Author: Destiny Kinloch

Destiny Kinloch

February 25, 2020

ENG 1121

Word Count: 1074

The Hospitality Community

 

My discourse community is hospitality. Hospitality can be considered a discourse community because it is an industry that many people can get into. It is also an industry that you have to make connections to get yourself noticed. Before I got into this community, I thought the hospitality industry was easy to get involved in but I learned it’s not because there’s so many communities within this community. There’s a lot of different career paths you can follow in this industry which is waiter/waitress, housekeeper, event planner, executive chef, restaurant manager and so many other careers you are able to explore. But no matter what career you choose, the goal is still to give your guests an enjoyable experience while they’re in your care.

I researched this group many different ways to make sure I completely understood it before I joined it. One of the ways I conducted my research was by looking online. I researched what hospitality was and different opportunities that are available to me once I get involved. Then I went to an advisor in the hospitality management department named Jacqueline Gaskin to ask questions. I asked her about internships and she told me “I’m able to work at Disney over the summer or go to Paris to work in a kitchen and some people ended up working there full time” (Gaskin, head of the hospitality department). She also gave me a list of classes I can take and the classes that are mandatory. Now I am officially apart of this group because I’m taking hospitality classes and it made me realize I want to open up my own hotel business where I’m able to make people feel comfortable and feel like they’re home away from home. As I’m going through this learning experience I’m starting to realize that the same values I have individually are the same values as this community. When it comes to a business, I would treat people with the same expectations I have for myself when I’m at someone else’s business. I would want to be treated with respect, care and I would want workers to make sure I feel comfortable. These are the few things this community makes sure of because hospitality is about taking care of your guests.

I interviewed Mr. Samuel Gibson who works at the Millenium Hilton Hotel as the manager. Mr. Gibson states that “his passion is ensuring that all guests are treated with the greatest hospitality during their hotel stay. The main focus is comfortability, safety and accessibility. The hotel is located near the 9/11 memorial and it is often full” (Gibson, Hitlon Hotel manager). When I was in the area, I observed many tourists taking pictures and asking questions as it is a high paced area. As I was in the hotel, I observed the procedure that was taken to handle customer complaints. Mr. Gibson notified security and security attended to the customer’s concerns immediately. Security responded to Mr. Gibson to ensure the client was satisfied with the outcome. I noticed that the hotel staff took every measure to protect the clients and that the stay was exceptional. The hotel staff valued the customers responses and the goal is to ensure the stay at the hotel would always be pleasant. Many people who are looking to join the hospitality field often apply to institutes of hospitality. The formal process is to attend or join a Hospitality Institution. The informal process is to be grandfathered in an establishment which is when someone you know is working and they bring one of their family members into the business. The people in this community use various ways to communicate with each other. The global members communicate through seminars, the web, e-tools, events and continuing professional development (CPD) tools that are available to members 24 hours a day. CPD helps build successful management careers within the fast paced, moving and diverse growing industry. Many members interact through publications , e-resources and the accessibility to global members. The thing that matters most in this community are the clients. The hospitality community has to take on the task of ensuring our clients are completely satisfied. We are here to help and provide services for our clients needs. We ban together to show comradery and respect within our community. The clients pay attention and value hotel stays and experiences. One way this business and community is built through word of mouth. Clients often book the they want to stay at by looking at the ratings. If a hotel has high ratings then people are more likely to stay in your hotel. If you have low ratings then people aren’t likely to stay nights at your hotel because ratings showed that it wasn’t enjoyable. Great management makes great staff and that equals satisfied customers within this community.

In conclusion, I genuinely enjoy being in the hospitality community. It made me realize what I want to do with my life and I noticed how diverse this community is. There’s many different career paths you can go down and people from many different walks of life come together for one common goal. The goal is to please people and expand the business. Also I learned that the guests have their own little community and they communicate through online ratings. The guests go online to rate the hotel they stayed in and that’s what potential guests look at before they stay at a hotel. These ratings can either make or break a hotel along with the other factors it takes to have a five diamond hotel. All of these things made me appreciate and respect this community because these people are working to accommodate their guests. These guests require a lot of attention, there’s many hands on situations and workers constantly make sure clients are comfortable and completely satisfied. I’m surprised that this community is constantly growing because it does require a lot of work and the job is to take care of people you don’t even know. In 2018, there were 526,533 hospitality jobs in New York and 322,306 hotel jobs in New York. This industry is always growing and I’m proud to say I am in this community to see it prosper and be a part of it.

Works Cited Page

Gaskin, Jacqueline. Personal interview. Feb 2020

Gibson, Samuel. Personal interview. Feb 2020