I had the
required skills and that I had been there longer than he had, and that I had trained him’.
‘Can you really be a manager and a wife and a mother all at once?’
Careers tend to be more costly for women. Although they show the same desire to work, men and
women cope differently in trying to balance work and family. For employees, the mobility factor is
associated with the availability factor in securing a managerial position, which entails long and
intensive working hours. A commitment to their personal life tends to penalize female managers more
heavily than their male counterparts. Female directors with children emphasize that their success is
based on a specific triptych: a high degree of resistance and commitment, their children’s health, and
their partner’s support (who may make a significant contribution to domestic and family chores) or a
delegation at home. Whenever one of these factors is lacking, the female managers feel their career
prospects are thwarted.
Negotiations within couples sometimes play a crucial part in the career paths of both men and women,
especially at the moment of transition between an independent and a salaried position in cases where a
couple works together as a managerial team. More often than not, the decisions involved in this
process operate to the detriment of women, since they are given the assistant job, while the manager’s
positions go to the men. But this ‘choice’ may be the result of a balancing act in the careers of the two
partners. Access to promotion is a complex process that involves a range of considerations pertaining
to work organization as well as structural, family and personal factors. The hotel group responds well
to young women’s expectations by enabling them and their partner to hold salaried managerial
positions. Women tend to emphasize the importance of obtaining a director position rather than
working merely as their husband’s assistant. One female director comments: ‘Two years ago, we were
offered a salaried position (...) we set down one condition, which was accepted, so perhaps it wasn’t
such a bad idea for them if we both worked as managers in two different hotels. We didn’t want to
even consider a salaried position that entailed having to work as manager and assistant manager,
because it would have been an issue for me in my couple if I’d had to work as assistant manager, I
think that’s something I just wouldn’t have been able to put up with. So we got round the problem, and
we both managed our own hotels’.
‘I want to combine my life as a mother and as a working woman’
Once they become mothers, the redefinition of their priorities has a definite impact on women’s
professional life. The process of self-exclusion and the primacy given to their personal life are to be
interpreted as the result of a number of constraints and tensions. But they may also be seen as the
expression of a different and differed commitment to professional success. Catherine is a single
mother raising her five-year old son at the time of the survey. After four years of managing a two-star
hotel, she put in a request to work part-time: ‘I asked if it was possible to work part-time as an
executive. I was told it wasn’t possible because you can’t be a manager and work part-time’.
Following this refusal, she opts to move closer to her family so that her son can be looked after, but
she ‘downgrades’, in her own terms, to a managerial job in a hotel with no stars.
2.3 - Dynamics of male and female paths
The various testimonies suggest a typology of professional development paths. Faced with relatively
unattractive and even restricting job propositions, some employees are tempted to leave the profession,
while others feel that their current position is a dead-end. Other workers are able to climb the
promotional ladder leading to the holy grail of their chosen profession. Three main types of
professional development emerge from the various accounts used in this research: static, reactive and
strategic paths.
19
The first, ‘static’ type essentially concerns women. Without any basic training or qualifications in a
traditionally female profession (such as secretarial, health care, or social works), women in this
category hold low qualified jobs for long periods of time over a number of years. There is very little
change to their professional status, because of an unfavourable professional, institutional or personal
context. Their primary motivation is their wage and their present hotels offer no opportunities for
further professional development. One housekeeper mentions: ‘I went to school but I didn’t really
achieve much. I started out as a cleaner... Then I moved to France and worked in restaurants. I wasn’t
a waitress, I dealt with the laundry, I did the washing-up, the ironing, cleaning, that kind of thing (...)
Then I worked as a temporary employee and after that I found a job as a cashier in a shop, which I did
for eight years. And after eight years of working as a cashier, I moved. And I came here because my
husband got a job transfer. That’s when I found my current job as a housekeeper. I’ve been working
here since 1998 (...) I don’t have any prospects. I just take every day as it comes’.
Another set of workers – twenty or so women and ten or so men – describe a ‘reactive’ career path.
They stumbled into the hotel industry by chance, without any basic or conventional training. They
enjoy working in the service jobs and are highly motivated. These employees seek to climb the
promotional ladder and to be entrusted with more responsibilities.
–
One female receptionist comments: ‘I did a BEP [second degree of vocational diploma] to become
a secretary, and after that I studied for a vocational baccalaureate in secretarial work. I passed,
and then I completed a BTS [last degree of vocational diploma] to train as an assistant manager...
So I’ve achieved the required standard... And then I studied for one year at the University of B.
And that’s when I started working at Formule 1 because... I was looking for some extra income
(...). At first I cleaned the rooms. Then I heard the hotel was looking for someone to work at
reception in the afternoons so I took the job (...). At first it was just a way of making some extra
money before deciding what I really wanted to do with my life. But I ended up liking the job so I
stayed on (...). Because I also saw there was a good chance of getting promoted’.
–
A male assistant explains: ‘I did a baccalaureate specialising in management. Then I went off to
do a BTS in computer science, which I narrowly failed. And then... I immediately found a job in an
IT firm. Basically the job involved designing websites, which I did for a while, but it didn’t last
that long, because the company went bankrupt. After that it was a bit of a struggle for two years, I
did temp work and I was unemployed for a while. Then I got a job at Formule 1 in V. And after a
year working there I got a promotion (...). I did a course to train as a manager (...). At first, I
didn’t really have a career plan, I worked at reception. And little by little I can see there are lots
of opportunities’.
