I can't imagine my life not in the travel and hospitality field...and yet, that's never where I aspired to be when I was younger. I stumbled into it quite innocently and I've never let go (or, probably more truthfully, it never let go).
But why wasn't it an option? My mother instilled in me an ethos to always give back; to be in service to others. And, I can't think of an industry that is more "in service" than the service industry. So why wasn't it a viable option as I made way way into adulthood? Because, historically, we've paid shit wages and demanded impossible hours of entry-level positions? Because society and educators didn't value the work we do? Because self-absorbed asses in our midst think it's OK to demean service workers to their faces?
An interesting story in Fast Company caught my attention over the weekend. Roughly half of teens aspire to work in an artistic or investigative career. Only 2% of careers are in the arts/creative field and 8% are investigative (think scientist, detective, researcher, etc.). Why don't more dream of a job in hospitality?
Which then got me thinking about the new Amazon Prime series "Life's Rewards," where a rich playboy loses everything and is forced to live off his hotel points. As I suggested to Visit St. Pete / Clearwater's Steve Hayes on the DMOU podcast, my favorite aspect of the show was not just the character's reawakening...but the service staff around him that helped him find his way.
The answer isn't ads that extoll the virtue of a life in hospitality (did those Army ads make you want to join...or was it the TV shows and movies that glorified the cause?). We need more shows like Steve's to inspire the other half of teens that hospitality is a path worth considering.
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