HOTEL JOBS ARE NOT AS LUCRATIVE AS THEY SEEM

I meet different people every day and through my interactions with them, they have had a stint/feel of the hotel in one way or the other- either they have worked in the hotel on a part-time basis or they have a friend/relative who works/worked for a hotel or they are still in hotel in. Their experience/expectations are interesting. There are those who think that working in a hotel means that you 'cook' and there are those that think working in a hotel is an automatic on the first lane of life due to the people you meet-the guests, the foods-they think that you are on a sausage/bacon/omelette arrangement and the monies you receive in tips-you can't convince them that this is nearly extinct due to various reasons. You carry the burden of proof that the 'monies' are not in foreign currency. The industry has attracted quite a huge number of people. Our local tertiary institutions that offer hospitality are filled with local and foreign students in this faculty -my take is that the numbers need regulation to avoid flooding the labour market with a force that doesn't match the demand.

Regulation helps to curb "constructive" unemployment and it lessens frustration among the graduates as a result of lack of jobs- supply Vs demand.
They say that the grass on the other side is always greener until you get there and see it for yourself. A lifestyle audit of many hoteliers affirms this saying. They seem to be living a better life but in real sense, they are 'leaving' it.

Many of the employees tend to get consumed/overwhelmed by the affluence and spendthrift/balling tendencies that are popular with customers in the properties they work for. As a result, they fall into debts, addictions and sometimes they die- painful.

You may think many of them are enjoying life but are suffering away from your attention just like a thermos flask breaks from inside. Such a lifestyle is a deep comfort zone that is really dangerous as it can ruin a would-be-great future. It relaxes one’s mind; one becomes complacent and views life through an extra myopic point. The quick money in form of tips is blinding... Pilferage here and there also makes someone feel like a mega scandal architect.

The repeated cycles of these monies really blows their minds to a level that they can't think progressively anymore - they stagnate and before they know it, they don't have the job and the career too either because they are either "too old" for the job or too wasted.
The fact is that wage differential is real and rife within the sector-this means that the majority earn "not-too-much." The challenge is that there is no regulation of the wage/salary ...Merit notwithstanding sometimes.

Truth be told that adoption of such large lifestyles by the hotel workers can never be sustained by the kind of salaries that they draw- some argue that there's is service charge and tips but this is mere hogwash and sugar-coating of a bitter truth.
Throughout their years of service in the industry, hoteliers need to secure their future and shun pleasurable ways- this security shouldn't be through the NSSF only but through high-level financial discipline/planning that dictates *saving before spending*. Initiation of projects/businesses is also a sure way of making an extra coin to supplement the formal salary.
Business doesn’t have to be capital intensive... Some ventures are just mentally intensive- you critically and analytically develop a business idea that doesn’t require too much capital but is highly profitable or fairly profitable.

The send off packages are usually not WOW factors- a generator, a water pump, a 1000L lotto tank, a huge flat-screen TV etcetera. There's little you can do with such items given the age and time we are in. They confine you to your farm/house (if you have one).
In case there is a brown envelope to accompany this package, then it’s always processed by the petty cashier. Petty in this case also represents the contents of the envelope. Saccos are some of the best schemes to save and to access credit facility because they have friendly interest rates and don't require too much qualifications- payslip, a certain period of saving and letter of appointment! A Sacco can enable an employee to reach financial levels they might otherwise have not achieved. If you haven't joined one then it's the high time you did.
Another issue is the timings. Whenever people are bonding and unwinding with friends and family during holidays, this is when hoteliers are extremely occupied serving the holiday makers.
It's almost impossible for a hotelier especially the ones in the operations to take time off during the holidays. It's common and usual for hoteliers to put in exceedingly long hours especially when business is high. It's such unavailability/absenteeism that detaches one from friends and family.There are persons who will disagree with the above impression due to one reason or the other e.g the positions they hold, successful stint in the industry etc.The fact is, this group is a handful- like a drop in an ocean, and it’s the minority.
Optimistically speaking, the future is bright only if the industry players pay attention to motivation, quality of graduates and finally job market demand versus what the training institutions are producing. It must be appreciated that hotel workers are very sharp and tactical persons given the nature of some the situations that they deal with in the line of making their guests stay memorable...or turning moments to memories.