Most of the eighty hoteliers and chefs I interviewed for my books were once where you are: deciding whether this work is for them, and if so, where to start. This page gathers what they say about it, in the order a student tends to ask.
Is this the work for you?
The people in the book did not test themselves for the work. They noticed how it felt: a breakfast shift that was, in one general manager’s word, priceless; a first kitchen that was the hardest a chef ever worked in and the one he still measures everything by. Two questions on this site take that up directly: whether hospitality is a good career, and how to know whether it is the right one for you. Read them first, and then the Field Guide’s first lesson, which turns the question into a five shift exercise.
How the best began
Almost every general manager in the book started on the floor, in stewarding, at the front desk, in food and beverage or on a hotel school placement, and stayed there for years before anyone gave them a property. Almost every chef came up through the brigade, from commis to chef de partie to sous chef, with stages in other kitchens along the way. The questions on how to become a hotel general manager, how to become a luxury hotelier, how to become an executive chef and how to become a Michelin starred chef set out the path in detail, with the timing. The collection of the mentors and the people they trained shows who taught them.
What the roles involve
The Roles section explains how a luxury hotel is organized and how a kitchen brigade works, and describes the jobs the people in the book held or hired for: the general manager, the executive chef, the concierge, the butler and the maître d’. Each page gives a day in the role at the highest level and what the interviews say about it. The Glossary defines the trade’s vocabulary, from the pass to turndown service.
Where the jobs are
The Careers section sets out the ladder itself, rung by rung in a hotel and in a kitchen, the management training programs the luxury groups run for graduates, the career sites and boards where the jobs are actually posted, and what separates a career at the luxury end of the industry from the rest of it, including what general managers and chefs say they look for when they hire.
School, or the floor?
Several of the hoteliers in the book attended a hotel school and several did not; several of the chefs went to culinary school and others learned entirely in kitchens. The questions on whether you need a degree to become a general manager and whether culinary school is worth it give both sides from the people who lived them. The short version from the interviews: school can open the first door, and nothing replaces the years on the floor or in the kitchen that follow.
What to read
The essential reading list for hospitality leaders is on this site, with a note on who each book suits, and a companion page for each of the books students are most often assigned. The Luxury of Attention has a free Field Guide, one lesson for each chapter with a quiz and a workplace exercise, and an instructor kit that your faculty can request.
Guides
Choosing a hospitality school: ten schools worth knowing, and what the world's best hoteliers say about them
How to choose a hospitality management school, with ten schools worth knowing in no ranked order, the criteria behind the list, and what the general managers in The Luxury of Attention say about school against the floor.
Choosing a culinary school: ten schools worth knowing, and what the world's best chefs say about them
How to choose a culinary school, with ten schools worth knowing in no ranked order, the criteria behind the list, and what the Michelin starred chefs in The Luxury of Attention say about school against the kitchen.