Finally, the third, ‘strategic’ type of pathway is illustrated in the stories of a dozen women and six
men. Attracted by the hotel industry, these workers had built their initial training and path around
specific choices and well-defined objectives. Highly determined and motivated, and generally young,
they are highly committed to their jobs and are prepared to move or had already done so.
–
A male assistant manager declares: ‘I did a BTS in hotel studies... specialising in management,
marketing and accommodation... After I finished my BTS, my first job was working as a
receptionist. After that I integrated Accor, because it has an excellent reputation in Europe and
throughout the world... for me that was the main objective (...). I was hungry for success, I really
liked my job... I don’t just want to work as a receptionist... I’ve climbed the ladder (...). I want to
manage a hotel on day... and after that I want to become a regional manager’.
–
Meanwhile a female assistant explains: ‘I studied at the hotel vocational school in Grenoble. I got
a BEP-CAP [first and second degrees of vocational diploma] and after that I studied for a
professional baccalaureate specialising in catering, which I also passed. After that, I was offered
a job in Grenoble in a Mercure hotel as head waiter but I turned it down because I’d already
decided to move to London. There I managed a bar in a French brasserie for two years. Then I
stopped to have my first child. And in 2001, I moved back to France. So I didn’t work for two
years, in fact I looked after my daughter for three years. I started working again in 2003, in a
Formule 1 hotel. I started out as a housekeeper, for six or seven months. Then I got a job at
reception. I’ve been working as an assistant since September last year. I’m aiming to become
20
assistant manager to go on a training course to become a manager (...). I was quite prepared to
start off again at the bottom of the ladder, but it’s tough when you haven’t worked for three years.
You have to get back into the swing of things, you have to start all over again. So I agreed to start
out at the bottom of the ladder, to work as a housekeeper, that wasn’t a problem but... if there’d
been no opportunities for climbing the ladder, I would have looked for a job elsewhere’.
There are two other strategies used in women’s career paths and discourses, which are presented as
personal ‘choices’. The first strategy involves a full commitment to developing their career, with the
clearly defined ambition of prioritising career advancement and promotion. One female manager with
two children says: ‘I think anything is possible once you put your mind to it. Organizing my time really
isn’t a problem. And I don’t really feel an urgent need to be with my family. It all depends on what
people are looking for. I’m not particularly focused on family life... I love my family, and I love my job
as well. I enjoy my freedom’. One female assistant with a child adds: ‘My aim is to become a manager
one day and my husband knows that so... he knows that if we have to move, we’ll move. It’ll be tough,
but we’ll do it all the same. It’ll be tough at first to get things sorted out... what with school, my
husband’s job of course and everything else. He’ll have to find a new job. What matters to us is our
future, we know that, and we know that at some point, if I want to further my career, I just have to be
prepared to move. We’ve talked about it a lot and he’s prepared to follow me’.
The second strategy is based on a self-imposed limitation of career development to prioritise family
life, though without sacrificing work, as one female manager with a young son suggests: ‘It’s not one
of my professional ambitions. But my family life is so much more important to me... in fact I’m still
able to enjoy my job (...). When you realise you want to be a mother and you want to balance that with
having a job, you just have to be prepared to put your career second’. In the same way, one female
versatile employee observes: ‘I must say now... ever since I’ve had my baby... when I see the kinds of
pressures that my colleague Paul, the assistant, has to put with, I just can’t imagine... having
pressures like that. What with my son and everything, it’s just not possible. My job at the hotel can’t
come before my family, it’s simply out of the question’.
Concluding remarks
The hotel industry is a sector where finding a job is easy, even without any relevant qualifications or
experiences. Sometimes what triggers the vocation is a student job, a transition job, or a career
conversion. For other workers, entering the sector may be the outcome of an eventful or tortuous
career history. But the motivations of workers may also be related to clearly defined choices, and may
be part of a process ranging from initial training to a job in the hospitality. Broadly speaking, the
employees say they enjoy working in ‘relational’ jobs, despite some recurring tensions, including
difficult working conditions, imposed part-time work and low wage. Nonetheless, these pressures tend
to be attenuated by the benefits of working for a chain as opposed to a traditional hotel, especially in
view of labour legislation, the 39-hour working week, the two-day weekly rest or fixed work
schedules...
Career prospects are another important factor in this respect. Formule 1 and Etap Hôtel are
characterized by relatively fast access to managerial positions, even if employees do not have the
typical profile for becoming a director. Qualifications and training expertise are still used as ranking
criteria and standards of social identification, which are ‘signals’ for employers, although by
themselves they are no longer sufficient. A worker must be prepared to demonstrate his potential and
his skills, to acquire the specific culture of the hotel industry and of the Accor group, and to accept
placing the demands of their chosen career before their personal life. Together these three factors
determine success and the varying speed of promotion. The conflict between work and family is in
fact a recurrent feature of the accounts provided by women working in the hotels. Access to a manager
position is a complex process conditioned by work organization and a range of structural and
individual factors, including time management and family commitments. Because such jobs tend to
coincide with a moment in life where home and family are in the process of being established, the
pressures of availability, the culture of long working hours and the demands of geographical mobility
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all tend to work to the detriment of female workers. In this respect, there are significant differences
given by the young women working in the hotels who are determined to going to the top of the
pyramid and to skating on the 'glass ceiling', though not at any cost.
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