C. Attitude Toward Self, Others, and Subject Matter

Attitude toward self. If an individual’s self-esteem, or attitude toward self is low, than he will tend to behave in such a way that the feedback from others will confirm this low opinion of himself. The key then is to change the individual’s perception of self in order to improve behaviors. If service providers can be made to believe that their work and they themselves are important, their actions towards tourists will reflect their feeling. If personnel in service industry can be viewed as hosts rather than “just employees”, their self-image may be raised. Dealing with and serving people is a very demanding task. Visitors often bring demands with them that are difficult to satisfy. And those people who have all appropriate skills to do this task should be highly regarded by themselves as well as by others.

Attitude toward others. An individual’s feelings toward people that he or she comes into contact with will affect, positively or negatively, behavior toward them. The key to development of positive attitude toward visitors is being able to develop the ability to put oneself into visitor’s place. Role-playing can be successfully used for this purpose. If service providers can accept tourists as themselves, than the attitude is more likely to be more positive.

Attitude toward subject matter. A positive attitude on the part of service providers toward tourists can come about only when employees are aware of how important tourism is to their country, city and property. By being aware of the amount of revenue, jobs and taxes generated and the dispersion of the tourist dollar throughout the community, employees may become convinced of the economic and social significance of the industry the are a part.

D. Human Resources Strategies in Russian Hospitality Industry.

Hospitality business in Russia has one distinguishing feature: while number of personnel employed by hospitality properties is large, there is a strong shortage of qualified specialists. Since tourism in Soviet period was not given a priority as a separate industry, education of specialists for hospitality was conducted only by a few institutions located in large cities. As a result, under intensive growth of hospitality sector in Russia in the last decade the deficit of qualified personnel has been uncovered.

Besides that, international hospitality companies have faced a more serious problem when they tried to employ personnel worked for Soviet hotels and restaurants in the past. The problem was in incorrect attitude of employees toward clients. This fact influenced working out special training programs by international hospitality companies in Russia (for example, “Marriot” and “Sofitel Iris” have launched special training programs for local staff).

E. Overview of Careers in the Hotel Industry

WHAT DO THEY DO?

The hotel industry is big business, employing over a million people nationwide. In Virginia, 45,000 people work in about 1,500 hotels. Some work at large resorts that employ hundreds of people, from high-paid executives to low-paid gardeners. Others work in small 3-room bed and breakfasts where they may do a little bit of everything—pulling weeds in the garden, making guests' beds, cooking breakfast, and balancing the accounts.

For a taste of the wide range of jobs available in the hotel industry, people need only look at all the different types of employees at a large resort or hotel. These establishments are worlds unto themselves. Open all hours on all days of the year, they provide both the daily necessities as well as the lavish extras for their guests. To do this, they need staff from all career paths—from the accountants who make sure the books balance to the hairdressers who keep guests looking good to the HVAC technicians who keep the buildings warm or cool.