Essays

Leiseth Chambers - 2005
2nd year Student studying for a degree in Hospitality Studies at UWI in The Bahamas.

The Course Thus Far
The year commenced very well with the exception of nature's way of welcoming us to the Bahamas - several hurricanes. The experience thus far is quite overwhelming, exciting and adventurous especially owing to the fact that this is my first time away from home.

The course description for this semester includes food and beverage activities, hotel front office operations, hospitality and tourism marketing, organizational behaviour and hotel information systems.

The food and beverage aspect equips us with the technical knowledge required of contemporary food and beverage management. We have also learned to how to apply food chemistry, nutrition, microbiology and food processing to commercial food service. It demands that we impart the theoretical aspect learned in class to a practical setting. The UWI House Restaurant is an entity that is operated by the students. The third year students act as managers and the second year students are the sanitation engineers and waitresses/waiters. Every Friday night The Centre for Hotel and Tourism Management is transformed into a typical food and beverage outlet where we prepare and serve hot, sumptuous, delicious mouth-watering meals for the general public to enjoy. I have already learned how to make several dishes, creatively arrange them and how to serve them to guests in a friendly and professional manner.

Hotel Front Office Operations teaches us how to manage activities in the hotel's front office and other supporting departments. It includes information about check-in, occupancy and check-out procedures and how to treat guests throughout each stage of their stay. It also explores operations involved in managing housekeeping areas within the hotel.

The course also teaches us how to successfully market and promote the services and amenities that is offered by the hotel. It teaches us the major marketing principles and then applies them to the hospitality industry. This is a very important business strategy if a hotel is to be profitable in the face of increasing competition.

In addition, I have learned how to communicate and interact with fellow employees and superiors within the organization, and more importantly how to interact with and serve guests in a professional manner.

Like all other organizations, hospitality organizations have gone digital. The whole hospitality industry is driven by information technology. Every hospitality and tourism manager or aspiring manager must be computer-literate. As a result, the Information Technology course addresses IT literacy for hospitality managers by focusing its features, strategies and uses for competitive advantage in the hospitality industry. I have also learned how to use popular application software to carry hospitality-related tasks.

The journey so far has been very informative and life-changing; and I have no doubt in my mind that by the end of the two-year tenure I will be fully prepared to start the successful career that I have dreamed of all my life.

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