Relationships are paramount in the hospitality industry. This has been proven to be the true reality of the hospitality industry. To build a successful hospitality career, you need to prioritize human relationships.

There are several reasons why you need to maintain good human relationships in your hospitality career. Some of the reasons are:

• Great relationships in the hospitality industry lead to great career opportunities: If you nurture beautiful relationships with colleagues, superiors, other professionals in the field, and even the guests, you will become a recipient of several amazing opportunities.

With a reputation that is heartwarming, laced with an excellent work ethic, you will be amazed at how people with whom you have good relationships will pave way for you.

• Colleagues Can Become Friends: While growing in your hospitality career, you will make friends with industry colleagues whom you work with. These relationships will end up being part of your most valued relationships. The simple logic is that when two individuals work together to do business or work on tasks over and over again, their relationship will be strengthened.

• It is better to negotiate with a known person than a perfect stranger: Contract negotiations are quite tough & contentious when both parties involved are standing up for what they think is only fair for them. Doing this exercise with a known person with whom you have an existing relationship makes it easier for you to have more open and honest communication, as well as a more fair agreement.

How To Maintain Good Relationships in Your Hospitality Career

In order to build and maintain good and healthy relationships in the hospitality industry, you need to do the following: 

• Be a good listener: For you to successfully relate well with people in the hospitality industry, you need to possess and make use of your active listening skills. On several occasions, things won’t go as planned and this can leave the other party (guests, colleagues, managers) unhappy or angry. It is best to handle the situation carefully. When someone comes to rant, it is best to not interrupt. Never interrupt or say anything. This is because an angry person becomes angrier or frustrated when he’s interrupted in between.

• Embrace Other’s Perspectives/Opinions: You need to learn how to handle conversations tactfully. Your colleagues will trust you ONLY if you’ve proven to be open-minded and have a good problem-solving reputation. Avoid being rigid when dealing with others.

• Embrace Positivity: In every situation, you encounter in your career, try as much as possible to be optimistic. As humans, we tend to go through unhappy moments. So try as much as possible to avoid saying negative things about your guests, employer, workplace, or colleagues. This will only breed negative energy within the workplace.

• Separate Your Personal & Professional Life: It is advisable that you always keep healthy, friendly, and solid professional relationships with your colleagues. Several incidents in the workplace have proven that personal relationships obstruct job performance as it weakens one’s performance at work.

• Always Leave On a Good Note: It is common to see professionals in the hospitality industry change roles, workplaces, and locations frequently. It is therefore imperative that you leave on a good note as your future employer may check.

People You Need To Have Good Relationships With In Your Hospitality Career

• Your Employer(s)
• Your Managers
• Your Colleagues & Co-workers
• Your Customers/Guests
• Your Partners

Good relationships are a solid rock for a successful hospitality career. You can’t afford to host a bad reputation for yourself as you advance in your career. So make it a priority to keep healthy relationships always.